John Manders Caricaturist from Franklin, PA

Why a performance-caricaturist? Because while you’re busy receiving new arrivals and making sure the party is running smoothly, you want your guests to be entertained. A caricaturist doesn’t merely create a party favor with each drawing, he entertains. Way back in the 1970s, my mentor, the mighty John Johns, recognized that performance caricature is an art form. Instead of predictable seaside boardwalk fare—big heads on little bodies holding favorite beverages and golf clubs—caricature can celebrate the faces of regular folk just as it does the faces of celebrities. Your guests watch as the drawing emerges. My job is to seriously consider a face and reimagine it as graphic design. With a Sharpie and a piece of paper, a master caricaturist not only draws, but puts on a show. I’m a purist, so I stick strictly to black & white. For many years, the great Al Hirshfeld’s black and white Broadway caricatures graced the pages of the Sunday New York Times. I don’t compare myself to Hirshfeld, but my caricatures likewise treat my subjects as fit for memorializing. Besides caricaturing, I'm a children's book illustrator with over 65 titles to my credit. I've been named Illustrator of the Year by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. I won a Reuben Award for Book Illustration from the National Cartoonists' Society. I travel to schools and colleges to speak about illustration, graphic design and children's literature. Please visit my profile page to see examples of my work. Thanks for considering me.