Here’s The Shirt Off My Back To An Old Friend

Before I was a speed painter and event entertainer, I was a caricaturist, (for 30 years,… yeah, I paid my dues!) I was a founding member and president of the National Caricaturist Network, (NCN) now known as ISCA, (International Society of Caricature Artists). It was my privilege to meet and work with some of the most interesting and wonderful artists on the planet. From MAD Magazine artists to international illustrators to regular folks working the theme parks, streets, malls and events. Eking out a living as an artist, these are my people. The show-offs of the art world who love visiting with guests and making people laugh.

We would get together once a year for a week and basically just drink and draw. Artists would draw all day until 5:30 am, sleep for 3 hours and get up and do it again at these shows because unlike performing for the general public, where they had to negotiate a sale and “play nice”, at a caricature convention, they could draw whatever they wanted. And draw we did. It was a hoot. Some of the best times of my life.

My dear friend, from those days, David, “Bippy” Boyer contacted me on Facebook wondering how he could obtain a Paintjam shirt. (The name Bippy is from a character he developed for a comic strip years ago.) He just thought that having a shirt that I had performed in would be cool. I often give them away to C.E.O’s and V.I.P’s and even have auctioned them for charity. Why not? I get a new set of clothes for every show…and it just so happened that I had bought a shirt his size, by mistake and performed in it in New York the week before.

David is a great artist, very entertaining party caricaturist and a totally unique individual and an all around good guy. Visit Boyer’s Caricatures and Photography at www.bippies.com if you need a great party artist in the upstate NY area.