The Clown with Broken Spine – A Pen and Ink Drawing.

While the Corona virus has almost half the world under house-arrest, after being held captive by my own feelings, my imagination finally grew wings and I’ve been freed from an oath I swear long ago. Under lock-down, inside the house, in my little art-studio, I’m re-discovering the fine art of standing with my spine straight.

I did this drawing of the clown in March…I think right after the lockdown. I hadn’t watched the movie “The Joker” until then, but when I did, I noticed that in the movie, Joaquin Phoenix too has a rather twisted spine.  I’ll be sketching/drawing him one day…but he is very different from this guy here – who is more me than him.

If you are still interested in reading, note the expression behind the facial paint, the unnatural and broken line of the spine, the twisted hands and ankles – the guy is completely bent out of shape. We would be like that too, if we were suddenly sucked up in a twister and thrown miles away – we’d be a mangled heap of flesh and bones – and if we could somehow put ourselves together again – we’d be all bent out of shape too…like the Joker here.

Smile, sing, dance – but don’t break hearts.

More…soon.

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5 Professions that Gandalf could’ve followed in the Modern Real World: A Caricature of Gandalf the Grey.

Here’s a grey caricature of Gandalf the Grey that I did a couple of weeks ago. Just some sketching in Photoshop. As I said earlier, I don’t do a lot of digital sketching…but every once in a while, when I want to take a short break, digital sketching comes in handy.

Gandalf the Grey – Without his hat, because he’s unable to decide which grey hat goes with his new grey robe.

Gandalf is a wizard of the Middle Earth. We first see him in The Hobbit (well, the chronology of the movies in which Gandalf’s character is played by Ian Mckellen, is different from the fictional chronology of the Lord of the Rings saga.) In fact, we see him almost right at the beginning of the book – when he meets Bilbo Baggins the short-statured but totally lovable hobbit, who is persuaded by Gandalf to join a group of dwarves who desperately needed his help to open a door guarded by the dragon.

Among all the characters that populate this famous trilogy (which gets rather verbose and on-the-verge-of-tears boring, at times,) I like Gandalf the best. He is multi-skilled and his personality multi-faceted.

In fact, if he was a real person instead, he could have chosen any of the following five highly remunerative and rewarding professions.

1. Gandalf the CEO of a Megabucks Corporation:

The guy is smart and sensible; on the inside he’s quite like the CEOs of today who specialize in getting others to do things that themselves couldn’t accomplish in ten lifetimes. Here’s an example.

He tries to recruit Bilbo for the team; when he doesn’t succeed, he sends the dwarves to Bilbo’s hole, and then attempts to get him onboard. Later, when he’s sure that Bilbo is sub-consciously sold on the idea, Gandalf leaves with the dwarves. When Bilbo joins them later, he thinks of it as his own decision. That’s exactly what CEOs do. They make us believe that we are the ones making our choices, when actually, they’ve already made the choice for us. Trust the judgment of a cynical caricaturist: a highly successful CEO of today lurks behind that grey beard and grayer robe.

2. Gandalf the Politician:

In today’s world, Gandalf would be a politician par-excellence. He understands the need to create a persona…thus the hat (not seen in this caricature, though), the robe, the muffler, and the gnarled stick. He is a slick talker and has the knack to disappear from the scene just when things begin to heat up. Remember the time when the dwarves and Bilbo meet those three trolls who’d have enjoyed a dwarves-roast, had Bilbo the blundering underdog of the story not blathered to save them? Where was Gandalf then? Guess what – He was away…working, sweating, finding information – for them…not for himself. Gandalf doesn’t do anything for himself does he? It’s all for the people he represents. And we are always expected to take his word for it.

While I don’t see his robe sweeping across the Eagle Rug in the Oval Office, I think he could’ve mentored Mitt Romney and Barack Obama and helped them burnish their political acumen.

If you don’t remember Mitt Romney, here’s the gentleman doing just the thing that Gandalf would’ve advised him against.

3. Gandalf the Consultant:

Gandalf would’ve really made his parents proud, had he chosen to work as a consultant. He comes across as an extremely risk-averse guy. You never see him putting a single penny of his into the adventures. He just rides along. He guides the adventurers with his knowledge and uses his contacts to ferret out useful information, but do you see him creating or manufacturing anything?

For a moment, assume that those adventurers didn’t have Gandalf to consult with; then what? Would they not reach their goal at all? Would they all sit like morons and do nothing. I don’t think so. In the good old times that existed before the now-ubiquitous-consultants arrived on the scene, the world was doing well. In fact, consultants are needed only when people and organizations get into businesses that they know nothing about, so thinks the caricaturist.

4. Gandalf the Shrink:

In this world of ours, Gandalf could’ve been a psychologist with a roaring practice. The LoR trilogy presents ample examples where Gandalf attempts to soothe crushed egos and bleeding hearts. (OK, not just a shrink, an agony aunt too.) He understands how the human mind works. In fact, he also understands how elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, dragons and all the other creatures of the middle earth think. In fact, if he were real and he lived today, Sigmund Freud might’ve been his disciple – after all Freud could only claim that he knew about the machinations of the human mind, and especially how every mundane human act was powered by sexual desires.

I request those with a keen sense of observation, to compare the expressions of Sigmund Freud below to those of Gandalf’s above. You’ll see what I mean when I say that Gandalf could’ve been the coolest shrink ever.

I know what you are thinking.

5. Gandalf the Internet:

And yet, we couldn’t have an LoR without him, because he’s the guy who knows – and in the days of the yore, in the times of the middle earth, a man with knowledge was indeed handy. He was the middle earth counterpart of the Internet. The adventurers of the LoR trilogy had to just spit out a search-string and Gandalfoogle would whirr into action – spitting out results.

