I’m Adam Pate. Drawing caricatures for tips in bars in college is what first motivated me to draw quickly. It didn’t take long to discover that drawing faster meant I could draw more people and more drawings of course, meant -MORE TIPS! Being a poor, starving artist, I needed money and stuff, so I decided to concentrate on trying to draw as fast as I possibly could. Improved speed meant more practice, which naturally led to better drawings. It meant I had more opportunities to challenge myself, improve my skills as an artist, invent new ways to draw the features of the people sitting for their caricatures and try new things. -and better drawings also meant BIGGER TIPS!- So there you go!! I’ve been constantly, decidedly, motivated to draw as fast and as well as I can for about 20 years. I do this while strolling through rowdy crowds of people in low lighting conditions. The kind of environment that most caricature artists have nightmares about… I am now proud to say that I am widely considered the fastest, friendliest and most versatile caricature artist in the world by my peers in the international caricature community. (Yes, there is one! We even have CONVENTIONS!!) That’s what I do, I’m good at it and for better or for worse, that’s who I am… I tell you this so you have a background to relate to the rest of this post.

They say every single person in the world knows at least 3 things that you’d like to know… This does not occur to most people. To most people I’m just some 40-something-artist-guy, but from time to time it occurs to me that one or two people might actually be interested in what I know and how I know it. In this blog, I will relate some helpful and educational tips for artists who want to improve their speed, skill (and income), some worthwhile news, and some fun and noteworthy war stories from clubs, gigs and other experiences I have had related to caricature art. I realize that the life and interests of the average caricature artist might sound dull to pretty much everybody on earth… But, I’m here to tell you people… – WE HAVE STORIES. Oh yes we do. We are a fun, spontaneous, surly, goofy, hedonistic, intense bunch of hustlers, characters and visionaries and we certainly see life a little differently than most people!

So, my CHALLENGE is to offer you -the reader- the kind of entertaining, educational and engaging content that will make you go “Hmmm”, occasionally cause your thoughts wander off dreamily, and might make you stay up at night insecurely obsessing  about the secret lives of us caricature artists… (and maybe even want to grow up to be one! Mwah ha ha ha!)

I’m hoping this blog will push me to write down and record the stories I have been collecting and telling people over the years and hopefully one day compile them into a book or two or three…