This past weekend, I had the immense privilege of not only meeting one of my favorite illustrators, but getting to learn from him one-on-one. Back in July I signed up for a workshop taught by Tom Richmond that focuses on the art of caricature - something I've always been fascinated with and want to develop further.

The workshop itself was incredible - not only did we get to tour Mr. Richmond's home studio in Minneapolis and see his process, we got a sneak peak of in-process work he did for MAD Magazine. He's very upfront with his process, short-comings, and overall honesty on the struggles and triumphs of making a living as an illustrator.

There were 13 of us total for the workshop which took place in a hotel conference room. On the first day Tom gave us his process and techniques for the way of seeing a person rather than the technical aspects of drawing. He emphasizes on one's ability to see a person's unique features both physical and personality-wise, then accurately translate that to paper. It's a skill I really need to develop and it was great getting critique from him. On the second day we had a speed round of sorts where we had to draw everyone in the class in 5 minutes. I sucked at it. But the caricatures I got from it were awesome. Here are a few examples from fellow peers below

I met a lot of great people at the workshop. All from different corners of the country (and Canada), all at different places in life and within their work. Some cool connections came of it.

They say don't meet your heroes, but maybe the key to that is to be vigilante on who you look up to. Richmond is a true creative, and his work ethic unmatched. He's paid his dues and continues to run into insecurities within his work and keeps pushing himself - something I look for in an artist, designer, musician - what have you.

man, look at that awkward smile... can you not tell hard I was fan girling? Good god I'm a nerd...

Here are some samples of my work - notes and critiques on the side. Can't say its my best work but that's the point of learning - it doesn't have to be polished or even pretty... as much as I'd like it to be.

Check out Tom's site: https://www.tomrichmond.com

His art blog: https://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/

Richmond has been gaining traction with his workshops and has a few around the country coming up (Los Angeles and Atlanta). Check the worskhops out here - hurry because they're in high demand these days and only 12 students are allowed.

CARICATURE WORKSHOP - Sept 15th-17th