Caricature for Mastercard

A special client, who wanted to see the every stages of the caricature and details, from the concept, drafts, sketches, colour schemes, detail pencil sketch, inked stage to the final artwork. They have ordered such package for previous jobs.
Think they are too used to be treated that way, to ensure everything goes according to what they want. Of course, a special price for such package and privilege. Another client who used to work in this company also opted for this package too.

Client's request:-
"Can you draw him drinking beer and playing golf at the same time at the "Desaru Golf & Country Club" (the web site is http://www.desarugolfclub.com.my/index.htm),
but instead of Desaru, please spell it as DESPARU Golf & Country Club, with musical notes floating from his head.
Please include then and now MasterCard logos 1986 & 2007.
Please draw a Gurkha somewhere in the background with the words "Friend of Gurkha Contingent"
Can you add a small picture showing him receiving an award from the The Governor of Hong Kong for his work in the police force:
Please use the Royal Hong Kong Police Force logo from the following web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rhongkongpolicelogo.png#file"

Certain requests were added and removed subsequently as we moved on, after some discussions with me.

She wanted a statue of Guan Gong/Guan Yu (关公/关羽) and some words in the bubble.



More detailed draft. Though I have told her to ignore the resemblance of the caricature (as this is not the final detail sketch yet. Need to get the every details correct at this stage), she is still very concerned about it. Hahaha......

The colour scheme, to give her an overall idea of the whole drawing, so that she can make the decision on the frame colour at this stage.

The detail pencil sketch. Noticed the Guan Gong was out of the altar? Have some discussions with her till she finally approved to have him at this size. Main reason was that I can't get the details out at that scale.

Everything was set at this stage, waiting for the colouring.

Colouring done! I took a snapshot of the finished artwork and emailed it to her for approval, before I scan and send it for framing.
She said "It looks great!"

See this scanned version. Which is better? I still prefer the scanned version. The colour is closer to the original artwork, and a lot sharper.

Caricature for Cigna International Pte Ltd

This caricature order came in this Monday, required it to be done and delivered 2 days later - this Wednesday.
This client used to work in Mastercard and placed an order 3 years ago.
Now, she 's in Cigna International. She passed my contact to her colleague who in turn gave me a ring.

I have given her 2 options.

Optiuon 1 was the normal caricature with theme, in which she would list down the theme she wanted and I will do it and she will get the final artwork. The price is $50 per person, before the surcharge for express service.

Option 2 is the VIP Package ($250 per person before the surcharge for express service) in which I will show her 2 designs and layouts based on what she requested. She will pick one design and from there, I will add in the colour schemes, to give her a rough idea of the colours she will get.
Nect, I will show her the detail pencil sketch, in which she will see the caricature in more detail.
Upon approval, I will ink the caricature.
Upon the next approval, I will colour in and send her the final artwork for preview and fine-tuning before sending it for framing (framing price not inclusive in this package).

She opted for the latter, as she felt that Option 1 is too skeletal, but afraid that they don't have enough time for Option 2. I gave her a timeframe as a guide to follow, to ensure we get everything done on time.

Thus, I spent most of the time on Monday and Tuesday doing the emailing of the sketches and artwork previews. Here are the sketches and illustrations done.

Pencil draft - Option A is what the client wanted. 1 hand with the basketball into the net, the other hand with food. Background will be Gym workout equipments and DVD movies on TV. These are all his hobbies. She wanted an all-in-one caricature, showing him multi-tasking.

Option B is my proposal. I think it looks better and not so awkward visually.
Their initial is to have about 8 messages (see those stickies in the draft) from the colleagues to this guy.
However, feeling that it is rather messy, they dropped the idea.

They opted for the latter.


The colour schemes of teh caricature.


The revised colour schemes, as they felt that it's too plain.
They also need to cut down on the shadow area, in the next stage.
They also mentioned that the face doesn't look alike.
I assured them that they won't get this face in the final drawing.
Usually, I will concentrate more on the overall concept and the other details, layout, placement of items.
Since that I will have to redraw everything for the actual artwork, it will save a lot of time in doing a rough draft of the face. I do understand their fear. Hahaha....


The detail pencil sketch of the caricature.
Through the few previews above, they are quite excited and happy with everything. However, just when Iam sketching this caricature, they dropped me an email, requesting to change the burger to chilli crab, given that it's his favourite food in Singapore. (He 's leaving Singapore)
I have sent them this pencil sketch preview.
Problems came in at this stage. (They skip this important stage)
They didn't have time to check the email, but told me to go ahead.


This inked caricature was emailed to them this morning.
Their comment is that the crab claw doesn't look like.
It look like an ice-cream to them?!!!! Is it??!!!
Is it that bad?!!!
As it is inked, there's no way to remove the ink.
I told them it will look better when it is coloured.


The coloured caricature. They still think that it looks like an ice-cream!
They wanted more shell and more redish for the claw.


Comment:- Shells not enough. They need more.

More shells added in. The client who rang me up still think the same. She requested to change it to a whole crab. I am crossing my fingers on that, in terms of the overall effect. She asked her colleague, who said it is a chilli crab. She's not satisfied, and asked the colleague (from Mastercard) who passed her my contact. Thank goodness that she said it looks a lot better.
My friend who paid me a visit at my gallery this afternoon, said ' wow, such a big claw for him?!'
When I sent this for framing, my supplier told me that it did look like a crab claw. I didn't tell them what it is. Good grief that it was done and delivered! Quite stressed on this job.