 

Half Million Views bring a Color Caricature of Captain Sparrow a.k.a Johnny Depp to this blog!

Sometime today, my blog shall cross the 500,000 views mark. I don’t think it has changed anything for me. I still got up the same side of bed, did the usual chores, had my usual breakfast…nothing really changed. Yet, in the cyber world it’s customary to celebrate such milestones. While I’m not a traditional person (if I were, I won’t be an artist, would I?) I don’t mind celebrating this specific event, especially because I have just the right caricature to celebrate it.

My first caricature on this blog was of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a Black-and-White caricature (as most of my caricatures were in those days,) and I think that it got its share of attention. Fortunately for me, it was one of the caricatures that I painted for my recent assignment.

So here he is – Captain Sparrow and his two little mice – they look rather fetching in color, don’t they?

Actual Print Size of the Image: 12 inches x 12 inches at 300 dpi.

If you want to check out the black-and-white version, here it is:

Where is the cheese…Captain Sparrow?

Painting Johnny Depp’s Caricature – Deviations from the Earlier Drawing:

You go first 🙂 What are the differences?

Ok. I am naive. I don’t know how to create those polls. But the point is: I changed a lot of things as I painted Captain Sparrow’s Caricature.

The call-outs were thrown out because they would take the viewer’s attention away from his face, which I obviously wouldn’t like. I added some details to his lone earring, because it looked too plain, and I added that scar on his cheekbone because I had missed it earlier. I added those locks of hair on the left because I thought that the earlier caricature looked too symmetrical. Caricatures look funnier when they aren’t symmetrical. (Do you know that facial symmetry is one of the most important parameters of beauty in humans. According to Reader’s Digest, Denzel Washington is supposed to have the most symmetrical face among men, and he indeed is (was?) handsome.) Johnny Depp is another actor who whose face is considered to be extremely symmetrical.

Note the lock of the hair on the left balances his earring on the right, and yet, both help introduce funniness into the caricature. I kept the mice because they just blend into the character of Captain Sparrow. The butterfly ornament now has colored gemstones (they remind us of his gait and his feminine mannerisms.)

More in my next post 🙂

Caricature – Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp…in Color!

Friends,

I’ve been a busy bee this whole month. Other than working on certain graphic design assignments I was coloring seven of my black and white caricatures. One of these was a caricature of Charlie Chaplin as the tramp, which I did two years ago. Here is the color painting that I did recently.

 

Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp – Color Caricature – Digital Painting in Photoshop CS6. Print Size of the image: 12 inches x 12 inches at 300 dpi.

I know that you don’t remember the original black and white caricature…so I’m reproducing it here.

Charlie Chaplin as The Tramp.

The Process of Painting Charlie Chaplin:

While there isn’t a long how-to for this, I can quickly summarize the painting process for those interested.

I worked with a scan of the drawing in the background, because I didn’t want to lose the story nor work on the overall proportions once again. There was a time when I used to paint the character first and then move on to painting the background. I don’t know when and how I moved to working on the basic hues of the background first, but I did and it really made the process faster and the artworks more interesting. When I paint the backgrounds, I try to bring different and often unexpected colors together and then blend them in to represent something that connects with the subject of the caricature.  In my opinion, a caricature shouldn’t replicate anything exactly… it should always attempt to exaggerate and surprise – and you can surprise by any departure from the expected – including the colors that you use in your caricatures.

I must confess that I was running against a deadline and I was hit by this evil idea of removing the flute-playing mouse and the rose from the caricature to save time, but I just couldn’t bring myself to destroy the spirit of the artwork, so I went ahead and painted them in 🙂

Painting the Expression of Charlie Chaplin’s Face:

You must’ve noted the slight change in the expression. I first went with the earlier expression of hopelessness and acceptance, but I then had this urge to change it into an expression that shows him dazed and slightly disgusted with what he was…a tramp! To achieve this, I pushed the brows higher and painted his lips in way that they appeared pursed.  In the color image given above, I’ve cut out some of the background details from the actual picture (see the picture below for details.)

About the cracks in the wall, the bricks, and the graffiti:

Most of it is self-explanatory. Where do you find a tramp? On a pavement, against a wall that’s peeling off. The oranges and the reds symbolize the rage within. The rage of being trapped into the persona of a tramp. If I were Charlie Chaplin, I’d not want to be remembered not only as the character I played, but also as the person I was. In his case, the success of his character “the tramp” overshadowed everything else for him.

details of 12″x12″ square.

I guess that’s all I have on Charlie Chaplin.

Now, it’s time for a break so…

If you own an iPad, check out Triangle Tap on the App Store. Triangle Tap is a Shape building Puzzle game in which you use triangles to build the shapes in the puzzles.  If you like Tangram puzzles but are looking for something new, here’s the icon to help you recognize the game on the App Store.

Click to Download Triangle Tap on your iPad.

Ben Affleck as Batman – A Caricature of Ben Affleck vs. A Caricature of Batman.

As a woman I not expected to talk about Batman, but as a caricaturist I couldn’t care less about what I am expected to do, so here are my two cents about the recent controversy about Ben Affleck playing Batman.

I admit that I’ve never caricatured Ben Affleck, but I may put him on my hit-list when he becomes the Batman, because then I’ll just have to draw him as-is – and voila, I’ll have a caricature of Ben Affleck AND Batman – two characters rolled into one 🙂

Let me be honest. I think that the Batman costume is enough to transform even the manliest of men into…ah…well…BATS!

Why Batman’s Costume freaks me out?

