DOUG SHANNON caricature artist

This caricature artist has been drawing traditional media carcatures at wedding receptions for years, but lately more and more wedding planners are asking for the digital option. It costs a little more but there are distinct advantages, full color being the biggest. No more peering over the artist’s shoulder—onlookers watching the drawing unfold on a 30″ screen feel much more a part of the process. The brilliant color prints are 4X6″ photo size, easily tucked away in a purse or pocket, and multiple prints are easy if the drawing has multiple subjects! To top it all off, subjects can download jpeg versions of their prints online the following day for personal printing or use on Facebook and other social media. What’s not to like? Learn more at Doug’s live digital caricature web site.

Wells Fargo throws a huge company picnic every year with an event planning company running the show, who asked Doug to handle the caricature wing of the entertainment. Doug, the tallish duffer in the background, brought along two of the San Francisco Bay area’s best quick sketch artists to handle the crowd. The three of us, pictured here with one of the hearty souls who braved the line three times, drew for five hours straight, pausing only to wolf down a few bites to keep the blood sugars flowing. Averaging about three minutes per subject we wound up  tired but happy, having received plenty of kudos from our enthusiastic subjects on this sunny summer afternoon.

I’ve been spending so much time with my new live digital caricature site that I’m afraid I’ve been remiss.

The client needed four caricaturists for this event, and although this artist was booked elsewhere that evening, I  secured the best talent available and handled all the details for her. The cast included Zach Trenholm, Marc Schmid, Big Al  and Jon Casey, whose combined efforts were a big hit. For one stop shopping for multiple artists in the bay area, you can rely on Doug to get you what you need with a minimum of effort. One phone call plus one check equals a successful event!

The artist was invited to draw caricatures at this St. Valentines Day event which was held at the South Beach Yacht Club, for the second year in a row. Billed as the Red Moon Cabaret, the theme was French, with entertainment running the gamut from can can dancers to host Michelis Michel’ s cabaret crooning. Members, many of whom were in costume, were seated in an intimate, little round table setting and served with great flair and gusto by the staff. The caricature here is of the excellent chef  and his beau. Highlights of the evening included the alluring belly dancer Rasa Vitalia and the amazing one-of-a-kind voice percussionist and beat box artist Bronkar Lee, who conquered the laws of physics, as well as the hearts of the audience.

This illustration was commissioned  by  a group of wheeler dealers who wanted a humorous illustration of the transaction they had just accomplished.

This is a portion of an illustration commissioned by a European group celebrating a business deal. It consisted of nearly 30 caricatures, drawn from photos, with each aspect of the deal portrayed in a suitably whimsical fashion. The final was printed at 18×24″—a big picture for a big deal!

Big Al, a East Bay caricature artist, invited me to join him drawing caricatures of high rollers at Harrah’s Reno on New Years Eve. Another caricaturist, Rhoda Draws was kind enough to shoot this photo of me at work.

Medtronics commissioned the artist to create two more gift caricatures for their staff on the move. As Rod Stewart once said, “Every picture tells a story.” I’ll let you imagine these.

The artist was invited to the Ebay campus to draw caricatures for a few hours in the afternoon. This was one of those situations where you have an endless line and I kicked these  out at about two minutes each. I actually enjoy working fast like that, there is no time to think so you draw with your instincts, which oftennproduces the best results.

Some companies in this industry are limiting themselves to holiday gatherings of no more than 12, so this particular group shall remain nameless. The event was held in the locker room.or clubhouse if you please, of the San Francisco Giants at ATT Park. One of the most unusual venues I’ve ever workedt. It was surprisingly luxurious actually, a terrific place for a group of 40 to hang out and get their caricatures drawn! I was assured that the visitors locker room isn’t nearly so swank, but that’s baseball!

This is the artist’s third year back drawing caricatures at the world famous French Laundry’s Open House. I really enjoy drawing caricatures but it is a bit torturous to be surrounded by cheerful people eating and drinking the finest food and wine imaginable!  I managed to scarf a few mouthfuls between subjects but one really can’t focus on art and eating simultaneously.

