Mount Rushmore Art – Illustrating what the Borglums Sculpted.

Mount Rushmore is an odd looking mountain. It’s got four presidential heads so it reminds me of Lord Brahma; it also makes me wonder why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln made it there while the other Presidents didn’t.  This isn’t the only question that makes me itch for an answer. I am also curious why people like to see their faces on the mountain.

My research reveals that even Alfredl E. Neuman (the mascot of MAD magazine) has appeared as the fifth face on Mount Rushmore. I expect others to give in to human frailties, but I had always looked up to him – and frankly, never expected this from him. I guess it was the editor of the magazine who decided the cover should show the rocky-face of this funny guy with a missing tooth smiling upon the perfect American family and Alfred had no say in the matter.

As was the case with these four Business-Stars from Arkansas 🙂 I had done this artwork for the Jan-Feb 2015 issue of the TBP magazine.  From left to right they are:

1. Al Bell
2. Stephen L. LaFrance Sr.
3. Donald E. “Buddy” Wray
4. Millie Ward

 

Now a little about this grand mountain 🙂

Mount Rushmore – Historical Facts:

• The commissioning of Mount Rushmore National Memorial was authorized on March 3, 1925.
• President Coolidge, then President of the United States wanted that two Republicans and one Democrat should accompany George Washington’s face on the mountain.
• The sculpting began in 1927 and ended in 1941. It was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln Borglum. The initial rough sculpting was done using dynamite.
• At first, they tried sculpting Thomas Jefferson’s face on George Washington’s right, but the stone there wasn’t good, so they moved the face to Washington’s left.

Mount Rushmore Faces:

The four faces are:

•  George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Abraham Lincoln

This caricaturist has caricatured two of the four faces on the monument:

1.  George Washington

President George Washington – Actual size: 8 inches by 10 inches.

 

and

2. Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln – Actual Size at 300 dpi: 12 inches by 12 inches (the above image is cropped on the sides.)

Creating the Mount Rushmore Artwork:

Honestly, it was a challenging assignment. As a portrait/caricature-artist, when you paint faces, you intuitively dip your brush (even your digital brush) into the right colors. The texture you are looking for is skin (for portraits) and skin-nish (for caricatures) and because you’ve painted so many, you know where you are going with it. In this artwork, I had to create the four likenesses in the color and texture of stone. The details had to go, if the Mount Rushmore look were to be maintained. That and everything else, including rest of the stony mountain, the debris left from the dynamiting…was a totally new experience and a challenge that left me with a lot of new learning.

I am working on another challenge right now – and will tell you about it when I can! Until then, explore my thoughts on the Creativity Carnival and if you think you’d like to participate in it at some point in time, leave your footprints behind and follow this blog, so that the first event pops up into your Reader this Friday 🙂

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The Fourth of July – A Happy Time for a Serious Introspection.

A Very Happy Fourth of July to my visitors from the United States.

 

“My dream is of a place and time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” – Abraham Lincoln

Today, Lincoln’s words ring truer than ever. While Americans celebrate the 257th birthday of the United States – there are still things that must change, and some that must not. As Americans reinterpret their freedoms, new forms of intolerances are born. As Americans take a step forward toward equality of various kinds, individual freedoms are trampled upon. As Americans open their hearts and accept diversity, they let gender-inequality thrive in the land of freedom and opportunities.

The eagle looks skywards and asks – Is this the right direction?

Happy Fourth of July to everyone who loves what America has always stood for – hope, freedom, and opportunity.

The Caricaturist’s Favorites and the Blame Game!

Ah! I now have enough caricatures on this blog to list my favorites. I know I know…Lady Gaga hasn’t yet made an appearance here, nor has the much awaited Shakespeare, but then, if you don’t leave me a clue to your favorites, how do you expect me to sketch their caricatures and cartoons? I am not the one to be blamed for the absence of your favorites – YOU ARE!

Okay – now I am done with venting my feelings of the angry kind. Hmm…I am feeling better already.

So among the caricatures that I’ve posted so far, here are my top five favorites.

• Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow (My first…caricature, of course),
• Michelle Obama the First Lady of the US with her heart-winning smile,
• Morgan Freeman as Detective Alex Cross,
• Brad Pitt as Achilles on the lookout for heel-guards, andddd……..
• Abraham Lincoln the sixteen President of the United States – the free-est country in the world!

So, let us come back to the blame game. The data tells me that you were here – but then, you leave no sign for me to interpret, no clue to your favorite celebs/personalities, not even a short motivational message – My dear visitor – speak up:)

I stop here as gastronomical issues are becoming more important with each passing minute. But hear up, visitor o’mine…my sketch pen and paper need to hear from you!

