Wanna Hire the UK’s favourite Caricaturist?

FACTS & OPINIONS

Please note; this Blog is primarily for me to vent my opinions and relay my experiences as a jobbing caricaturist, but any specific names and figures quoted are based on factual evidence and nothing is simply anecdotal. Please read carefully, enjoy and feel free to comment.

I do not aim to cause offence, simply to raise debate. Someone has to put the cat amongst the pigeons!!!!

Caricatures are my life and all the issues raised on this Blog affect my life directly, SO I’LL MOAN IF I LIKE!

Name & Shame

Following a spate of client complaints regarding one particular new artist, currently blundering her way onto the market, I may very soon feel the need to name and shame such artists on my Blog.  Any artist who lets a client down at short notice (repeatedly), leaving them without a replacement (presumably in favour of a better paid gig) or who undercuts the Caricaturist market by charging as little as £100, then charges per person at the wedding, deserves no respect from within their own community. I suggest any such new artists should shape up and stop giving us reputable professionals a bad name!

If I receive one more call from a disappointed client, I will compile a public list of Artists to avoid!

JOSIE CAMUS – AVOID!

Just heard of the 3rd let-down by one Josie Camus in 12 months. This is the second time a client has told me Josie was rude to them, on this occasion calling the client ‘THICK’!!!  I suggest any potential brides or clients in Cambridge reading this blog steer well clear of Ms Camus, as it will only end in disappointment, even if she does show!

This inexcusable behavior will not be tolerated within our industry and on behalf of all professional caricaturists I apologise, though I do not include Ms Camus as a professional.

January 2012

Just had another two separate clients (including Cambridge News) reporting an artist quoting both £120 and ‘charging per head’.  In one instance the client hired my very talented colleague Luisa Calvo instead, as they thought the idea of charging per head was ‘tacky’!  You see the image this down-market trading is giving us… or at least giving artists like Miss Camus.

SIN BIN! Beware these traders

Following a spate of awkward or non-paying agents/customers in 2007, I thought it might be nice to publish a list of (in my opinion) undesirable Entertainment Agents and Companies for all to see and heed. Not wishing to bite the hand that feeds me, I am listing only the worst offenders. Please feel free to add to my list, but any claims must be substantiated:

“Allegedly”…..

• SUPERB FUNCTIONS, Steven McCrory – non-payer***
• TOP HAT INTERNATIONAL, Rochelle Leader – non-payer***
• 1st CHOICE -  time waster, rude, HUGE commission taker***
• TASTE EVENTS,  Mark Sharer – non-payer***
• THEMED EVENTS, Johnny Simmons - non-payer***
• HEMMINGS LEISURE, Leslie Hemmings – non-payer***
• THE EVENTS COMPANY, Tony Carey - late/non-payer***
• JAC STRATTONS, (Finchley) – time waster, non-payer***
• ADD Ltd, (Harrow) – non-payer***
• DIOUFY FOUNDATION, (Bolton) – non-payer *** 
• ARTS SOUND & LEISURE,  John – late payer, no loyalty**
• INCISIVE MEDIA,  Nathalie Perez – late payer, unprofessional**
• PROMOTIONAL EDGE - late payers **
• CARAVAN CLUB GB – Prejudiced, small minded, conservative*
• BB EVENTS – Unethical*
• PRIMA ARTISTES - Bad Attitude*

*** Avoid at all costs,  **  At your peril,  * I wouldn’t

Please note – I accept no responsibility for false allegations or mud-slinging!

 

DISCRIMINATION

Over the years I have suffered discrimination from various clients, with regard to my appearance. Despite the fact I am always immaculately turned out, often in Oswald Boeteng suits, Italian boots and Paul Smith shirts, despite the fact I am well spoken and at the top of my trade. Some clients simply cannot see past their own prejuduces and one sight of my piercings or tattoos sends them into a panic.

I am not an ‘Ex-Con’ or ‘Street-Urchin’ nor am I a ‘Football Hooligan’ or ‘Drop-Out’ yet some clients simply can’t open their minds enough to accept that their preconceptions may be wrong.

Below is a list of clients who have denied me a living to date:

• Pinewood Studios
• Caravan Club GB
• Alton Towers
• Vauxhall Drive
• Wimpey Homes

Frankly, if these people don’t want to work with me, then I’m happy not to work for them.

Cancelling?

Calling all potential clients; Should you wish to book an entertainer (such as a caricaturist), but decide not to complete the booking or cancel an existing booking, could I please ask one thing? Have the decency to let them know! Simply call, email or write to the artist and show some courtesy. Remember, for most this is a full time career and a missed email means a missed wage.

I have spent many hours (this year) dealing with, corresponding with and negotiating with clients who book a date, then simply ignore my contract, my emails or phone calls. At least 7 clients this year chose to treat me like an amateur, by not following my simple cancellation procedure.

I estimate that I have lost at least £2000 wages in 2010 alone, from holding a date, only to be let down without notice.

An email is painless and we won’t bite… unless you ignore us and lose us money! Thanks for your time.

01/05/11 – Wedding Cancelled!

