EDDIE FITZGERALD CARICATURES

Here's (above) the cover of a Mother's Day card drawn by my kid when she was in Middle School. Haw! Am I really that much of a scene stealer?

Here's a pencil enhancer...or is it an eraser... designed by John K and beautifully sculpted by Anthony Hrymakowski. You may have noticed the resemblence to (Ahem!)...me.

And here (above) is a clean-up of the original John drawing. Gee, I made it to the top (literally) of the pencil universe. My place in history is assured!!!!!!

RED LEGS

Just fooling around. Here's a caricature of me done by John K on top of a pair of legs I found on the net. 

Here's a caricature of Nate drawn by Aaron Philby on top of the same legs. Holy Cow! It works!

JOHN DRAWS EDDIE

I showed John my new glasses and he thought the look was incomplete without a mustache, which he proceeded to illustrate. Geez, the guy can draw!

He even discovered a cleft on the bottom of my nose that I didn't know I had.

THREE CARICATURES OF ME!

Here's some caricatures of myself that I just did in Photoshop. I was trying to do them the way John K used to draw me, with a shovel nose, big teeth and Ubangi earlobes.  I did several but Beta Blogger will only accept one photo per post today, so I'll spread out the pictures over three posts.  The largest pictures will overlap the sidebar, but that's intentional. I actually like the way it looks. Wait, there was something else.....oh, yes! The background on the third picture (below) is by DeKooning!

A NEW CARICATURE!

Boy, you have to have thick skin to be a caricature subject for John! Here I am on a restaurant napkin, sharing the space with a starfish, a screaming girl, and a puppet profile.

If you're curious to see what doodles were on the other side, then here you go!

DRAWING LESSONS FROM MY DAUGHTER

"PORTRAITS" by Dad's Daughter


1) When drawing a man (like my Dad, above) always start with the stubble. Take time to get it right because it's the most important part of the face.

After that, draw what you see in a band that goes either across the face or up and down. Whatever's not in that band gets the short shrift. In the example above the band is horizontal and includes the ear and the nose. The mouth and eyes are outside the band and therefore are drawn tiny, as an afterthought.




2) Above the mouth the head bends. Paws make great hands.

3) Eyes are over-rated and are seldom worth drawing large. Now the ear and nose, THOSE are the true mirrors of the soul! Adults have HUGE noses! Glasses are also over-rated. Draw them tiny and floating Chagall-like in the air.

4) Adults are grotesque! Shapes bulge out of the face like ginger roots on steroids. On a face like my Dad's it's best to draw each section of the ginger root independently, without thinking of how it fits into the rest.

Pay attention to the muzzle and how the stubble wraps around it.

5) Sometimes it's fun to experiment with pie-plate head shapes. After all, the on-lookers are way too busy looking at the beautiful stubble you've drawn to know if the head-shape is working. Be sure to put lots of tiny blood vessels in the nose and don't skimp on the ear hair!

Note from Dad: I actually wrote this but the ideas are my kid's.

HOLY COW! KATIE DREW ME!

Here's me (above) oogling Marlo!

Here's me (above) reacting to Nico's cup crushing! Gee, Katie even captured my tip-of-the-nose hairs. Actually I had only one and I finally cut it. I had a dentist appointment coming up and I was afraid he'd obsess over it and drill the wrong tooth.

Here's (above) Kali looking rather cute.

There's lots more Katie greatness! ! Check it all out at:

http://funnycute.blogspot.com/

THANKS TO JOHN & KALI FOR THE KILLER PORTRAIT!

What a surprise! I got this tonight just before we all watched a Hedy Lamar film, the one where she runs naked around the woods! John did the drawing and Kali colored it! Unbelievable! Thanks guys!!!!

I'll have to find a place in Theory Mansion to hang it. Maybe just above the fireplace.

And talking about fireplaces....

ME ON A HAPPY MEAL

I've been walking around Disneyland all day and my feet are killing me! I need a subject for a quick post and this Happy Meal is it. This won't impress adults very much but if any kids are reading this they'll think I'm a demi-god for appearing on a McDonald's box.