The costume creeps me out for three reasons:

1. It’s black and gold. In my opinion, this combination can look good only on a fair-complexioned woman. I understand the logic – bats are black – Granted.  But then why is the utility belt all golden?  Do bats wear golden belts?
2. It’s got those two cat-ears jutting up – why? What purpose do they serve, except making Batman look like more like a Catman than a Batman? Check out the ears of a bat here, and those of a cat here. I mean, just because they didn’t want Batman look like a gremlin, they twisted the ears sideways.
3. The gaping hole in the cap (or head-shroud or whatever else it’s called.) Remember the only hole in the costume where Batman’s mouth fits in. Now if Spiderman can talk through the spandex costume that he wears, why did Batman need this wide hole that exposes his cheeks, chin, nose, and jaw? I think it was designed to make it easier for him to kiss women, when he wasn’t fighting the Joker. (Actually, that makes me wonder whether his costume has a zipper camouflaged with a black fly? What if he has to take a leak at a time when he’s trying save his city from the Joker’s wrath?)

But then these things don’t matter. What matters is that the selection of Batman has historically never gone down well with his fans.

Actors who’ve played Batman in the past – through my Distorted Lenses.

• Remember Michael Keaton? If he could be Batman with the Koala face that he borrowed from Sheldon and never returned, what’s wrong with Affleck?
• Remember Val Kilmer as Batman? He could’ve been the coolest Batman – and everyone was cool about his becoming Batman,  but it didn’t work out at all, did it?
• Then you had George Clooney filling in the shoes? George Clooney?!! Really?  Ten years from now or even five, Ben Affleck would have mutated completely into George Clooney – so if GC has been the Batman – what’s wrong with Ben Affleck?
• Oh, and then came Christian Bale. There are horror tales of people tearing up the seats in the halls so that they may use the sponge to stopper their ears. They hated his voice. Now look. Who’s swooning, drooling, and dribbling all over Mr. Bale?

(Actually, there were three others who also played Batman, but they belonged to another era. They were:

• Robert Lowrey (I’ve no idea…honestly.)
• Adam West (the Batman who batted the longest.)
• Lewis G Wilson (the first Batman who was short and stocky.)

 (info garnered from where else but the DenofGeek.)

So what’s wrong with Ben Affleck?

• True, he looks more like a banker than a storehouse of steroids, but then Michael Keaton has that used-car-salesman look about him – yet he did okay.
• True, he doesn’t look athletic, but then Clooney didn’t either. And honestly, there’s nothing that can’t be handled through CG effects. In fact, I’ve not been spotted yet, or I could be Batman.
• True, his voice has the Boston Accent (I wish I knew what that sounded like – but I am tone-deaf.) But then Bale’s voice had an alien bass, and now we’re drooling all over him – wondering why he threw the offer of $50M (Gosh!)

 

I think we get used to seeing them – the way they make us see them. I know the Ben Affleck will look like this unreal, batty character when he dons that suit – but then that’s what we expect from Batman, don’t we? 

Caricature/Cartoon – The Witch, the Oracle, the Fortune-teller – they color our world.

This is…well, a sort of fan-toon art. Though I wasn’t consciously aiming to draw anyone when I drew her, I had just finished reading “Johnny & Marian” by B. G. Hope, and I think on a sub-conscious level, I was influenced by the characters in the book. You see, in this book there’s this witch, Samantha. She isn’t outright evil, but she enjoys casting her magical spells on unsuspecting men and women, making them exchange their bodies. While B.G. Hope’s novellas “Johnny & Marian” and “Ciaran and Harith” tell the story of Samantha’s victims and not of Samantha (a story that I wish would one day be told,) it’s Samantha who caught my imagination and made me draw this caricature. I won’t be surprised if I was under a spell the whole time I was drawing.

Ladies and Gentleman,
I present the caricature of the Witch, the Oracle, the Fortune-teller – inspired by Samantha the Witch, who actually is a lot more modern than this lady here – so in the spirit of “Mind your Language”…”a thousand apologies.”

They’ll get what they want…and deserve!
(Actual Size: 7″x9″)

If you are interested in unconventional urban fantasy please visit the following two links and find the novellas on Smashwords.

• Johnny & Marian
• Ciaran and Harith

The author B. G. Hope doesn’t blog, but she sometimes writes on her friend BarbWire’s blog here.

 

Caricature/Cartoon – Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter – the Perfect Cannibal.

Cannibalism evokes in us a morbid curiosity about what could make a person eat another. It throws us into the dark alleys of a pervert’s mind, a strange and mysterious place that we don’t understand, and that makes us feel ashamed of not wanting to leave. We are drawn in – enthralled in the sticky tentacles and the poisonous fangs of a mysterious evil.

Hannibal Lecter – the Cannibal who riveted us through his checkered personality in The Silence of the Lambs has always given me a slip, until now. I would still say that Anthony Hopkins cannot be caricatured to look ridiculous. You can caricature him to look scary and even evil, but making him look ridiculous, is almost impossible. I prefer my caricatures to bring mirth through mild ridicule – I don’t like to make them ugly, gory, dark, or evil. While I try to stay true to the basic premise of caricaturing, which is – exaggerate the prominent…I’d rather not exaggerate moles and black-heads, or stained teeth, or even the evil, blood-curdling look that turns the suave Anthony Hopkins into a slick and nasty Cannibal called Hannibal.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with all humility, I present Anthony Hopkins in his most memorable role of Hannibal Lecter, feasting upon a freshly fried brain.

 

I think there’s a bit of superimposition of personalities in the caption – I’d like to believe that the right-brained are more interesting than the left-brained and so Mr. Lecter must find the brain of the right-brainers tastier. Something that only he can confirm, and I have a feeling that he doesn’t read my blog.

About Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins

He was born on the New Year’s Eve of 1938, in Wales. Baby Hopkins wasn’t really the brightest kid in the class (the traditional education system doesn’t love the right-brained.) The boy preferred to draw and play music, which obviously aren’t traits that mark the bright kids of the world. He discovered his love for acting when he was a teenager and promptly decided to do the right thing, which is enroll himself at a college of Dance and Drama. Hopkins is a believer and he denounces atheism. He won his Oscar for his role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

About Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal Lecter was first unleashed on the world in 1981, when Thomas Harris wrote his novel “Red Dragon”. The four novel series, “Red Dragon,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Hannibal,” and “Hannibal Rising” has been made into the film-series that we know so well.

The gist of it is that Hannibal had a terrible childhood and his sister was hacked, boiled, and eaten – this left an indelible impression on young Hannibal’s mind – one thing led to another and Hannibal became a Cannibal.

• Here’s an excellent recap of Hannibal’s life and a psychological analysis of his personality.
• Another more clinical viewpoint can be read here.

What sets the Great Anthony Hopkins Apart from other Hollywood stars?

Anthony Hopkins is different from all other Hollywood Actors because he pursues perfection in his chosen profession. He prepares for his roles beforehand. He memorizes his lines and then delivers them first-time-right. He doesn’t believe in rehearsing his act. And… listen in, he keeps his memory in shape by memorizing poetry and plays.

That’s all for now – until I return with some more caricatures 🙂

Caricature/Cartoon Robert Pattinson – The Twilight Saga – Kristen Stewart Prefers Rupert Sanders and Giovanni Agnelli to Jacob and Edward Cullen!

I feel sorry for Pattinson. The guy’s got everything. He’s got money, fame, work, and looks – yet, he has a girlfriend who doesn’t stay put. I don’t know what the lady is looking for. I mean, if she wanted out, why did she return to him after being with Rupert – it was an excellent point of exit. And if she really was in love with him then why didn’t she stay put after Pattinson accepted her apology and they got back together?

Here’s Robert Pattinson – looking exactly the way he must look these days:

I am a woman but I fail to understand the likes of Kristen Stewart. I find it easier to understand men. Men and Women are opposites – men are uncomplicated, women are complicated…all you need to do is look at Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

But then this post isn’t about Kristen Stewart – it also isn’t about the Twilight Saga, it’s about Edward Cullen or the beautiful dazzling vampire who falls in love with a mortal woman who eventually chooses vampirish immortality over spending her life with a mortal werewolf. I don’t know if I ever saw the fire of love and passion between Edward and Bella – I did see it between Jacob and Bella – but then that must be so because I really wanted Bella to choose Jacob and not lust over immortality and/or Edward.

But I digress again. I must talk about Edward Cullen a.k.a. Robert Pattinson, and nobody else.

So here’s a bit about Robert Pattinson:

This young English actor was born in 1986 and he first wowed us with his role of Cedric Diggory in one of the Potter films. Conceptually Cedric was supposed to be a handsome tragic hero, and Pattinson fitted in just right. Then he got to work in the Twilight Saga (a series of movies made upon Stephanie Meyer’s novels by the same name.) As Edward Cullen, Pattinson won the hearts of his young women viewers, and shot up the popularity charts. In 2008/9 People magazine called him one of the Sexiest Men Alive, then Vanity Fair called him The Most Handsome Man in the World. In 2010, TIME Magazine listed him as the 100 Most Influential People in the world and then Forbes Magazine said that he was one of them most powerful celebs – and now he is the richest Celeb in the world. These are just some of the awards that he got for being the sexiest, the most powerful, the richest celebrity ever – there are more, but my keyboard is threatening to go on strike and so I won’t continue with the list.

About this Caricature of Robert Pattinson:

I guess he is beautiful, but then I am blind to his beauty. All I see in his face is a wronged lover, a vampire who doesn’t fit into his community, a guy who’s got enough money to buy the entire merchandise in the men’s section of any designer’s boutique but who prefers to dress almost as shabbily as I do, and to top it all – a guy who really needs to throw Ms. Stewart out of his mind-space…and for good.

Here are some links to bring you up to date.
Their breakup,

The most recent byte on this is that Pattinson has moved out of Kristen’s house – bag, baggage, and dogs!

How to Draw Robert Pattinson’s Caricature?

First things first – get your drawing material together. Wondering what it might be? An HB pencil, an eraser, and a blank piece of paper. Next look at some of his pictures – especially the more recent ones. Let the mood set in. Then attack that sheet of paper and destroy its blankness. How? Here’s the fruit metaphor to help you through.

The fruit metaphor:
Draw a long, vertically stretched rectangle curved a little like a banana. Put his eyes, his nose, and his lips in their right places. Note that it isn’t easy to see his nostrils so avoid drawing them. Check out a couple of side-face pictures of this handsome vampire – you’ll find that both his upper and lower jaws jut out a little more than they should. Also note the way he purses his lips – his lower lip extends a little more than his upper lip. Make sure that your shading takes care of these nuances. Next add the hair and OVER-DO it. It made his head look like the crown of a pineapple with some of the spikes twisted awry.

Finally, his posture. If you’ve watched the Twilight series, you must’ve noted that he walks with a slight slouch and his clothes look like they belong to another era.

That’s it for now…

next in line is the Caricature of a Cannibal…so brace up!

Caricature/Cartoon – Bette Midler as Winifred “Winnie” Sanderson of Hocus Pocus, Brewing a Tea Party Potion

Dear Readers,

I’m honored to present the caricature of The Divine Miss M(idler) as Winifred ‘Winnie’ Sanderson of Hocus Pocus!

Caption in reference to her recent tweet (May 16, 2013) about the IRS Raid on the Tea Party office.

I chose to caricature Bette Midler’s Witch-avatar, because:

• It made my job easier
• It made the drawing more interesting
• She was the only reason I watched Hocus Pocus twice
• On 16th May, she tweeted: “The IRS overtaxing The Tea Party? I never thought I’d say this to the IRS – THANK YOU! THANK YOU FOR DENYING 501C-4 to any group who hates!” – And that my friends, is what led to the small print at the bottom of the image.

