Sunday Mailbag: Workshop in My Town?

Q: Will you please do one of your caricature workshops in my area/backyard?

A: I get this one a lot… so often I repost the answer now and then. The answer is “maybe”, but there IS a way you can make it happen if you really want to.

I choose where I am going to try and do a workshop based on a few factors. Population, obviously, is a major one. I am going to end up doing three workshops in the Los Angeles area this year. I did one in the New York City area last year and just did another last weekend. I’ll have my second in London this summer. Obviously the denser the population the more likely there will be enough students to fill the workshop. So it’s more likely I’ll be able to meet my 9 student minimum in a place like Atlanta or Dallas than Tinytown, USA.

Another factor is requests by interested parties. I keep a file of messages I get from people asking for a workshop here or there. When I get enough people asking about the same area, I start looking into it. So, if you want to suggest a city for a workshop, suggest away. It works best if the place you suggest is also a decent sized city, so the population factor can help fill the class. Suggestions from interested people are the reason I’ve had workshops is places like Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago… I just need enough people to express an interest in a city to look into it.

If you really want me to come to your town and do a workshop, there is a way for you to make it happen… even if it’s Tinytown USA. You need to find me at least 9 students willing to take the class, and a hotel with adequate meeting space and reasonable room rates. Anyone who is willing to do that legwork for me not only gets a workshop in their area, but they get a free spot in it as the workshop organizer. I’ll work with you on finding our class dinner location, and any other specifics that need local handling. You get a free spot in the class!

2018 is the year of the workshop for me. I am trying to do one per month since they seem to be popular, but I will not be able to keep up this pace. 2019 will likely see me schedule far fewer workshops, and fewer after that until I am down to only a couple per year… if that. I figure there are a finite amount of people out there willing to take this sort of thing, and I am quickly going to run out of students. In fact I am beginning to see the end of these endeavors… I just had to cancel a workshop I had planned in Las Vegas this fall for lack of interest.

So, if I am doing a workshop in an area that is within a reasonable distance of you, don’t wait hoping I’ll come to your exact area. This is not going to be a long term sort of enterprise.

Thanks to a lot of different people 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!