Caricature – A Happy Gypsy: Pen and Ink Work.

When I am most anxious, I take refuge in drawing. It helps reduce anxiety, and to some extent, mental anguish and sadness too. However, the output of art created when you are anxious, comes out looking pretty random. Sometimes, I get a glimpse of hell in the soul of a sinner and I draw that; at other times, I see light at the end of the tunnel  and I draw a happy image.

The following pen and ink caricature of a happy gypsy man happened because I had to wait in an office. It helped me fill my empty minutes that could’ve come-together, gathered force, and spiraled into a twister capable of plunging me into an ocean of anxiety. Simply speaking, this gypsy guy’s laughter helped me stay happy.

Stay Happy!

I’ll publish the darker ones too…but only after I am sure that looking at them will not make me anxious…for now, it’s the gypsy guy.

And he reminds me of another gypsy…Sir Isaac Newton. More on that later.

Meanwhile, all iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch owners can become caricaturists by tapping/clicking here and downloading the Free Caricature Maker App Toonsie Roll on the App Store.

Toonsie Roll – Toon ’em All!

 

 

 

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Shafali Hitler shares Some More SEO Humor!

You may have read the SEO Humor Post that I made a while ago. While writing that post, I never thought that I’d be inspired to write another, so shortly after my first attempt at finding humor in the keywords that appear in this blog’s list.

But then what has to happen does. We can’t stop it, can we? Just like we can’t stop global warming, aging, corruption…or on the brighter side, just the way we can’t put a stop to gold-digging, cuckolding, pick-pocketing etc.; we can’t stop posts from rolling out of absurd ideas.

So here’s what I found in the treasure-chest this morning.

Search Term 1: world’s funniest drawings

My dear searcher, you reached the wrong place, didn’t you? I mean, my caricatures border on the funny – but they never go the whole way. They keep twiddling their thumbs as they stand nervously at the edge of the cliff, awash with fear – never gathering the courage to jump into the shrieking swirling waters of funny-ness. So for all the future searchers of world’s funniest drawings, I recommend that they click the “Cool Caricaturists” link on this blog, or resume their search elsewhere without wasting another minute.

Search Term 2: drawings of ugly women

What?!
Aren’t you searching for something that doesn’t exist? I mean, you could find God if you tried hard enough …but impossible to find a woman who’s ugly. If you don’t believe me, organize a random poll and ask women to rate themselves as ugly or beautiful – and check the results!

We caricaturists could make ugly caricatures of women, but women themselves are beautiful. It’s the men-folk who have a large sub-set called “ugly men”. So My Dear Sir (I don’t know why but I feel confident that this search term was born in a man’s mind,) please don’t go looking for ugly women. You are wasting your precious time on an impossible quest. Look for beautiful, pretty, lovely, wonderful, fantastic, fabulous, super, great, glamorous women instead…and you’ll be swamped!

Search Term 3: queen elizabeth’s mom princess elizabeth

I googled that information for you, dear searcher…and when I read the first line on this link, felt so optimistic that I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog.

Why?

Well, here’s why. Queen Elizabeth II’s mom, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was born in 1900 and she lived to a ripe old age (and I mean really truly completely ripe) of 102 years! Wow! But believe it or not Princess Alice is going to beat Queen Elizabeth Bowes Lyon’s record!

If you haven’t seen Queen Elizabeth II’s caricature on this blog, click here.

Search Term 4: Salvador Dali’s Eyebrows

Salvador Dali’s Eyebrows?!
Are you sure that you want to look at his eyebrows and not his mustaches?!
I think you should be looking at his mustaches – they are quite a pair. Here’s Salvador Dali’s Caricature – it’ll help you appreciate why this search made me wonder whether the searcher really knew was good for him.

Search Term 5: i hate my job+cartoon

Oh…oh. I am so sorry. You really hate your job? Do you? And I agree, you do become a cartoon when you begin to hate your job. In fact, you have to be Dilbert to love your work…right? In this horrible horrible world of today, who doesn’t want to be stuck inside a cartoon strip, free from the worries of loan-repayments and medical insurance premiums.

Search Term 6: half old woman half princess cartoon

You make a good point there. I think what you should be looking for is a cartoon of an old woman OR of a princess. In her mind, every old woman is a princess that she couldn’t be in real life (except of course, those anachronisms who even in this modern world stick to being Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses) and, every princess – from the day she’s born becomes an old woman – because she can’t do those little things that make life so much fun…because they have to corset not just their bodies but their emotions as well.

Search Term 7: unhygienic practices cartoons

Eeeyuck!
You mean – nose-picking, @$$-scratching, ever-spitting, not-flushing…etc. etc. etc. kind of cartoons??!!
But why…and where’s the humor?

Oh…I get it. Hee hee hee!

Search Terms 8a,b,c,d: indian necked men/handsome indian naked men/indian ugly man

I am curious. Who are you dear searcher…and what exactly are you looking for. It’s clear that you want to look at an Indian Man but an indian “necked” man? What’s an Indian neck? Are you looking for a Caucasian male who’s had a neck transplant so that his neck looked Indian…or an Indian who has retained his Indian neck or had got a new neck…in any of those great shades of Indian browns?