Most of you know who I am talking about, but for those who don’t know about this potpourri of talents, here’s a small intro.

Bette Midler is:
An American Actress, comedian, singer, and entrepreneur, and…she’s the master of all these trades!
She was born in 1945 and started her career on Broadway and moved into singing. Midler’s debut album released in 1972 was called The Divine Miss M, and it fetched her, her first Grammy.
Till in her mid-thirties, she hadn’t worked in a motion picture. Her first movie was “Rose“, for which she received a Golden Globe award.Her career details are mind-boggling and this caricaturist will like to excuse herself from the labor required to post them all here. If you are interested, please find Bette Midler’s biography and Career Details here.

My Favorite Bette Midler Movies:

1. Hocus Pocus
2. What Women Want
3. The Stepford Wives
4. Cats and Dogs – The Revenge of Kitty Galore (As the Voice of the Awfully Awesome Kitty Galore)

Some other Important Midler Movies (this obviously isn’t an exhaustive list – and as you may have noticed, I’ve not even mentioned her sitcoms and albums.)

1. The First Wives Club
2. The Rose
3. For the Boys
4. Divine Madness

More…

Bette Midler’s Website
Bette Midler’s Twitter Page 

Pencil Knight – An Addiction that doesn’t Kill…keeps the Caricaturist away.

The caricaturist was gone again.

She wasn’t thawing in a polar bear’s belly, nor was she whisked off to Atlantis; and no, she wasn’t invited by her double in the parallel dimension either.

She was with Pencil Knight.

I won’t say a lot more for the next 36 hours, but here’s a picture of the gentleman I am talking about.

That look in his eyes…oooooh…
That smile on his lips…mmmmm…ah!

Now the question.

In 36 hours you’ll know the right answer. (Hint: All the analytical reader has to do to arrive at the right answer is, find the clues hidden in this post)  In any event, I’ll be posting again…tomorrow 🙂

Adam has got his priorities right – Eve waits in queue while the Devil tries to figure it out!

You know something? We’ve found a solution to the problems of the world!

What solution?!

Here’s a clue.

Adam, Eve, and the iPad (Pen and Ink Drawing - Original Size: 12" x 12")

And I am not exaggerating…no Sir, I am not.

• When I go for my morning walk, I often see this couple (if you could call them that) walk together in complete silence – both plugged into their respective iPods.
• When I visit restaurants, I see pretty girls batting their eyelashes, patting their hair in place, fixing their make-up; all so that they could catch the attention of their boy-friends, who appear to be happily lost in their iPhones or iPads!
• And now, they tell me that Apple has reported that they’ve sold 3 Million iPads ever since they launched it on March 16th (and it’s not even two weeks since!) Whoa! I guess many more Eves would be playing second fiddle to the iPad – right?

In my opinion, if every man on earth could be given an iPad, we should be able to tackle the population problem, which is the root of all our other problems! You get my drift?

(Women? They buy iPads for sure, but they’ve got their priorities mixed up – I mean why must I want to cook dinner and not play a game on my iPad? Go figure!)

Caricature/Cartoon – Harry Potter the Boy who Lived and Changed the World of Fiction!

Presenting the caricature of Daniel Radcliffe as the Harry Potter I liked. I don’t think that Harry Potter needs an introduction. We all know who he is. The boy wizard, the boy who lived, the wizard who defeated Lord Voldemort…but wait a minute.

Who’s Lord Voldemort?

1. An avatar of Osama Bin Laden
2. A reincarnation of Adolf Hitler
3. Eidi Amin in disguise
4. All of the above.

In the estimation of the witches and the wizards of the world, he is all of the above and more.

But wait. We are losing our focus here. This post is about the famous Harry Potter and not about the infamous Tom Marvolo Riddle or Lord Voldemort. So here’s Harry’s Caricature 🙂

Ah... I knew that the world will never have enough of me! They need Pottermore! What was that spell... Hermione? Oh...I remember now - Potterdom Morem!

About Harry Potter

So let us talk about Harry now.

Harry Potter, the character who took the world of fiction by a storm, was conceived in a train compartment. Yes he was. His literary mom JK Rowling (or Joanne Kathleen Rowling), who was fighting off penury with some financial help from the Government, thought him up while traveling in a train. This British lady envisaged a character that took everyone including its creator by surprise. She imagined an orphan boy with magical powers, who despite his shortcomings (weak eyesight, small stature, young age, average grades, mediocre looks…and so on) won his reader’s hearts.

Harry’s celebrated success as an icon makes me wonder whether we actually want our heroes not to be too heroic, because heroism makes them different from us?

I should fall off my chair upon hearing that you haven’t ready even one of the seven books…and so I will not add a Spoiler warning here.

Without the archaic further ado, let me begin with the theme or the core premise of the HP series:

The Core Premise of Harry Potter’s Wizarding World

If you haven’t read any of the HP books, you’ll find it difficult to visualize the interactions of the magical world and the human world, because they are interwoven. In fact, the wizarding world exists alongside the normal world, and the core premise is that this overlap is kept carefully hidden from the muggles (the non-magical beings,) so a lot of people amongst us might be witches and wizards; in fact, I could be a witch for all you know.

Harry Potter – A Quick Biography of a Fictional Character

The first book introduces Harry as a wailing infant (I am not sure about the wailing part – but it’s reasonable to assume that any infant would begin to wail when discovered by the likes of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. He spents the first decade of his life in the human or the muggle world, but later pursues his education in magic at the Center of all magical learning, Hogwarts. Most of his adventures are set in Hogwarts however, Harry is also found in various other magical places, for example the burrow where the Weasley’s live and where Harry is fawned upon by Mrs. Weasley, who is his best friend Ron‘s Mom.

