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Goofy Faces on Art Detroit

By Robert Bauer | September 21, 2018 |

Check out the latest episode of Art Detroit where Shiela Grant sits down with me to discuss everything that is the art of caricature!

Remote eSketches™ from Goofy Faces

By Robert Bauer | May 18, 2018 |

Introducing Remote eSketches™ from Goofy Faces! If you have internet, you can now book a live artist anywhere on the planet. Book a Remote eSketch Artist for your trade show booth, corporate function, grand opening or any event where you want the impact of live digital caricatures without the high cost of bringing the artist to you. All you need is a laptop, tablet or smartphone with internet access as well as a color printer and you can enjoy having an artist draw your guests and customers live at your next event. Our artist engages and interacts with your guests just like in person while drawing their digital caricature in as little as 6 minutes. After showing your guest their finished caricature, the artist simply uploads the final art to a Dropbox, instantly so you can access it from your device to view and print at your location! So the next time you want to add a unique form of hi-tech entertainment to your event, why not try our Remote eSketches™? Contact us for a quote!

The answer for Trade Show Engagement is Live Digital Caricatures

By Robert Bauer | September 16, 2016 |

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Perhaps the First Practical Business Application of Live Caricatures

Most people consider caricatures more whimsical than practical. As beloved as the art form is by those who appreciate an exaggerated portrait, it isn’t exactly an integral part of most business plans. Few think a caricature might help land the next big deal, and most business-minded folks consider it a simple amusement that belongs on family trips to the theme park, nowhere near the corporate conference room.

This thinking is rapidly changing, however, as a growing number of businesses are taking advantage of this unique service in a truly practical business application in the corporate world. Live digital caricatures, specifically those performed on-site at trade shows and industry conventions, are becoming increasingly popular as a practical service for generating draw to brand messaging, products, and services displayed in trade show booths and exhibits.

While it may be difficult to see the practical value of this at first glance, it’s difficult to deny once examined. Due to its unique nature, this practical application is also arguably superior to many of the other self-promotional goods and giveaways that corporations and brands routinely spend healthy budgets on when trying to gain attention from prospective customers at B2B events.

According to the 2012 study “The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy” published by PricewaterhousCoopers LLP, there were 273,700 industry conventions and 10,900 trade shows in the United States alone in 2012. The trade show and convention industry is undoubtedly a necessary part of the fabric of B2B commerce in the world, so it’s no wonder that so much money is spent preparing for these events: $280 billion dollars spent in direct spending related to corporate functions in 2012 alone.

B2B is difficult because unlike direct-to-consumer marketing, businesses are harder to advertise to by traditional means. This is why trade shows are so vital. At trade shows, corporations and brands are able to erect temporary storefronts on the trade show floor allowing them to network with their prospects like traditional face-to-face customers. But gaining attention for more than a few seconds can be daunting with a showroom full of competition all vying for your prospect’s attention. That’s why nearly all booths and exhibits provide some form of a giveaway to help draw in guests for a longer chat.

Common giveaways are mugs, keychains, t-shirts, USB drives, pens and the like. Occasionally, businesses get a little more creative, offering something more exotic like a free back massage. The challenge is finding something that 1) creates real draw to a trade show booth, 2) advertises for the brand, 3) creates a real opportunity for customer engagement (i.e., time), and 4) is personalized enough to create real impact. Live digital caricatures are one of a few services that actually meet all of these criteria.

So what exactly are live digital caricatures? Like traditional marker-on-paper caricatures, digital caricatures are drawn on location by hand. The difference is that digital caricatures are drawn on a digital tablet and displayed on one or more large-screen monitors. The large screens both entertain passersby and pull people in who want a caricature. This allows real, natural engagement to occur between the person being sketched and the booth attendants representing the sponsoring brand. Also, those waiting in line are engaging the brand too and creating networking opportunities.
After the sketch is completed, it is printed out and often provided to the guest as a name tag lanyard which the guest wears for the duration of the convention. Guests become voluntary walking advertisements for the sponsoring brand since a full color logo is included on every sketch. Unlike nearly every other giveaway, sponsoring brands get a bang for the buck at several key stages of customer engagement while creating a growing awareness of their brand. This includes following up after the show ends. Companies can post all the digital caricatures drawn by their artist to social media and their website for more engagement opportunities.
For brands looking for a good way to create draw to their trade show booths, engage prospects once there, and leave them with a giveaway unlikely to end up in the trash, live digital caricatures may be something for companies to consider.
For more information about the live digital caricatures offered by Goofy Faces, check out our eSketches™  here. Thanks to Goofy Faces artist, Brad for writing this article! Check out his site at caricaturesbybrad.com

2016 Youth Summit – Be the Hero!

By Robert Bauer | May 11, 2016 |

Over the years, Goofy Faces has had the good fortune to be involved with many great and interesting causes and movements. This Spring was no exception. The Kent County Youth Summit hired 6 artists from Goofy Faces to draw middle school and high school students while they attended the 5th annual Youth Summit which took place at the Devos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, MI.

This year’s theme, Be the Hero, is a declaration of the collective power of this generation to take a stand as everyday heroes and to drive positive change in their community, while transforming health and wellness trends and overcoming pop culture messages that suggest that alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are not harmful. To help celebrate this point, the Summit asked Goofy Faces to draw as many heroes as they could in 4 hours during the youth summit on May 6th. To help achieve this goal, Goofy Faces provided 6 artists and 2 predawn templates of super heroes to help speed up the drawing process. The results were hundreds of happy teens who enjoyed posing for their super hero caricatures during the summit!

