Tracy Morgan caricature

Done for fun, for a Facebook competition. If I'm being really honest(which I generally am) I haven't a f**k@n clue who is, I think he's on Saturday night live. If anyone feels inclined to enlighten me, please do so.

Madonna and Baby Gaga

Just finished this, Amen!, turned into a bit of labour of love(excuse the pun). Mental busy with commissions so I had to grab some time to work on it any chance I could get, which often meant working late or getting up extra early. It's acrylic on canvas, and as always I love to hear your feedback, good or bad!

Tom Dunne podcast

Here's the interview if you want to listen to it.




Download niall interview Tom Dunne - Tom Dunne

John Cleese caricature

My latest painting ,acrylic on canvas.

Had great morning in Newstalk, loved being on the show, Tom was as I expected, a great laugh, and so laid back he was almost lying down.







Tomorrow I'l be interviewed on the Tom Dunne show at 10.30 am, you can listen online if you've nothing better to do by clicking on the Newstalk website. I'm a huge fan of the show, so I'm all excited and delighted!!

Liam Brady caricature

Here's a caricature of the legendary ex Ireland and Arsenal player and soccer pundit Liam Brady. I've no idea why he always reminds me of the Droopy! "your floor sir! going up sir!! but anyhow, this is my tribute to him. It's acrylic on canvas and as always your feedback is appreciated.


click to enlarge

Mesut Ozil caricature

Can't wait for the game tonight, and in keeping with my world cup caricatures, here's a quick on of Mesut Ozil, the German engine.

Bill O herlihy caricature

Here's a caricature of Irish legendary sports presenter Bill O herlihy. Bill who is known for his laid back manner and for the catchphrase "okey doke" has presided over RTE's world cup panel for the last 100 years, at least!!

Miroslav Klose caricature

Another very quick sketch with a splash of photoshop colour of Miroslav Klose, the German front man and arguably one of the best strikers in the world cup so far.

Robert Pattinson caricature

Haven't a clue if this guy is any good or not, as I've never seen any of his films, all I know is that every time I turn the TV on, there seems to be a shot of him followed by loads of screaming girls(lucky git!). I also get a silly amount of requests from people asking me to caricature him. This is a very quick sketch, scanned into photoshop , and painted.

Tom Dunne caricature

This was meant to a surprise for one of my favourite presenters Tom Dunne, but the good people in Newstalk obviously aren't very good at keeping secrets as I just heard Tom saying how much he liked it on air. If you haven't heard of Tom, he's the ex front man of the band "something happens" of which they're most famous song was parachute. He makes me laugh every morning which more than a good enough reason to have your caricature done by me.

Kaka caricature

A very quick photoshop of Brazilian football superstar and all round good guy Kaka. It's far from finished but I said if I don't post it now it'll just sit on my hard drive for another 4 years.

Giovanni Trapattoni.

I've had this sitting on my desk for awhile now, so I'm glad I got a chance to finish it. He's Irelands latest soccer manager for those of you not interested in everything football related. As as usual it's acrylic on canvas, no photoshop was harmed in the creating of this! and as always I love to hear all your feedback.

David Villa caricature

A very quick sketch of one of my favourite players in the world cup so far, shame he's not going to Man utd. I added a quick wash of colour in photoshop to see how it would look, so if I get some time I'll finish it fully.

DOUBLE O'BAMA

This was a commissioned piece for a client who wanted Obama portrayed as you can see as a "James Bond" type character.
As usual for me it's acrylic on canvas, as I now find I can paint traditionally almost as as fast as digital, and I love having an original, I also love real paint.


click to enlarge

Harry Shearer caricature

This was done for a group over on Facebook. It gave me an excuse to dig out my paints and take a break from commissions, to do what I love doing most "my own stuff".
It's acrylic on canvas and was done in an afternoon, which is quick even for me. For those of you who don't know him, Harry Shearer is the voice behind many Simpson characters, most notably Mr Burns.

I'm on the Ray Darcy show

Updated Thursday July 1st

I was on the Ray Darcy show again yesterday, this time to draw what the listeners thought the typical Irish female looked like. The results can be seen here


Had a great morning in Today FM. Ray and the gang were as sound, as you'd expect. It looks like I'll be on again in a couple of weeks to draw a female! Here's a couple of pictures from today plus a caricature of Ray that I banged up last night.