Harry prefers Hogwarts to Privet Drive – as it’s at Hogwarts that he makes his first friends, and learns the truth about his parents. In the first book, “The Philosophers/Sorcerer’s Stone,” Harry first meets Lord Voldemort, his arch-rival, the villain, the sicko who killed Harry’s parents with an unforgivable curse, and who now wants to kill Harry. Why? Because his curse couldn’t kill Harry when he was a one year old infant as his mother died to save him.

The remaining 6 books contain Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts, at the burrow, and elsewhere. Each book ends with a fight between Harry and Voldemort, who wants to kill Harry and use his blood to return to power. The last book, however, kills Voldemort and shows that Harry is leading a normal life with his wizard wife and kids.

About JK Rowling

JK Rowling – Love, Hate, Criticism, & Jealousy

JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter is possibly one of the richest women in the world. Her rags to riches saga has made many writers wonder whether they too have that x-factor in them. She’s spawned all kinds of feelings among people. Harry Potter fans hang on every word that falls off her lips (or her pen,) while her critics attempt to establish how staid and prosaic her writing is. With jealous unsuccessful authors sitting on one end of spectrum and with starry-eyed readers on the other, Rowling is comfortably settled with Millions (perhaps, Billions) of Dollars. I think she deserves everyone of those Dollars. She’s got an extremely powerful imagination, and she knows how to tell a story – these are the two things that matter the most. You can write the most decorative prose, use the most vivid metaphors, and churn out pages after pages of content – but if your content doesn’t tell a story that sets the reader’s imagination on fire…you won’t sell.

But then I am not a literary critic, so you can toss the above assertion out of the window, and move on 🙂

JK Rowling – A Short Biopic!

Here’s a quick biographical sketch of JK Rowling.

Joanne (who later acquired the pen-name JK Rowling) was born on July 31 1965, in England. She had begun to write early (as it happens with most writers, artists, singers…who make it big. They start real young. We can’t say the same about the surgeons and engineers; however, the politicians, I hear begin to play politics as embryos!) and the first story that she wrote was about a Rabbit called Rabbit. Thankfully, she decided to call the boy who lived, Harry; instead of calling him “a boy called boy” and we shall remain eternally grateful to her for it.

Harry had first introduced himself to her in 1990, and it was then that she had begun the write the first book. However, one thing led to another, and Rowling saw the darkest time of her life in the next four years. Her marriage had failed, her mom died, and she was on welfare (also known as Benefits, dole…etc.) In 1995, she finished the manuscript for the first HP book, but alas, what happens the every eventually successful author happened to her too. Her agents submitted the manuscript to 12 publishers and they all gave it thumbs-down (Possibly for the very same reasons that those green-eyed critics of hers use to malign her.) But then Rowling’s stars found that once-in-a-million-years alignment, and she was given a measly sum as an advance by Bloomsbury. (Now that should teach me not to crinkle my nose and wrinkle my eyebrows at the peanuts that I am offered for my work – but did I ever tell you that I never enjoyed the process of learning?)

Well…I guess I am done with the most interesting part. A talented person needs just one success, and with that first book, Rowling got hers. She had the talent to weave stories and build characters, places, and events, and so every new book that she published became a bigger hit than the previous one.

You know the rest – right? If you don’t, then you should check out this link at Wikipedia:

Here are the 7 books in the Harry Potter Series (Source: hp-lexicon.org)

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s in the US) Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

More of Potter at Pottermore?

Right now the world is waiting for PotterMore!

What is Pottermore?

Well, I think that it is an Online Community RPG (Role-playing Game.) Why? Read my reasons here.

Why Pottermore?

Frankly, I believe that Warner Bros., couldn’t afford the dampening of interest around Harry Potter. They still have one last movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II) to profit from and they have a lot of merchandize sales to make. Because they need to keep the hype alive, and because they want the Potter fans to be clamoring for something again, they’ve decided to launch PotterMore! Look at the hoopla around it. Don’t you think that we’ve gone back into that lost era of new HP launches? Everyone’s talking about Pottermore – aren’t they?

But then, for us Potter fans, that doesn’t change a thing – does it?

Before I end this post, here are some popular Potter Fan Sites:

• MuggleNet
• The Leaky Cauldron
• Harry Potter Lexicon
• Harry Potter Wiki
• Harry Potter Fan Zone
• Accio Potter

Alohamora Pottermore!
(Find the list of spells here.)

POTTERMORE UPDATE – NEWS!:

About an hour ago, Pottermore.com was launched with a video of JK Rowling talking about Pottermore being an online reading experience for the Potter-fans. The books will also be relaunched as e-Books. The Potter fans will also be re-building the same stories alongside. Rowling also said that she’d be contributing the info that she had been hoarding for her readers…

All-in-all, a disappointing launch for me – but I guess, there are other more loyal fans who appear to be very happy with it.

Let us wait and watch…once again.

Preparing for the Launch of PotterMore – Coming up today…More on Potter!

Harry’s caricature (updated) has been waiting in the queue for a long-long time. First it was shoved out of the line by William and Kate who had just got married and had to be given preferential caricature-treatment. Then, when Harry’s caricature somehow wriggled its way back, that bearded terrorist Osama bin Laden happened to regretfully leave his stash of pornography and women behind, making it impossible for me not to caricature Osama. Next, I got caught in the cartoon making non-billable business, and forgot all about dear Harry until I read about PotterMore.

What is PotterMore?

Recently, JK Rowling launched a new website called, PotterMore. This website displays two owls who look at you owlishly, making you wonder what PotterMore might be. When you click any of the owls, you are directed to a Youtube page, which shows a countdown to a moment on Thursday (that’s tomorrow.)