Oh…oh. it was a typo…right? I looked at the second term and it dawned upon me that you are looking for Indian men au-naturel – and handsome ones too. Now you really need to check out my first post on SEO-matters of importance here. You may not succeed in your search, my friend of either gender.

But what’s that third term? You needed to do a Google search for that? Really? I mean all you had to do was switch channels and watch some political news!

Search Term 9: art from ajit ninan

Thanks for the reminder. I shall make the promised post about the wonderful Ajit Ninan soon:)

Search Term 10: SHAFALI HITLER!!!

No. I am not. I will not take that insult, dear Sir or Ma’am or Bot! I am, and shall remain Shafali the Artist, Shafali the Caricaturist, Shafali the Egoist. Shafali Hitler is one title that I am not going to take lying down. Beware, or I’ll let Hitler the Satan loose!

A Personal Post – More Caricatures and Some Plans.

Very Important Note!

This post will not interest the occasional visitor who is here looking for “Sachin with Ball(?) like the World Cup“, “Lady Gaga’s implants“, “Oozzie“, “hitler was a paid hollywood actor in real life“, “the divinci guy“, or
“mafia cartoon mouse“! If you are looking for something specific, use the search button on the right sidebar, or visit the gallery.

This post will also not interest the visitors, who are here looking for “funny sex caricatures” or who wish to figure out “how to draw a wine glass“. In fact, there’s nothing on this blog that’ll help you with what you need. The closest that I’ve ever got to drawing a funny caricature of the kind you’d like, is Pamela Anderson’s caricature here.

And finally, if you are here looking for “posthumously famous artists“, visit in another three-decades 🙂 By that time I should most definitely be dead and thus, famous!

Now, having put you all on the right track, I return to my post.

The Upcoming Caricatures

The upcoming caricatures are:

• the surreal artist who created surreal artwork,
• the dracula who loved being dead, and
• the little great HP!

The New Caricature Hitlist

I am also in the process of preparing my new hi5 hitlist. All spaces are currently vacant! I am looking for suitable candidates to fill the positions and your recommendations are welcome.

The Story-in-the-Caricature Blog Carnival

I have plans of bringing the Story in the Caricature Blog Carnival back. The caricature for the April Carnival is almost ready – and it will be up soon:)

Another Book?!!

I am thinking of writing another book…a smaller one, perhaps, which addresses the problem areas in drawing portraits, caricatures, and cartoons. If you are an artist – write to me about what you’d see included in it:)
(Read “Evolution of a Caricaturist – A book on How to Draw Caricatures” here.)

Guess that’s all. Soon I shall return with a brand-new caricature!

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?

The Final Chapter of the Book “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” has been Written!

Dear Readers: Please note that the KNOL Platform stopped functioning in 2012, so the following links won’t work. An enriched and expanded “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures” is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon. It has about 150 pages, more than 70 illustrations, and discusses about 3 dozen celebrity faces. The Content Outline of Evolution of a Caricaturist can be downloaded as a FREE pdf here.

Hello Readers and Visitors,

I’ve posted the final chapter of the book, “The Evolution of a Caricaturist“. This chapter is titled, “The Final Note – Weaving a Story around your Caricature,” and it’s about increasing the “stickiness” of your caricature by adding a visual story to it.

With this chapter, the book ends on Knol. As I mentioned earlier, I would love to get it published through the print route and I’ve been trying to figure out how. I’ve been weighing the option of self-publishing but I am not sure if I should go for it…especially as there’ve been a couple of inquiries from some cybernetic well-wishers. I’m going to swim along with the current and so if you want to send any inquiries/information, or even good wishes my way – you are welcome!

I have plans of including a lot of other stuff in the printed/formally published version, but I believe that if you want to truly develop the ability to caricature, the online version of it should be sufficient to put you on the fast track.

 

Dear Readers: Please note that the KNOL Platform stopped functioning in 2012, so the following links won’t work. An enriched and expanded “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures” is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon. ‘

It has about 150 pages, more than 70 illustrations, and discusses about 3 dozen celebrity faces. The Content Outline of Evolution of a Caricaturist can be downloaded as a FREE pdf here.

The Evolution of a Caricaturist

• Chapter 1 – How to Draw Caricatures – Getting Down to the Basics
• Chapter 2 – Why Caricaturists Love Celebrities?
• Chapter 3 – The Human Face – Observing it from the Caricaturist’s Perspective
  
• Chapter 4 – The Psychology of Face Recognition – The Caricaturist’s Secret Weapon!
• Chapter 5 – Caricaturing the Shape of the Face
• Chapter 6 – Caricaturing the Eyes
• Chapter 7 – Caricaturing the Brows and the Brow-ridge
• Chapter 8 – Caricaturing the Lips and the Mouth
• Chapter 9 – Caricaturing the Forehead, the Hairline, and the Hair
• Chapter 10 – Caricaturing the Ears
• Chapter 11 – Caricaturing the Nose
• Chapter 12 – The Final Note – Weaving a Story around your Caricature!

