ISCA Con 2009: Hermann and the Speed Competition

I got a chance to speak with MAD artist Herman Mejia. Here's a shot of him politely laughing at what was most likely my lame attempt at a joke.

Behold the beautiful insanity of the Speed Competition. Organized chaos never looked so good.

2009 ISCA Convention: Gold Member Reception

Wednesday night was the ISCA Gold Member reception; a private meet and greet with the ISCA Convention guests of honor and the ISCA gold members like myself. It was amazing to have some one-on-one time with these legendary MAD artists. A few of us were lucky enough to get a shot with all four of them.
Here's Sam Viviano and I. After this picture was shot, we pulled each other's fingers.
I'm teaching Sam everything I know about drawing, a process which only took about seven seconds.

This is ISCA President and great friend Robert Bauer and I. The man knows how to throw a convention.

More to come...

2009 ISCA Convention: Icebreaker Reception

Here's a few pics from the icebreaker reception the first night of the convention. Pictured is my buddy Keelan Parham, myself, MAD artist Tom Richmond and MAD artist and art director Sam Viviano. I've always cited MAD magazine as a huge influence to me and the reason I got into the caricature business. However, my gateway into caricature was a magazine called Dynamite! which I read in the late 70's and early 80's when I was a pre-teenager. Sam Viviano was an artist's whose caricatures featured prominently in the magazine. I remember Sam's caricatures vividly, and recall that they were easily my favorite part of the magazine. It was a thrill for me to be able to meet him and speak with him about his influence on me. He's a great guy.
This is me, Keelan Parham and Lar DeSouza. For those who don't know, Lar is a very talented artist with a funny, cartoon style. He conducted a seminar today that revitalized my passion for caricature and reminded me what to focus on when I draw live caricatures.

Stay tuned, there's plenty more to come!

The International Society of Caricature Artists Convention 2009

I am currently at the International Society of Caricature Artists Convention in Sandusky, Ohio. I'm going to really, REAAAALLLY try to update the blog during the next week of the convention. As usual, Dad's with me taking way too many pictures, some of which I plan to share with you here.

We are staying at the Kalahari Resort, which is absolutely gorgeous! So we've checked in, and registered and are waiting for the icebreaker reception to begin. There seems to be well over 200 caricature artists from around the world attending, and the special guests are Tom Richmond, Sam Viviano, Mark Fredrickson, and Hermann Mejia all from MAD magazine. It's going to be a great convention...

Durkin's Dragons Calendar

Coming soon...

Patience my dear friends...patience...

I realize there has been a lack of updates lately on this blog. First of all, I'd like to apologize. But I do have my reasons. I've been quite busy these past few months. I've had several very fun projects in the works. I still can't show you what I've been working on quite yet, but one of the projects is hinted at in this clip from Happy Hour on Fox Business News. Pay close attention....

Me, 1000 years into the future.

Saturday, I had the chance to hang out with some of the talent involved with one of my favorite shows, Futurama. From the left is David X. Cohen, executive producer and head writer. Next is Phil LaMarr, who voices Hermes and others. He was on MadTV, acted in movies like Pulp Fiction, and was the voice of Samurai Jack, Wilt from Foster's Home of Imaginary Friends, Green Lantern on Justice League and has tons of other vocal credits.

Next to him is John Dimaggio, the voice of Bender and other characters. Among many other characters he's voiced are Dr. Drakken from Kim Possible, Aquaman on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Marcus on Gears of War. Also he's completely insane.

To my left is Maurice LaMarche. On Futurama, he plays Lrr, Kif, Horrible Gelatanous Blob, Morbo and even the headless body of Spiro Agnew. He's done decades of voice work including the Brain from Pinky and the Brain, Yosemite Sam from Looney Tunes, Egon from The Real Ghostbusters and many more.

On the far right is Billy West, voice of Fry, the Professor, Zapp Brannigan, and Dr. Zoidberg. He's yet another long-time vocal veteran with credits including Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, both Ren and Stimpy, and Doug from..well, Doug.

I got some autographs as well. Futurama thankfully, has been renewed by Comedy Central for 26 more episodes. I wish everyone involved with this show the best of luck and I look forward to seeing (and hearing) more of their amazing work.

Thundercats are on the move...

Remember Thundercats, the animated television series and toy line from the 80's? It's this week's Toony Bin challenge. Here's my take.Also, it had one of the coolest openings of any show at that time. Check it out.

Back to School

Here's the latest Toony Bin entry for the challenge entitled "Back to School."

