Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Holtwick.
Hi Christopher, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in a small city near Cleveland, Ohio. I went to school at Bowling Green State University. I graduated with a BFA in Computer Art, but took classes in everything from drawing and glassblowing to Astronomy and Ballroom Dancing.
A college friend named Scott got a job in Carlsbad and invited me to move in with him and be his roommate in an apartment only a few blocks from the ocean!
I was working at a copy shop, doing simple layouts, printing, posters, and making copies of court documents. It was a a stressful and thankless job, where customers were regularly insulting my intelligence and using profanity. I was 24 and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I sat with a coworker named Peter who suggested I just look for another job. The next day, I opened up the newspaper (because that’s what we did 20 years ago) to the classified section. I saw jobs for nursing or needing a CDL for truck driving. Then there was this ad that said “Looking for Artists. Will train. Call this number.” I called the number and they told me to bring 10-12 drawings of people to a business park in a few days. I threw a party with my copy shop coworkers and drew everyone’s portrait. The interview came and there were 25-50 artists. They paired us up and we were to draw one realistic portrait and one cartoony caricature. Then we were individually interviewed behind a partition in the conference room. I remember them saying something like, “Your drawings are okay…and we can train you to get better, but we love your energy and personality and you can’t train that!”
After a two week audition that felt like a tv reality contest show, where every day someone would get voted out, until there were 10 people hired. I started drawing caricatures on Memorial Day weekend in 2005. The entire summer was trial by fire. I worked with some incredible artists, who simplified the process and made it possible for me to get a good likeness and have fun drawing guests. Working at Legoland, I drew mostly young kids. So I got really good at drawing moving objects, emotional expressions, and all sorts of Lego properties as funny bodies.
After a few years of burnout, paired with a bad breakup, I was 30 years old and felt like I needed to change direction in my life. I went to Mesa College and Mira Costa College for web design and video production. I got a job at a call center for a few months, then got a contract working on tax forms for Intuit. After the contract was over, I went back to caricatures for a month at the San Diego Zoo.
While working at the zoo, I met my future wife, who was a letter brush artist, henna artist, and face painter. A month later I got a job in web development, but did caricatures on the weekends paired with my new wife. We would double team fairs and festivals and would eventually find ourselves working together on the boardwalk at Tuna Harbor Park, near the USS Midway.
We had two kids and I switched companies, where I focused on web design, podcasting, animation, and video editing. During COVID, my marriage took a bad turn. With two small children, working from home and no caricature, henna, or face painting work, we were struggling. My ex-wife started to show signs of mental illness and self medicated with drugs and alcohol. My home life was filled with verbal, psychological, and physical abuse.
Eventually, things came to ahead and my wife and I separated. We shared custody of the kids. She took over the events side of the business, while I took care of retail caricatures on the weekends. Unhappy with the arrangement, my ex-wife kidnapped the children and took them out of school for a month in Arizona. It caused me a lot of emotional distress that music, art, and exercise couldn’t balance out.
I ended up having multiple disagreements at work with coworkers and management. I raised my voice to one of the directors and was put on leave. A few months later, there was a dispute about my time card, because I needed to take breaks to pick up and drop off my kids from school. I was eventually fired.
I was a single dad with two children, and an ex-wife who was in jail for various felonious offenses. I was able to use resources to get healthcare and food assistance for my kids, while I applied for jobs and tried to drive for ride sharing companies. It posed to be pretty difficult to find jobs that would allow me to pick my kids up from school. My kids were put on a wait list for after school care and they were accepted a few months later. This opened the door for being able to work full time hours.
My food assistance and unemployment were expiring and ride sharing was only paying enough to fill the gas tank. That’s when I decided that I would come down to the boardwalk every day and see how many caricatures I could draw. If it was more than minimum wage and ride share driving, then it was what I was supposed to be doing.
I built a community with the other expressive activities participants and found that it was possible to make a living doing something that is my love and passion.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. For years, other caricature artists would create competition, by setting up next to me on the boardwalk.
Finding affordable childcare when my kids were smaller. My boys still sometimes come to work with me and can be a joy to have around, sometimes they can be a bit rambunctious and fight with each other and that can be distracting to me and my guests.
For a few years, hotdog and elotes vendors started setting up in expressive activities zones. They would bully the artists and buskers and take up all the spaces. The Port Authority refused to enforce the ordinance until the Tuna Harbor park was completely overwhelmed with hot dog vendors, that I had to set up in a different location near the Star of India. Eventually, the Port changed the rules and artists retained half of the originally occupied spaces, while giving commercial vendors the other half of the spaces. This still causes problems because instead of setting up at 9am, when potential customers start leaving their hotel rooms, I have to set up at 6am with my kids in tow.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a caricature artist working in black markers and wax pastels for color on paper. I also do digital caricatures, where I draw on my iPad with a screen projecting my drawing process and print out 4×6 copies to guests at parties, providing them with a downloadable version.
I draw in a pretty conservative style, which is influenced by my time working at theme parks. I exaggerate features here and there, but only roast people when requested. My big goal is to have a great likeness and end up with a response of joy, happiness, and laughter. I don’t want people to feel cringey or ashamed.
I am proud that I have continued to grow and slowing experiment into finding a defined style. I like looking at the drawings of other caricature artists and drawing with other people to challenge my abilities and be brave enough to push the limits of the craft.
The thing that I feel sets me apart is my personality. I am very genuine and authentic with my guests and love telling them stories. I am a sponge for knowledge and I have been able to learn about people from lots of countries, religions, regions, and sexual orientations, so I make people feel comfortable in the space that my booth creates.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
The most challenging, yet most important part of being an artist is pushing yourself to become the best version of yourself that you can be, but it can come at a price. Taking a risk to push your sketch to a point where you are exaggerating to a point of offensiveness or insults, can attract a certain audience and possibly allow you to transcend to a higher level of art. How ever you have the potential to alienate people and miss out on the average clients that want a fun, cute, drawing and a nice chat.
Being a professional artist is also a risk. Working for yourself and essentially busking for money on the street is definitely riskier than getting a job in an office. Going into work and punching the clock, getting a steady paycheck has a level of comfort that is super appealing. It feels risky to wake up and say, “It’s the first of the month, I have 40 days to earn enough money for all my expenses and bills.” As an employee, you can say, “If I do great work, I will get rewarded with a guaranteed paycheck!” But if you are self employed, everyday is random. You just have to rely on faith.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Midwaycaricatures.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/midwaycaricatures
- Youtube: http://youtube.com/@midwaycaricatures
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/Aq3tXA8mZo