George Family Enterprises makes interiors for Apple stores, among other venues, and they invited me to draw caricatures for their annual holiday party at their North Bay facility in Novato.

Let’s say someone is being transferred and that someone deserves some recognition in the form of a personal gift, a gift that says we know who you are and we won’t forget you. What better choice than a custom caricature?

The artist was invited to draw caricatures at the 60th birthday celebration for a much beloved lady, held at the penthouse suite at the Fairmount San Francisco. I managed to catch a photo of the birthday girl and her accomplice with their caricature. The paty was planned by Gina Michnowicz of Orchestrate Lifestyle Management, a new outfit that did a wonderful job.

The artist drew caricatures for a wedding reception at the Napa Valley Country Club, a stunningly beautiful yet unpretentious venue . The bride and groom were super cute Giants and wine fans, thus the theme. It was a great bunch of guests that knew how to have a good time.

This landscape architect firm threw a big bash at McNears Beach where the artist drew caricatures of employees and their families for five hours this Saturday. Fortunately it was perfect weather, without  the usual wind, and a great time was had by all.

The human resources department of a well known silicon valley firm commissions the artist periodically to create caricatures of incoming staff. Here are a few recent additions that will be hanging in the hall soon.

The artist was commissioned to depict these doctors as superheroes—a fun project. I was able to use personal attributes in the caricatures, highlighting their superpowers. Hint: don’t mess with the guy with the golf club.

This artist has been drawing caricatures at Charles Krug Winery for several years now at their annual “Tastings On The Lawn” event. It could be my favorite event of the year. Good food, great wine and live music in a congenial atmosphere makes for terrific caricature subjects. Here are two of my favorites.

Neiman Marcus procured the artist to draw glamorous caricatures of shoppers at an annual in-store event. This couple was the only photo that took, though there were plenty of beautiful subjects to had.

Christian Dior arranged a special retail event for pampered pets and their owners, to which the artist was invited to draw live digital caricatures.When we ran out of dogs we worked with unleashed people.

The artist was invited to the offices of a hot startup that wanted to do live digital caricatures for their engineering department. These averaged about 12 minutes apiece, and were delivered in both photo and digital form for later use. This gig was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing more on site work of thus kind.

This is the fifth year the artist has been invited to help this country club celebrate their community and swim team, so I get to draw regular caricature updates of some pretty cute faces year after year. Here’s one of my favorites!

The artist was invited, along with the indefatigable Marc Schmid, to entertain the wedding guests at a speakeasy sort of club in the theater district called Bourbon and Branch—the branch refers to the juniper bush, I am guessing, an essential ingredient of gin, which is the other specialty of the house. The guests were from all over the map, and caricature was a great way for people to open up a bit and get to know each other. I was stationed strategically adjacent to the martini bar, while Marc did his stalking thing, so we had it covered—nobody left unscathed, so to speak.

The subject of this gift caricature is a therapist with a Matt Damon crush, so the artist decided to depict a little wish fulfillment fantasy—Matt on the couch, baring his soul. The digital file was uploaded to the artist’s page at smugmug.com, where the Human Resource department client could order quality prints in any size, surface or quantity he wished.

This is the artist’s third year at an annual event this mammoth health club throws for its members. It was mostly 50+ couples, my favorite demographic for traditional media caricatures, and so I had a blast, with a long line of kibbitzing, wine-sipping hecklers. I brought along Laura Gilmore as well, to round out the caricature entertainment with her deadly accurate, somewhat more serious approach. We both drew our butts off and closed the place down.

The artist was called upon for the second year in a row to draw caricatures for a back-to-classes event at Holy Names University in the Oakland Hills. I always seem to get the longest queue at schools and colleges, so with about an hour to go, I gave the last 20 in line numbers—wrote them right on the hand. Hmmm…I may start that as a regular policy!

