More images of Venice

The very first skecth I drew - this is as far as I got before the detail of the place started to get to me...

Then I decided to draw buildings while we were sitting in a sreet cafe having coffee etc...

A LOT of coffee actually......

These are the classic street lamps they have all over Venice while the gargoyle was a particularly impressive example!

These two 'cool dudes' were sitting opposite us at a restaurant and were just so funny to watch - I just had to draw them...

Judi Dench caricature

Have you noticed these days that on the radio every actor or actress is described as "Britain's Best Loved Actor"? Well they can't ALL be the best - they can certainly be ONE of Britain's Best Loved Actors etc etc. Anyway, enough I hear you say, below is a caricature of one such "Best Loved" i.e. Dame Judi Dench

Mark Gatiss

Here's a quick caricature of the actor/comedian/writer Mark Gatiss.

Toby Jones

There are some faces that just cry out to be caricatured and I've always thought that the actor Toby Jones was one. So I've spent some time on trying to caricature him and I found it quite difficult which was all a bit of a suprise. I should point out that I try to draw staright onto paper with black ink these days i.e. I try to capture the likeness in just a few minutes (no initial pencil work) so that I can capture some sort of spontaneity in the drawing. I know what I wanted to do with this caricature in my head but when I tried to draw it it just didn't work.....just didn't look like him. I'm often asked at events "Are some people easier to draw than others?" and I always answer that, as a caricaturist, some are a godsend while others are what we call 'potato faces' i.e. no outstanding features which can be exaggerated (potato faces are usually very good looking faces by the way!). Anyway, I thought Toby Jones was a godsend of a face which just goes to show how wrong I can be!!

Robert Green

This is a caricature of the unfortunate England World Cup Goalkeeper, Robert Green, who blotted his copybook by conceeding a very silly goal during that game against the USA. Anyway, this caricature was drawn straight onto paper, with black ink, followed by watercolour (no initial pencil work) in an attempt to keep the looseness of the line (ooh, err!).