Ode to the Perks of Drawing Real People...
As you guys may have seen, I've been really really obsessed with the new musical, "The Book of Mormon" and have drawn 15 actors portraying 7 different characters[I don't know how recent this number is]. It's my way of thanking them for being part of something bigger that means a lot to me. So, I decided, why not give them the drawings at the stage door when I see a show? Well, I've now given them all their drawings, and the first two the actors insisted on a photo with me and the drawing, and it just occurred to me how cool it is for me to have - photos with the drawings I made of the people, also in the photo, instead of people I made up? COOL.
*Apologies for a LOT of typos, I'll fix them eventually*
My drawing of Jared Gertner as Elder Cunningham, and the two of us with the drawing! (December 2012)
He wanted a photo of me with the drawing, and tweeted it to me, and said, "I met the very talented @myprettycabinet after the show 2nite. She drew this incredible picture for me. Thanks Jamie!"
My drawing of Samantha Marie Ware as Nabulungi, and the two of us with the drawing!
She tweeted/instagrammed me the photo, saying, "I found her! @myprettycabinet is responsible for this amazing sketch of me as Nabajamba! One of the greatest Xmas gifts!!!! Thanks, Jamie! You rock my non-existent socks! <3" (the "I found her" is in reference to THIS, her having somehow not received my tweet to her with the picture, but somehow seeing a cropped version of the drawing...lol) (December 2012)
ETA (12/01/13): I've since drawn Nic Rouleau as Elder Price, and just the other night, I got a photo with him and the drawing! THEN, he snapchatted a photo taken in his dressing room, and look what you can see at the bottom right-hand corner:
MY DRAWING!!!!
This is AJ Holmes, turns out - you may know him from his work with Starkid Productions! After meeting AJ and talking to him and seeing how great his performance was, I drew him between the 2nd and the 3rd times I saw the show with this cast, and he FLIPPED OUT when I gave it to him. He was SO stoked that I "even drew" him bunching his pants in his hands. He said he was going to frame it and give it to his parents, because he didn't get to take any promo pics for the role. (December, 2013)
This is Elder AJ Holmes THE SEQUEL! Since he FLIPPED OUT last time, I thought I'd do another now that he has promo pics! The reference I had - it was tiny, but I made do. :D (April, 2015)
(oh and, whatever, it's just that you could SEE MY DRAWING hanging out with AJ & Billy in their dressing room in this video they posted on Twitter, no big deal...)
I was looking through the cast of the tour that was coming to SF, and I saw the Lacretta Nicole had been on 30 Rock (which I was watching AT THE TIME) and I looked on IMDb who she played and knew exactly who, so I tweeted " @LacrettaNicole omg, I follow because of BoM, but my 3rd love - "Bitch, more than one person works here." Are you HotJugsBev1@adoption.gov?" and she sent (because her character is Not Bev. She tweeted me the cast list and everything! So, one thing led to another and I drew her as Kalimba! (April, 2015)
Then, SHAMEFULLY, the first night, I was in the balcony, and asked one of the cast members, "I was in the balcony, and couldn't see too well, who did you play? AND HE WAS ELDER PRICE! FUUUUUUCK. So, to make it up to Billy, as I told him "Book of Mormon's my thing, I should have known!" I drew him. I went for a normal portrait, because I did my slightly caricature style of him, and it was AWFUL, so I did this! On the upside, I now know what he looks like. And the night I gave it to him, I was in the 2nd row for the show, and I kept thinking "theres the chin I spent ages on! There are his crazy arm muscles!" etc, lol. He really liked it, but in a quiet, honored kinda way, not a flip-out, yelling kinda way like AJ. He seemed genuinely mean it. I also have been really into filming my drawing process in time-lapse mode, so I made him a DVD of me drawing him, lol. You can see HERE (I sketch/plan it out reeeeally lightly first, but too light to film, so I start filming at the actual drawing part). (April, 2015)
OMG, this is THE MOST AWESOME ONE. Dayna is a swing, so I got the privilege to see as Nabulungi the 2nd time I saw the show this time around. She gave me A BACKSTAGE TOUR. WHAT?????? *dead* She's so super nice, I can't handle. (May, 2015)
This is Brian Beach - he's the first McKinley I've ever arted (lol), not to mention, the first BoM fanart portrait I've ever done in color and not a drawing! (June, 2015)
