Caricature/Cartoon of Robin Williams – Patch Adams, Peter Pan, and Mrs. Doubtfire…all come together!

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” – Robin Williams

You know who Robin Williams is, and so you also know that Robin Williams is funny and intelligent. He can make you laugh and think at the same time. This isn’t something that you can learn to do, it’s an ability that you are either born with, or you aren’t. Robin Williams was born to do roles that make people feel happiness, joy, loneliness, sadness, anger, and curiosity; all at the same time. He is one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood.

This caricaturist is honored to present the caricature of Robin Williams.

Robin Williams Tiniest Biography on the Web

Robin Williams was born in the family of a Ford Motor Executive about 60 years ago, in 1951. Unlike many other Hollywood actors, he didn’t start acting until he grew up. In fact he had a perfectly normal childhood and…believe it or not…he even completed the four years of college!

He played the part of Mork (the alien from Ork) in the TV series Happy Days and later, Mork and Mindy, and this was his first acting assignment. One thing led to another, and Robin Williams moved through tv sitcoms and standup comedy into Hollywood. While he started working in films, in the late seventies, it wasn’t until 1987 that he did Good Morning Vietnam for which he won an Oscar Nomination, and through which he won this caricaturist’s respect.

Some Robin Williams Movies

1. Good Morning Vietnam 
2. Dead Poets Society
3. Awakenings
4. Hook (He’s absolutely lovable as a grownup Peter Pan:))
5. Aladdin (he’s the genie in this one…once again, a fantastic performance)
6. Mrs. Doubtfire
7. Good Will Hunting (A fantastic movie about channeling genius and you are bound to love Robin Williams in his role as an atypical psychologist)
8. Patch Adams (nothing needs to be said about this movie – right?)
9. What Dreams May Come (This movie won no acclaim – but its concept keeps you suspended between this world and the other.)
10. One Hour Photo (In absence of a clear storyline, I think I must’ve watched this movie only because of Robin Williams – yet I loved it, because of Williams’ acting prowess.)

Robin Williams, a Graphic Designer, and an Addiction

Well…well. This is the first time that I’ve read about one of our kinds getting up and close with a Hollywood celebrity. Robin William’s newest wife (the third one, the one who he married in 2011) is, trust me and more so trust Wikipedia, a Graphic Designer!

Another point to note is that he “had” a cocaine addiction in the eighties, then he was sober for about two decades, but he succumbed to it once again (in the mid 2000s.) While I can understand his addiction to a Graphic Designer (we are naturally interesting people,) I can’t understand why Robin Williams, with all his fame, wealth, and…wives, was addicted to cocaine?!

Before I end this post, I must tell you what he has to say about politicians (especially because I’ve been watching the Presidential debates that’ve recently begun to transform into duels.)

“Politics: “Poli” a Latin word meaning “many”; and “tics” meaning “bloodsucking creatures”. – Robin Williams”

Ouch!

If you too like Robin Williams, leave a comment…more later!

Caricature/Cartoon – Leonardo DiCaprio – The Abagnale Jr. who grew up to become J. Edgar!

This guy?

Who else but Frank William Abagnale Jr. now known as J. Edgar Hoover, a.k.a Leonardo DiCaprio!

Catch me if you Can!

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Tiniest Biography on the Web

Every sensible biography must begin with the birth of its subject. Leonardo DiCaprio was born on November 11, 1974 in LA, California. As it happens, most people who go on to become famous in their lives, come from a broken home; so was the case of Leonardo whose parents separated when he was a toddler. Leonardo’s dad however was not a normal person. He was an artist…even better, he was a comic book illustrator. So his dad’s influence made Leonardo explore his creative side (?) when he was little. Leonardo went to work at the tender age of 5, but was kicked out of the show for unprofessional behavior (?!) Leonardo wasn’t a good student (obviously, if he were the world wouldn’t be talking about him and obscure caricaturists wouldn’t be drawing his rather unique physiognomy,) nor was he a smashing-hit with the fairer-sex.

One thing led to another, and then I saw him in Titanic (the movie, I mean, not the ship) smooching Kate Winslet. I checked out my parameters of handsomeness and wondered why the west found him good-looking! (BTW, he’s taller than he looks. He’s 5 feet 11 inches or more!)

Anyway, Leonardo DiCaprio’s first movie wasn’t Titanic, it was “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” for which he was nominated for an Oscar (He doesn’t look like himself in this movie though). He was nineteen then. Well, one movie led to another, until “Titanic” happened. “Titanic” catapulted Leonardo into being an international celebrity. I read that 28 Kabul Barbers were apprehended by the Taliban because they were giving those kids the Leonardo-Haircut!

Why Leonardo was called Leonardo?

