Today we’d like to introduce you to Court Jones.
Court, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
At this point, I sort of walk the line between two art worlds: Traditional Art and Caricature. After four years earning an art degree at UCSD, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in art. I got into caricaturing at theme parks and events because it was the first art job I could find. After a few years doing only live caricature, I wanted to up my skills and become more of a caricature painter and commercial illustrator, like my hero at the time, Sebastian Krüger. But as I took more classes in drawing and painting at the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Encinitas, a whole new world of opportunity opened up for me as I learned more about depicting traditional subject matter in a realistic way.
I took classes in plein air painting, anatomy, perspective, color theory, inking and of course lots and lots of drawing and painting from life. These classes pulled me towards fine art and portraiture. But at the same time, I continued my main job of working as a live caricaturist. Actually, it was because I did caricatures at events that allowed me the time to pursue my higher arts education. The pay was good and the hours were not very demanding when I only worked a couple of parties or trade shows per week. To this day, I still work solely as a freelance artist – drawing caricatures at events and illustration when in the home studio.
So caricatures have been, for years, the basis for my income. And I love doing them. But I also have this strong passion for oil painting – landscapes and portraits mostly. That doesn’t pay the bills right now. But I try to paint as much as I can and show my work every now and then. It keeps me fulfilled and excited about the future.
I also have an aspect of my career that I never would have imagined doing when I was younger. And that’s teaching. A couple of years after I started taking classes at the Watts Atelier, Jeff, the owner, asked me to start teaching classes there – mostly in specialty subjects like caricature, facial anatomy and digital painting. Teaching has been the thing that has probably taught me the most about art. In order to be able to teach something to other people, you need to teach it to yourself first and figure out how and why things work the way they do.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
The caricature studio work I get to do is just plain fun. When I do caricature illustrations for a publisher or a private commission, it’s more a reflection of me and how I see the world than my traditional art is. Yes, on the surface, I’m often doing editorial work that expresses someone else’s opinion for their magazine or book. But at a deeper level, I alone figure out how to convey that story or design the facial exaggerations in my own unique way.
When I create my own personal caricature fine art paintings, which are not done for clients, those are subjects who most intrigue me at that moment in my life. I choose to caricature someone when I feel some sort of strong fascination with their persona. Whether it’s a musician, politician or some other entertainer, at some point they did, said or created something which inspired me to pick up a pencil and brush.
Sometimes the caricature images I make seem derisive. But I think they’re more a celebration or homage to the subject. Caricature can be funny without being mean. My main goal when caricaturing is just to make someone look more like themselves than THEY look like themselves if that makes any sense. The act of exaggerating the unique features and traits of a person is an exercise in truthfulness – hard, unapologetic truthfulness. Believe it or not, I’m not TRYING to be funny when I draw caricatures. I’m just trying to be honest and put my spin on the subject – and trying to make a portrait which is quintessentially “them.”
On the other end of the spectrum, my traditional and fine art is something I’m always working on and figuring out. I don’t have a particular message or strategy in that work. I just try to capture a moment or a mood in a realistic way. The goal I tell myself each time I paint a landscape, a figure model or still life is just try to make something beautiful – something that people will want to sit and look at for a while. I don’t really know what other people will find beautiful. So I guess I try to let the sum total of my artistic influences guide my hand when figuring out how to design visual elements like a tree or a shoreline. In the works of my favorite artists, the beauty in the work doesn’t come from the subject or location they painted. It comes from HOW it was painted. The brushwork, the composition, the control of the values and color temperatures. Those are the elements I try to improve in my own studies and paintings.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Social media is always an option. There can be some valid connections made there. But I think the best thing an artist can do is join a local club or group that meets up to either draw or paint. It can be a class, of course. But also consider joining organizations of artists that share your interests. I belong to a couple local plein air painting groups that have regular meetups and the occasional lunches and even museum outings. When you widen your social circle to include more artists you can learn a lot from their experience, you’ll be networking more often and find out about more art happenings that you might otherwise miss.
Back in 2000, I joined an international caricature artists group that has annual conventions, where we draw, compete and learn. I’ve made some of my most significant life and career connections there. I actually met my wife, a fellow caricaturist, at the annual convention.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I don’t have a regular gallery that shows my work. But I do participate in group shows and competitions every now and then. I have two main websites for my work. My caricature and illustration work is on www.courtjones.com, and my fine art paintings are on www.crjonesart.com. However, right now those sites are a bit neglected. I post most of my new work on Instagram @courtjonesartist and on my Facebook Page, which is named “Court Jones Studio.”
People can best support me by signing up for my online caricature course (or also commissioning an original piece!) I currently have an online course on the art of caricature on the Proko.com website. I spent years on developing and creating the course, which was filmed and edited by the Proko team. You can actually watch all of the lessons and lots of bonus content for free on the Proko YouTube channel. And if you want access to all of the premium course content, you can get that at the Proko website. The Proko site and YouTube channel, incidentally, have other great courses on portrait drawing, figure drawing, and anatomy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.courtjones.com
- Email: art@courtjones.com
- Instagram: @courtjonesartist
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/CourtJonesStudio
- Other: www.crjonesart.com and www.proko.com/caricature
Image Credit:
Court Jones
Debbie Burmeister
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