This month’s Spotlight is one of my favorite people on The ToonHeadz team. I can’t say enough good things about her. She is super sweet and nice and have the best sense of humor. I have learned a lot with how awesome she is working with the customers and drawing them. She definitely makes sure they have the best experience soon as they sit in her chair. I’m glad to share this interview because Meagan is new to caricatures but she is blazing through progressing more and more. I’m so proud of her!
Q. When did you start, and how long have you been a caricature artist?
A. I started learning about caricature in April 2021, so I’ve been drawing caricatures for about a year and a half now!
Q. Where do you currently work? What are you doing?
A. I work with The ToonHeadz in and around Atlanta, Georgia. We do festivals, parties, weddings and other events as well as working at the Georgia Aquarium! I mainly do live caricature but I do commissions sometimes as well. I do traditional drawings with marker and art stix but I have been learning procreate in my own time.
Q. What do you consider your style? What influences your work?
A. I feel like I am still developing a style but my current body of work has been described as cute. I have been influenced heavily by the artists I work with and learn from as well as cartoons from my childhood. I watched a lot of Disney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon so I feel like I am influenced by those cartoons a lot.
Outside of caricature my artwork has been described as “whimsical”.
Q. How do you approach caricatures?
A. I approach caricature by allowing my first impression to spark my creativity. I like to talk to the people a bit and get a sense of their personality and then I look at the size and spatial relationships of their features. I’m still working on getting out of my comfort zone to exaggerate more dramatically while still having a likeness.
Q. Do you have any differences in yourself that separates you from other caricature artists?
A. I am pretty new to caricature and I am a people pleaser. I really care about the person and the drawings and I want everyone to be happy. I often ask the people what they want and try to give them a cute or crazy drawing depending on what they say. I’m happy to merge my ideas with that of the customer.
Q. Do you create artwork outside of caricatures?
A. I create all types of artwork outside of caricature. I paint in acrylic and watercolor both abstract and realistic. I work with clay to create sculptures and functional pieces. Recently I’ve gotten back into wood-burning and spray painting which I did a lot as a teen.
I love printmaking and spent some years practicing that. Lino-cute were my favorite! I also spent a few years doing lapidary (cutting and polishing stones and minerals). I’m basically a jack of all trades haha!
Q. What hobbies or passions do you have outside of caricature?
A. I am very passionate about plants and rocks. I garden every year growing vegetables and flowers and trees. I have a collection of ginkgo and Japanese maple trees. I created a memorial garden for my late father who taught me everything I know about plants. I think it’s important to have a relationship with nature. I’ve always collected rocks ever since I was a child. I later got into lapidary class where I cut and polished stones to create cabochons for jewelry. I still have a large rock and mineral collection! I just love nature and being outside in general.
Q. Who are your favorite women artists in caricature or in related industries?
A. I love the work of Kelly berry, Lillian Cotton, and Ash Stryker. I love the cute style that Kelly and Ash have because I love cute things too! Lillian’s work is just amazingly crazy with her ability to exaggerate and I hope to be able to do that one day!
Outside of caricature my favorite woman artist is Agnes Pelton. I love her spiritual, abstract artwork. It speaks to the soul!
Q. Where can we follow your work?
A. I am on Instagram! My handle for caricatures is @Laughytoonz! I also have a page for my personal artwork @Meagalaughcreations. I have a Facebook as well but I am not as active on that platform.
