DOUG SHANNON caricature artist

The Harmans have me every year for their huge, amazing gathering of family and friends, to draw digital caricatures for the kids and teens mostly, with an occasional Santa. Subjects can download jpegs of their caricatures at this link.

Judging from the Prudential Realty group I drew caricatures for at Oyster Point, the real estate market is back. Lots of smiles here, mortgage rates are dropping, God bless us every one!

The French Laundry throws an annual party for all its foodie friends and they invited me to draw caricatures. Here are two shy lovelies. I also drew their parents too, and they were pretty good looking themselves,

Saltbranding dreams up brand identities for the products we buy—”Vista” for Microsoft for example. They took over a room at the E&O Trading Company for the evening, where I drew caricatures. This picture demonstrates why I need to be careful about drawing women in the nude—the guy often looks happier about it than she does.

Owens Corning threw a kids holiday party, so I drew caricatures here—about 65 kids in three hours.

This was a combination of business acquaintances and friends holiday party in a south-of-market highrise. The caricature pictured here is a lovely lady who is holding her Tony the tiger by the tail.

Catalyst Biosciences is probably one of a handful of biotech companies that can get funding in this economic climate, and they threw a party. This caricature was my fave of the evening. Sigh…oh, to be young  and cute and brilliant and in on the ground floor!

This gentleman was the honoree at a family and friends affair held at The Richmond, a new and excellent restaurant walking distance from the DeYoung. Drawing the birthday boy alone was the worth the trip, he is a rare spirit and an intoxicating conversationalist. As a bonus I got to draw his charming, brilliant grandkids, one of whom drew a caricature of me that I will cherish. I’ve never looked better.

Jeannie Schultz, wife of the great man himself, threw a party for her grand daughter and I was invited to draw caricatures. Jeannie volunteered to be the shill to get things started and here are the results. Sparky hit gold with Peanuts no doubt, but he hit Platinum when he snagged this lady.

This financial district San Francisco ad agency had me doing live digital caricatures for their holiday party. Lots of young good-looking people, with the occasional boomer like the guy in the picture to the left and me. Subjects can download their caricatures here.

Adobe took over the fabulous new DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park, and Velocity Circus hired me to draw live digital caricatures for the evening. They dressed me up as some sort of Star Trek extra, which was uh…interesting. Here are a few photos someone took late in the party—the blazing white light in the shots is the projector screen, which didn’t photograph well— and three of my favorite caricatures. Get an insider’s view of the event at this blogpost. Subjects can download there caricatures here.

KACE hired me to entertain their guests at the Pier 39 Aquarium on Monday night and things went so well that they had me back for Tuesday lunch. This was an IT crowd, mostly guys, and they are my favorite live digital caricature subjects. Jpegs from Monday and Tuesday are available for download online.

It is very strange being at an two-party election party. half the room is jazzed and the other depressed. This subject was an Obama supporter, but as you can see, he wasn’t gloating. Note the template with both the candidates.

I drew the host at a corporate function in San Jose, and it got me a gig in my hometown! This was a great bunch of folks all decked out in strange gear of course. I wore my usual artist costume—black, but forgot the beret. Here are several of the more cartoonogenic subjects of the evening.

The Santis have had me drawing caricatures for four or so years running now, so I’ve gotten to know the circle of family and friends, and you won’t find a sweeter bunch. These two caricatures were particularly good I thought. I’m looking forward to next year.

Etude winery threw a swell party for friends and employees under a big tent on a balmy night. This caricature is a little unusual—I don’t often draw gross distortions but this congenial fellow made the mistake of playfully warning me not to make his nose too big. Great fun for everyone!

The theme was a “Bite of the Big Apple” so I did a template of the Statue of Liberty taking one. Here are three of my favorite subjects of the night. The break dancer in particular turned out really well I think. Now all he has to do is learn to breakdance.

“Thank you so much for the show, you were great!…also, we have some shows next year that we would like to consider booking you…” Diana Farnham, Workforce Software

Workforce Software hired me to help draw a crowd at the Human Resource Show at McCormick Center this week. My first time to Chicago and I loved it. Note the cool lanyard and plastic sleeves my client bought for this show—something I will have to offer for future clients. See and download live digital caricature jpegs here.