This is Alexandra Ncube. She's the nicest! I went to a castmember's gig, not realizing the rest of the cast would be there in support, and I felt super creepy until she came over and asked if I was "the artist" (this was after my 20th time seeing the show, 8th time this time around), and had a proper conversation with me, and at the stage door the next night too. So, nice - and effing talented!! I also made a time-lapse video of my drawing it HERE (set to "Somewhere That's Green" from Little Shop, because her song is an homage to it). (June 2015)
This is Christopher Faison! He's the first person to ever ask me to draw them, which meant so much to me! He even posed for me! He loves it, and apparently kept going on and on about how skinny he looks, lolol. :D He wants to have me gat a frame for it and is gonna reimburse me. :DDDDDD (not the best photo of actor, drawing and me, but better than nothing) (June 2015)
This is Dana Joel Nicholson! After I gave Chris his drawing, everyone was really excited and took my info down to send me pics of them!! Dana's the only one so far to send me a photo to use, but I did it in one day I could give it to him the next time I saw him! He's the first understudy Cunningham I've ever seen, it was awesome. (July 2015)
This is Miles Jacoby and I! He found out, through Dana, that I was "the one doing all these killer drawings????" (:DDDDDD ) and I, of course, immediately suggested that I draw him, and got reference photos and shit - it was all very easy-breazy, and I was very happy to draw him! He did THE BEST "...and even when I studied Mormon stories and I thought, 'that doesn't make any sense,' I kept working!" I've ever seen from Elder Price. EVER. So, that ALONE, deserves its own portrait. :D I'm so lucky to have seen so many awesome understudies!!
He posted on Instagram, "Obsessed with this amazing portrait by @myprettycabinet. Jamie Dole is legit, y'all!! Thank you so much!!! #SanJose #California" :D
And
He posted this on his instagram with the caption "This doesn't even come close to capturing how amazing this past year was, but it's still pretty fun 😜" and my portrait is included!!
(July 2015)
This is Josh Breckenridge! He plays Gotswana, and he's the actor I've seen the most second only to Michael Buchanan (I thought they were tied, but I did the math and Josh was out for two shows). I also got to see him as Mafala in Salt Lake City! That was amazing too. Anyway, I drew this awhile ago, but I got the photo of him with his drawing finally!! And, while it sucks I couldn't be in it too, it's a million times better because he's in costume!! So meta, lololol.
(August 2015)
Gavin Creel is my favorite Elder Price (only by a smidge from Billy). He was my first Elder Price, and I flew to see him for the last time before he left the show for goo. I couldn't stand the idea that I could see him one last time, but wouldn't. So I did! I got to see him for my 30th show and I got to watch half that show fro the 4th row center in a Broadway theatre. Not too shabz. He's so nice. He doesn't like specific compliments about his performance, so I made sure to stay general. :D (November 2015)
This is Corey Jones as The General in the First National Tour. He'd been saying he wanted a drawing (!!!) since July, but FINALLY sent photos to draw from. :D Usually I can wing it mostly, but this character is too intricate to draw without a reference photo. Before him, the most detailed and challenging was Sammie Ware's Nabulungi, with the typewriter, but this takes the cake! (March, 2016)
Index:
From BoM, in order, I've drawn:
Elder Gertner (Jared Gertner): Elder Cunningham
Elder Rouleau (Nic Rouleau): Elder Price
Sammie-Marie Hatimbi (Sammie-Marie Ware): Nabulungi Hatimbi
A.J. Cunningham #1 (A.J.Holmes): Elder Cunningham
A.J. Cunningham #2 (A.J.Holmes): Elder Cunningham
Kalimba Nicole (Lacretta Nicole): Kalimba
Elder Tighe (Billy Harrigan Tighe): Elder Price
Dayna Hatimbi (Dayna Jarae Dantzler): Nabulungi Hatimbi
Elder McBeachley (Brian Beach): Elder McKinley
Alexandra Hatimbi (Alexandra Ncube): Nabulungi Hatimbi
Christopher Faison (Elder Ghali): Elder Faison
Elder Nicholson (Dana Joel Nicholson): Elder Cunningham
Elder Jacoby (Miles Jacoby): Elder Price
Joshwana (Josh Breckenridge): Joshwana
Elder Gavin Creel (Gavin Creel): Elder Price
The General/Lucifer (Corey Jones): General Butt Fucking Naked/Lucifer
:D
Love, Jamie
*Apologies for a LOT of typos, I'll fix them eventually*
My drawing of Jared Gertner as Elder Cunningham, and the two of us with the drawing! (December 2012)
He wanted a photo of me with the drawing, and tweeted it to me, and said, "I met the very talented @myprettycabinet after the show 2nite. She drew this incredible picture for me. Thanks Jamie!"