The 1960's

Here is my Toony Bin entry for the 1960's challenge. Just hangin' out at Woodstock.

Jurassic Sam

Did you know that Toucan Sam, the cereal mascot from Froot Loops evolved from a species that existed over 150 million years ago? I was at the museum and saw proof.

It's also my Toony Bin entry for last week.

Blues Brothers CARicature

"It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

Okay, I'll admit it, I don't enjoy drawing vehicles. That's why I made the latest Toony Bin subject "Wheels" to force myself to draw a car. I chose my favorite movie car of all time; the Blues Brothers' Bluesmobile.

Yeah, I know, another John Belushi caricature, but hey, I love the guy..

Toony Bin: Mr. Saturday Night

Here's my latest Toony Bin entry. The challenge was "Mr. Saturday Night". I chose to depict John Belushi, doing his samurai character from Saturday Night Live.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day from Durkin's Dragons!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there, especially Daddy Durkin!

Summer vacation

The latest subject for the Toony Bin is Summer Vacation. Here's my entry.

I can't tell you how many times I've felt EXACTLY like this guy...

Wedding Day

Here is my Wedding Day entry for the Toony Bin.

At the circus.

Here's my Toony Bin entry for "At the circus"

Mad Scientist

Here's my Mad Scentist entry for the latest ToonyBin challenge.

Toony Bin entry: Secret Agent

Here's my entry for this weeks Toony Bin challenge. It's hard to be a secret agent when you're 3.5 tons.

The Toony Bin

My buddy Mike "Locoduck" Duron has started up a new art challenge blog called The Toony Bin. It's similar to Toon Weekly, which had a great run for a while last year. The blog is in its infancy right now, but be sure to check it often, you'll be in for a real treat!http://toonybin.blogspot.com/

Happy Mother's Day, From Durkin's Dragons.

Especially you, Beeka.

Chasin' my tail.

Sometimes I get to feeling like this guy.

Happy Easter 2009

Happy Easter from Durkin's Dragons.

Last gig of March 2009

Here's a few caricatures from last night. This woman was being abusive to my fellow artist Ted. She asked him what he was using to erase his pencil lines and he said simply "an eraser". She was a bit cranky in response to his obvious answer and hit him in the arm.

I wish I had a photo of his glorious bowl haircut. I had one just like it when I was five.

I drew clothes on her at the last minute.

Sketch Infectus.

Yesterday I received my copy of Sketch Infectus by Joe Bluhm. Joe is an amazing and talented artist. I first got to know him through the National Caricaturist Network, where in his first year attending, he deservedly won the award for Caricature Artist of the Year. Joe has a fearless style and incredible eye. His first book, Rejects chronicles his live caricature work. Now with Sketch Infectus, his second book, Joe shows us my favorite part of being an artist, the creative process.

Sketchbooks are a vital key to the growth of an artist. They give the artist the opportunity to draw without bounds, make mistakes and brainstorm. Most importantly, these sketches aren't done for money or fame, rather they are done simply for the joy of drawing.

While looking at my own sketchbooks, I can chart my progress as an artist. I can see the seeds of ideas and reflect on new places to explore. It gets me motivated and excited about being an artist.

The same is true for when I view other artist's sketchbooks. There is so much inspiration to be found in those lines. Joe's book is no exception. He draws everything from people, to cars, to animals and other creatures. Some of his sketches are realistically rendered, others are simple, fun doodles. All are a fascinating insight into the creative mind of a remarkable artist.

As a gift for pre-ordering the book, I got a free sketch ripped directly from one of Joe's sketchbooks. I know they were picked and inserted randomly, but I was pleased when I found this sketch packaged with my book.

Three words: Julia Louis Dreyfus. My all-time favorite Hollywood crush. Thanks Joe!

Tropical gig: March 2008

Here's a few from my most recent gig, which had a tropical theme.


Ashton was very proud of his "tattoos".

While uploading these pics, I found some other caricatures from past gigs. I'll post those soon.

Abstract gig

These pics are from an abstract caricature gig I did recently. Abstract caricatures are interesting to do, because I think they're even more ambiguous and subjective than "regular" caricatures. I was in "Muppet" mode for a while. That was fun!

I think this is one of my favorites from the bunch.

This one's not "abstract" necessarily, I just thought he was funny. He kept looking at the ladies butts as they walked by, and wasn't the least bit subtle about it.

TOGA TOGA TOGA!!!