Bank Of America hosted a party for employees and their families at AT&T Park. I was out in left field but they found me and kept me busy drawing caricatures all night. The best part was before the party started, when I got to test how it feels to run into the wall while trying to catch an imaginary fly ball. Turns out it is padded pretty well, though I wasn’t tempted to try it a second time. As a note of interest, the handsome group of five you see below was drawn in about 8 minutes, the last of the evening.

Last May Anthony V. DeMarino of UMB Asset Management wrote me, “I will definitely recommend that we use your services again in the future.”
And they did! Here UMB Scout funds had me drawing live digital caricatures at their booth during the Financial Planners Association convention in Boston. It was interesting timing, what with the market in freefall on Monday. But as you can see, my subjects were smiling. The fun-damentals are sound after all!

Caricature subjects can download soft copies of their faces here.

Charles Krug is just about my favorite venue (mostly due to Patty Grantham who runs the events) and I spent a few hours drawing caricatures of guests at their “Tastings on the Lawn” event. This was the last couple of the day and their picture tells cute story.

A double mitzvah at the Stanford Faculty Club. The two honorees are pictured together here. Must have been 80 teens and I drew caricatures of a pretty good chunk of them.

Zanett hosted an after hours event

at the DUCCA lounge and I drew

caricatures for them and their guests.

This one is a hot yoga enthusiast,

which sounds pretty cool.

This large event at the Hilton was marvel comics themed so everyone got a superhero body, like the “Hulk” pictured here. With a couple thousand in attendance the lines were too long for drawing much detail. These averaged about 2.5 minutes each.

This “Island” themed event was held poolside at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara. Here are a few of my favorite caricature subjects. You can see more at the client web site.

This well known venture capital firm threw a big bash for their partners and staff at a veritable palace of a venue. They thought of everything—pool, waterslides, even a caricature artist! I could use an angel, but alas, everyone left their wings at the office.

The International Brotherhood of Electric Workers threw a big bash with everything from rock climbing to pony rides to…well, you guessed it—caricature artists! Marc Schmid and I drew nonstop for five hours or so and it was great fun. here are a few of my favorites.

Loopnet threw a bash at AT&T park for 250 of their employees, a bright eyed and happy bunch, most of whom were born right about the time I started drawing caricatures. Here are a few of my favorite “quick sketches”. There were also a few videos taken at the end and I will post them (with a link here) as soon as possible.

The Menlo Country Club had me drawing caricatures this labor day afternoon. I have a feeling this caricature will wind up on his dorm wall this fall.

Lots of cool good-looking kids at Finley Center in Santa Rosa. Here is one of the future tennis stars I drew caricatures of.

Food For Thought is a great organization that provides meals and other assistance to Aids victims. Their annual bash is a big thank you to the volunteers who make it happen. Here are a few of my favorite caricatures.

Richard at A Sound Explosion hired me and a second artist, Zach Trenholm to draw caricatures at a Lafayette health club’s annual open house. It was a huge crowd and kept us both busy all night.

Crissy Field has to be the toughest venue for a caricature artist in the city, with no shade and lots of wind. But CCI, a general contractor firm made the best of it with a great band, pictured here, and great catering, along with Franco’s Family Fun Tattoos and me. Here are a couple of my best caricatures of the afternoon.

“…we have received rave reviews of the event from attendees and Google Employees.  Thank you again and I do hope we are able to work together in the future.” Elizabeth Wright, Maritz Travel

Google hosted a couple thousand clients on their Mountainview campus and brought in Angie Jordan and myself to draw live digital caricatures. I love the 60″ screen they provided although some of the noses looked a little largish up there. This was the biggest event I can remember doing and the line stretched as far as the eye can see. I found myself leaving out a lot of details, including the theme stuff I had planned, in order to move things along. These pix average 5-6 minutes each.
As a bonus, subjects can download soft copies of their caricatures (without the branding) at this page to be used any way they like from Facebook to coffeemugs.

Sequoyah Country Club is a regular client; they have me doing caricatures every year at their employee party and funny thing, every year the lines get longer. Here are a few faves.