GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - You may have seen the man with an easel who can capture your face in minutes and make you laugh at yourself for a lifetime.
“I love the creativity,” said caricature artist Jim McCloskey. “I love having an idea and putting it down on paper.”
McCloskey can draw anyone on the spot.
“They’ll say, ‘Yes, that looks just like me.’”
From weddings to other special occasions, McCloskey adds a humorous interpretation.
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“To be able to do something that really touches someone, I feel, is unique.”
A caricature artist’s job is to find and highlight unique features.
“We all have things about us — whether it’s glasses or a smile — things that we can exaggerate slightly and have a lot of fun with it. I want to make sure that if I’m drawing someone that they’re happy with it."
McCloskey has been drawing exaggerated smiles on the Coast since leaving behind his life in Virginia 14 years ago.
“I had a car and a U-Haul and I took off, left from Staunton, Va., and drove down here.”
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In Virginia, he spent more than two decades using his talents to illustrate historical moments in time. McCloskey’s editorial cartoons were featured in newspapers across the country.
“I thought that I would be drawing cartoons for the rest of my life.”
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But cartoons depicting the daily news have become a lost art despite the connections an illustration can create between a story and its audience.
“Some people think that cartoons are supposed to be funny, but you can convey a lot of different emotions with a cartoon.”
McCloskey knows better than most what a single drawing can mean to people—especially in moments when words fall short.
“We were all watching those images [of the 9/11 terrorist attacks] on TV, and they were seared in our brains. How was I going to be able to draw something that matched or conveyed the same sense of loss as what we were seeing on TV?”
He used the Statue of Liberty on September 11, 2001, to illustrate the heartbreak.
“It had to be solemn, had to demonstrate the gravity of what had happened and what we were all feeling.”
Now, McCloskey is looking for opportunities to make a comeback using a craft he thinks can still catch the attention of an audience.
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“Unfortunately, we’ve really become very critical of a lot of different things and each other. Cartoons give you an opportunity to get lost, have fun and enjoy it a little bit.”
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He once drew for millions of readers. Although he now only draws for one person at a time, McCloskey will tell you the smile on one face is worth just as much.
“I’ve made somebody smile and laugh. They will tell me that they still have the caricature that I drew of them years ago at some event, and that just feels so cool.”
McCloskey can be found at festivals and events around the Coast. For more information on his work, visit mcloskeycartoons.com.
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