Funny! Not Ugly! Kartoon Caricatures by Dian & Pete Wagner (EVENTS)

Funny! Not Ugly! Kartoon Caricatures by Dian & Pete Wagner (EVENTS) Minneapolis-St.Paul MN Caricaturists Pete Wagner & Co. Fastest, Funniest, Best for events.

Read Pete Wagner's answer to the frequently asked question: "HOW DID YOU EVER GET INTO DOING CARICATURING?" at our blog at http://funnynotugly.com/blog.php

My Mantra: "COMIC First, ART Second"

This blog is all about drawing performing caricaturing at events as an entertainer, and what it is like to be and work as a caricaturist, cartoonist and comic artist. I have drawn caricatures, cartoons and

comics all my life, professionally for more than 45 years now, as a way of entertaining people, and as a way of using entertainment to inform, educate and persuade people, as well.

Here's a performative caricature by Bobby Pickett, doing his "Monster Mash" on Dick Clark's TV show in the early 1960s. ...
10/31/2024

Here's a performative caricature by Bobby Pickett, doing his "Monster Mash" on Dick Clark's TV show in the early 1960s. At first I found it painful to watch, imagining how hard he had to work to do it. But if you are familiar with Boris Karloff, this is really quite an outstanding caricature.

Bobby Pickett Monster Mash Lyrics in Color + Upscaled to HD. The Monster Mash Lyrics VideoBobby Pickett Monster Mash Lyrics VideoThanks to AI technology, fan...

First chance all summer to get a few photos downloaded and resized so we can share them with you here!
08/10/2024

First chance all summer to get a few photos downloaded and resized so we can share them with you here!

Dian and I specialize in super-simple, FAST caricature drawings. Most of the slow, overly embellished ones we see miss t...
08/10/2024

Dian and I specialize in super-simple, FAST caricature drawings. Most of the slow, overly embellished ones we see miss the whole point of what a caricature is. There is one exception: Saemee and AAron of "Caricature Party" at YouTube. We had the pleasure of meeting them a few years ago when they were traveling around the country and stopped in Minneapolis.

Their caricature drawings and their videos are GREAT! We highly recommend them. There aren't that many caricaturist couples, so we feel a special bond with them. Aaron was one of the few artists who expressed and interest in thinking about the philosophical side of caricature way back when I started a blog about caricature as a comic art medium, in about 2010. It was hopeless, no other "artists" were the least bit interested.

Their drawings are hilarious and true works of art with a capital A. They belong in art museums as well as in their role as performers and street entertainers, currently in Hawaii. Watch these videos, like and subscribe!

Hi! This is Saemee and AAron. We are Caricature Party! :)Here is our drawings with reactions part 6!Thank you for everyone who came get drawn and watch our v...

08/10/2024

THANK YOU, everyone who invited us back to draw at your events this summer! Will post some photos soon.

A few photos from our 3 hour gig at a high school all-night party over in Wisconsin this week. We love drawing for these...
06/02/2024

A few photos from our 3 hour gig at a high school all-night party over in Wisconsin this week. We love drawing for these kids and their parents.

We used to do about 10-15 high school all-night grad parties every year but the hours were killing us, so now we only ac...
06/02/2024

We used to do about 10-15 high school all-night grad parties every year but the hours were killing us, so now we only accept two or three. One last night was with a private school who used to have us join them every year in the 1980s-90s and it was nice to be with them again. Here are a couple of photos and videos from that gig.

I kept thinking while I was sitting underneath that huge symbol dangling about 35 feet above my head and drawing Saturda...
04/09/2024

I kept thinking while I was sitting underneath that huge symbol dangling about 35 feet above my head and drawing Saturday night, wouldn't this be a great way to die? If it fell on me there just think how famous I would be. The artist killed by The Artist and then we would both be formerly known as.

Working on a new website. Hard to design for desktop/tablet/mobile... nothing works well on all three!
02/18/2024

Working on a new website. Hard to design for desktop/tablet/mobile... nothing works well on all three!

Looking for CARICATURE ARTISTS to hire as ENTERTAINERS for your party, festival, fair or promotional event? Look no further! We are the most experienced and well-suited to perform caricaturing at events, especially those with more than 25 guests. Clean, simple, direct, honest, unpretentious and FAST...

Just a few random pix from this summer's many, many, MANY gigs!
08/25/2023

Just a few random pix from this summer's many, many, MANY gigs!

Clever combination of a dog event + egg hunt last month...I always draw very fast, but when you draw dogs and they are m...
05/07/2023

Clever combination of a dog event + egg hunt last month...
I always draw very fast, but when you draw dogs and they are moving around so much, I have to draw SUPER fast and the results are quite funny/weird. It forces me to come up with a super shorthanded way of summing up the look and feel of the four legged friend with such a minimum of lines that these come out as cartoonish as the classic cartoons of the 1940s-50s.