Now, according to my keen sense of reason, PotterMore can be nothing but an online community sort of roleplaying game, for which they’d attempt to create an Online Hogwarts (along with other magical places, for instance the 12 Grimmauld place, the burrow, and so on!) The logic behind my deduction is simple…it’s called “immersion”. On an immersion continuum, books score the lowest, movies are somewhere in the middle, and roleplaying games score the highest. As they’ve called it Potter”MORE”, I think the “More” has to do with an online game community.

Let us wait and watch…the countdown ends tomorrow – but your wait for Harry Potter‘s Caricature ends sometime today!

(It has ended. View Harry Potter’s Caricature here.)

A Question about PotterMore:

The Youtube page says, “The Owls are gathering”.

Guess who are actually gathering? Potter Fans (yours truly included)!
The inference? Potter Fans are owls!

Can you tell why the inference is fallacious?

(If you can, do leave a comment. It will help dispel the general notion, which in my opinion is incorrect, that artists can’t think logically.)

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/Cartoon – Julius Caesar – The Roman General and Cleopatra’s first Roman Paramour!

Julius Caesar was born on the thirteenth of July, 100 BC – just about 2110 years ago. You know him as the guy from Shakespeare’s drama Julius Caesar, in which he dramatically cries out “et tu Brute!” before he dies; as the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra’s Roman paramour; and as the untiring pursuer of the fearless Gauls in the famous Asterix comics.

Here’s Julius Caesar with his Laurel Wreath and two butterflies auditing the quality of the wreath.

They use only the most tender leaves for making his wreath.

A Short Biography of Julius Caesar

Caesar was born in a noble but poor family. His wasn’t a typical rags-to-riches saga, but he did have a tough life. At 16 he was heading his family, at 17 he became the high priest of Jupiter for which he had to break off his engagement and get married to another girl from a noble family; and then before he turned 21, he was forced to go into hiding because Sulla, the then dictator of Rome was weeding out the potential threats. Caesar’s mom’s family had to pull some strings to get him a pardon – after which Caesar joined the army.Only when Sulla died, Caesar returned to Rome.

Caesar came back poor and had to stay in a lower-class neighborhood (slums?) As he still had to put food on his rickety table, he decided to become a lawyer. One thing led to another (as it always does in stories that become too long to tell,) and in 60 BC he won the election and became a consul (whatever that means – if you know, please feel free to enlighten me.)

Caesar’s Personal Life

Caesar’s first wife Cornelia died in 69 BC. He then married Pompeia. She was suspected of having an affair with a guy who had a really complex name. the chauvinist Caesar didn’t approve of it at all – “Caesar’s wife should be above all suspicion,” he said in Roman – and divorced Pompeia. About 10 years later, he married Calpurnia to further his political career. Eventually, he discovered Cleopatra and he had an extra-marital affair with her.

Julius Caesar and Cleopatra

Cleopatra the ruler of Egypt met Caesar when she was already onto her second husband (who was also her younger brother) Ptolemy 14th!
(Wow! Those guys were super-creative when it came to naming their children…it must have something to do with the royal inbreeding program followed by the Egyptian royalty.)

Nevertheless, she decked herself up in a rug and met Caesar and they went for a long cruise on Nile – a lot of interesting things might’ve happened between them and some say that Cleopatra conceived Caesarion, their son, while they were bobbing up and down on the Nile. Though they say that J and C were crazy about each other, I’d say that Cleo was just trying to get some political mileage out of her relationship with Julius – or why would she land in Mark Antony’s lap the moment Caesar cried “Et tu Brutus”?

If you are completely nuts and you want to read more about JC and Cleo’s mushy love-life, check out the following two links:

1. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3329
2. http://www.suite101.com/content/julius-caesar-and-cleopatra-a224138

Caesar’s Relationship with the Gauls

Caesar’s relationship with the Gauls could be described as troubled at best (source: Asterix Comics:)) He had brought the whole Gaul under his control and converted it into Roman territory, save one tiny little village, where Asterix and Obelix lived. His army was scared of the two Gauls, because they had the magic potion that Druid Getafix used to fix for them (and as a child, Obelix had fallen into a cauldron of the magic potion – I hope that the potion had cooled down when he fell into it.)

Once again, to cut a long story short – you need to pick an Asterix comic to understand it completely…or you might want to get in touch with Albert Uderzo, who in my opinion, is the best comic book illustrator and cartoonist in this world.

Caesar’s Assassination

Caesar’s popularity and his re-election as the dictator of Rome for the third time in succession led to a strong wave of jealousy among the senators. About 40 senators stabbed him to death in the Theater of Pompei. With his death, the Roman Republic died to give way to an empire, with Caesar’s adopted son Octavian becoming the emperor.

I guess this is all that I want to tell you about Caesar…and his butterflies.

Julius Caesar Quotes

There two important quotes that should be mentioned here.

Et tu brute! : This phrase literally means, “You too Brutus!” You should exclaim “Et tu brute” when someone you trust cheats on you. For instance, if your dog bites you. This phrase should never be used when your politicians cheat you, because you’d be a fool to trust your politicians.

Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion: This phrase means, people who are connected to people who have an image to cultivate, should not have ghosts in their cupboards. Example:? (Can you see me scratching my head…I too would need a laurel wreath soon.) Please feel free to add an example to the comments section:)

Caricature/Cartoon – Sherlock Holmes – The Greatest Fictional Detective Ever!

Sherlock Holmes, the character was born in  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s imagination. ACD was a Scottish author and doctor. The world first made acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes in Doyle’s first story, “A Study in Scarlet.” Sherlock Holmes was actively solving crimes in London, from 1880 to 1914.

