What If i Don't Like It?

A Great Start

It’s a nice warm day. The sun is out and there is a wonderful breeze passing through from the remnants of winter. My partner is drawing a couple and chatting with them as a lady about my age passes by and starts to chuckle at the half-drawn love-birds. Her eyes move around the stand. She’s chuckling to herself. I can tell, though, that she’s evaluating; assessing the risk. She turns to me, we exchange greetings, and I can almost feel it coming. That question. “What if I don’t like it?”

An Artists Thoughts

What if I don’t like it? It’s a question that always put me on edge in my early years of caricature. It always made me nervous. As an artist, your mind races. Why would you get one if you know you won’t like it? Didn’t you see the samples? Do you not like them? And it comes with the unspoken question; the question that's really being asked: Will I have to pay for it? So now I’d be worried that not only that my art will disappoint you, but that I will also spend this time to lose a sale.

(And I should note, it feels different when someone I’m drawing asks “have you ever had people who don’t like it”. This never made me feel nervous. It’s an inquisitive question that’s more about wanting some hot caricature gossip.)

Through what I now consider the third phase of my caricature career, I would flat refuse to draw anyone that initiated conversation this way. Mainly because I had found that the vast majority of these individuals would end up disliking the picture. I grew to dislike throwing my time and my art to those who didn’t truly appreciate it. And there is a difference between liking the picture one draws and appreciating the time and effort the artist has given to us.

The Guest's Perspective

I get it. You’re super nervous about getting a caricature drawn. Maybe someone drew an ugly picture of you when you were a kid. Maybe you’ve seen them on TikTok and thought “no way am I letting someone just make fun of me like that”. Maybe kids gave you a hard time about a feature and you’re super sensitive about it. Or you feel like we’re maliciously making fun of you through the drawing and then laughing at you after you leave. Personally, I like to feel we’re making fun WITH you and not OF you.

The Deal

Over the years, I’ve become far more adept at putting people at ease and getting them into the right frame of mind to get a caricature. It’s an art form and we are simply creating that art with you. So, I’m here to make a deal with you, our guest. We are totally ready to hear an “Oh no” or “I was right. That wasn’t for me”. We understand that not every single thing is for every single person. And as we would ask you to understand that a caricature is not a personal attack, we also won’t take it personally when you don’t like your art. I only ask that you please pay for that art. We put a lot into our work and paying for it tells us you see that and respect not just our time but the work itself.

We’ll see you out there!