Caricature Corner

Gangster

2012-01-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2012!

I did this gangster for a new book by Stephen Silver. I had a busy last year and hope to be a better blogger this year! Fingers crossed.

Baron Munchausen

2011-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Young Victoria

2011-04-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

I don't think I got it but I am sick of working on it for now-- so here is my young vic!

Angela Lansbury as "Nellie Lovett"

2011-03-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

1998!

2011-03-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Here is my old stuff-- pre-computer!

Mr Fantastic!

2011-03-03T12:18:00.001-08:00

Mr. Fantastic himself Ioan Gruffudd has asked me to create a caricature so he can give it to one of his ailing fans who is in the hospital-- what a great guy!

Edward

2011-02-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

I am working on this painting for the Scissorhand 20th anniversary show at Nucleus Gallery.

Kirby

2011-02-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Caricature for someone who was leaving work!

Dean, Judy & Frank

2011-02-04T06:26:00.000-08:00

An old sketch that I just painted this week for the fun of it!

No One I Know

2011-01-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just find interesting faces on the internet and paint them for fun.

Gallery Show in February

2011-01-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

This show will have eight of my paintings-- please come and see.

Cream Dream

2010-12-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here is my bunny!

PLAYBOY BUNNY ART OPENING

2010-10-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have a painting in this show. It should be a great show and I'm hard at work perfecting my bunny right now!

Wendy Hiller in Murder on the Orient Express

2010-10-06T07:21:00.001-07:00

Audrey Hepburn

2010-08-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist drawing her when I saw this old photo in my files. She was so lovely!

CHERRY BLOSSOM

2010-08-14T19:24:00.001-07:00

One of my doodles! Saw an old photo and couldn't resist caricaturing it!

Another Dickens

2010-08-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been so busy I haven't posted in ages! Well, here is my old favorite writer Charles Dickens. I was inspired when I read the novel DROOD and this is actually meant to be a double portrait with Wilkie Collins but that will have to come later!

Toulouse Lautrec

2010-05-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

My first love.

DOGGONE!

2010-03-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have devolved to a doggie caricaturist for the moment!

ART AUCTION NEXT WEEK

2010-03-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

Come by if you get a chance-- I'll be there!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

My first caricature of the New Year! I hope you all had a joyous holiday and I wish you all good health and happiness in 2010.

Happy Holidays My Friends!

2009-12-17T11:02:00.000-08:00

To all the wonderful people who come and visit my site I wish you a Happy Holiday. For those who are into "A Christmas Carol" here is George C Scott from the 1984 version and it is one of my favorites. Scott has a very distinctive face but it was actually quite difficult to get a decent likeness.

Dame Margaret Rutherford

2009-11-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

To add to my series of Miss Marple paintings. Rutherford was a wonderful British character actor who made a series of Miss Marple films in the 1960's very loosely based on the Agatha Christie books. They were pretty wacky and often played for humor but she was a brilliant comedian.

HENRY VIII

2009-11-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

It's good to be the King!

STRONG WOMAN

2009-11-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Yancy Butler in WITCHBLADE

Maggie Cheung in HERO
Greta Garbo in MATA HARI
Whoopi Goldberg in THE COLOR PURPLE
Angelina Jolie in SKY CAPTAIN

GUILTY PLEASURES

2009-10-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Gene Wilder as Willie Wonka

Walt Disney

Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce

Bette Midler

John Wayne

My guilt, hopefully your pleasure! I'm so busy these days that I haven't had time to post so I hope this will hold you for a while!

CATE BLANCHETT

2009-10-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long!

TIM CURRY

2009-09-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

Tired of monochrome, thought I'd do a real colorful character!

ABE LINCOLN

2009-09-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

A quick painting of "Honest Abe."

Nat King Cole

2009-09-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

Most people think of Sinatra as the best vocalist of his generation but I have to disagree! I grew up listening to Nat and i still love him. My favorite is "Stardust."

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

2009-08-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

J.K. Rowling

2009-07-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

I usually hate Harry Potter movies when I first see them as I'm always comparing them to the books which I love. To my surprise, I loved "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" movie right away. So, in honor of Harry Potter... I give to you the Goddess who created him...J.K. Rowling.

The Nun's Story

2009-07-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a quickie from an old movie poster-- you gotta love that Audrey!

The Sound of Music

2009-07-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Classic from my childhood!

Scarlett O'Hara

2009-06-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

I refuse to paint Michael Jackson so here is Vivian Leigh!

J R R Tolkien

2009-06-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've been dieing to pay tribute to the man who created Hobbits. So... here it is!

The Planet of the Apes

2009-05-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite movies from my childhood!

My Hero!

2009-05-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

I know there are hundreds of other great illustrators of the past and present but I still love Rockwell as my favorite, and there will be no apologies! This is a piece I'm developing into something more elaborate but wanted to post before the cobwebs gathered on my site.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Ireland

2009-04-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Queen Victoria the longest reigning monarch in British history. Her rule was pretty impressive but I had to paint her cause she is so darn cute... don't you just wanna pinch her chins?

