Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A little Cabaret!

This is not a caricature. I recently had my caricature done by the brilliant Joe Bluhm and the equally brilliant (and adorable) Sam Gorrie. And they showed me that a caricature not only captures likeness but is also hilariously funny (if you have a sense of humour about yourself). So when I set out to do a drawing of the the talented songstress of Toronto Cabaret, Sharron Matthews, I stayed away from caricature! I'll leave caricaturing to the pros (see links to Sam and Joe). In the end I kinda think Sharron could easily be a character in an Archie comic the way I've drawn her here. The biggest problem I had with my drawing was in the colouring. I'm not 100% happy with the turquoise even though it's one of my favourite colours and one that Sharron has worn on a few occassions. But it's the best colour with her skin tone and purple background.
So just for my own pleasure I coloured up a monochromatic version. The purple makes Sharron look like a blues singer or something. I imagine she's belting out a tune originally sung by Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald. In reality she's probably singing "Jessie's Girl".
j.

2 comments:

Claudia Davila (Fran) said...

Lovely! I dig the way you drew her full-bodied with her round arms, hips, and tiny feet! It's funny, the full-colour version sound like she's singing a Bette Midler tune, and the lavender tones are defiinitely bluesy (I'd say Ella because she looks so happy with just a hint of maternal).

j. said...

Thanks, Claudia! I'm trying to remember now if Sharron has ever done a Midler song...she sings Delta Dawn which I know Midler recorded. But Sharron is totally Midler-esque in her bawdy sense of humour and the fun she has with a song!

hugs,
j.