Live caricatures

I'm still averaging 3 gigs a week at the moment even though it's November so it's impossible to post pictures from every event, however here's just a couple from recent events, but the main reason I'm posting these is because Alan Kelly who is one of Irelands best videographers was kind enough to send me this video which he made at a recent wedding. Although many videographers have promised to send me the video, most never do, so this proves he's honest efficient and talented so book him now. This video also proves that no-one is faster than me at live work in Ireland as this video is not speeded up, I actually have a bionic arm!

BTW the Pele thing went amazing, just waiting on photo's etc but will tell you more next week.







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Pele painting

Well here it is finished!It's acrylic as usual and measures 26 x 18 in size.
The colours aren't great in the scan, but I'll be getting it professionally done next week so I'll update it at a later stage. As always I love to hear your comments.

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Thierry Henry deserves the best!!!

Sick is what I am..... sick!!!

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Sketch for Pele painting.

The legendary Pele is coming to Ireland next week and guess who's been asked to a painting of him??? yes me! Very excited about this one as not only IMO is he the greatest footballer of all time the man is a living legend, so I'm thrilled to asked to this and the idea is that I'll present it to him in person, so hopefully there will be lots of photo's etc. This is a working sketch which I really hope to nail down once I go to paint.I've done over 50 sketches before I settled on this one, baring in mind the client doesn't want an extremely exaggerated one.

This post has been updated here

I'm a Mac head!!!

Well after years of badgered and abused by my colleagues for not having a mac, I finally gave in and joined the gang.
Apart from being the most beautiful looking piece of kit I've ever seen, it also performs like a dream, from the wireless keyboard to the new Multi-Touch mouse and the hi-res screen, it's all visually very stimulating.
Although the new operating system takes a bit of getting used to, so far so good.

Raul Gonzalez caricature

As promised here's another sketch, this time it's one of Spain's best ever strikers Raul Gonzalez. As always your comments are encouraged and appreciated.

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The Grimes twins!!!!!!!!

I normally post my cartoons from the Mirror newspaper over on my other blog which you can find by clicking HERE. But as I thought this was a matter of public safety, I felt it my duty to warn you all before it's too late!

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Zlatan ibrahimovic caricature

Quick sketch just to update the aul blog.
This time it's Zlatan ibrahimovic(try saying that drunk). He's a soccer player for Barcelona for all of you with no interest in all things football.
As always don't forget to leave a comment, and if you like what you see on my blog you can really make my day and click the follow button.

Stacey Solomon, X Factor caricature

A quick sketch of the gorgeous if a little goofy Stacey Soloman, one of the finalists from this years X factor. She's been my favourite since the auditions so I felt she deserved a drawing.

Beyonce caricature

Just finished this, again it's acrylic on canvas 16 x 24 inches in size.
I found her quite a challenge as she seems to look different in every picture, but I think/hope I got her. The scan is missing allot of the subtleties of the original, but you get the idea. As always folks let me know what you think, it does mean allot.

Yossi Benayoun caricature

Quick watercolour of one of my favourite Liverpool players. I always thought this guy was fantastic even when the Liverpool fans said he was shite, looks like this season he'll prove me right!

Guinness 250 years!

Saturday night I was in the the Guinness store-house Dublin along with 3 of my fellow artists, Jon Donohue, Mark Heng and Ken Coogan, a big thanks to all the guys for their help. Didn't have much time to take pictures, but here's a few I did manage to squeeze in.








Mark about to work his magic.




Who are those gorgeous fellas?

More gift caricatures

In between paintings I have to earn a living so rather than leave the blog idle, I thought I'd post a few recent caricatures I've done over the last few weeks.
From barrister's to wanna rock stars, a caricature by me is the ideal gift for any occasion(if I say so myself). Incredibly I'm booked out at the moment, It seems to be allot of word of mouth at this stage as many people are saying we saw one of your pictures hanging in a friends house etc. I also have at least 20 new images I've done for wedding stationery and guest boards which I'll post soon.




Hi niall just letting you no that the wife loved the picture, she couldn't get over all the detail you had in it, and how well it was done. she has it hanging proudly in the hall where every one can see it. Thanks again niall.
Kind regards
George holmes.

Luke Kelly caricature

For those of you who don't know him, Luke Kelly was the legendary lead singer with the Dubliners. This is my first painting of him, but I'm sure it won't be my last. I've watched many videos etc of him on both television and youtube recently to get a feel for him. He was a fascinating character and I hope you like my tribute to him.
It's acrylic on canvas and as always I love to hear your feedback.