Tomorrow morning I'm heading into Today fm to chat to Ray Darcy and draw a few pictures! Can't say to much more at the moment, but you can listen online by clicking here, just follow the links.

BONO'S BAD BACK!!!

Apologies again for the lack of posts, the commissions keep rolling in, leaving very little time for my own personal work. Here's a quick sketch (a filler) of poor aul Bono, who recently turned 50 and next thing you know his back goes out! My sympathies are with him however, having just hit 40 and feeling the creaky bones, I can only imagine what I'll be like in another 10 years, and I'm not hopping around a stage every other night! Best wishes BONO, hope you get better soon.

Pep Guardiola caricature

Another quick sketch, this time it's the Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.

RIP Gerry Ryan

Today Ireland mourns the sad and tragic loss of probably our greatest ever broadcaster.
Love him or loathe his voice and opinions could be heard across the airwaves every weekday for more than 20 years.
I for one will mourn his loss.

Loads of stuff on my other blog.

Just a quick note to let you know I've posted lot's of new live work from recent gigs plus a rant about the pro's and con's of working digital. You can check it all out by clicking here.

Wayne Rooney sketch

Although he's my favorite player, I've never done a caricature of him that I'm happy with, so I decided I'd have another bash. I think this is a good likeness and hopefully I'll get a chance to paint it soon. Feedback appreciated.

Lionel Messi caricature

Is this the worlds best footballer ever???? Hard to argue that he has the potential to be, so for the moment we'll just enjoy watching him play in this years world cup. Love your feedback as always folks.

Now there you go!!!!

Wedding in Knightsbrook 3/4/10

Brought my new toy to work with me yesterday for the wedding of Graham and Shabana, it's a kodak ki8 HD camcorder. I'm a sucker for gadgets and I thought with my up-coming trip to the states etc I'd treat myself to this. It's no bigger than your average phone and as you can see it also comes in handy for gigs as an alternative to taking photo's. It also made me realize I say "are you ready? and now there you go, allot!

The IPAD is coming!!!!!!

Having recently become a Mac convert and wondering how I ever did without one, I was more than a little excited to see this on my buddy down under's blog this morning . Although I can't ever see myself giving up the aul pen and paper I really think this piece of kit could be the future of caricature drawing, if only as an alternative. No wires, bulky equipment means this could be set up in seconds, I'm not to sure what's involved printing wise but I'm sure Angie will let me know. Check out her fantastic digital caricatures here.

Lady GaGa caricature

Here's a fun painting of one of my favorite artists at the moment. It's acrylic on canvas as usual for me. Hope you like it and don't forget to let me know what you think.

Gabriel Byrne caricature

A specially commissioned piece for the good people over at Byrneholics. It's acrylic on canvas and is 16 x 24 inches in size. As always I love to hear your feedback.

New A3 scanner.

I finally managed to save up enough to buy myself a new a3 scanner. They're incredibly expensive compared to an a4 which they practically give away for free with a printer built in. It always bothered me that the original painting looked so different than what was on the web. This is my first scan of my recent painting of Tiger woods but I have the say the colours are so much closer to the original is this picture.

NEW SCAN



OLD SCAN

Some new live work.

In case you don't know I have a separate blog, where I post my live work and other bit's and pieces that I do.
I've just added some new live stuff, so if your interested you can check them out by clicking HERE or on the lovely blonde lady's face to the top right of screen.

Brian O'Driscoll "the BOD"

This was done for a charity event this weekend called Heroes for Haiti which is to held in Bewely's hotel Dublin. A canvas print of the painting will signed by Brian later today and auctioned off on the night. The scary thing is that when I was asked to do the painting I never knew the night had a superhero theme, so I was quite freaked out last night when I got details of the event.

Some live work.

I don't like leaving the blog idle for too long, but with all the private commissions I have at the moment, it may be awhile before I get to post some new work. So here's some of my recent live work, one was from a gig last week and one from yesterday which was in the college of art and design Mountjoy square in Dublin. As each sketch was done in an average of 3 to 4 mins, I was just thinking yesterday that live work is like life drawing for a caricaturist, it forces you to really look and see shapes, details and form which keeps you sharp improves your hand to eye co-ordination, drawing skills etc.

