Portrait of a caricature artist

Mac Garcia at work. Photo by Jerry Baker

A REPORT FROM KIM MORGAN:
When it comes to drawing cartoons of people, there's one very important rule of thumb.
With the ladies, you draw them even more beautiful than they already are," said Mac Garcia, a caricature artist who got his start sketching on the Kemah Boardwalk. The men, you show no mercy. If they have a big beard, you draw it bigger. If they have a small nose, you draw it smaller.
They love it. It brings a lot of laughter."
Whatever comes to mind when I first glance at you, that's what I will exaggerate," Garcia said. Different artists have different styles. To the far right, you've got extremely exaggerated. To the far left, you've got a more realistic view.
I tend to stay towards the middle."
Immediately upon graduating from Galena Park High School, Garcia set up a caricature booth on the Kemah boardwalk.
Sometimes people are a little shy to sit for a caricature, but they get over it pretty quickly, he said.
Once that first person sits down, everyone else wants to be next," Garcia said.
Everybody is having fun and laughing, and next thing you know, you've got a line of 40 people waiting for their turn."
That's got to be stressful for the artist.
Garcia can crank out a caricature in five minutes flat, but it didn't start out that way.
I must have taken 15 minutes," he said. I was very nervous. It was a lot of pressure. I was used to drawing slow with pencil and having time for shading.
But after watching the other artists, I learned how to draw with ink, and draw fast. I've learned most of my stuff from looking over their shoulders," Garcia said.
One such artist is League City resident Jody Brownd.
Brownd has been in the biz for more than 25 years.
Crazy," Brownd said. You have to be crazy."
But in all seriousness, Brownd quite enjoys sharing space with Mac, whether it's at fairs, carnivals, corporate events, family reunions, bar mitzvahs or even cruise ships.
Sometimes artists can be a little bit hard to get along with, because they can be temperamental," Brownd said.
But not caricature artists. We're fun. I like working with Mac.
He's a young feller, but he's nice, and he's good at what he does."