We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Duncan Campbell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Duncan, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Such a great question! Professionally, my confidence is tied closely to my work ethic and to the years of practice I’ve put into becoming a great caricature artist. That confidence is confirmed when I see the reactions of my clients. which range from “I LOVE it!” to silent, convulsing laughter. I’ve done it so much now, that in the 7 seconds it takes a person to sit down, I’m 60% done in my head. Then it’s just a matter of letting my eyes talk to my hands, which is a skill I’ve cultivated over the last 10 years of drawing. Personally, I’m a believer, so my confidence and self-esteem is not connected to my drawing ability, but rather comes from knowing I was made in God’s image. I have off days and miss drawings like everyone else, but I find great comfort in knowing that no matter how I draw, excellent or terrible, God loves me and is proud of me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Sure! I’m a graphic designer and professional caricature artist. Graphic design I kind of fell into after discovering an aptitude for it. But caricature…I’ve always been fascinated with caricature ever since I was a kid growing up going to the State Fair of Texas in Dallas every October. I would watch those artists for hours. I love how it’s a person, but a funny, exaggerated, cartoon version–and it still looks like them! So in 2013, I enrolled in the very prestigious University of YouTube and started figuring out how it’s done. And I was….overwhelmed. There are roughly 2,387,290 ways to draw a caricature, and I went down more than several rabbit holes. Then I found an artist in the UK, whose style I loved, and who I thought I had the chops to emulate. So I watched his handful of videos–nothing fancy, just someone over his shoulder–and dissected his process. Then I set about learning facial anatomy because for me, I had to learn how to do it right before I could do it wrong. I experimented with markers and paper, and practiced. A lot. In 2014, I did my first gig at a church Trunk-or-Treat! Looking back, I wasn’t very good, but people loved it. That led to drawing at the local farmer’s market. And then I drew someone there who asked me if I did weddings. And I was like, “YES. Yes, I do.” And then it blew up. I was drawing two weddings per month before Covid.
Why do I love it? I love making people laugh, but bigger, I really love how much joy it brings people. Think about how often someone has a true, emotional response to a piece of art. Not very often for the oils and watercolors, but for me it happens 40 times a day, which is about the average number of people I’ll draw in a day’s work (my record is 71 in one day). And there’s also the legacy part of it that I love. Probably 3 clients out of 5 tell me some version of the story of how they had a caricature done when they were a kid and it’s still hanging in their grandma’s house. I love a good face painting or balloon twisting, but those arts are very transient–they’ll be gone tomorrow. My artwork can be in a family for three generations, or longer. That’s why I love drawing at weddings the best. People will have a keepsake of their special day. And the energy is GREAT at weddings. They are SO fun.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Great question. I’ll tackle the advice and skills together. Probably the biggest quality is just the discipline to practice and to keep learning. I’ve been doing this ten years, and just last week I learned a better way to shade noses. So keep learning your craft. Second, you have to know how to master your materials: which markers do what, what paper is best, how to hold your colors to created the perfect shading, etc. That comes with practice, practice, practice. You also have to be bold and commit to your strokes, which means you can’t be afraid to fail. See it. Commit. Draw boldly. If you miss–and this is the third quality–have the guts to tear it off and start over. That happens to me occasionally. I’ll miss on the nose or chin. But if I’m gonna put my name on it, I have to love it. Everyone makes mistakes. But to keep pressing into a bad drawing and trying to cover it up is no good. That’s a rookie move. Instead, I just say, “you know, I don’t like where this is heading.” And I start over. And I’ve found that my clients appreciate that too (and no, I don’t ever show them the mess up).
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
The ideal client is the person who is already in a good mood when they sit down. Then they give me permission to “do my worst,” and to really go nuts on them. They are comfortable in their own skin and are totally cool with having a laugh at their own expense. And ironically, I usually make them look funny and exaggerated but still cool. Those drawings are usually met with “I LOVE IT!” Conversely, the worst clients are the ones who sit down and start giving me notes. Make my nose smaller. Make my lips bigger. Give me more hair. Etc. I usually, make a joke by saying, “You’re making requests? That’s the $100 package, ma’am.” Even so, they usually end up having fun. Only rarely do I have someone dissatisfied with my interpretation of their features. But the truth is…those types are closed to the idea before they even sit down, I really don’t have much of a hope of making them laugh in the first place.
Contact Info:
- Website: duncancampbellcreartive.com
- Instagram: @duncan_campbell_creative
- Facebook: facebook.com/DuncanCampbellCreative
- Youtube: @duncancampbellcreative
