Ben Heine Art and Music Blog: Caricature

Showing posts with label Caricature. Show all posts

This is a quick project I started last week. I spent about 2 hours on this caricature of Quentin Tarantino. It's a digital painting. I must still finish it... soon. Damn, long time I haven't made a caricature. ツ

Ben Heine Seen by Other Artists

This is a new blog where I'll be posting portraits of
me generously done by my colleagues. Here
below are some of the latest ones...

Ben by Marcelo Rampazzo

Ben by Bira Dantas

Ben by Jorge Martínez

See all the portraits

Ben Heine by
J. Bosco
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J. Bosco is a Brazilian cartoonist
(Many thanks Bosco!)
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Ben Heine by
Bissan Nohra
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Bissan Nohra is a Palestinian
artist (thanks so much Nohra!)
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Ben Heine by
Xavier Salvador
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Xavier Salvador is a Spanish
caricaturist (Thank you Xavier!)

Karl Marx

Just a quick painting...
Merry Christmas :D

(Full resolution, for printing purposes,
8168 x 8458 pixels, 300 dpi, available HERE)

Angela Merkel

A quick digital painting.
Angela Merkel is the current
Chancellor of Germany.
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© 2009 - Ben Heine

Jean Sarkozy
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A recent digital sketch.
Jean Sarkozy (23 year old) is the son
of the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy
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© 2009 - Ben Heine

3 portraits
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Barack Obama's
Toughest Opponent
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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Watercolor on paper...
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Obama Works to Repair America's Image in the
World. Smiles and handshakes are a start, but
Obama's real challenge will be to show results

By Thomas Omestad

The few "Yankee Go Home" signs that greet him abroad seem almost an afterthought, and when he enters a room of world leaders, he is the most sought-after man for a photo op and a handshake. Such is the star power that has swirled around Barack Obama on his initial foreign travels as the U.S. president.

This comes as little surprise, yet it will present a challenge of sorts for the president. Obama's relative youth and vigor, his calls for reaching out to adversaries and friends overseas, his breaks from past policy, and his triumphant personal story as the nation's first African-American president all seem to make the 47-year-old leader the best single antidote to anti-Americanism in years, maybe decades. White House officials say Obama's appeal extends beyond just the leaders of the world. "What has happened is that anti-Americanism isn't cool anymore," says top Obama adviser David Axelrod.

But this initial repositioning of the American leadership brand onto more popular terrain internationally will be the easier part of Obama's task. For all the sense of fresh starts and of goodwill, the seeds of perhaps inevitable disappointments are present as well. Visiting the Czech Republic in April, Obama got a friendly warning from Vaclav Havel, the once dissident playwright and former president who led his country's Velvet Revolution. Havel cautioned that the accumulation of exaggerated expectations could turn against the new American leader. "People may end up thinking that he has betrayed them, that he has raised their hopes too far," Havel said. A smiling Obama is said to have replied that he is aware of the danger.

Still, Obama has deftly gone about trying to reset the global image of America. The guiding impulse seems to be to start reviving U.S. standing in the world quickly in the hope that policy gains will accrue later. He has ordered the future closure of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, barred torture of terrorist suspects, and made public the Bush administration's internal memos authorizing harsh interrogation methods.

>>> Read the full article
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Obama's Popularity

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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Old work (small caricature)...
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Obama Popular
Despite Challenges

By David Zussman

The United States is a great sporting nation and, as a result, Americans like keeping score and handicapping most public events. The performance of their presidents is no exception and, since the early days of the Roosevelt presidency, the media have marked the first 100 days by providing a report card based on their performance.

It is generally acknowledged that no other U.S. president has arrived in office with higher expectations than Barack Obama, and more difficult problems. It is, therefore, not surprising that he has been subjected to a steeper learning curve than his predecessors.

By the time Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, the U.S. financial system was in freefall, the credit markets were becoming unglued, house prices were tumbling, and a half-dozen foreign hotspots required presidential attention. It is difficult to imagine how it could have been more challenging.

Since the 100-day mark is an artificial marker, the White House staff was reluctant to join in on the rating game but their efforts proved futile.

Once they realized that it was going to be impossible to blunt the media's interest in rating the administration's performance, some senior staff tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to lower the public's expectations regarding Obama's early accomplishments by assigning themselves a B-plus. And finally, the White House embraced the 100-day anniversary, with the president appearing at last month's 100-day town hall celebration in St. Louis.

At this point, given all of the challenges and difficulties encountered by Obama, he remains a very popular political leader. In fact, according to the Pew Foundation, his personal popularity is higher than the ratings for his individual programs.

