No more commissions for now! Sorry!

My work as a cartoonist/caricaturist can be pretty diverse and the projects that come my way are varied and exciting.
I regularly attend events drawing live caricatures which is always great fun and from time to time I have drawn commission based pieces for customers.
Lately I have been taking on various illustration projects too, from the cover of The Slipkin Papers (find it on Amazon- great book) to the @b0ringtweets vs @rickygervais project I have recently been working on, right through to some book illustration projects that are still ongoing.
The problem with taking on all of these jobs is that some things have to take a back burner to make room for others.
It is for this reason that regretfully I will not be taking on any more commissions until further notice. The commissions take up a great deal of time what with changes and tweaks, and for this reason are not really financially viable. I could put prices up but wouldn't want to be charging over the odds.
You can still hire me for events, I attend many of these and the pictures always go down well.
Apologies peeps, I'm not saying never again, just not for the time being.

@rickygervais vs @b0ringtweets

There are few bloggers out there that blog as little as me, and most 'guides to blogging' will tell you never to mention how rarely you do so. There's a mistake right away then.. bugger.
But some blogs are like a machine that give the reader tons to read about a chosen subject, and one of those that I am now a little involved in is http://gervaisfanart.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

A few weeks back I was approached on twitter by @GervaisFanArt regarding the hilarious conversations between Ricky Gervais and a truly fascinating chap under the twitter name of @b0ringtweets. I had followed a few of these conversations and so was honoured to be asked to create doodles to go along with the characters. Gervais fan art have compiled these conversations in a very funny weekly blog which can promise conversations of the wonders of a Boots store card and the excitement of the Samsung SGH A300 to name a few!

I am told this blog has received quite a following and so look forward to doodling more for GervaisFanArt, Ricky and our Meticulous Hero as time goes on.

For those interested, here's Ricky talking about @b0ringtweets and @GervaisFanArt in a radio interview... http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=9vSs_mmIC_s&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9vSs_mmIC_s%26feature%3Dyoutu.be

Feeling Stirred not Shaken

So I'm just recovering from an absurdly busy weekend which started with a wedding in Essex, followed by a corporate gig in London with a whole army of caricaturists and magicians, then the true insanity that was the Detling Wedding Show (I promise I shall respond to all those emails very soon) and ending in a trip to Birmingham for a hugely entertaining gig last night.
It's not often I venture up that far, but I truly love a 'road trip gig' and this one proved well worth the journey. I visited the hotel that would be playing host to the good people of VitrA earlier in the day to get my bearings, but I had no idea how amazing the bond themed extravaganza would pan out that evening.
The genius that is Jason Southard and his team at www.casinohireuk.com had put on an amazing show that I was truly proud to be a part of, featuring casino tables, a mind reader, no end of giant Bond props and even a couple of Bond girls wandering around. Plus of course, there was me, a character maybe a little more Mr Bean than Mr Bond but I had a whale of a time nonetheless.
It was an amazing crowd too, I actually drew so many pictures that when I departed I only had three sheets of paper left.
I always thank my lucky stars for this amazing job and last night rates up there with the best of them. Once the RSI in my hand has eased up I shall look forward to more like that!

Ricky, Derek and a Moustached Tadpole

Around the 21st of February my twitter account (@richnairn for those that do not know) went a little crazy for a few weeks, completely to my surprise.

This was all thanks to Ricky Gervais, not sure if you've heard of him but he's a little known actor and comedian, check his account on twitter (@rickygervais) he could really do with a few more followers. (the poor fella only has 4,192, 062 at the time of typing this blog)

Many of you may know that I like to draw group caricatures of celebrities, from tv shows to movies, if the face works I'll doodle it. So I had produced a little caricature of the stars of Derek, Ricky's latest hilarious and heartwarming creation set in a retirement home.

As always with these doodles, I tweeted it across to Ricky, not really expecting a reply.
Within almost no time at all I had a lovely little reply simply saying, "Great Work!"

It's a simply wonderful thing to receive nice comments about your work, but little was I prepared for the power Ricky's words have. My twitter "interaction" panel went insane. Tweets came through like crazy with all sorts of lovely peeps saying how much they liked my work and this was such a huge boost to my confidence. I began saying thank you to each of them and realised this was a futile task, so opted for broader "I would like to thank everyone.." messages.

I quickly became friends with @tadpole_hitler, a twitter user who runs a Derek fan art site at www.tadpolehitler.com, who wrote a lovely little article about my work and even was so nice as to put an advert for my site on their home page.

I had originally loved the character of Vicky, played by Holli Dempsey but had not included her in the pic as at the time of drawing it she appeared to be a one episode character. But while I was receiving these comments she appeared in another episode and Holli herself left some lovely tweets about the pic. And so it was destined to be.. Vicky appeared in the picture, along with an ornamental frog.

And the flattery continued. In all my years of caricaturing I've never received such appreciation for my work and it was a truly flattering experience. Just when my head couldn't swell any further I received comments not only from Kerry Godliman who plays Hannah in the series, but also from Charlie Hanson, the series producer.

The whole crazy experience had a great finale for me when I realised a life long dream as I got to work as a caricaturist on the set of a movie.

It just so happened that Mr Gervais was on set too so I left a couple of prints with the crew for him.

