John made a career in Chicago as an architect, initially doing hotel and restaurant design work, and later settling into residential design for luxury chateau estate homes. Before becoming an architect, for two years he immersed himself in creative design schooling, taking courses in industrial design & animation. At the same time, he started doing caricatures at art fairs, city festivals, corporate events, and family celebrations; always top-ranked amongst the major party brokers in the Chicagoland area. He also taught ‘Cartooning’ at elementary schools and junior colleges. Typically, the classes would teach the fundamentals of generating cartoons for real world applications: e.g.; avatars, advertising, menu characters, logos, signage, and sport emblems.
John’s approach to caricature portrait drawing has always been that of a performance art. He’d always drawn quick marker portraits on a large easel, in full view of his immediate audience, even if it meant drawing from an awkward position, standing around the outside of his easel. One thing he finds personally entertaining in his caricaturing, is how much amusement observers would have in identifying the portrayed subject from their most absurdly abstracted, distinguishing features. Producing digital drawings on a hand held tablet, that can be viewed on a large flat screen monitor, makes for an exciting new approach to this craft. Even if not everyone attending the venue has the opportunity to get one of their own, they can all still engage in the camaraderie ensuant to their observing the “subject in the hot-seat’s” caricature transformation, as it evolves on the screen.