Recently I did a gig with my buddies Ted Tucker, Keelan Parham and Brian Wright. It was a company party with a Greek/Roman theme. It was elaborate, and I would imagine, very expensive. All the guests were dressed in togas or other related costumes. Also they were drunk.I know goofy looking guys are fun to draw, and that's usually the caricatures I post, so I thought I'd get some female representation.

This woman had five kids. Five. Nevertheless, she still looked great, yet understandably very tired.

Alice was very quiet, but revealed her wild side to me when she told me something in broken English. I decided to quote her directly in the caricature.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2009!

Durkin's Dragons wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day. Try to behave yourselves.

Megacon 2009 wrapup: Part 2.

As promised, I have a few more sketches I did at the con. This kind of stuff is right up my alley; funny little improvisational pictures like these. All of these sketches were requests from the customers. These were so much fun to do.

There are more photos of sketches floating around out there, and when I get them, I'll post them here.

Megacon wrapup 2009

The thrill and geekery of Megacon is over, and I had a great time. I got to hang out with some dear old friends, met some new ones, sold some books, drew some pictures and spent a lot of money on parking.

Here's a composite of three shots of the Ka-Blam and Friends tables. We almost took up the whole row.

Alex spent the last two days with me. We goofed around a lot.
Here's me and one of my great friends Cary Bivens. He's a rat bastard too.This is me working on a sketch. I did a lot of sketches for people the last day, I took pics of some of them, I'll post them soon.

... but here's one of them.

All and all it was a successful show. Thanks for everyone who dropped by to say "hi". The next one I will attend may be the FXShow April in Orlando. Stay tuned!

MegaCon 2009

This weekend I will be a comic book guest at MegaCon in Orlando. Also attending will be my buddies from Ka-Blam. I will be selling Chapter One and Two of Black Cat Bone, as well as a side project Durkin's Dragons, a selection of artwork I've been compiling over the past few months. My table will be in the Burgundy section, 17A. Stop by and see me!

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

I don't know about you, but despite how I've depicted him here, cupid's been real good to me lately.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Black Cat Bone-Chapter 3: The Devil's Music.

This is the cover for the next chapter of Black Cat Bone. Coming soon!

Daniel Faraday

Here's that twitchy, odd physician from LOST, Daniel Faraday. And no, he's not played by Henry Thomas from E.T.

Hurley hearts Shih-tzus.

Apparently, I'm doing a series of LOST caricatures, today featuring Hurley from the Season 5 opener. Next up, a certain twitchy, bearded professor/physicist. Stay tuned...

Time to get LOST again.

Finally the new season of LOST begins tonight. I've been on board with this show since its premiere and it has been a fun (at times frustrating) ride. It's really the only show I watch now.
The characters on the show are great, but one of my favorites is Benjamin Linus. Ben is a highly intelligent, resilient, manipulative and complex character. He's also a lot of fun to caricature.

Gig pix: 1/13/09

Here's a few pics from an 8 hour gig I did Tuesday. This first subject wanted to be Diana Ross. I still didn't make his hair big enough.

He started grunting like a caveman when he sat down.

Star Wars kid. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

My best work ever.

Here's a blast from the past, probably from around 1973 or so. This is the first record of my life-long passion for art. Judging by the artwork on my blog, you can tell I haven't improved much over the years. But hey, check out that blond hair!

Happy New Year 2009!

Another new year, another list of resolutions. I actually take new year's resolutions seriously, and try to stick to them ALL YEAR. So here are my resolutions for 2009, in no particular order.

1. Post more on the blog: I promise you that I will have posts numbering in the triple digits. That's right, I'm going to have well over a hundred posts for 2009. That's only a couple a week. My favorite blogs that I visit are the ones who post often. I want this blog to be one of your favorites too. I love when you guys hang around!

2. Publish MORE: I have some fun stuff in the works right now, and look for more chapters of Black Cat Bone throughout the year.

3. Attend more cons: This year, I'm already slated as a Comic Book Guest at Megacon in Orlando, February 27-March 1st. I would love to be a guest at other conventions this year and I HAVE to go to the NCN convention November in Ohio.

4. Lose more weight, get in shape: I'm eating much better on a nutritional level, I just need to be more physically active. Hmm..maybe I'll dust off that exercise equipment in the garage and fix my bicycle.

5. Get a website: This blog serves it's purpose well, but I need a stronger presence on the web. There are things in motion already. Stay tuned.

I have a few more personal resolutions that are none of your business! So far, however, 2009 is shaping up to be a great year. Once again, Happy New Year everyone!