The artist was invited to draw caricatures, along with Marc Schmid, at “Big Night”, an annual back-to-school shindig for students at Sonoma State. Featured entertainment included an outdoor tent scene with music and who knows what, as well as a magician, comedians, face-painters and more, but we caricaturists still had the longest lines. I was drawing at about a 2 minute pace for much of the evening, however the supply of willing caricature subjects was endless. Here are two of the artist’s most  enthusiastic subjects.

Food for Thought is a terrific organization that runs an organic grocery as well as  delivering food to Sonoma County AIDs patients. It takes a lot of volunteers, the type of folks that like to help and like to smile—great subjects for caricature artists! The artist was invited back for the second year now, along with a fantastic Forestville-based gypsy world music band, and top notch catering. I was too busy drawing caricatures to take pictures, but I couldn’t resist this crowd-pleaser.

“You definitely have some amazing skills.” Danny McNiven, Production Design Team

Tiny Prints is a successful custom greeting card company and they invited the artist to draw caricatures as entertainment for their annual company picnic. It was a good sized crowd with yummy eats and lots of happy faces. Here are a few especially good caricatures.

Three caricaturists at this event—Marc Schmid, Big Al and myself. IBEW is a friendly, family-oriented union that celebrates every year with a big shindig, complete with rock wall, BBQ steaks, a live band and Franco from Family Fun Airbrush Tattoos, who originally referred me for this gig three years ago. It was four hours of practically nonstop caricatures. Here are two of my favorite subjects.

Ray’s Catering hired this artist to entertain The Wine Exchange, a company that deals in a variety of alcoholic beverages, with caricatures at their company picnic. I drank water only, but had a blast drawing the lineup of happy faces. Pix on the way!

The artist was asked by TIVO to provide entertainment for a company picnic, held under tents, for employees and their families. Anticipating big demand, The artist brought along two other caricaturists, Zach Trenholm and Marc Schmid, to help out. A great time was had by all, especially I hope, by the lady who waited in three lines to get three opinions. Providing multiple artists is one more way thsi artist strives to be a full service source for your event entertainment needs.

The artist was commisssioned by this well known comedienne to create a caricature to be used in promotional material.

This artist provides gift caricatures for all the new hires at a certain well known company HR department—kind of a right-of-passage thing. The department  hallway is lined with caricatures of young, attractive people with big ideas and bright futures.

Steve and Kate’s summer day camp is a world class operation, and they had me drawing caricatures of kids at all six of their Bay area locations this summer. It is a very intense experience, drawing with an endless line of VERY enthusiastic subjects. Even at two minutes each, there isn’t time to meetb the demand. Here are a couple of my favorite subjects.

This artist is called upon regularly by the HR department of a nationally known firm to commemorate comings and goings of vip’s as they are transferred or retired with a caricature illustration, complete with details about the subject that make it a truly one-of-a-kind gift.

This is a private commission for a dealmaker who likes to make personal, memorable gifts to his fellow wheeler dealers, as opposed to the usual tombstones and deal toys. And what could be more memorable and personal than a caricature? This is the kind of client a caricaturist loves, especially when he takes the time to follow up with this kind of praise.

“I just wanted you to know that this project was very well received by my client.  They loved it.  Thanks again for your great work.”

The artist was part of a menagerie of entertainment, including trapeze artists and a jungle cat. Lots of cool 20 somethings, my favorite demographic because they are into cartoons, whether it is Sandman or Stewie or even, yes, caricature, the lost art.

This artist was hired to draw caricatures at a prom celebration downtown. Great looking kids dressed up nice and looking fabulous.

Steve & Katie’s summer camps are the state of the art, and this artist can be seen at each of their six locations this summer.

This artist doesn’t like to play favorites but this year I’m outing San Marin High as the coolest school. The grads were exceptionally cognizant and vocal in their appreciation of my caricatures, and the humor sophistication of their own interactions was a delight. As usual I posted the caricatures in an impromptu gallery, and nothing is more gratifying to a caricaturist  than to overhear the crowd laughing and marveling at the likenesses on the wall.

This middle school threw a pretty big party for its graduating 8th graders. The wild enthusiasm of these kids made it a delight to draw for them.