Caster-rated No 1 in the world

Not sure how anyone could mistake Caster Semenya for a man, okay so she has the word semen in her surname and she's flat chested and has big muscles,Madonna anyone!!!
So come on, give her a break, the truth will prevail.

Live work from various weddings.

With up to 5 weddings a week at the moment(yes 5!!) It's impossible to keep track of them all or even take pictures at most of them. However I've managed to compile various pictures which were taken over the last month or so, from venues as far apart as Innishowen in Donegal to Adare in Limerick. Most if not all of these drawings were done in 3 minutes or less, so it's often a case of speed over substance, however I think the likness is good in most of them, and the main thing is the bride and groom were delighted and the guests who wanted to get drawn were not disappointed.

Martin Skrtel caricature

Very quick photoshop job(about two hours incl sketch) of liverpool's Martin Skrtel.
I was inspired to draw him while watching Liverpool v Spurs yesterday, great player and great face for a caricature!

"The most important meal of the day"

Could have spent the rest of my life painting this, spent waaaaayyyyyyy to many hours on it. Anyhow it's acrylic on canvas 16 x 24, and as always I love to hear all your feedback.

Happy Birthday Antonio Banderas

Marcus Big Brother 10

I know I know these loser's don't deserve to drawn, but lets face it, this wolverine wannabe has a great face, and as people have been asking me to post more sketches in between paintings, I thought I'd do a quick one of this guy before his 15 mins of fame evaporates!

Ryan Tubridy caricature

Those of you not from the Emerald Isle may not know a certain "Ryan Tubridy". He's just been voted Dubliner of the year(I've no idea what the criteria is)and more importantly he's taking over as host of the Late Late show this September! (now I know why you painted him I hear you cry). Anyhow this is my tribute to Ryan who I have to say is a genuinely decent bloke, and he also happens to have one of the best looking girlfriends in Ireland.For those of you who care about such matters, the painting is acrylic on canvas.

PS, the cheese at the bottom of the painting is Joke related to his band the Camembert Quartet(Hilarious)

Al Pacino caricature

Apologies for the long delay in posting new work, I was taking a well earned break in Zakynthos in Greece, which I really enjoyed. Anyhow it's back to reality now and this is the first painting I've done since I got back, I felt a little rusty but I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out, again it's acrylic on canvas and as always your feedback is not only welcome but encouraged.

New A-ha album

In case you didn't know I happen to be one of the worlds biggest A-ha fans(and proud of it) Back in 1985 the Take on me video inspired me to go on to become an animator and let's just say the rest is history. Anyhow they've just released their 9th studio album "Foot of the mountain", which although did take a few listens, I have to say I absolutely love.
This is the video to the 1st single from it of the same title.
It also prompted me to dig out a caricature I did of them about 5 years ago, which when I saw it again, I thought, hmmm it's not that bad. Anyhow enjoy or not, oh and I can take the slagging.

New live work

With a severe lack of posts from me lately, I thought I'd post some new live work. I don't generally take photo's at events anymore as it slows me up too much, although while working at Bloomsday in Trinity college last Friday I really wish I'd brought a camera, when I was asked to draw some lovely models who were at the event, I do have some I took on my phone, I just have to work out how to get them onto my PC. Anyhow back to reality, here's some photo's from various weddings over the last few weeks. These were taken everywhere from Bellinteer house near Navan, Markee Castle in sligo, the Bridge House hotel Tullamore, to the Galway Bay hotel.
Oh and in relation to the bottom picture of me, never stand near a chocolate fountain when there's a window open, unless of course you happen to have a spare set of clothes in the boot of the car!

I've been a busy boy.

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, things have been really hectic and look like they'll continue to be for the next month or so anyhow. The late Late show was a fantastic night, although I only got my ugly mug briefly on the TV, I met loads of interesting people including Gabriel Byrne, who's pictured below with my wife, she had great time posing with all the celeb's while I busy working. The highlight of my night was standing 10 feet from U2 watching them rehearse(check out this link, very funny), I also stood beside them backstage, but I didn't quite have the balls to go up and say hello, to be honest their minder was giving me evils and was looking at my pencil as if I was going to use it as a lethal weapon. I was also asked to do a caricature of Pat at the last minute which was presented to him on the night as a gift from his colleagues.
On another note, I sold 3 of my paintings last week which is always a great feeling and really encouraging, the ones that sold were the new Phil Lynott portrait style one (pictured in a post below) the caricature where's he's giving us the finger and my Leonard Cohen. I've also been incredibly busy with private commissions and gigging around the country at various events.
I hope to do some new paintings soon so stay tuned and thanks again for all your comments and feedback throughout the year.

