The Journey from a wide-eyed boy to a Caricature Artist!
Paul Moyse, a successful artist who specializes in fine art caricatures, has an inimitable style to his art. Through his unmatched skill with his brush, he creates realistic caricatures that perfectly capture the spirit of the emotion.
Paul always knew as a kid in the 1970's that he would grow up to be a professional artist. It was only a matter of time for this dream to be realized, though the path wasn't easy. In the 1980's he became fascinated with the art of caricatures. He spent his teens emulating the caricature from the British show 'Spitting Image' and the cartoons of Kevin 'KAL' Kallaugher in the Economist.
But in his later years, Paul had to work several jobs to pay bills, all the while developing his skill on the side. In 2006 he finally got his break with his first magazine commission for Radio Times. And since then there has been no looking back.
His body of work includes commissions by Weekly Standard, live caricatures for Sir Paul McCartney, and paintings for several eminent private clients. A big highlight that catapulted his career forward was meeting Derren Brown, a renowned mentalist and illusionist, and painting him for the BP awards in 2012. Another memorable moment was getting a commission from Tim Jenison, the film producer, with Penn and Teller, the American magicians and entertainers.
When asked, what is so captivating about caricatures, Paul said, "I think caricature taps into the part of the brain that recognizes features from memory, the part that allows us to separate one face from another in an instant, but it does so in an exaggerated way for humourous effect."
Paul believes observation and empathy are the most important tools required to capture the right expression. Being able to understand what is going on behind the eyes is essential to recreating it.
Given a choice, he prefers traditional mediums of painting over digital ones. This is because of the end result being a physical product; also the knowledge that it cannot be deleted or easily reproduced with the click of a button.
In retrospect, the journey to be an established artist wasn't easy. For Paul, the hardest lesson was treating art as a serious profession. And the path of getting paid was filled with ups and downs. But through perseverance, stubbornness, and plenty of practice, success did come his way. Paul also attributes his success to luck, timing, and consistently ignoring the people who said it can't be done.