17 Again

2009-04-16T12:22:00.001-07:00

My friend Sabine interviewed Mathew Perry and Zac Efron for Dutch TV so I did caricatures of the boys to give them. My one caveat was that I wanted my copies to be signed. Zac was a great sport and wrote "Bob, you nailed me ha,ha, love Zac!" which was real sweet, Mr. Perry did not give an autograph! Oh well, it was my attempt to start my own Sardi's wall and have all my favorite actors sign their own caricatures!

Funny Girl

2009-03-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a funny girl and she was fun and funny and then she got serious!

Eddie Murphy

2009-03-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

I love Eddie Murphy and here he is in one of his great films Dreamgirls.

Jean Harlow

2009-03-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick Jean Harlow sketch for a change of pace! Thirties star for those who don't know her, very funny, died young (age 26), original blonde bombshell!

Farewell, My Lovely

2009-03-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

Although I love Bogie as Philip Marlowe the best, this movie is damn good! Unfortunately, The Big Sleep with Robert Mitchum is absolute rubbish! They set it in London and it is badly updated to the seventies.

Jeremy Brett

2009-03-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Brett was the best Sherlock Holmes for me but I do look forward to seeing what Robert Downey Jr. does with the role!

Watching The Detectives!

2009-03-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is the movie that started my obsession with Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express with Lauren Bacall and Albert Finney as Poirot. I was about twelve when I saw this movie and I loved everything about it. It took me years to accept anyone else playing Poirot as I was so disappointed with the Peter Ustinov movies. I was not happy again until David Suchet started playing him on TV.

Christie's Detectives

2009-03-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for British detectives, love the books and love the TV programs. The Agatha Christie detectives I have enjoyed over the years started with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple then came David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and recently we had Geraldine McEwan as Marple, but she has already retired and there is a new one! If you don't like detectives you better look the other way for a while because I have a trunk full of them!

Torchwood

2009-03-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

Had the thrill of my life to meet John Barrowman at Comic-Con and showed him this caricature of Torchwood poster, he was great! Once again my nerd status is showing, another fab Sc-Fi show! When will it come back from hiatus?

Donna Noble

2009-02-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

Once again my lovely friend Lisa Kim has persuaded me to draw another British comedian; Catherine Tate. I decided to tie it into this Dr. Who post as she did save the Universe as Donna Noble on Dr. Who. but I do love her comedy show; "The Catherine Tate Show" it is so funny!

Dr. Who and Rose Tyler

2009-02-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

I find that people either are or are not Dr. Who fans there is no in-between. no wishy-washy non-comital maybe fans. The reason for that is; if you watch it you can't help but love the characters as they are so well written and acted. If you don't watch it you probably have some kind of hang-up about Sci-Fi or the old Dr. Who show (which most people don't like to admit that they ever watched it!) I'm sure the story is quite different in Britain though.

I plan on publishing more geeky Dr. Who stuff so watch out non-believers!

Mae Murray

2009-02-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

After posting Sunset Boulevard I started to think how the only silent screen stars people ever remember today are the men: we dote on Keaton, obsess on Chaplin and k'vell over Valentino. Yes, I'll admit that Keaton's eyes are big and expressive but what about Mae Murray's eyes and dare I mention her bee-stung lips! In fact she is the one for whom they coined the phrase "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips!"

Sunset Boulevard

2009-02-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

Gloria Swanson and Erich Von Stroheim in the 1950s Billy Wilder film Sunset Boulevard. Both of them were such great characters and they have been mocked and parodied so many times but it is a testament to their powers as lasting screen icons. Swanson was the first lady of Motion Pictures through-out the silent era and Von Stroheim is not only known for his memorable on screen appearances but also for his artistic directorial feats.

Remembering OZ

2009-02-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

Miss Gulch, the real star of this movie.

My favorite childhood film. Witches, wizards and magic and I'm there!

American Idol

2009-02-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

Like many Americans, tonight I will sit down and watch American Idol and wonder who the next big star will be. This was one of my favs from the past: Fantasia!

W.I.P.: Aubrey Beardsley

2009-02-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

This is Aubrey Beardsley, the great nineteenth century illustrator with one of his creations, Isolde. I think I captured his likeness but I'm not so sure that the composition is working. I'll continue to develop this digital painting as this is one that I will eventually paint on canvas with acrylic paint. I like using my digital images as color comps for traditional paintings, that way I can see it working as a painting before I start. It is a bit like painting it twice but I so love the texture of real paint on canvas!

Happy Birthday Bernard!

2009-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

It was my friend Bernard's birthday this weekend and his wife Stephanie asked me to paint his caricature for a present and here is what I came up with. I think Bernard got a kick out of it--I hope so, you don't want to insult people on their birthday!

Poe Final

2009-02-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

My last step is to add some color to make it appear somewhat black and white but not actually be so. This is a trick I learned in animation BG painting. I did BG paintings for a whole episode of Tiny Toons that were in black and white called Two-Toned Town. I also took a wallpaper pattern and lowered the opacity and slightly blurred it to give it a more Victorian look. I know that the style du jour is to paint caricatures to look as much like photos as possible but I try to make mine look somewhat like paintings.

