Not long ago, I learned about a website called Fiverr. It’s like Match.com for services rather than dating. It’s a great place to find talented amateurs (and professionals) who can create custom portraits, caricatures, animations, music, programming, or whatever other creative services you need. The site is named Fiverr because prices start at just $5 (and go up to a few hundred). I popped on to get a digital portrait of myself. I was moderately satisfied with the drawing I got. It’s a little hit or miss, but it was a fun process, and I recommend it.
Today’s artist, who is not on the Fiverr site, is what I had in mind when I went looking for a portrait to begin with! This is the stunning caricature art by Xi Ding. The award-winning artist is based in Vienna and specializes in live quick-draw caricature. According to his website, he “can draw up to 120 guests in an evening event and 160 guests in a full day event.” There are probably caricature artists working right now in Times Square who can meet his time, but I’ll bet there are none who can rival his skill, either with marker and paper or on the computer!
Rather than following the typical caricature method of focusing on people’s worst attributes, Ding highlights his subjects’ more attractive features, leaving the subject flattered rather than amused/insulted. He is also a genius at capturing expression. His years of studying classical portraiture, traditional European caricature, and American cartoons have certainly paid off! He is consequently one of the most popular event entertainers in Europe.
You can follow the very talented Xi Ding on his website, and on Instagram and Facebook.
All images property of Xi Ding.
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March 15, 2019 at 7:33 am
Such talent is amazing.
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March 15, 2019 at 1:15 pm
Isn’t it? I really love the way the subjects are represented. So much personality!
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March 15, 2019 at 12:48 pm
He’s brilliant, isn’t he? I have been following him on Instagram for a while now and always enjoy seeing what he creates.
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March 15, 2019 at 1:17 pm
I’m so impressed. I have a colleague in one of our European offices who had him do a 3-minute portrait of her and her BF at a party once. She sent me a photo. It’s phenomenal!
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March 15, 2019 at 2:03 pm
I actually did not know that he took commissions of portraits. I have just been seeing his images of celebrities and movie characters and assumed the random people he sometimes did were for practice. It would be super cool to have a portrait done by him.
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March 15, 2019 at 2:52 pm
He does parties. It’s hard to believe you can hire someone with talent like his, but there we are. It’s tough to make it as an artist!
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March 15, 2019 at 10:11 pm
Most definitely.
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March 15, 2019 at 5:22 pm
He’s definitely talented, but these read a bit too Disneyish for my taste.
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March 15, 2019 at 7:34 pm
I think that may be what I like about them!
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