Here’s the caricature of Sidney Paget‘s rendition of Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero, Sherlock Holmes.

You, Sir, have been scampering through the drains of London. You have arrived at 221B Baker Street by climbing through the window of Watson’s bathroom. You are here to consult me on a matter that concerns you deeply.

Sherlock Holmes – A Biography

He was born on January 06, 1854 (the date and the year of his birth have been distilled from  different stories.) This makes Holmes a Capricorn, and from whatever I’ve gathered of sun-signs, his personality seems to match the stereotypical Capricorn. Thus, it’s rather obvious that Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock’s literal father, was deeply influenced by Linda Goodman who was born in 1925. It’s once again obvious from this, that Doyle knew how to travel through time and this is how he could meet Ms. Goodman…(or is my reasoning fallacious, Mr. ‘Olmes?)

Did Sherlock Holmes have a family?
Well. Mr. Doyle refrained from staining the personality of his objective, no-nonsense hero by talking about his family. Whether or not he had parents can’t be deduced from the stories (so we’ve got to go by our good old common-sense) but that he had a brother is evident. His brother Mycroft Holmes, according to Sherlock, was equally gifted but he didn’t bother honing his skills up. If he had bothered, we would’ve read Mycroft Holmes mysteries instead.

Did Sherlock Holmes ever fall in love?
He probably did, with Irene Adler, “the woman” who managed to outsmart  our detective genius. Otherwise, Sherlock Holmes was interested in women only when they brought him his cases. 100 years on…does it tell us that Holmes was gay?

Sherlock Holmes’ Psychology

Quoting myself…

I’ve begun to believe that if a perfectly normal person visited a psychologist, he’d come off that couch believing he had at least three major and one minor psychological ailment. Look around. Everyone gets depressed once in a while and the durations vary.

One of my aunts would get very-very angry, throw things around, and then shut herself up in her room shunning food for the entire day, until everyone grew concerned and until she had everybody’s attention. Then she would be the happiest person in the whole house. In those days, you’d call such people temperamental and let them be themselves. The lady spent a perfectly normal life, reared a son, became a grand-mother, and she now continues to harass her grand-daughter-in-laws(?) She’s 82 now, quite healthy, and would live for another 10 years! Her cool-headed practical husband, on the other hand, left for his other-worldly abode twenty years ago! Had she been taken to a psychologist, she’d be diagnosed with some or the other disorder, and she’d possibly have preceded her husband to that other world, worrying why the heck wasn’t she born normal!

But I stray from the point.

The psychologists weren’t happy analyzing and branding real people, and so they decided to determine what was wrong with Sherlock Holmes. Something has to be wrong with everyone whose a celebrity…right? I mean what could be a better way to belittle their achievements? Check out the list of celebs with syndromes here.  It makes me wonder whether to become a celebrity you need to buy yourself a syndrome.
So here’s what Holmes was diagnosed with:

Quoting from Wikipedia:
Holmes may have Asperger’s syndrome based on his intense attention to details, lack of interest in friends or a social life and tendency to speak in long monologues.

(I think that I have Asperger’s too… and all this while I thought it was so because I was an introvert! Poor me…never knowing…struggling through my miserable life without knowing what actually is wrong with me!) Also note that “a severe family trauma” could be the reason why he never trusted women. If only Holmes were real…and could defend himself.

Sherlock Holmes – Original Drawings

If I asked you to tell me whether Sherlock Holmes had a nose that was a) spherical b)Hawk-like c)Bulbous d)Snub, then chances are good that you’ll select (b) as the correct option. We have Sidney Paget to thank for visualizing and drawing Sherlock Holmes with such consistency that  even photography may fail to achieve. The image that I always carry in my head is not the one that is seen in the Sherlock Holmes movies or TV Shows, but those that are there on the pages of that hefty volume, which despite many readings, remains one of my favorite books!

My caricature of Mr. Holmes takes after Sidney Paget’s visualization.

View the Original Holmes Drawings here.

Dr. John H. Watson

Dr. Watson was Holmes’ flat-mate and friend, and he was the one who compiled and narrated his adventures. However, Holmes believed that Watson were a romantic and so he embellished the truth thus reducing its objectivity. In the stories that involve young and pretty women, Watson could be seen commiserating with them and speaking to them tenderly, much to the chagrin of Mr. Ever-grumpy Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes in Popular Culture

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 stories around Sherlock Holmes.
The novels are as follows:
* A Study in Scarlet – the first work in which Holmes appeared – it was published in 1887
* The Sign of the Four – 1890
* The Hound of the Baskervilles – published as a serial in 1901-02
* The Valley of Fear – published as a serial in 1914-15
(Source: Wikipedia)

Professor Moriarty – the Master Villain in the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries

It’s said that Doyle created Professor Moriarty so that he could “kill” Holmes (possibly because he wanted to write something different.) He is considered (by Holmes himself) a man his equal in mind, yet someone who had turned his phenomenal powers towards evil. In the Final Solution, Holmes and Moriarty both die, yet the public forced Doyle to bring him back, which he did through the Hounds of Baskervilles set in an earlier time. The public still wasn’t happy – they wanted Holmes to be alive and well. Finally Doyle gave in and Holmes was resurrected. Moriarity had exceptional mathematical abilities…imagine that!

Other Characters in the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries:

• Baker Street Irregulars
• Inspector Lestrade
• Mrs. Hudson – the Landlady
• Inspector Stanley Hopkins

Free Downloads – Sherlock Holmes Mysteries

The Books by Arthur Conan Doyle are now in the Public Domain. You can download them from the Project Gutenberg site here.

And…if you are wondering who are the actors who’ve played the part of Sherlock Holmes in TV serials and movies…find your list here.