>>> Read the full article

Save Our Planet

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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Obama Gives Biofuels a
Presidential Jumpstart

By "Environment News Service"

To spur biofuels research and commercialization, President Barack Obama signed last Tuesday a Presidential Directive establishing a Biofuels Interagency Working Group. He announced his administration's notice of a proposed rulemaking on a national Renewable Fuels Standard and announced $786.5 million in additional Recovery Act funds for renewable fuel projects.

"We must invest in a clean energy economy that will lead to new jobs, new businesses and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said President Obama. "The steps I am announcing today help bring us closer to that goal. If we are to be a leader in the 21st century global economy, then we must lead the world in clean energy technology. Through American ingenuity and determination, we can and will succeed."

The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will be co-chaired by the secretaries of agriculture and energy and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and will operate in cooperation with the National Science and Technology Council's Biomass Research and Development Board.

The Working Group is tasked with developing the nation's first comprehensive biofuel market development program. It will use existing authorities and identify new policies to support the development of next-generation biofuels, increase flexible fuel vehicle use, and assist in retail marketing efforts.

>>> Read the full article
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Nina Simone
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Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 in North Carolina, the sixth of seven children in a poor family. She began playing the piano at age 4 and was classically trained, attending the Juilliard School in New York for one year. She had hoped to attend the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but was rejected — one of many disappointments she would attribute to racism.

Simone turned to singing jazz and popular music as a way to make money, performing in nightclubs in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, N.J. In the late 1950s Simone recorded her first tracks, including "Plain Gold Ring" and "Don't Smoke in Bed." But she gained fame in 1959 with her recording of "I Loves You Porgy," from the George and Ira Gershwin Broadway musical, "Porgy & Bess." Soon Nina Simone the nightclub singer became Nina Simone the star, performing at Town Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival.

There was a time when Nina Simone was dubbed "the high priestess of soul," a term she hated, not only because it smacked of marketing hype but because it tried to put her in a box she'd never have fit in comfortably. While Simone certainly invested all her work with soul, she blurred boundaries and jumped genres, embracing jazz, pop, blues, spirituals, folk, French chansons, African song and the works of contemporary songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, the Bee Gees and the Beatles -- Simone's reading of "Here Comes the Sun" remains a transcendent moment of elegance and joy. Simone was also one of the first African American artists to embrace traditional African garb, adding regal bearing to her already dramatic presence.

>>> Read the full bio

Interview with

Talal Nayer

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"The Time of
Laughter is Over"

By Musa Hamid

The cartoonist Talal Nayer is one of the creators of modern lines in caricature, his cartoons exceeded laughter and entertainment in this area. Nayer does have visions and views in this matter. In this interview, we discussed with him the nature and usefulness of art

Tell us about your beginnings and who had the significant impact on you to practice caricature, especially at private and public level?

My first beginnings were very modest and normal, the ideas were simple and very superficial, when I go back to see it from time to time, I have discovered it was saturated with childishness and absurdity, and the lines are swaying confusedly. In fact, I was the one shaking and confused, I do not know how and from where to begin?

>>> Read the full interview
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Mathieu Chedid
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Mathieu Chedid (also known as -M-) is a French rock singer-songwriter and also an accomplished guitar player.

Mathieu Chedid is of Lebanese descent through his paternal grandmother. He is the son of French singer Louis Chedid, and the grandson of the Egyptian-born French writer and poetess of Lebanese descent Andrée Chedid who has written lyrics for him.

Chedid took an interest in music at an early age, notably with Julien Voulzy and Pierre Souchon, the sons of Laurent Voulzy and Alain Souchon. Together they formed a few short-lasting groups such as Mat Mat (Checkmate Checkmate), Les bébés fous (The crazy babies) or Les poissons rouges (The "red fish," a French phrase equivalent to the English "goldfish"). In order to jump-start his career, he didn't hesitate to collaborate with a number of artists, both on stage and on his albums. He has collaborated with NTM, Sinclair and Billy ze Kick. He also performed a duet with his father entitled T'as beau pas être beau in 1978, and has played as the opening act for Texas concerts. Recently, he has collaborated with Sean Lennon on the song "L'éclipse," which is a French remake of Lennon's song "Parachute." Chedid contributed vocals, lyrics and instrumentals.

Chedid performs and records under the stage name -M-. As a character, -M- is noted for having a mysterious nature, which he emphasizes by wearing flamboyant clothes, and styling his hair into the shape of an M. This character is the dominating motif in his live performances, music videos, and album art. The vivid and often whimsical imagery they use often relates to the themes of love, and the letter M. The name itself comes from Chedid's first initial, but it is also identical in pronunciation to the French word "aime".

