The Evolution of Penélope

So, I haven't done a caricature in a long time, but I recognize that it is a useful skill for illustration as well as animation. So I decided to try it out again. The subject: Penélope Cruz. I like Penélope Cruz, because she is really pretty, but she has an almost freakishly long neck. And for me that sort of made her memorable. Anyways, it took me a few sketches for me to get to one I liked. I could definitely use more practice, but I sort of like the way this turned out.

Moderate Sillyness

So for some time now there have been two people that I have always wanted to dress up as. The first person is Batman. Since I was very young I wanted to be Batman for Halloween. Batman was my favorite hero and I always enjoyed watching the movies and cartoons. However, my family always sort of waited til the last minute to buy Halloween costumes and Batman costumes were quite expensive and were often sold out.

The second person is Groucho Marx. The obsession with Groucho Marx came a bit later, probably around the age of sixteen, when I saw A Night at the Opera for the first time. Groucho was immediately my favorite Marx brother; I really like his type of humor and wit (which may also explain my obsession with Woody Allen). And, despite the fact that I am female I was quite convinced that I would make a good Groucho Marx. However, for a long time my hair was too long to really pull off a decent Groucho.

Anyways, what I really want to say is, I finally did it! This past Halloween I made a homemade Batman costume, and just this past weekend I decided to go all out and dress up like Groucho Marx for a friend who was having a mustache themed birthday party (and really, who has a better mustache than Groucho).

So, without further ado, here are the wonderful pictures!


Special effects brought to you by John's default webcam photo booth thingy.

Notice the utility belt pouches are made out of construction paper.



The glasses aren't quite Groucho, but you get the picture. The glasses are actually Real 3-D with the lenses popped out.


Both costumes were homemade and thrown together with stuff I already had, for the most part. I painted that Batman logo on that grey t-shirt all by myself. The gloves were fun to make. They are just black rubber cleaning gloves and cardboard cut into triangles and painted black glued together. Oh, also, both costumes were worn with jeans, because I'm lazy, hence the waist up photos.

Lastly, and I'm not sure I should bring this up, but I noticed while writing this blog that the two people I have always wanted to dress up as are both men. I never wanted to dress up as Catwoman or Batgirl. I wonder why that is...