Poe Proceeds

2009-02-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Step Four

Doubt seeps in and I question some of my choices. I have decided to stretch him a bit and move his eyes.

Step Five

Now I'm down to just 3 layers and I adjust the suit and render out some of the BG.

Step Six

With the burn, dodge and blend tools I finish the clothing.

Step Seven

Final clean-up and rendering on the face.

Poe's Progress

2009-02-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not at all traditional in my approach to caricature. I don't usually finish the drawing before I start painting. Since I have switched to digital painting I feel no need to distinguish between a drawing and a painting, it is all one platform now. Of course this can lead to hideous mistakes but I have been doing this long enough to know that it is never a waste of time to practice! Since I started Photoshop a couple of years ago I have improved greatly and it took real effort just to get up to par with what I could do traditionally.

STEP ONE

I always start very small and blurry. I just try and capture a likeness good enough to get me onto the next stage. In this case I really fell in love with Edgar Allan Poe's crooked little face and that was the impetus to start. As you can see there are no details to speak of.

STEP TWO

At this stage I'm ready to start painting in some highlights. For those who are interested, my technique is not too fancy. I have one layer for the background, that I will continually develop, a layer for the drawing which will eventually combine with the painting layer, I have my first painting layer of highlights as a separate top layer and of course the graphic oval layer. I started in sepia tones but switched to blue/grey to make it more moody. I always have a neutral ground color to start with. I use brushes provided by Photoshop I don't waste any time making new brushes I'm far too impatient for that.

STEP THREE

Now I use burn, dodge and blend tools to mold the face further and select and adjust to darken the hair and suit.

SUPERMAN:Christopher Reeve

2009-02-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

I was a child of the seventies and I was addicted to movies from an early age. Some of the best of all time movies were made then. The first and second Superman movies are brilliant, after that they get a little sappy, especially when there are two of them and they start beating each other up. Even though I had seen Superman on TV with George Reeves and Batman with Adam West this was the first time a comic book was given the royal treatment and Hollywood has never been the same since, proving that comic books are not just for kids!

I Love Lucy

2009-02-04T10:11:00.000-08:00

I'm an "old fashioned guy" or should I just say "old." I'm stuck in my ways and I'm fond of my favorites. I'm fierce when it comes to my friends and childhood fetishes. Something happens to me when ever I see I Love Lucy on TV in it's glorious black and white! I become a child, a happy one too. This is a good place to be at, like snuggling under a velour coverlet. The best part of all is when Lucy and Ethel scheme together, the scenes always makes me laugh, no matter how many times I see them.

Audrey Hepburn

2009-02-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

So everyone does Audrey Hepburn these days, can't help it, I just love her! She's got great eyes and she's hard to capture, I see a lot of bad Audrey caricatures but I hope you like mine!

Horatio Hornblower

2009-02-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

This is a caricature of the amazing Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced Yo-in Griffith.) Most people know him for being Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four movies but I love him in this incredible mini-series Horatio Hornblower. If you at all like swashbucklers and historical dramas, I highly recommend this one.

What the Dickens!

2009-02-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

Two of my favorite writers: Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie!

BEAN

2009-02-02T15:35:00.000-08:00

I love Rowan Atkinson--especially Blackadder but here is the beloved Bean for your perusal.

AB FAB

2009-02-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

My friend Lisa Kim who shares my love for British comedy talked me into doing this painting of Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. This show maybe a little old but the writing and acting is so good that it will be funny for years to come.

Harry Potter and Friends

2009-02-02T14:45:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of my Harry Potter caricatures. I really love English actors so you'll see a real bias in the choices I make when caricaturing. I only really draw what I like, I don't make an effort to draw what is popular because I don't have to. I have been drawing caricatures my whole life, like many people I got addicted as a child when I started reading MAD magazine. I'm a huge fan of Mort Drucker and I think there is a definite influence in my work.

Because I'm not an illustrator and because I don't get paid to make caricatures it gives me the freedom to work on what ever excites me at the moment. I love a lot of styles of caricature but my style tends to be pretty consistent. I'm not trying to make the funniest version you've ever seen, though I don't mind if they come out funny. My goal is to capture that illusive quality of a famous person that goes beyond what a photo can capture and becomes the essence of a person or better yet an impression, or more specifically, my impression. So I'm not really a caricaturist as much as an impressionist portrait artist.

Dumbledore

2009-02-02T14:37:00.000-08:00

This may look a bit too dark-- I paint on a Mac at home and everything always looks too dark on my PC at work. I'm eventually going to phase out my website at www.bobdoucette.com so please enjoy it while it last. My plan is to replace the website with a series of blogs with different topics. I'll have a resume and portfolio blog and individual blogs for whatever topic that interest me.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

2009-02-02T13:52:00.001-08:00

Hi all,
This is my blog dedicated to just my caricature.

I'm initiating this blog with my caricature of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I was always a fan of the Stephen Sondheim's Broadway show of the same name, but when I heard it was to be a movie directed by Tim Burton I was over-the-moon with excitement! I got so excited that I painted this picture from a screen grab from the very first trailer released online.

I hope to spend some time explaining my process so come back and maybe I'll do some step-by-steps as well.

Welcome