The Ricky Animation Shoppe is Open for Business!

Hey everybody, The Ricky Animation Shoppe is Open for Business! I was contacted by the administrator of PhotoTownship where they connect artists and buyers....funny thing, cause I've been looking for a site exactly like that.  I'm still in the process of setting up shop on Etsy, but this site offered the digtal option which was perfect for custom caricature art.

Right now I'm only offering custom cartoon avatars for online social media, like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, anything that uses a profile pic. I'm planning offering more elaborate caricature portraits in which you can label them with a special greeting, message, or a scene of your choice, and also art for sale like caricatures of celebs or illustration. We'll see, one step at a time. The lovely people on the avatar item page of my shop are friends of mine. So if I get big business from this venture I'll give them a percentage(slaps knee)  Go to the Shoppe! 

PS- Stay tuned for the Grand Opening of my Etsy Shop coming soon!

12 Caricatures on one Page

I drew caricatures on Sunday at The Maverick Saloon in Santa Ynez, Ca. This biker group, called "The Brotherhood of Carpinteria, Ca" made my day by having them draw them all. I've never drawn that many people in one sitting, I didn't think they'd fit. So I had to really simplify the head shapes and features. Lo and behold.

Thumbnails

Some thumbnails for an animation I'm working on. It's a rooster...so I needed to figure out how his beak would mouth the dialogue. And the other is a study of how one of his arms would move during his performance.

Singin' Sketches

These were done at a Music Show.

The stars of the show, Lisa Gumm and Maurine Silva.

Really liked her expressions.

These were done at a Music Show.

Sketch Dump

"The Office" character portraits

    I love "The Office." It's a Tv show for those who have not been blessed by its awesomeness. What makes the show awesome is all the characters. Every one of them is unique, not just in personality, but in design. I've been wanting to caricature the characters for a while now....well, it's time. I hope to do the whole cast. :D   I'm going to start with my favorites first, preferably the ones who would be fun to draw.
    These final portraits will be in trading card size, in ink with watercolor, and will be available on my Etsy when that's up and running soon.. For now, I'm having fun making them, here's Michael Scott so far.

Finding the right design.

Happy New Year!!! 2011 Come on Down!!!

Let it BEGIN!!!!!!!!

I wish you all an awesome 2011!!! Thanks to all who take the time to stop by this blog, it's greatly appreciated :D   One of my New Year's Resolutions will be to update more frequently and offer a more enriching art blog...whoa, those are some great ambitions....geez I hope I can keep that resolution.

That aside, new things are coming your way from Ricky Animation! So stay tuned! 2010 brought new clients and projects, more opportunities to draw live caricatures at events, art classes to continually improve artistic skills, new equipment to help in bigger projects, and new friends and connections.
   I want to push myself more this year, artistically, and not waste any more time waiting for things to happen. Expect new things from Ricky Animation in 2011!

"The way to get started, is to stop talking and start doing." --Walt Disney--

Make that you're mantra this year, cause I know it will be mine.

God Bless!

-Ricky

Caricature Avatar

Here's some sketches and the final version of an Caricature for someone's video presentation...they use this image as an avatar to put in a video podcast instead of their real pictures. Caricatures for all uses and occassions!

Here's the fellow himself.

Trying out different looks.

Final pencil versions. Ready for scanning.

Final vectorized version. He's ready for his closeup!

A poster I designed and drew for a Music Show in the Lompoc Valley, CA. Let me just say...this took longer, but I mean longer, to do than I expected. I'm talkin' about 8-10 hours kind of longer. That's cause I tried to get it done in like 2 days.....But alas, it turned out sweeet....it was a labor of love.  Some of the type has a "Seussical" flare to them, which I love. If you're in the area, stop by to hear some awesome local musicians: Allyssa Imano, Lisa Gumm, and Maurine Silva.

Painted on Wood Caricature portraits!

"4 x 6" Acrylic on Wood.

This week I finished a somewhat artistic experiment. The I love about art and creativity is that you're always finding new ways of doing things, new mediums to test and experiment with. Last week I was at Michael's just lookin' around and I saw these wooden blocks, some were very large and some were very small. I immediately saw them as blank canvases.

Original sketchbook sketch

Color Studies

So a painted on wood caricature seemed fitting. Here's the final and some color studies. Since this was an entirely new venture for me, I struggled alot with getting the paint opaque. It worked after several passes...a fellow artist recommended I prime the wood first instead of just painting directly on it. Total time spent on this: approx 4 hours. and lots of frustration. But I'm very happy how it came out. I'm going to glaze it as well, to protect the paint from chipping, I'll post that as soon as I do it.