Just heard from my sunday Bride (cancelled 10 days prior without reason) following my third attempt to contact her regarding payment:

“Dear George, you will receive your money shortly. I do not wish to discuss the situation, but the wedding was actually cancelled  due to very tragic circumstances, and your pressure is not in any way helping me at present. Other contractors are not being so aggressive due to the circumstances….”

Well I’m afraid thats what happens when you cancel without notice, explanation or payment, then ignore my calls, letters and emails… my patience begins to run low as my mortgage payment looms. Perhaps if I had received an explanation or a cheque, then I could offer my sympathy, until then I shall continue to chase my contractual payment.

04/06/11 – Dog Died!

Just had an email cancellation of a wedding just 2 weeks away; Bride claims her dog’s illness and death has left her broke! Awwwww… thats so sad. Tell you what, I’ll just eat dust for a week and tell my Mortgage provider that I can’t pay this month cos YOUR DOG DIED!

When will people realise they have a responsibility to the people they employ. What if her boss told her not bother coming to work, as his dog had died and he was broke?!

28/01/12 – “Hired someone else”!

Client hired me two weeks ago for his wedding, last minute booking, limited time to exchange paperwork etc. I drafted a contract and waited for its return. I didn’t hear back after initial booking emails, realised on wedding day (tonight) and contacted the venue to double check. After 3 calls to the Wedding Planner, she finally tells me “The client doesn’t want you, they’ve hired someone else”! With just two hours until my performance time and a 100 mile drive ahead, I think maybe some notice would’ve been nice. Now I’m at home, in my suit, out of pocket by £420!!  How exactly shall I pay my mortgage this month?? Thanks Adam Westall, common courtesy clearly was never taught in your home.

Flooding The Market: See the Bigger Picture

Following the publication of my advice regarding underpricing and lowering the market value of Caricatures, I felt the need to point out the dangers of flooding the market with cheap artists.

New caricaturists such as Josie Camus are currently quoting clients ridiculously low fees for their services (and even charging ‘per person’), the net result of which is to lower the market value of all caricaturists in the eyes of the customer. The long-term result is far worse; Lower fees lead to more clients being able to afford to hire caricaturists, in turn the caricaturist will need to work twice as hard, just to earn a decent weekly wage. Pretty soon, every event will see cheap, crap caricaturists, scrawling their trade and becoming common-place. The end result being that no-one wants or respects caricaturists anymore, having grown tired of consistently crap, cliche’d renditions of caricatures being pedaled for pennies… Indeed hiring a caricaturist as a wedding gift will be as popular as giving a stick of seaside ROCK!!

Please, please, please Newbies… SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE!!  All I have to do to compete is lower my fees and I would mop up the customer market, but we’d all lose out, so lets keep the fees at a respectable level, along with the levels of drawing and professionalism.

The mass influx of new artists, presumably prompted by the Recession, high unemployment and the idea of making an easy buck will magnify the above effect and possibly see the end of established artists and newbies alike. This is compounded by certain retail artists flooding the market with cheap drawings, via such sites as GROUPON and LIVING SOCIAL, at vastly reduced rates (in some cases only paying the artist £3 per drawing). Pretty soon you won’t be able to move for caricatures in bathrooms, kitchens, offices, at weddings, birthdays, fetes and fayres…. Thats not the world I wanna live in, I see enough of them already

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Wanna be a street sweeper?

Last weekend a client unwittingly made the rudest comment I’d heard in a while;  ”My mate at work draws these. He draws ‘em in dust on the back of the van (he’s a sweeper) but they’re dead good… I keep telling him to do this, cos he does ‘em for free… He could make a fortune!!”…
Definitive proof that many punters see Caricaturists as amateurs that are no better than Street Sweepers. Not once did it cross his mind that maybe it takes more than just the ability to scrawl a doodle in dust in order to entertain thousands of people every year. Or maybe I’m taking it too seriously and shoulda laughed along and proclaimed “Yeah, then he’d be just like me!”….

So just remember folks, the next time you’re offered a Caricaturist for £100, you’re probably hiring a Street Sweeper. Would you hire a Dustman to perform your dentistry?!

Amy Winehouse RIP

Gutted!! Not surprised, but still shocked and saddened

Seve Ballesteros RIP

Seve Ballesteros - published 2002 in TV Times. RIP

Advertising Directories (online)

Twice this week I have encountered the same problem when trying to advertise with online directories; They would only allow me to list myself by location/county.

All jobbing Carix will know that location is no guarantee of quality (particularly in Cambridge) and as entertainers we have to travel nationwide to find work.  Indeed, I rarely work in Leicestershire, due to cheap local competition and a general lack of local support, so advertising myself in Leicester is pointless to me!  Last week alone I worked in Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire and Suffolk, the preceeding weeks in Bedford, Norfolk and West Sussex!

Directories take great pleasure in charging per county when paying for a listing, thus making it impossible to take out paid advertising. One directory insisted the client searched by county first, before even offering them a category!  If location was the only criteria for booking a quality wedding, based on local artists and suppliers, then I wouldn’t wanna get wed in Cambridge, Nottingham or Huddersfield for sure!