--> Official website: qui2nous2.com
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Obama Vs. The Fear
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One of my illustrations of Obama

I'm Superman

A poem by Peter S. Quinn

Come to my heart knock on wood
Don’t worry, be good I'm your super man

I will let you be what you want to be
Bring you through because I'm superman
Let you have wings - set you free
Fly with me with these wings if you can

Don’t pretend just come on and really fly
Everything I said - I'm going to try
Bringing in all the hope I gave
Just you wait and see and - be with me brave

There is no one other - I'm the one
I am the man with the super sign on
Giving you what real power is and test
And you will have to imagine with me the rest

Because I have the powers of kryptonite
There is no way to test such might
But just come with me and see what I can
Together we can - yes we can! Because I'm superman

All the strength that you couldn't know
Is inside and now coming out so fine!
Every power known - now superman shall show
Just watch my symbol as it glows up like sunshine

Mightier than a jet plane I’ll fly and I promise you
Everything will be to better put and straight
Promises you thought gone I shall again renew
Take away all doubt and settle each debate

I will let you be what you want to be
Bring you through because I'm superman
Let you have wings - set you free
Fly with me with these wings if you can

Don’t pretend just come on and really fly
Everything I said - I'm going to try
Bringing in all the hope I gave
Just you wait and see and - be with me brave

I am the guy who will always stand by your side
Give you opportunities and money in your pocket
Don’t you worry - let the worries away ride
I'll be your superman and fly like a rocket

There is no one other - I'm the one
I am the man with the super sign on
Giving you what real power is and test
And you will have to imagine with me the rest

Because I have the powers of kryptonite
There is no way to test such might
But just come with me and see what I can
Together we can - yes we can! Because I'm superman

Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
Because I'm superman
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* * *

Obama Vs. The Fear

By Mark Morford

Everyone I know is feeling a little bipolar right now. Everyone I know is going through the most unusual of psychological and socioeconomic fits, a bit unsure what to do and how to feel and exactly which emotional flush should be the one to modulate their equilibrium on a day-to-day basis.

The conundrum is obvious and compelling and, as always, deeply enhanced -- if not wholly solved -- by vodka.

It goes something like this: Do you allow yourself, even now, to feel any sort of ongoing, relieved, merciful joy that Barack Obama actually is sitting in the Big Chair in the White House? That this elegant, articulate, Zen-like man whose integrity is rock-solid and whose ideas, while certainly not in perfect alignment with every ultra-lefty vision on the planet (clean coal? Please), are astonishingly ambitious and brave, is leading this nation during one of the worst economic times in its short and paroxysmal history?

Or do you say whatever, sorry, no time for that. Everything's plummeting and jobs are dying and (in my case, certainly) the industry you've worked for your entire career is gasping its last breath, and therefore, melancholy and dread and panic are the only truly appropriate responses, because I don't care how great the guy is, any smile that might cross my face when I see him gets immediately wiped out as soon as I ponder my 401k?

It's a bizarre choice indeed. The good news is, the Obamafied bliss is still out there, still swirling, still waiting to be supped like a fine digestif. At any given moment you can, if you so choose, pause in whatever it is you're suffering from and hear that voice and see his visage or perhaps merely hear some pundit say the words "President Obama" out loud, and you can still enjoy that delicious chill, that little jolt that says, "Oh my God, did we really do it? Is that lucid, impeccably centered man really the leader of the free world?"

Hey, it sure beats doing your taxes.

>>> Read the full article
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Carlos Martinez

Carlos Martinez is a great Spanish journalist, working for Rebelion.org, a nonprofit online newspaper that started in Spain at the end of 1986 with a group of journalists.

This fantastic site contains opinion articles covering topics such as current political issues, culture, ecology, economics, and resistance to globalization.

(This is an oil painting)
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Fast Caricature
at School

I recently started teaching French, English, Dutch and History in a Belgian high school. I usually end every lesson with a little caricature of a random student. This is really fun. :)
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Ercan Baysal
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Ercan Baysal is
a Turkish artist
living in Izmir.
See some of
his creations
on ToonPool
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Fast Caricature
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A little video of me drawing.
It was recently taken at
a festival in Sint Niklaas, Belgium
(Video by Paul Bottu)
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Portrait of
a Random
Person
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A portrait of a girl I made in
the city of Putte (a municipality
located in the Belgian province
of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium),
during an art festival ("Mechel Air").
It was really fun and challenging.

Maggy Jacqmin and I
with a portrait of each other

We made these during an art festival ("Mechel-Air") in the city of Putte (a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium). Thanks Maggy for the portrait!

Maggy Jacqmin is a Belgian professional caricaturist I met some months ago at a workshop by Jan Op De Beeck.