Final Late Late show

I can barely contain my excitement as I type this, because tonight I'll be at the final show of the Late Late show for this season and much more importantly the final show for it's host Pat Kenny. I was lucky enough to be a guest on the show a few years back, and although I was very nervous I found Pat to the consummate professional and he did everything possible to put me at ease. I've been asked to come out and draw the celebrity guests which are supposed to include some up and coming band from Dublin which you may or may not have heard of called U2. I've also been asked to do Pat's going away present from RTE, but I can't say more than that for the moment (oh what could it be)
Anyhow wish me luck and I'll update this post as soon as I can.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0523/1224247188263.html

Leonard Cohen caricature

Just finished this.
It's acrylic on canvas(no digital) and as always your comments are much appreciated.

Gift caricatures by Niall O'Loughlin

How I wish I had all day everyday to paint whatever I like, however as a full time caricaturist I have to make a living. Fortunately for me, peoples demand for gift caricatures has increased as as a result of the recession, mainly I think due to the fact that people need cheering up, and also most people when things were good tended to buy everything they wanted . Below is just a small sample of recent pictures I've done. They were commissioned for everything from retirement gifts to wedding and anniversary presents, and main thing was that everyone was happy with what I produced which inevitably leads to more business as a result of good word of mouth.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to post more of my personal work soon, I'm working on a Leonard Cohen acrylic which I'll post as soon as I get the time to finish it.

Susan Boyle aka the "The Hairy Angel"

Unless you live on Mars, you've heard of Susan Boyle, the incredible singing sensation from Britain's got talent (it obviously does).
With over 40 million hits on YOUTUBE I thought she deserved a quick sketch.
I've heard they're going to "sex her up" and give her a makeover for her next appearance. Leave her as she is I say and let's hope the hairy angel doesn't resemble my bottom sketch a "A Hairy Fairy".

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Phil Lynott caricature.

This painting was done for upcoming Phil Lynott exhibition(see post below). When I turned up for the photo shoot with my first painting which is essentially a portrait, I thought I really should have done a caricature! so that's what I did because that's what I love doing most! c&c is welcome as always folks.

O'Loughlin in the news

Just back from an amazing week in Barcelona which was mostly spent checking out the amazing work of Gaudi.
it was nice to come home to quite a bit of press about myself in the Irish newspapers.

During the week there was a picture of me and other artists with Philomena Lynott in the Irish Independent, this to promote an upcoming Phil Lynott exhibition which I'm involved in.







Yesterday there was a half page in the Sunday World which is one of Ireland's biggest selling Sunday paper.



And I got a call this morning to say there's a piece about me in this months Business and Finance magazine, so I went out a bought a copy.

"The green giant" Paul O'Connell

Here's my latest caricature, this time it's Irish rugby hero Paul O'Connell, who in no small part was a major factor in Ireland winning the six nations.
It's acrylic on canvas and C&C is welcome as always folks.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!

This weeks Sunday Mirror cartoon.

"The Business" John Murray RTE 1

This Sunday morning the 29th @ 10 am, I'm a guest on the John Murray show on RTE radio 1. I'll be on the show for an hour, during which time I'll be discussing my work and drawing John live on air with the results to posted on the RTE website afterwards.
If you've nothing better to do this Sunday morning, you can listen live online by clicking here.

Brian Cowen painting in the National Gallery

Updated Wednesday 25th March

I've had 100's of emails asking if it was me who hung the portrait/caricature painting of Brian Cowen in the national gallery last weekend, I'd like to take this opportunity to categorically state "IT WASN'T ME!!!
However it certainly was a great way of generating publicity.

This is one I did last year, which was commissioned for the Nob nation CD cover, which has also been in the news lately for wrong reasons.
It's been out a few months now and so far no police have called to the door!

Sean Penn Milk caricature

Here's my latest caricature, again it's acrylic on canvas, and as always please don't forget to leave your comments good or bad!, It's your feedback that makes me want to do these, and if you really want to make my day, click on the folow button to the right!!!

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Paul McCartney and the Beetle !!!

Here's my latest painting of the legendary Paul McCartney. The idea for the ladybird on his nose which is form of Beetle! came from seeing photo's of him looking constantly surprised as if someone just pinched his arse or something just landed on his nose! and of course it was a perfect opportunity for wordplay!
Don't forget to leave any comments you may have.

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Some new live work.

I don't post many pictures of my live work anymore, mainly because I usually forget to bring a camera and also because I really churn these pictures out, literally I try to keep one each to 4 minutes or under.
The pictures of the very pretty girls were taken Saturday night at the 21st party of Lydia Macari, who is the daughter of the famous owner of Macari chip shops and restaurants mainly based in Dublin. The party was like something from an MTV documentary, no expense was spared, and the clothes or lack of them really made me feel my age, I even said to one girl who was barely dressed "are you not cold in that" you sound like my dad she replied! The rest are from a wedding on Friday night and another from a few weeks ago.