To make sure he got it I tweeted,

"@rickygervais there's an A3 copy of the Derek caricature waiting for you somewhere on set, hopefully you'll get it."

and I received the reply.

"@richnairn Got it! Amazing. Thank you."

For a show that references how nice people can be, Derek has sure lived up to it's words.

Thank you everyone for a truly brilliant and flattering few weeks!

Celebrity Group Caricature

Some of you may have noticed I have commenced work on a series of group caricatures of famous tv shows and movies.
There will be more and more of these appearing throughout the year as I have a list to work through.

The idea came from last years Misfits picture which received lots of great comments from the stars.


The first one I drew this year was Red Dwarf X. It was great to see the boys back on our screens so I had to show my appreciation by doodling a picture of them.

I tweeted the first draft to Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) and he pointed out that he is the tallest character and I had drawn him the shortest (oops). 30 seconds later I had adjusted it and I tweeted it over to receive a lovely reply saying,

"That is just too damn clever sir, thank you most kindly"

I also hear friend of mine who knows Craig Charles passed a copy onto him and he tells me it was well received.

So next I moved onto my favourite American comedy, "The Big Bang Theory"

I tweeted this one to the stars but I believe they were in middle of receiving awards so not surprised I didn't get any feedback, but I did get lots of great comments from friends and followers so many thanks!

Last week I completed a caricature of my favourite tv show, "Dexter". Lots of great faces to draw.

This one was greatly received by a couple of the stars and friends alike and I was over the moon to receive a message of thanks from David Zayas who plays Angel Batista in the series.

So what's next? I have received a few suggestions and have a few ideas myself.. more to come soon!

Post Apocalyptic New Year

Well here we are, five days into a new year despite the doomgloomers trying to wish disaster upon us all. Now is a quiet time of year for me, a few weddings and parties along with a handful of commissions. January is the manageable month.
This year will be seeing a change in my business, without my wedding to organise I feel more hands on with the caricatures so I'm planning many exciting things to come.
I'm currently working at the Oasthouse Theatre in Rainham, a delightful little theatre that Im signwriting and adding quirky illustrations to. This is obviously in between party and commission work but it is a fun little sideline. It's also entertaining to listen to the actors perform overhead as I paint.
In May I have been asked to entertain at a party celebrating what would have been Peter Cushing's 100th Birthday. I've always been a huge fan of this classic actor, not only for his great performances in classic hammer movies but also for his charm and personality. It is indeed an honour to be involved in this event, I sincerely hope it goes well. I am booked throughout the year at many parties and weddings so am truly looking forward to every one of them. Best of luck brides and grooms, believe me, it's not as scary as you might think.
Mai and I will be moving premises later in the year so I should at last have a study to work in, rather than filing paperwork in a box and illustrating commissions on the dining room table.
So an optimistic start to 2013 I think, let's hope it's justified.

Namedrop alert

 I think every artist, be they a caricaturist, painter, musician, actor etc is somewhat fed by their ego. Every art is a passion which comes from the artists need to communicate but it is necessary to feel as though what you create is enjoyed by those that witness it.
When I work a gig drawing live caricature the quality of what I do is generally dictated by the reactions of those around me, the more laughs and pleasure I get, the better my work comes out.
It's a confidence thing.

To achieve appreciation from your peers and those already in the public eye gives you an even greater sense of satisfaction, as society would have you believe that those people are harder to please.

For this reason the last few weeks have been particularly enjoyable for me.

Mai and I recently had the opportunity to be in the audience for the filming of one of Derren Brown's latest shows, you may have seen it, the one where a girl lacking confidence in her singing ability has to confront a huge audience.. well, we were among the audience in that smoky theatre. Having just drawn a caricature of Derren in the theme of his "Apocalypse" show it was such an honour to witness his abilities first hand. Sadly I hadn't brought a copy of the picture with me and could have kicked myself when one of his crew sat in front of me. For those that don't know, Derren Brown is also a master caricaturist.. to have received critique from him would have been fantastic.

A few days later Heston Blumenthal was making an appearance at Dickens World to film for his latest show. I've always been fascinated by this real-life Willy Wonka and having been asked to bring a caricature along for him to sign for the bar, of course I jumped at the chance. Heston himself was an absolute gentleman, showing such appreciation for the copy I had printed for him. To my disappointment, I realised I had drawn him with his old glasses on which he didn't seem to mind. I also put my foot in it further when asking him to sign the picture for the bar.

Concerned for his time being taken up, I said,
"You're not busy at the moment are you?"

Obviously for a man who fronts a hugely successful restaurant and a popular tv series this question must have come across as absurd.

Despite this, he posed for a photo and Mai and I also had the chance to witness the events being filmed and sample a few of his dishes which I have to say were amazing.

Last week, my ego had another boost when we took a trip up to Bluewater for a signing from 3 stars of the incredible E4 series, "Misfits". Joe Gilgun, Karla Crome and Nathan McMullen were incredibly friendly and their reaction to the picture I had drawn was one of the highlights of my career. They were so appreciative and shook my hand despite the fact that their time was tight with a huge crowd waiting to meet them.

As if this wasn't enough when I was browsing twitter later that evening I was honoured to see that Nathan McMullen was using the picture for his twitter header. Much appreciated.

Am I a bit of a fanboy? Hell yeah, fanboy and proud.