A local Athy man.
Caricatures of Athy Musicians
During the COVID-19 lockdown, a Facebook group was set up in my town where local musicians could post songs to entertain us. I did a few quick caricature of some of the singers
Quick Caricature using Pencils & Marker
During the COVID-19 lockdown, a Facebook group was set up in my town where local musicians could post songs to entertain us. This is me doing a quick caricature of one of the performers
Athy Sing & Sign Club Caricature Booklets
In Athy Sing & Sign Club they teach sign language by learning to sign along with popular songs. Every year they host an ISL (Irish Sign Language) Festival in the town and ask me to design a booklet. The booklet features basic ISL as demonstrated by the kids in the club.
So I draw a cartoon of each kid, and a few of the adults, demonstrating a sign.
We’ve been doing for 3 years now and have covered the sign language for topics such as Numbers, Seasons, and Space. And we always include something local to Athy as the middle page of the booklet.
Delighted to be a part of this.
Caricature Party Invites
A speeded-up video (I minute) showing the process for a party invite I designed last year. Drawn digitally then printed onto Glossy Postcard Paper.
The First Caricature Commission I ever did (in 2008)
Years ago I used to have an old website to put my random sketches on, and then one evening in July 2008 I got an email
Hi Brendan,
I was just looking at your drawings on your website, and I was wondering would you be able to do a caricature of myself and the missus? If you can do it I will send you pics of the two of us and an outline of the style we would like it. It will be us with hurleys about to clash them,in our wedding outfits.
regards,
Paul
And so I ended up drawing this cartoon.
It doesn’t really look much like my current work. I’ve learned a lot since then. But I still think it stands up as a good wedding caricature.
Afterwards I received a note
Bob Geldof Oil Painting Caricature
This was my first and only attempt at painting with oils. I never finished it. I got as far as the underpainting part, based on a digital sketch I had done. Browns and greys used to put in the basic shapes and the darks and lights.
The next step was supposed to be building up the skin tones etc. But to be honest - oils were a pain in the neck. Loads of cleaning up, took weeks to dry, and the turpentine stunk up the apartment.
So the project was abandoned in defeat until I could afford to live in a mansion with a separate airy studio for painting, at least 100 yards away from my bedroom.
(I definitely got a likeness though! I can see Bob Geldof in this)
Old Pencil Drawings
Back in the day I used to do the odd pencil drawing, mostly for friends. The church ones were for the cover of mass booklets
I also did a few random celebrities. The Ray D’arcy one has been on his Wikipedia page for at least 10 years and is still there as of today (Sat Nov 09th 2019)
George Hook liked his one when he saw it on Twitter so I posted it to him.
I put the Ray D’arcy drawing into an exhibition here in Athy when I heard he was going to be speaking at the opening. Here we both are admiring it.
Cocktail Menus Designs
A change of pace from drawing faces. These are cocktail and shot menus I did for Clancy’s bar here in Athy. This is a pub I go to, so it was nice to see my own work on the tables.
Old Caricatures IV
The Freddy Mercury one and the Laurel & Hardy are hung up at home. Favourite is the Dita von Teese one because I was able to get a likeness using hardly any lines.
Old Caricatures III
The first digital caricature I ever did was the Woody Allen one. I used to have these on an old site called Quarehawk.com. Someone offered to give me €20 to use the Simon Cowell one in an iPhone app they were planning. And someone stole the Mr Bean one to advertise their own shady “Caricature” business.
Anything good you put online will get stolen. If you can face the harsh truth about your work then start a blog. You will quickly see if the content you are making is valued, ie worth stealing. Eg nobody ever stole my David Mitchell cartoon.
Old Caricatures II
Most of these are from from 2008, when we all had that Leona Lewis Song “Bleeding Love” stuck in our heads and then Barack Obama got elected. These are my main memories. Other stuff probably happened that year as well.
Favourite: The Daniel Craig one
Old Caricatures
A few from 2008 - 2010. Just putting them up here to give them a home. Varying quality. The Tiger Woods & Noel Gallagher ones are pretty good though I think.
And I would imagine I am the first person ever to draw a caricature of Paddy Casey or Jack L.
The Paddy Casey one looks like an illustration from a childrens storybook about a sad teenager
Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie Caricatures
Photo from 2013. Caricatures Done digitally then put onto canvas by The Canvas Works in Kinsale.
I could still fit into those jeans if I had them.
Fry & Laurie Caricatures by Brendan O’Rourke
ISL Festival Athy 2019 Promotional Video
A video I made for Athy Sing & Sign Club to promote their Irish Sign Language Festival 2019. Featuring a speeded-up video of a caricature I drew of one of the organizers.
Caricature Poster For 50th Birthday
I did this invite and poster for a 50th Birthday party here in Athy.
Russell Brand Caricature
I drew this in around 2010. It’s just ordinary pencil on paper.
A few years later I saw some guy had printed it off from the website, brought it to a Russell Brand gig to get it autographed, and then sold the signed print on eBay.
Part of me had to admire this.
I could start doing it myself. Buy a ticket. Draw the performer. Get the drawing signed and re-coup the cost of the ticket.
Russell Brand Caricature by Brendan O’Rourke
Roger Federer Caricature
Speeded-up video of my drawing of Roger Federer. It’s a bit unpolished but I was happy with the likeness.
Ryan Tubridy Caricature
A landmark day in the life of an Irish person is the day you become the same age as the presenter of the Late Late Show. This happened to me in 2009 and I’m still not over it.
I had recently started drawing caricatures so a few months later I drew this.
It’s one of the few drawings from those early days that I still think is good.
And then shortly after I put that online The Sun newspaper got a few more pics from my old site and did this …
“Wacky Artist” indeed.
Learning To Draw Live Caricatures
My way of practising this is to go to the Facebook pages of local pubs where they put up loads of photos from the previous night, and try to draw the faces.
I’m improving slowly.
I can’t post the reference photos obviously but take my word for it these are all the SPITTING IMAGE!
I’m doing the shading with a pencil at the moment. I’m sure there are better ways. I’ll be looking into it when I think I am ready to try doing these live.