Redwood High is a regular grad night for this caricaturist, and this year didn’t disappoint. Great kids, great organization at a great venue. Some video was taken at this gig—not viewed as yet. Watch this space for updates on any youtube postings.

This is the big one. Three schools, over 900 kids. Four caricature artists, so I actually got to take breaks. Finished up at 5 AM. Nothing will make you feel older than a grad night like this.

Benecia High is a regular caricature client for this artist every June. They really do a great job with the decorations and entertainment, as well as making the grads feel special. As you can see from these pix, they are pretty special caricature subjects too.

The annual Napa Wine Auction is a pretty big deal, and this artist was hired, by Skyana Entertainment again, to entertain the guests with caricatures. This gentleman was my first subject, drawn in the calm before the storm. The second photo was taken by Jim White, otherwise known as Napaman. His blog tells all about the event from an insider’s perspective.  I’ve said it before, but there are simply no better caricature subjects than wine drinkers. They appreciate subtlety, nuance, art in general. A fun gig!

The artist was called upon by Skyana Entertainment to draw caricatures as entertainment for a high school graduation celebration aboard a big old Hornblower riverboat for a cruise around the bay. I was swamped—drew about 75 kids in four hours.

Atlassian, a south of market firm hosted a few hundred guests for an event and hired Zach Trenholm and I to draw caricatures. Having two artists with distinct styles was great entertainment. Here are two of my favorite caricatures of the evening. To see some of the other corporate events I do go to my live digital caricature site.

This artist has a regular gig with Healdsburg High, drawing caricatures of the grads into the wee hours at Skandia in Sonoma County. Here are a couple of my favorites of the evening/early morning.

The bride sent me photos of her husband-to-be, a triathelete,  along with a scan of a caricature I had drawn of her at her friend’s wedding, and I put together this illustration for them. Intended as a tablepiece, the caricature is in digital form so they can use the art in any way they see fit.

Dry Creek Vineyards  invited me to draw caricatures for their wine club event. The theme was French, and the winery provided authentic live music, food, and games, in addition to the artist. This was about the hottest day of the year so far, but I had a little shade to work with. As you can see by these smiling subjects, the total effect was magnifique!

This college organization wanted to recognize their team leaders so they commissioned this artist to make a gift caricature that highlights the personalities of both the leaders and the troops. The illustration was done from e-mailed photos, along with descriptions of the characters involved. When the caricature was finished, it was posted online at a site called smugmug, where prints can be ordered any size—especially convenient for teams like this, where everybody is likely to want a print.

One of my corporate clients asked me to create a monthly comic strip for an ad they run in an HR journal. It’s called “Payroll Blues” and it addresses the Payroll accounting problems that Workforce Software can solve. It’s a fun commission, especially for this artist, who happens to be a former syndicated “stripper” himself.

When your good friend is leaving for a far away country, what sort of gift could possibly say what you are feeling? How about a custom caricature created from a photo of the subject, complete with his favorite shirt and patented deadpan expression? A caricature can be as fanciful and whimsical as you like, with room for details that only the gifter and receiver could know. This is one gift that won’t wind up in the round file after the plane lands.

This wedding planner commissioned a custom caricature of the bride and groom for the sign-in board—an original idea, and a good one I think. The picture is a humorous depiction of the proposal, done from photos and a brief description of the scene given to the artist.

This Mountainview HR department uses caricatures for team-building. New hires are polled for personal traits and hobbies and the info, along with their photos, is turned into a very personal tribute full  of talking points. It’s a great way for everyone to get introduced to each other. This is the latest batch of dozens of caricatures I’ve done in this format forthis client, and even I am surprised at how original each illustration manages to be.

Globalpress hosts tech journalists from all over the world every year and this is the third year I’ve been back drawing caricatures for them, Lots of great faces here, including two of the stff at the Nikki Hotel.

The elements of this bandito/hockey gift caricature were dictated to me so I claim no responsibility for the mixed metaphors. But I am assured that the caricature captures the character perfectly, so my work is done here.