Happy Spring, Everyone! I do not spend much time on FB anymore, as you can see. But I thought I should post something ju...
05/07/2023

Happy Spring, Everyone! I do not spend much time on FB anymore, as you can see. But I thought I should post something just to let you know that we are still around and busy, busy, busy drawing for our regular clients, especially all summer. Here are a few photos from recent events including a small university in Iowa that has been finding us to be very popular with their students. We are doing a lot of gigs in Minneapolis-St. Paul but also out-state around Minnesota, and in Western Wisconsin/Northwestern Wisconsin and Iowa. Cheers!

This applies in spades to caricatures and caricaturing... Every book that has been written on the subject is full of BS ...
12/18/2022

This applies in spades to caricatures and caricaturing... Every book that has been written on the subject is full of BS and eye candy with vary little objective knowledge, thoughtfulness or historical research.

www.saddleriverrange.com

We are almost as busy again as we were 3 years ago before the whole world shut down! Not choosing to do as many high sch...
06/07/2022

We are almost as busy again as we were 3 years ago before the whole world shut down! Not choosing to do as many high school all night grad parties now that we are on more normal hours. We used to love doing them when we were night owls but these days we are actually sleeping at night so doing two weeks or more of all nighters was getting too hard physically. Not the staying up late, but trying to get back onto a more normal schedule after the grad season! Here are a few photos from the party we did this weekend.

09/26/2021
By Dian, June 2021.
06/24/2021

By Dian, June 2021.

Address

Minneapolis, MN
55406

Telephone

+16128862345

Website

http://www.wag.net/, http://www.caricatures.net/

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Videos

Fast caricature drawings by Pete and Dian at a high school all-night party this week. #caricatures

All-night high school "lock-in" parties this past two weeks and this week. I drew 69 faces in three hours last night at a school's party that we have drawn at many times over the past 20 years. These super-simple drawings are the epitome of what a true, authentic CARICATURE is all about. CAPTURING THE ESSENCE. Those who draw using traditional portraiture methods, techniques and stylizations are CHEATING. If you can't capture the essence in a minimum of lines and details, and have to cover up the weakness of your basic drawing with all kinds of embellishment, shading, ultra-tight (stick up the butt) drafting and anatomical correctness, you shouldn't be pretending to be a caricaturist! Besides, that approach is WAY TOO SLOW for parties and events with hundreds of people, or even dozens of people, in attendance. The type of drawing that works all right (not great, but all right) at retail "caricature" concession stands (a misnomer--these are actually almost always just grotesque portraits, not true comic art of any kind) typically can't be done at a rate of more than seven or eight faces per hour. WAY TOO SLOW to qualify as ENTERTAINMENT. For caricatures, Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Mustache Boy
Mustache Boy

AUTHENTIC caricaturing is all about ENTERTAINING and COMEDY. If the folks are not LAUGHING, it isn't COMIC ART. Most artists calling themselves caricaturists these days are doing modified portraiture, not caricature. We are among the very few around who do the real thing and use the correct term to describe ourselves! -- Big laugh from little boy when I drew his caricature with a mustache. March 2018. Copyright 2018 by Minne HA! HA! Magazine LLC and Pete Wagner.

DON'T SHOW ANYONE!
DON'T SHOW ANYONE!

I think this had to be my favorite caricature drawing experience of the whole year for 2017 so far. It was at a high school graduation lock-in party in June. Luckily, I happened to be experimenting with shooting some video and caught the interchanges between the students, parents, Dian and myself on camera. Less than 4 minutes and 15 seconds.

Young Fan of Pete's Caricatures
Young Fan of Pete's Caricatures

Golden Valley Festival
Golden Valley Festival

Family fun at the Golden Valley Art and Music Festival today. Getting a photo of Alex and his family after drawing a caricature of them.

Great Laugh!
Great Laugh!

I loved her laugh! Drew this at our last county fair of the season this weekend. Sorry this is so dark, it was just at dusk and under the canopy.

Funny and Good
Funny and Good

Thank you for inviting us back again!!! We loved performing caricaturing at our last county fair of the 2016 season! "FUNNY AND GOOD."

I'LL BE WATCHING YOU
I'LL BE WATCHING YOU

Video of a 3-minute caricature drawing I did a couple weeks ago at Iowa State University with karaoke singer in the background. TIMING matters greatly when caricaturing as a PERFORMER entertaining an audience. It's a whole different thing from drawing in a studio. There's a beat and a rhythm to it, not just a final "product."

Long line for FUNNY! NOT UGLY! Kartoon Caricatures
Long line for FUNNY! NOT UGLY! Kartoon Caricatures

We have become a pop phenomenon at Iowa State University! Thank you for having us back again! And for your enthusiasm! Dian and I drew our quick-draw style caricatures for over 175 students in four hours. All while being serenaded by karaoke crooners in the same room.

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