Click on any of the images to see a larger version.

Barack Obama "HOPE" caricature

Here's my latest caricature, another Barack Obama! It's acrylic on canvas 40 x 60 in size. This one took quite awhile but I have to say, I really enjoyed doing it and I hope it shows.The idea came from me trying to come up with an angle of something he might do while he relaxes, hence the bottle of Barack O'Bourbon and the Obama Lights.
As always your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Jade Goody caricature

Love her or loathe her, you'd have to be heartless not to feel for this woman. For those of you not from Ireland or England you've probably never heard of her, if not you can you can read about her story here . Having already lost two good friends to cancer myself, both animators, it's impossible not to feel moved while you watch this woman die in front of our eyes.
So I did what I always do and express myself through my art.
Would she like it if she saw it? from what I know of her she'd get a great laugh!
It's watercolour btw, a3 in size.

Hulk Hogan caricature

I've been meaning to do this guy for ages, when I saw him on the TV the other night, I could see the caricature in my head, so I had to get it on paper while it was fresh.
Hope you all like it, love to hear your comments as always.

The painted version (click to enlarge)





This is the initial sketch (click to enlarge)

NEW COLDPLAY VIDEO!!!

Thanks to Ken Coogan for introducing me to this video, it instantly became one of my favourite music videos of all time, I really think it's pure genius! Hope you enjoy it even half as much as I do.

Danny Boyle caricature

Okay I know I'm on a bit of a Slum dog buzz at the moment, and maybe the Oscar statue is premature, but hey, great film, great director, and if doesn't win, at least he can have this caricature!! You're comments are welcome as always.

Dev Patel (Slumdog millionaire) caricature

Saw this film the other night and thought it was absolutely amazing, for once a movie lived up to the hype!
Here's a quick sketch of one of the main actors Dev Patel.
The drawing took about half an hour and then as you can see just did a quick wash in photoshop which took another half hour. I may finish it if I find the time.
C&C welcome as always folks.

Nicolas Sarkozy caricature

I've been meaning to do this guy for awhile. It's acrylic on canvas board, not digital!! the size is 12 x 16 inches.

As always your feedback is not only encouraged greatly appreciated.

Robbie Keane goes back to spurs!!!

His nightmare is finally over! poor aul Robbie must be delighted today to going back to club that sold him in the 1st place.
The whole affair feels a little like getting back with your old girlfriend, after you dumped her 6 months ago for a better one, only to find the new one is a bitch and she didn't really want to go out with you anyway.
Anyhow I changed the shirt again, hopefully he'll wear it for awhile! best wishes Robbie.


Robbie now!


Robbie six months ago

More gift caricatures

Here's a few more pictures of recent gift caricature's I've done over the Christmas and in January including a specially commissioned piece for Lord Henry Mount Charles, who owns Slane Castle. Not sure what's going on but this has been busiest I've been in years! maybe people just need cheering up and so caricatures are becoming even more popular, bring it on I say.
In relation to the reference photo's beside the caricatures, when possible I tend to work from many different photo's, these are just one of many I used.

Wedding fair in the RDS

Here's a couple of photo's of my stand at the Bride of the year show in the RDS last weekend.
For those of you who didn't know, a big part of my business is creating stationery and providing caricatures at weddings as form of entertainment.
This was my most elaborate and biggest stand by far, up to this I had a small space with a table that the cards were placed on, this was a much larger corner stall ,and as you can see I had proper display units and new pop up banners etc, however the piece that received the most attention was definitely my wedding guest board, I got the flower spray made during the week, and added a frame for the wow factor, and boy did it pay off! I also ran a competition over the weekend were-by everyone who signed their email address on it was entered into a competition to win their very own one free, so a huge congrats Elaine Hoffman in Navan who was the lucky winner.
I have to say I was worried that with the recession etc that the crowds wouldn't turn up and even worse they wouldn't book, but fortunately this was not case, my stationery is almost booked up for year and bookings for wedding caricatures are up on last year, although I found it very frustrating that 5 out of 10 couples are getting married on July the 18th which has been booked for me since last year!

Verne Troyer caricature

Anyone watching Big Brother 6 on Channel 4 will know Verne is star of the show(apart from Coolio) I had this sketch knocking around in my head for a few weeks,so when I got a spare half hour today and decided to put pencil to paper. C & C welcome as always folks.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Seen as how he won world player of the year the other night, I thought I'd have another bash at him. C @ C welcome as always folks.

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