With this chapter, one of my projects come to an end. I had hoped to complete it last year, but with food-on-the-table work occupying about 90% of my waking moments, I just didn’t find the time. I hope that the regular readers of this book will forgive this lapse and enjoy the final chapter 🙂

A Request:

If you’ve read this book, I’d like to ask you what you’d like to see included in its printed version. Please send me an email at my email id, which is DrawToSmile[at]gmail[dot]com.

And a Note of Thanks too 🙂

The book “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” was visited more than 30,000 times in 2010. Some readers left comments, some sent me emails, and a few sent me the caricatures that they had drawn using the methods that were discussed in the book.

I would like to thank you all – for your visits, your comments, your emails, and your drawings. You were there watching me. Whenever I felt tired and wanted to give up, you did something to inspire me. You don’t remember it – but you were there, telling me that if I wrote another chapter it’ll help you DRAW TO SMILE 🙂

So…

A BIG THANK YOU!

Caricature/Cartoon Sachin Tendulkar – The Legend of Indian Cricket – One of the World’s Greatest Batsmen!

Presenting Sachin Tendulkar, possibly the Greatest Batsman in the history of world cricket. He is the only one who has ever made a double century in an ODI (One Day International)!

The Little Master (the title earlier used for addressing another cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar too) or the Master Blaster has been called the second greatest Test Cricket Batsman (after  Donald Bradman) and also the second greatest ODI batsman behind Viv Richards! (Source: Wikipedia here.)

Sachin Tendulkar’s Eye-popping Cricket Data:

• First Player to score 50 centuries in International Cricket.
• Scored most runs in Test Cricket.
• First Player to score 10,000 runs in ODIs

This of course is just the tip of his colossal cricket records iceberg.

Sachin Tendulkar’s Crispest and Shortest Biography on the Web:

Sachin was born on 24 April 1973, in Mumbai, the most populated city of India. (That he found space to play cricket amazes me.) He trained under Ramakant Acherkar, who was a superb motivator and would’ve excelled as a Motivation Guru (akin to Shiv Khera) – but then who am I to question his choice of career. Reverting to Sachin, who was acknowledged as a child-prodigy (luckily, and not as a product of voodoo, as it often happens with child-prodigies) was given a pair of pads by Sunil Gavaskar.

Unlike most sport celebrities, Sachin didn’t mess up his life by marrying a model or a film-star, instead he married a pediatrician Anjali (the daughter of a Gujarati businessman – who says that a Sportsman has to be born without any financial acumen?)

Read a slightly longer biography of Sachin here.

Interesting Infobytes about Sachin:

• When the Little Master was little, his coach (same gentleman who didn’t become the motivation guru) would place a coin on the stumps of the wicket and Sachin would get the coin if he stayed on until the end of the session. Sachin won 13 such coins (and so now on – never call thirteen an unlucky number – do you read me, dear readers-o-mine!)
• Sachin is 5 ft 5 inches tall (?) What? That isn’t tall? He’s two inches taller than me – and I am TALL!
• Sachin topped the list of Income Tax Payers in Indian Cricket, in 2009.
• Sachin asked for a Duty Waiver on his Ferrari

Sachin’s Cricket Career:

Well…I am not too much into cricket – but I know that Tendulkar’s rise brought on the golden era of Indian Cricket. He wasn’t too successful as a Cricket Captain but he had the grace to accept his failing. Around 2003, Sachin’s career peaked out. In 2004, he also suffered from a Tennis Elbow, which kept him out of the game for a long time. In 2006, his popularity took a dip when he could managed only a single run off 21 balls against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Sometime around 2007, he staged a comeback.

A Famous Quote about Sachin:

“Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God”

Sachin Tendulkar’s Honors/Awards:

Among others,

• Padma Vibhushan
• Padma Shri
• Khel Ratna
• Arjuna Award
• Honorary Group Captain by the Indian Air Force (Does he get the benefits and is he eligible for the pension too?)

Sachin Tendulkar, the Doll of Advertisers:

Among others, Sachin has done ads for:

• Pepsi
• Aviva
• Adidas
• Toshiba
• Colgate Palmolive

Sachin Tendulkar the Batsman and Shafali the Caricaturist:

(Building connections where none exist.)

• Sachin writes with his left hand and bowls and bats with his right.
• Shafali writes with her right hand and draws and paints with her left.

What?! I didn’t say anything.

Cool Caricaturist – Lisa!

It’s high time that a woman caricaturist made an appearance on this blog. With great pride in the fairer, nicer, softer, prettier, and much more patient half of humanity; I introduce Caricatures by Lisa here.

I love her work for the ease and spontaneity of her sketches, and also her ability to bring the same raw energy to her color drawings. Among the women caricaturists that I’ve seen on the web so far, I’d say her work is possibly the best – but then I am not a Super-sleuth, so if you’ve got some intelligence on other women caricaturists, please leave their links in the comment section of this post.

I recommend that you visit her site here.
Also, visit her color caricatures gallery here, and her black and white sketches here.

My favorites are:

• Tiger Woods
• Angelina Jolie

 

Enjoy:-) while I find the Little Great Master Sachin Tendulkar and beseech him to make an appearance on my blog.