My drawing of Samantha Marie Ware as Nabulungi, and the two of us with the drawing!
She tweeted/instagrammed me the photo, saying, "I found her! @myprettycabinet is responsible for this amazing sketch of me as Nabajamba! One of the greatest Xmas gifts!!!! Thanks, Jamie! You rock my non-existent socks! <3" (the "I found her" is in reference to THIS, her having somehow not received my tweet to her with the picture, but somehow seeing a cropped version of the drawing...lol) (December 2012)
ETA (12/01/13): I've since drawn Nic Rouleau as Elder Price, and just the other night, I got a photo with him and the drawing! THEN, he snapchatted a photo taken in his dressing room, and look what you can see at the bottom right-hand corner:
MY DRAWING!!!!
This is AJ Holmes, turns out - you may know him from his work with Starkid Productions! After meeting AJ and talking to him and seeing how great his performance was, I drew him between the 2nd and the 3rd times I saw the show with this cast, and he FLIPPED OUT when I gave it to him. He was SO stoked that I "even drew" him bunching his pants in his hands. He said he was going to frame it and give it to his parents, because he didn't get to take any promo pics for the role. (December, 2013)
This is Elder AJ Holmes THE SEQUEL! Since he FLIPPED OUT last time, I thought I'd do another now that he has promo pics! The reference I had - it was tiny, but I made do. :D (April, 2015)
(oh and, whatever, it's just that you could SEE MY DRAWING hanging out with AJ & Billy in their dressing room in this video they posted on Twitter, no big deal...)
I was looking through the cast of the tour that was coming to SF, and I saw the Lacretta Nicole had been on 30 Rock (which I was watching AT THE TIME) and I looked on IMDb who she played and knew exactly who, so I tweeted " @LacrettaNicole omg, I follow because of BoM, but my 3rd love - "Bitch, more than one person works here." Are you HotJugsBev1@adoption.gov?" and she sent (because her character is Not Bev. She tweeted me the cast list and everything! So, one thing led to another and I drew her as Kalimba! (April, 2015)
Then, SHAMEFULLY, the first night, I was in the balcony, and asked one of the cast members, "I was in the balcony, and couldn't see too well, who did you play? AND HE WAS ELDER PRICE! FUUUUUUCK. So, to make it up to Billy, as I told him "Book of Mormon's my thing, I should have known!" I drew him. I went for a normal portrait, because I did my slightly caricature style of him, and it was AWFUL, so I did this! On the upside, I now know what he looks like. And the night I gave it to him, I was in the 2nd row for the show, and I kept thinking "theres the chin I spent ages on! There are his crazy arm muscles!" etc, lol. He really liked it, but in a quiet, honored kinda way, not a flip-out, yelling kinda way like AJ. He seemed genuinely mean it. I also have been really into filming my drawing process in time-lapse mode, so I made him a DVD of me drawing him, lol. You can see HERE (I sketch/plan it out reeeeally lightly first, but too light to film, so I start filming at the actual drawing part). (April, 2015)
OMG, this is THE MOST AWESOME ONE. Dayna is a swing, so I got the privilege to see as Nabulungi the 2nd time I saw the show this time around. She gave me A BACKSTAGE TOUR. WHAT?????? *dead* She's so super nice, I can't handle. (May, 2015)
This is Brian Beach - he's the first McKinley I've ever arted (lol), not to mention, the first BoM fanart portrait I've ever done in color and not a drawing! (June, 2015)
This is Alexandra Ncube. She's the nicest! I went to a castmember's gig, not realizing the rest of the cast would be there in support, and I felt super creepy until she came over and asked if I was "the artist" (this was after my 20th time seeing the show, 8th time this time around), and had a proper conversation with me, and at the stage door the next night too. So, nice - and effing talented!! I also made a time-lapse video of my drawing it HERE (set to "Somewhere That's Green" from Little Shop, because her song is an homage to it). (June 2015)