George Bernard Shaw completed

Well finally here's the finished version. Apologies however for the lousy quality of the picture. As it's a very large canvas I was unable to scan it, and my photography skills leave little to be desired, large areas are out of focus etc. so until I source a decent photographer this is the best I can do. As I mentioned before I'm creating a series of paintings for a new bar in New York, still can't give any details but hopefully I will soon.

George Bernard Shaw work in progress

Here's an early shot of latest painting, it's George Bernard Shaw work in progress or WIP for all you cool people.
This is part of series of paintings and prints I've done/doing for a new bar in New York, more about that later.
At the moment i think this looks like Jim Carey as Scrooge!

Alexander McQueen caricature

My humble tribute to the McQueen of the fashion world, who sadly passed away today.

Press in the Evening Herald

This Brian and Amy picture seems to be getting allot of attention from the media. This was a full half page in yesterdays Evening Herald with more to come. Needless to say my inbox is bulging this morning( finarr finarrrr)

Click to enlarge

Brendan O'Connor caricature

Is it just me or do other artists see animals in people all the time??? Anyhow here's my interpretation of chat show host and journalist Brendan O'Connor . Again it's acrylic on canvas.

You don't have to be famous!!

Updated Monday 1st of Feb
Had a fantastic weekend in the RDS and I'm glad to say it looks like the recession has avoided weddings for another year.
At around 5.00 pm on Saturday the gorgeous(both in looks and personality) Amy Huberman, popped by to pose for this picture me.





Yes it's true, you don't have to be famous rugby player or actress to order one of my wedding guest boards, Invitations, or to have me draw your guests on the day of your wedding. So get yourself down to the Bride of the year show this weekend in Dublin's RDS. My stand is f11 so if your about come up and say hello and get yourself a sample pack.

Oprah Winfrey caricature

This is one from last year I never got around to finishing. It's not as exaggerated as I would of liked, put i thought I'd put it up anyhow. Again it's acrylic on canvas.

John and Edward caricature

This was done on very tight deadline for the Multi-voiced/talented Oliver Callan, the man behind Nob Nation of 2FM radio.
I'd already done allot of this artwork for a CD cover last year, but the Grimes(john and Edward) were a new addition for a poster which will be used for live shows.
Oliver is going to be in venues throughout Ireland over the next few months so make sure you go along and see him. If you've never heard his version of the Climb, its well worth listening to, but obviously only if you know who the hell John and Edward are in the first place!

Fergie black eyed peas

Here's a quick digital of the lovely Fergie from the black eyed peas. I did try doing this traditionally, but I didn't really achieve the look I wanted, so I scanned the sketch into photoshop and knocked this up in less than half the time it would have taken me with acrylic. Only problem is now I don't have an original!

"The eye of the Tiger"

Here's my first piece of the new year, again it's acrylic on canvas board 20 x 16 inches in size. Took quite awhile but hopefully the detail shows. As always your comments are welcomed so please take a minute to leave a message regardless of what you think..

click to enlarge

New book by Paul Moyse

My friend and colleague Paul Moyse has just released his first book "the art of caricature". This book is a must have for anyone who has even a remote interest in caricature. From fantastic paintings both traditional and digital plus very informative tutorials, it will make a great addition to any collection. Paul is proof of that with hard work and determination you can acheive your goals. The book can be ordered by clicking here and you can see Pauls great work by clicking here. It's great value for money so go and buy it now, it's the best money you'll spend this year!

Joe McElderry caricature

I've had numerous requests to draw this guy, so I finally relented and did this. Scanned the sketch into my new Mac and painted it in PS, it took about two hours in total which is not too bad I think?. If you live in Ireland or the UK you'll no doubt be plagued with this guy over the next few months as the X-factor juggernaut steam rolls it's way to the top of the charts. And for all the grumpy old b&*t**ds who give out about this type of music, this is what the young people like and they're the ones who buy the songs so good luck to them. We can always dig out or Peter Gabriel vinyls and reminisce.