Caricature/Sketch – Abraham Lincoln – The US President who Led the US through the Civil War.

What is he thinking?

Abraham Lincoln (Abe Lincoln) was the sixteenth President of the US.

Personal Information:

Lincoln was born a farmer’s son in Kentucky, US. When he was just nine, his mother died. Lincoln was mostly self-educated. He married Mary Todd and had five sons, of which only one survived into adulthood. Now the Lincoln lineage is extinct.

Political Journey:

Lincoln entered politics early, at the age of 23, but it was in 1860 that he got elected as the 16th President of the US. The very next year, the American Civil War erupted with 11 slave states declaring that they wanted to separate from the US. These states were against the abolition of slavery, and Lincoln’s election campaign clearly defined his stance as anti-slavery. Lincoln is known for leading the US through the Civil War and ending slavery.

Five years after becoming the president of the US, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

Some Popular Lincoln Quotes:

• Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
• Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
• I can make more generals, but horses cost money.
• In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
• The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
• If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
• You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Find more Lincoln Quotes at the following links.

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin109276.html
• http://thinkexist.com/quotes/abraham_lincoln/
• http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Abraham_Lincoln

Caricatures of Abraham Lincoln & Shakespeare, Sandra Bullock’s Marriage, and a Busy Schedule!

About the Caricatures of Abraham Lincoln and Shakespeare

I’ve begun work on Abraham Lincoln’s caricature and I hope he won’t frown at it from his comfortable den in heaven when he looks at it. I’ve also begun studying some representations of Shakespeare. I don’t know how much likeness they bear to the great writer, but as photography wasn’t as keenly pursued in his time as it is now, these representations however ridiculous they might seem, will have to do.

About Ms. Sandra Bullock’s Marriage in the danger of being Tattooed-out!

I think I know the reason behind Mr. Jesse James’ indiscretion, which has rocked his marriage with Ms. Bullock. I guess Ms. Bullock’s husband was inspired by this caricature of the tattooed and the pierced one, and he decided to sample a tattooed beauty. I guess Ms. Bullock was busy collecting her numerous awards, and so she never had the time to get herself tattooed or Mr. Jesse James wouldn’t have experienced the need to check out the beauty of tattoos outside his marriage.

About my Busy Schedule

Hah! A caricaturist busy? Doing what? Well…remember that this caricaturist doesn’t earn through her caricatures, so she has to work some more to put bread on the table and to put chicken in her dog’s bowl! This week’s going to be real busy. Among other things, I plan to add two caricatures to your favorite caricature blog and a new chapter (the 7th) to the knolbook on How to Draw Caricatures – “Evolution of a Caricaturist.”

So, stay tuned…and Spread the Smile!

A Break from Hollywood – The Caricaturist travels into the Past!

I believe it’s time for me to take a break…from Hollywood!

The next few caricatures shall be drawn from history:-)

Could you, my dear visitors, help me by listing the top 5 historical figures that come to your mind? Please add your list to the comments section of this post.

Here’s the list that I came up with:
1. Alexander the Great
2. Napoleon Bonaparte
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. Cleopatra
5. Leonardo da Vinci

I’ll be grateful for your inputs on this, so even if you are chance visitor who landed on this page through a search, please stop and add your top five. Next, click the “Subscribe and Get Caricatures in your email” link at the top right of the sidebar:-) I could be drawing caricatures from your list, and it would be really nice if I could share it with you.

All the best – I am glad you visited, and I hope you will return.

Warm Regards,
Shafali

Update: March 19, 2010 – First Lot of Historical Caricatures – Selected from those Suggested by You.

By Viv: (Zen & The Art of Tightrope Walking)

• Shakespeare
• Julius Caesar

By Don Mills: (The Problem with Young People Today is…)

• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Shakespeare

Add your list of the top five historical figures to see their caricatures on this blog.

Cool Caricaturist – Court Jones!

Court Jones’ Caricatures are bold and they push the boundaries of exaggeration beyond the edge of the cliff! He is a distortionist who manages to remain a caricaturist, making his creations swing between fun and ridicule!

Here are some links you should click to appreciate my eulogy.

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal
3. Michael Jackson
4. Barack Obama
5. Sylvester Stallone

And the best of all is the verbal-visual caricature of Court Jones himself. While you are at this link, you can also browse through the list of his awards (it’s a long one!)

Find his gallery at: http://www.courtjones.com/my_sketchbook.html