When Leonardo hadn’t found his way out of his mom’s womb, she went visiting a museum. The yet-unnamed-Leonardo decided to kick his mom for the first time when she stood admiring a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Every mother wants to remember that first-ever kick (and hopes that the child would stop kicking once it’s out,) and so Leonardo’s mom decided to call him Leonardo.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Famous Movies

Some of his movies are:

• This Boy’s Life
• What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
• Titanic
• The Man in the Iron Mask
• Catch Me If You Can
• The Aviator
• The Departed
• Blood Diamond
• Body of Lies
• Inception
• J. Edgar (Recent)

The Caricaturist’s Opinion on the DiCaprio movies that she’s seen

I watched “Titanic” but it made me sad. I don’t like tragedies. There’s enough sorrow in real-life and I really don’t like spending my time watching movies in which the hero dies. I loved him as King Luis XIV in “The Man in the Iron Mask,” a movie that may or may not be historically accurate – but who cares – not the Caricaturist! “Catch me if you Can” is fantastic. Geniuses of all types make me feel optimistic and happy…and knowing that Frank William Abagnale Jr.s exist makes this world a more interesting place for me. I watched “Blood Diamond” and wondered what the heck we need those diamonds for. Even if I had millions, I’d not waste them on a stupid piece of shiny rock that I could tie around my neck and get Spondalytis. In my opinion, no sane person should wear diamonds…but then if the world was sane, I’d not have anything to do. Who’d I ridicule then?!

Finally, “Inception.” I hated the movie, and I have a strong reason for hating it. I watch movies because I want a break from work. This movie puts your mind to work, and that too in the highest gear. You’ve got to go on calculating the dream-depth, the corresponding time-span that Leo and his team can spend in the dream…additionally you’ve got to remember the names of the dream-owners and the team-members who get left behind on the higher level! Phew! The movie left me with a headache that refused to leave me for two whole days! And this movie got several award nominations…thankfully, it didn’t win many awards or I’d have to wonder.

J. Edgar (A movie made on the life of perhaps the longest-serving FBI director J. Edgar Hoover) is right now running in the theaters. I am wondering whether I should watch it in the theater or I should wait for it to premier on television…still thinking

Caricature/Cartoon – Shia LaBeouf wondering whether the Transformers are really worth the hassle?

The caricaturist presents a colorful yet confused Shia LaBeouf.

Ohhhhh Noooooo! Is this what I've begun to look like? What have the Transformers have done to me?!

Down the Memory Lane:

Where do I begin? With his transformation through Transformers or with his disturbing Disturbia? I think I first saw Shia LaBeouf in the first movie of the Transformers series. He looks a lot like the boy who used to live in my neighborhood – in another lifetime. I didn’t like that boy a lot. I thought he was a lot dumber than me (and he reflected the sentiment towards me.) He ended up running his father’s paint shop, a task that doesn’t require you to be a genius, and I ended up poking fun at others – so effectively both of us turned out to be right.

But I’ve digressed from the topic completely. That neighbor-o-mine isn’t the topic of this post, Shia LaBeouf is. So let us talk about him.

Shia LaBeouf’s Scanty Biography:

Shia LaBeouf was born on June 11, 1986. He began working as a Standup Comedian at the tender age of 10 (BTW, he used to look really cute as a child.) He played Louis Stevens on Even Stevens. His first movie was “Holes” in  2003, which was followed by Disturbia (A remake of the Rear Window – an Alfred Hitchcock movie) and then came the Transformers in 2007.

In 2008, Shia became famous as Sam Witwicky, the teenager whose yellow car draws him to the war between the Transformers. The next movie in the Transformers  series (Revenge of the Fallen) got delayed because of his accident in which he broke his left hand. This must’ve been a really bad year for Shia because:

• He broke his arm,
• He injured his eye,
• He received the Razzie award for the worst screen couple with Megan Fox

I don’t know if the Transformers have really been nice to him – but they’ve definitely been nice to his bank balance, which I guess is a good enough reason for him to stick with them – but then should he be giving an eye and an arm for it, is a question that he ponders upon in this caricature.

Shia LaBeouf’s Personal Life:

Shia’s personal life is possibly the most not-happening sort of personal life in all of Hollywood.

• Shia’s got 3 tattoos (just 3! Imagine that. He is 25 and he’s got just 3 tattoos!! What is he? A Crabby Old Fart??!)
• He smokes…cigarettes, I mean.(Great! So does half the world. He’s got to take some cues from Lilo.)
• He has raised legal hackles only three times (…and he’s come out clean on all three occasions!)
•  He likes to get into relationships with his female co-stars, including Megan Fox. (What? So he’s not even gay. Tell me, what’s so cool about a straight man in these troubled times?)

The only thing that makes me a little interested in his personal life is that he likes to date women who are already in a relationship. Thank God for small misdemeanors!

Follow Shia LaBeouf’s life at: http://www.shialabeouf.us/

Rock and Roll on Stranger Tides with Captain Jack Sparrow!