 

 

What are eSketches™?

By Robert Bauer | April 14, 2016 |

In case you haven’t heard, Goofy Faces offers eSketches™ nationwide and they are becoming more and more popular each month. “What are eSketches™”, you ask? Good question. eSketches™ are caricatures that are drawn & colored digitally live at events, trade shows and parties. Our artists use a digital drawing tablet to work their magic in minutes. Guests enjoy watching each eSketch take shape on a nearby large display. Once your eSketch is finished, the artist prints out your very own color copy to take away with you. In addition, we provide all our clients with a link to all the eSketches™ that were drawn during their event. They can share them with their guests and clients as well as post them to their social media accounts like Instagram and Twitter! If you want to add a cutting edge artistic element to your next function or event, give us a try. You can fund an artist and see rates by searching our directory. Watch our sample video below to get an idea just how fun and unique eSketches™ are!

 

Fox’s The Grinder

By Robert Bauer | August 10, 2015 |

Recently Fox Broadcasting hired Goofy Faces to provide artists to help promote their new TV Show, The Grinder, which premiers September 29th on Fox. The show’s setting involves the courtroom, so what better way to promote that fact than to feature courtroom sketches during a recent press event in Beverly Hills, CA? The show stars Rob Lowe and Fred Savage so each star was featured in the sketch along with attendees to the event. Goofy Faces provided 2 talented artists who had to adapt their digital art style to match the existing courtroom sketch. They both drew over 90 eSketches™ in 6 hours each at this unique event which included courtroom props like a witness box for the attendees to sit in while they were being drawn. The entire sketching concept went from idea to execution in under 24 hours! Did Goofy Faces deliver for Fox? Without a doubt, case closed! Thanks to artists Greg & Court for their hard work and talent. More Fox events coming soon!

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Detroit’s rebirth is For Real!

By Robert Bauer | June 16, 2015 |

I have lived in metro Detroit for over 45 years and in those years, I make my way into the city quite frequently. Goofy Faces does quite a few gigs in the city of Detroit from drawing for the Detroit Tigers to the Red Wings and other events held at venues like Cobo Center. In those 45 years, I have heard or read about Detroit’s comeback at least a dozen times in my life. I remember how Detroit was going to emerge from its woes with the building of the Renaissance Center, a vast complex of office buildings and a hotel on the Riverfront. It represented the dawn of a new renaissance in Detroit. However, that was 1976. So much for a come back in those days. Since then, many things have happened in Motown. Detroit has endured the loss of its population, corruption and most recently a bankruptcy. Detroit is the largest municipality on record to have declared bankruptcy in the US. So in most people’s eyes, Detroit has always been the butt of the joke on late-night talk shows or in the news about what went wrong with a once-great American City. With the bankruptcy, it was at its lowest point just a few years ago.

However, you wouldn’t know it if you talk to the people who live here. For the first time in what seems like forever, people are moving back into the city. And these people are young, creative types who see such opportunity in the Motor City. New restaurants have opened around the city. It’s getting a reputation as a “foodie paradise“. Many new start-ups have opened for business in Detroit. I can honestly say that in all my years of drawing and visiting Detroit, it feels very different now. People are really calling Detroit “hip” and “cool” now. Just in the past week, I was hired to draw eSketches™ for Virgin Atlantic Airlines at The Fillmore on Woodward, downtown. They were celebrating their newest route that flies daily from London to Detroit. Even Sir Richard Branson, CEO of the airline and well-known philanthropist, was on board the maiden flight to Detroit. He had great things to say about the city. This event featured Motown music, local food and of course eSketches™ from Goofy Faces. I had the pleasure of drawing many visitors from the UK as well as other parts of the country to celebrate the new Virgin Atlantic Route. Everyone I spoke to was very impressed with the way Detroit has changed. They loved spending time there. I can honestly say it felt cool hanging out in Detroit again. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Rockin’ it in the Motor City!

 

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More eSketches™

By Robert Bauer | March 30, 2015 |

Here are some samples of eSketches™ from 4 different artists during 2 recent events for a new client.  The first event for Hughes took place at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Artists Doug and Stephen enjoyed drawing guests during the reception for 2 hours. The second event took place at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando. Artists Ted and Michael enjoyed drawing guests for 2 hours during the reception. As you can see, styles can vary greatly among our artists when it comes to drawing digitally. However all the guests enjoyed their eSketches™ immensely and got to take home a lasting moment from their event.ed goofygig2 goofygig3 goofygig7 mark

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Goofy Faces at ExhibitorLive! 2015

By Robert Bauer | March 9, 2015 |

Last week, thousands of attendees flooded exhibit halls inside Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas for the annual ExhibitorLive! Expo. This event is the largest gathering of trade show professionals in the nation and Goofy Faces was there drawing guests for 3 straight days. Attendees enjoyed learning about eSketches as well as how a caricature artist can impact the amount of traffic they can attract to their booth.  Goofy Faces was a prime example of the most basic booth set-up yet we consistently drew more traffic than many booths did due to our talented artists drawing them. Check out photos from the expo and consider adding Goofy Faces to your next trade show event!

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