We all hate to see the end of a good thing, but spare a thought for your hard working caricaturist at the end of a booking.
Following a spate of horror stories forwarded to me by colleagues (and having had to deal with similar situations myself), I thought it was time to hi-light the problem of drunk punters at the end of the night. I recently had a colleague close to tears, after a drunk punter confronted him at the end of a performance, demanding to be drawn, then later complained to the client. This lead to the client filing a complaint and making libellous accusations on public forums, which all could have been avoided if all parties concerned had simply observed the following points:
Every performance must finish at some (agreed) point and many artists adhere to the timetable in order to make a second booking in good time. Caricaturists will usually shorten the queue in the last 30 minutes, so not to disappoint later arrivals or those who may miss out.
Your artist will aim to please the client and often offer flexibility on the day in order to keep people smiling. The last thing they want is a confrontation or complaint, it is their living after all.
Your caricaturist will remain professional, polite and sober at all times (unless you have hired a low budget option of course), though some of your guests may not.
The later the performance, the more chance there is that some of the guests will become drunk and less patient, especially when having to queue to be drawn or fed. These guests may take their rejection from a queue as rudeness and react with aggression.
Remember, any punter who claims they have been “waiting all night” can not possibly have been there longer than the caricaturist. In 3 hours a good caricaturist will draw through a queue of 40+ people, so most people waiting from the moment of the artist’s arrival will be drawn.
It is the client’s responsibility to put forward those who simply HAVE to be drawn, otherwise your caricaturist will do their best to draw all in the queue, no matter who.
Not everyone will be drawn, no caricaturist will promise this and in a group of 100 people, maybe 45 will be lucky in an average evening performance. This may lead to a few disgruntled punters, but a lot more happy ones.
As a caricaturist and entertainer I have to regularly deal with drunk, aggressive and violent punters at the end of every performance, despite my having been a roaring success all night and finishing at an agreed time. I always deal with such confrontations in a polite and professional manner, usually leaving smiles behind me. However I should have the right to finish my work in safety and without fear of reprisal or complaint.
With this in mind, I ask all those hiring a caricaturist for their event to spare a thought for the hard working artist, as they pack their pens away at the end of a night and perhaps give them a hand diffusing the punters who missed out on a free drawing that night. Maybe give them the benefit of the doubt the next time a punter moans about not having been drawn.
I was overjoyed when my old university DMU asked me to lecture their animation students about caricatures, though a little scared! I was sure the students would know more about my subject than I did, so I spent a few days researching the basics; history, meanings, usage and contemporaries in the caricature world. I managed to put together a 78 slide lecture, covering how to see a caricature, how to create a caricature and the history of caricature, interlaced with demonstrations and volunteers to be drawn.
After much preparation, the day came and I made my way to the stunning Hugh Aston building, with my laptop and my drawing board, to be greeted by a handful of weary students. Numbers were a little disappointing, but I managed to keep them entertained for a good 90 minutes, followed by more drawing and Q&A.
I am an artist but also a professional entertainer and I take a lot of joy from interacting with guests and subjects while drawing and showing off my skills. Indeed I pride myself on being witty and charming, thus adding an extra dimension to the performance and creating a buzz. I offer an entertainment SERVICE, not just a PRODUCT as you might find at a Them Park or Pier, which is why you pay a premium for me, so please let me entertain your guests to the best of my ability, which can be done by following these points:
Introduce me properly, as the UK’s celebrity caricaturist, GQ illustrator and professional entertainer. Help build up a buzz. Perhaps mention my many TV appearances?
Show my caricatures off, do not whisk the drawings away, put them in your room, tare them up or otherwise hide them. Please encourage guests to pass the caricatures round, create a buzz and raise some laughter!
Do not ask me to work at the same time as the speeches, disco or band, as it kills all chances of banter or laughter which is essential to my performance.
Please note that I cannot draw guests whilst they are eating food (ie; during dinner courses) but table hop between courses, which is mor polite and practical.
Please chat and interact with me, as I am not a drawing machine and love nothing better than a good banter!
It breaks my heart when I leave a venue after an evening of battling against a Disco, not having chatted with any guests, with no drawings floating around, while wondering if I wowed them. This may be good enough for some amateures, many of whom sit at an easel in a corner, but its not good enough for me. I am a walkabout entertainer, not unlike a Magician or Comedian, so please treat me as such and your party will go with a swing.
Back in April I was filmed by Channel 4 for their show ‘Coach Trip’ where I helped the contestants draw each other. This was shown last night on UK prime time TV!
So you’re having a party and have come up with lots of fun ideas to liven up the night? ‘Fancy Dress’ someone suggested, while another suggested ‘Hire a caricaturist’! Both are fabulous ideas and will liven up proceedings, however the logistics do not work well together. Quite simply; how can a caricaturist draw a likeness of someone who is in disguise? Is this Stan from HR or Mr Smethers MD??
It is every caricaturists’ mission to draw the best likeness they possibly can and raise laughs, but when Ken from Accounts is dressed as a middle aged, overweight Cap’n Jack Sparrow, then a likeness of either is highly unlikely. This can be soul destroying for a caricaturist, who will hear people complaining about the terrible likenesses all evening, through no fault of his own.
In short, please reconsider if you are planning both Fancy Dress and Caricatures at your event or at least pre-warn the artist, who can come prepared, possibly with predrawn character bodies?