Quoting self:

People who use prescription glasses shouldn’t watch movies in 3D.

I watched the fourth movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, “On Stranger Tides”…and I watched it in 2D!

But wait. Who’s watching ME? Is he the imposter or is he Captain Jack Sparrow? Must be Johnny Depp, the guy who has been impersonating Captain Sparrow – right? Anyway, here are the eyes of this entity.

I'm watching you.

If you think that I have lost my head completely, you haven’t watched the movie. Right at the beginning of the movie, our dear dirtily dandy Captain Jack Sparrow arrives in London. Why? Well, it’s because he’s looking for someone who’s been going around telling everyone that “he” is Captain Sparrow. A sparrow she is, as we later discover, and she’s known in Hollywood as Penelope Cruz.

Do I see you with your mouth so wide open that your jaw is about to come unhinged? Didn’t you know  – PoC-4 doesn’t star Keira Knightly the thin but ethereal beauty. Instead the bulb-nosed, long-faced, funny-accented Penelope Cruz has taken her place (thankfully they called her Angelica and not Elizabeth.) She fits into the movie almost as well as Keira would fit into an XXXL gown. She looks horribly, horribly, and horribly out of place. But never mind her – you could close your eyes whenever she gave that funny smile of hers and not miss a thing!

Anyway, here’s the story.

************Spoiler’s Warning Begins**************

Don’t worry, you’ll not know a thing if you read on…so read on!

************Spoiler’s Warning Ends**************

Well, as I said earlier Captain Sparrow finds that the funny woman, who we just described, was impersonating him. This obviously infuriates him, and he plans his revenge, which would include spiriting the funny woman across stranger tides to a deserted island and leave her there, after (note…AFTER) he told her that he loved her. (What other kind of revenge would you design if you looked and moved like Captain Jack Sparrow?)

So, there wasn’t the Flying Dutchman, the Black Pearl, or even Elizabeth. But yes, there were the mermaids, the Spanish, the black magic wielding Blackbeard, and King George II.

PS: There indeed was some black magic going on in the movie. When I left the hall, two eyes followed me out.
PS2: I’ve got to stop. The eyes are watching my every move!

PS3: Though it seems impossible, yet if you haven’t seen this caricature of Johnny Depp, you should click the following image

Where is the cheese...Captain Sparrow?

Caricature Gallery Updated with 15 Recent Drawings!

Dear Friends,

I’ve updated the Caricature Gallery with new caricatures in almost all sections. If you’ve begun to visit my blog recently, you might not have seen the caricatures that I’ve uploaded since November 2010, as they were not there in the Gallery until now.

The Celebrity Caricatures that have been added to the gallery include:

• Troy Polamalu
• Charlie Sheen
• Keanu Reeves
• AR Rahman
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Oprah Winfrey
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Sherlock Holmes
• Julius Caesar
• Monalisa (yes, hers too.)

The additions to the gallery also include:

• the Pen and Ink Drawing of an extremely resourceful terrier HH Dewey Dewster of Pawsylvania and
• a Polymer Clay caricature of the Devil.

So please visit the Caricature Gallery to view the recent additions (which appear towards the end of each section.)

Smiles,
Shafali

Caricature/Cartoon of Neo a.k.a Keanu Reeves hacks into the Caricature Matrix!

Neo has finally hacked into the Caricature Matrix!

In this Caricature Matrix, everyone sees everyone else as a caricature of his real-self…and this is also true for Neo a.k.a Keanu Reeves, who appears here in his caricature avatar!

I’ll be truthful. I didn’t know anything about this gentleman until I watched The Matrix, then The Matrix Reloaded, and then The Matrix Revolutions! Even then, I knew him only as Neo the hacker, who asked the multi-million Dollar question – What is the Matrix? He was this tall, slim, rubberband of a man who wore dark glasses and was never sure of his own potential, which everyone else happened to know about! I found Morpheous (played by Lawrence Fishburne) a far more interesting character…all Neo made me wonder through out the trilogy was why the heck was he interested in that emaciated, vertically stretched, Na’vi-like woman called Trinity, who wore shiny black body paint?

I must’ve seen him in a couple of other movies…but I didn’t give him more than a passing thought…and even that passing thought was – why does he have those oriental eyes on an extra long non-oriental face?

But I gradually began to realize that Keanu Reeves is a popular star…and he rules many hearts, including the one that belongs to our dear Barb.

So…ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else,
Please welcome the Caricature of Keanu Reeves to this blog!

Mysterious Keanu Reeves

Here’s a Snapshot of Keanu’s Biography:

Keanu was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 02, 1964. His passion for stage an acting came from his mother and his oriental eyes from his father who had among his ancestors, a Chinese. His father abandoned his mother when Keanu was 3, and so he never had anything to do with his father. His mother moved from husband to husband, until she married the fourth time, broke up and decided to call it quits. Since Keanu’s mom moved to Canada after her second marriage, he spent most of his childhood there.