The artist doesn't want me to use his name so don't try to pry it out of me!

A MESSAGE TO THEORY CORNER MEN

Hello, men! Uncle Eddie here! It's come to my attention that some Theory Corner men (Jorge)don't like my posts about architecture. They (Jorge) think the subject is boring. Imagine that! A manly pursuit like architecture is boring to these people (Jorge)!!! Yes, it's hard to believe that some people (Jorge) who visit this site can be that depraved and uncultured.

I've thought about it and have decided that disciplinary action is called for. I hate to punish everybody for the misdeeds of a few (Jorge) but what choice do I have? A good captain someimes has to show his crew the cat-o-nine tails. Bad apples (Jorge), you brought this on yourselves!!!!

See this (above)? Kinda nice, huh? You'd like more, wouldn't ya?...Of course you would.

But THIS (above) is what you get!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And THIS (above)!!!!!!!!!

AND THIS (above) TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND...and...and even..even this (above)!!!!!!!!!!! (puff!)!!!!!!! (pant!)!!!!!!!!! Whadaya think 'a that!? (Puff!) (Pant!) (Puff!)

Now see what you've done? You bad apples have unleashed Mr. Bad! I take no resposibility for it!

I FOUND IT! MY DAUGHTER"S NECK HAIR DRAWING!!!

OK, based on this drawing (click to enlarge) I claim that my daughter "owns" neck hairs! If you've got a better neck hair drawing put it up now or forever hold your peace!

I may as well add that the original title of this drawing, emblazoned with marker over the top of the page, was "Hi! My name is Eddie! I am fat!"



Hmmm... this post seems a little sparse. Here's (above) a couple of photos to bulk it up, and a pithy caption to accompany them: "Scrumptious tongue mystery hat!!!! Noodle stretching putty service....tomahawk?"

Satisfied?

TWO KILLER JOHN CARICATURES

Here are a couple more caricatures that John did of me. When I think about the John drawings of me that I've posted up till now I'm amazed at how many ways there are to draw just one face. There's the optimistic me, the seedy me, the retarded me, the rat me, the eager me... it goes on. A number of the ways of thinking about me required John to try a different kind of line or a different design concept.

I don't post these drawings out of ego, because I'm the model. I do it so this aspect of what John does will get into the historical record and so that these techniques won't be lost. And since history is watching I'll cop to accidentally cutting off the final "D" in "dreaded."



Here's me in pantaloons and cod piece. I'm stupid-looking here so the "V" of the head in the disdain drawing is inverted so the wide part is on the bottom, as if my head is too stupid to resist gravity. I like the tiny soda under the soft, rubbery upper-lip flap. The five o'clock shadow looks like it's made of toothbrush bristles. Tiny granny glasses cover the seedy eyes and the long, thin spectacle arm extends all the way back to the hay-filled ear. Warts, of course.

I like the restraint involved in making the wart on the end of the nose tiny and understated. If it had been bigger it would have taken our attention away from the elegant, sloping line formed by the nose and forehead. This long, continuous line is the true focus of the picture.

A TERRIFIC CARICATURE LESSON!

Here's two pictures of me. The top one was drawn by Mike Fontanelli and is influenced a bit by John K's caricature style. The bottom one was drawn 100% by John and was used in a Ren & Stimpy episode called "Onward and Upward."

I find it shocking that two pictures of the same man can be so different. Evidently I'm still recognizably me even when the back of my head sticks out like a torpedo, as it does in Mike's sketch above. It doesn't matter that my head doesn't really have that shape. 

As long as my most recognizable unique features are still there (the nose, teeth,dog ears and chinless neck) a lot of the other features can apparently be changed at will, without harming the likeness.


What this demonstrates is that a caricaturist is not confined to exaggerating what he sees. We only have to do that for the most significant parts. We can make up other parts. We can put something in just because its funny, as long as in some sense it still feels like the person we're drawing.

I don't know about you but I find that liberating!