Where David draws the line

Andrew Mathieson
ARMED with just a basic two-dollar texta and a white sheet of A3 paper, Geelong caricaturist David Seery can raise a smile on any face.
And sometimes the real smile beams back at him as he sketches away the most exaggerated feature.
“I consider myself a bit like a modern court jester,” David ponders, “because you go along and make fun of these people but they do laugh.
“It’s all about getting people to have a giggle at themselves.”
On paper, the image has a wide grin and larger-than-life teeth. The gums portray a degree of boorishness.
Embellishing is all part of the magic of caricatures, which can bring out a gamut of emotions.
“I was trying to get this one guy to smile for like 20 minutes,” David says.
“When he smiled he only had one tooth.”
David says that while the smile dictates the character of the face, perfecting the eyes makes all the difference.
Some sketch artists start off drawing the shape of the face but, for David, the eyes come first.
“Once they smile, it actually changes the shape of their eyes,” he explains.
“What I have also researched is not everyone has the same type of eyes.”
When David starts to squiggle his texta in lines and shapes that bring a face alive, it draws a crowd of interested onlookers like moths to a flame.
Eager wannabe subjects at this year’s Pako Festa watched and waited patiently just to be the centre of attention – for just two minutes of sketching. David was drawing nearly 30 caricatures an hour at one stage during the festa.
The experience inspired the softly-spoken Kiwi to launch Guinness Book of Records bid next year for the most caricatures in 48 hours.
“Obviously, I will be pretty stuffed at the end of it,” he grins.
The world-record attempt has been given the nod for Federation Square where David plans to publicise the occasion to raise greater awareness of youth suicide for welfare organisation beyond blue.
Next on the agenda is convincing Geelong teens to swap graffiti on street walls for a sketching pad, which will require him taking a few proteges under his wing.
Surprisingly, 47-year-old David only started producing caricatures in 1996 despite drawing and painting before he could even walk or talk.
Back then, of course, David didn’t attract the same interest he now receives at festivals, corporate functions, Probus club meetings and trade shows.
“The very first caricature I drew was of a girl who came up to me with her mum with her hair all done up and she had a nice dress on,” David recalls.
“I showed her the caricature and she burst into tears. Just for 10 seconds at least I thought ‘Here goes the career’.”
Despite growing up in the land of Footrot Flats, as a youngster David was brought up on a diet of crayons and Disney cartoons.
“I eventually gave up my taste for crayons but I did actually prepare some drawings to send to Walt Disney,” he says.
David worked for a New Zealand animation company touching up its tracings with a barely-thick-enough clutch pencil.
The work taught him how to adapt from a thick to a thin line in a single stroke – a technique that has allowed him to produce his whimsical caricatures without a hint of hesitation.
“I can draw a person’s face with less than a dozen brief glances,” he says.
“I can even simplify the caricature with just the outlines but, for me, the ultimate challenge is giving as much detail in the shortest amount of time.”
The biggest influence has been Weg, the late illustrator William Ellis Green whose AFL premiership posters became Australian Rules icons over 55 years.
David talks about stories in which Weg was home relaxing and his fingers would start twitching with the urge to draw.
“It’s a bit like myself – if I see an interesting person on TV I have to grab the texta and do a quick one,” he admits.
“I don’t think I can ever stop drawing them – I tried to go cold turkey but I couldn’t stop.”