Keanu wasn’t great at studies. His lack of interest in studies is said to be because of dyslexia. (According to this page here many famous people suffer from dyslexia, and the list includes “Whoopi Goldberg, Keira Knightley, Susan Hampshire, Orlando Bloom, Keanu Reeves, Richard Branson, Henry Winkler, Patrick Dempsey and Tom Cruise“!)

Interim Update – The Asperger Syndrome?

A comment made to this post made me research some more. Some experts believe that Keanu might have the Asperger Syndrome, which is characterized (among other things) by difficulty in maintaining meaningful social relationships and a quirky behavior. I guess Asperger’s might be a lot more common than what the experts believe!

Keanu Reeves’ Rise to Stardom:

Keanu Reeves journey to stardom began with a movie about hockey (Keanu used to love playing hocky,) which was shot in Canada. Next he was seen in the movie, River’s Edge. His performance in this movie received critical acclaim but what truly established him in Hollywood was his role of Ted in the movie, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a movie based on Time Travel.The next four years were a quiet time in which Reeves took more sophisticated roles. In 1994, he made an impact with Speed. The next few years were a low time for him, until the release of Matrix in 1999.

The Mystery of Keanu Reeves:

Reeves’ Charisma is often attributed to the air of mystery that surrounds him.

• He took a cut of $2 Million on his pay so that The Devil’s Advocate could cast Al Pacino!
• He took a 90% cut on is pay for The Replacements. Why? So that Gene Hackman could be cast in the movie.
• He also refuses offers of good movies; this deepens the mystery around him. (example: Speed 2, Platoon)

In his own words, “I’m Mickey Mouse. They don’t know who’s inside the suit.”

I think that this sums up his journey rather well…For his first movie “Young Blood” he was paid USD 3000. For Matrix Revolutions he was paid USD 15 Million and 15% of the Gross!

Different Keanus:

Sad Keanu:

Read about the Photoshop Meme (and watch its video too), which shows a sad looking Keanu sitting on a bench, here.

Immortal Keanu:

Could it be that he is immortal? Here’s why some people think that Keanu Reeves is immortal!

Married Keanu:

They say he never married – they say he got married. Only Barb can tell.

Gay Keanu:

He neither accepts nor denies it, so…is Keanu Reeves gay?

Left-handed Keanu:

Well…Keanu’s sort of left-handed, but he plays bass (for a band called Dogstar) with his right hand. Guess that makes him an ambidextrous or…a freak?

 

Are you Keanu-krazy? If you are, and if you liked Keanu’s caricature on this page, you should visit Barbara G. Tarn’s Website at: CreativeBarbwire.wordpress.com.  Check out her Portraits of Keanu Reeves in her book, “Keanu Portraits 2001-2009”

As always…thanks to Wikipedia and IMDb for being such fantastic resources of information.

Seven Caricatures come visiting…from Everywhere!

The Definition of Art!

Blogging has been an interesting learning experience for me. Among other things, it has made me reflect upon Art.  Recently, I found myself following a discussion on creativity and art, and it made me question whether creativity equaled art, and if it didn’t then what was that “extra” that transformed creativity into art. Being a net-convert, I went browsing for a satisfactory definition of art…and found nothing. I am sure that in one of those hardcover-bound formidable looking books, there would be a brutally frank definition, yet it hasn’t made its way to the web yet…or…it hasn’t caught Google’s attention.

So I sat down to write a definition of my own, which I shall shortly present to you in another post. It might appeal to some of you, but if you are someone who prefers to ignore the influence of masses on your life, it may not.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the more mundane and down-to-earth matters.

Seven Caricatures from Hollywood, Fiction, Art, and History!

(I’ll be updating this post as and when the caricatures make it here.)

Here’s a list of caricatures that will appear on this blog, this month

1. Her Roman paramour who just couldn’t conquer the Gauls.(Julius Caesar’s Laurel Wreath invites winged guests. Click to view.)
2. The consulting detective who refused to clutter the attic of his mind with inconsequential information. (Sherlock Holmes detected this blog on March 24, 2011. Click to view.)
3. The boy who lived and who might shed his clothes to save the world.
4. Neo, the hacker – sans his shades. (Keanu Reeves arrived here on March 16, 2011. Click to view.)
5. Fanged, dead…yet loving it!
6. The pop-eyed artist with surreal mustaches. (Salvador Dali makes this blog surreal. Click to view.)
7. The beginnings of an Abusive Maniac, once known as Topper. (Charlie Sheen’s rants brought him to your favorite Caricatures blog on March 26, 2011. Click to view.)

Who are they?

and

Who would you like to see first?