This is Christopher Faison! He's the first person to ever ask me to draw them, which meant so much to me! He even posed for me! He loves it, and apparently kept going on and on about how skinny he looks, lolol. :D He wants to have me gat a frame for it and is gonna reimburse me. :DDDDDD (not the best photo of actor, drawing and me, but better than nothing) (June 2015)
This is Dana Joel Nicholson! After I gave Chris his drawing, everyone was really excited and took my info down to send me pics of them!! Dana's the only one so far to send me a photo to use, but I did it in one day I could give it to him the next time I saw him! He's the first understudy Cunningham I've ever seen, it was awesome. (July 2015)
This is Miles Jacoby and I! He found out, through Dana, that I was "the one doing all these killer drawings????" (:DDDDDD ) and I, of course, immediately suggested that I draw him, and got reference photos and shit - it was all very easy-breazy, and I was very happy to draw him! He did THE BEST "...and even when I studied Mormon stories and I thought, 'that doesn't make any sense,' I kept working!" I've ever seen from Elder Price. EVER. So, that ALONE, deserves its own portrait. :D I'm so lucky to have seen so many awesome understudies!!
He posted on Instagram, "Obsessed with this amazing portrait by @myprettycabinet. Jamie Dole is legit, y'all!! Thank you so much!!! #SanJose #California" :D
And
He posted this on his instagram with the caption "This doesn't even come close to capturing how amazing this past year was, but it's still pretty fun 😜" and my portrait is included!!
(July 2015)
This is Josh Breckenridge! He plays Gotswana, and he's the actor I've seen the most second only to Michael Buchanan (I thought they were tied, but I did the math and Josh was out for two shows). I also got to see him as Mafala in Salt Lake City! That was amazing too. Anyway, I drew this awhile ago, but I got the photo of him with his drawing finally!! And, while it sucks I couldn't be in it too, it's a million times better because he's in costume!! So meta, lololol.
(August 2015)
Gavin Creel is my favorite Elder Price (only by a smidge from Billy). He was my first Elder Price, and I flew to see him for the last time before he left the show for goo. I couldn't stand the idea that I could see him one last time, but wouldn't. So I did! I got to see him for my 30th show and I got to watch half that show fro the 4th row center in a Broadway theatre. Not too shabz. He's so nice. He doesn't like specific compliments about his performance, so I made sure to stay general. :D (November 2015)
This is Corey Jones as The General in the First National Tour. He'd been saying he wanted a drawing (!!!) since July, but FINALLY sent photos to draw from. :D Usually I can wing it mostly, but this character is too intricate to draw without a reference photo. Before him, the most detailed and challenging was Sammie Ware's Nabulungi, with the typewriter, but this takes the cake! (March, 2016)
Index:
From BoM, in order, I've drawn:
Elder Gertner (Jared Gertner): Elder Cunningham
Elder Rouleau (Nic Rouleau): Elder Price
Sammie-Marie Hatimbi (Sammie-Marie Ware): Nabulungi Hatimbi
A.J. Cunningham #1 (A.J.Holmes): Elder Cunningham
A.J. Cunningham #2 (A.J.Holmes): Elder Cunningham
Kalimba Nicole (Lacretta Nicole): Kalimba
Elder Tighe (Billy Harrigan Tighe): Elder Price
Dayna Hatimbi (Dayna Jarae Dantzler): Nabulungi Hatimbi
Elder McBeachley (Brian Beach): Elder McKinley
Alexandra Hatimbi (Alexandra Ncube): Nabulungi Hatimbi
Christopher Faison (Elder Ghali): Elder Faison
Elder Nicholson (Dana Joel Nicholson): Elder Cunningham
Elder Jacoby (Miles Jacoby): Elder Price
Joshwana (Josh Breckenridge): Joshwana
Elder Gavin Creel (Gavin Creel): Elder Price
The General/Lucifer (Corey Jones): General Butt Fucking Naked/Lucifer
:D
Love, Jamie