Sunday Mailbag- Disappointing a Customer?

Q: Did you ever had fear of disappointing a customer? Did this change over time or is this just a fear for beginners?

A: I’m assuming you are referring to “retail” live caricature, where you are selling your caricatures directly to the subjects like at a theme park or a fair setting.

That’s mostly an issue with very beginning artists, although I suppose anyone can have those fears. It’s a result of not having confidence in your work. It’s actually pretty rare because the very act of doing live caricature, spontaneous drawings at speed with an audience looking over your shoulder and the subject of your drawing waiting for the reveal at the end, is an exercise in confidence and courage. If you can do THAT, confidence is probably not an issue. Certainly as you gain experience and have many hundreds and thousands of drawings under your belt, you become more confident that your subjects will be happy with your work.

It’s a bit pointless to be concerned if you are going to disappoint a customer anyway, because in a way you have no control over the reactions of your subjects. Assuming you are striving to do drawings that will please your customers (as opposed to trying to piss them off) and you are putting forth your best efforts with each drawing, that’s all you can do as an artist. Their reaction will be whatever it is, and how you handle it becomes strictly a retail customer service function. If they like it, take their money, thank them, and tell them to have a wonderful day. I they don’t like it, don’t take their money, say you are sorry they didn’t like the drawing, and tell them to have a wonderful day. Then move on to the next drawing.

Thanks to Dominick Zeillinger for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!