helen waters & kerstin klein

helen (portrayed above) did a last minute portrait swap with kerstin (below).

are you chewing your fingernails yet?

jeannette langmead & james vaucher

OF COURSE, jeannette (portrayed above) had an eleventh hour portrait up her sleeve! to cement her winning of the only contest in which she has ever participated, she drew her old middle school friend, james vaucher (below).

Martín Dibujandoarte & Kerstin Klein

thanks to a plea on her website, martin (portrayed above) surprised kerstin with a last minute push to the finish line of the portrait party contest.

josh pincus & sarah biteyourowntail

josh (portrayed above) and sarah (below) return for seconds and thirds!

leonie allen & shan

leonie (portrayed above) is inspired by shan (below) to be even more like herself.

karen sandstrom & kerstin klein

i was kind of kidding that anyone could challenge jeannette's lead in the current portrait party contest. at this rate though and with the help of more artists like karen (portrayed above), kerstin (below) could actually do it.

i have to confess that i'm a little bit nervous. i already started jeannette's portrait.

carol huddleston & kerstin klein

uh oh! that's two portraits in two hours! carol (portrayed above) is helping kerstin (portrayed below) give jeannette (portrayed all over) a run for her money!

roy mosby & kerstin klein

believe it or not, this drawing of roy (above) was drawn by kerstin (below) before she received this drawing of herself as a pirate. believe it or not!

jeannette langmead & jenna deluca

competitors don't be discouraged but this is jeannette's 2,374th portrait swap with her former classmate, jenna (portrayed below).

you can witness the creation of this drawing on youtube. (it's worth watching!)

michael cho & claudia davila

The Feebles is a little self-publishing imprint run by michael and claudia. the talented couple have drawn each other many times over the years. claudia's drawing is above. this one is michael's.

grant & helen forte

grant (portrayed above) and helen (below) drew each other in a pub in broadheath, worcester, right next door to elgar's birthplace.

damien weighil & kerstin klein

mystery man, damien (imagined above), draws portraits of anyone who asks. you may end up with antennas or a wig... or the accoutrements for a pirate party, like kerstin (below).

shelly & jeannette langmead

shelly (portrayed above) treated jeannette (below) to the funniest -and most accurate?- portrait swap ever.

henri matisse & andre derain

i don't know how artistic movements are really formed but i love the fact that most of them emerge from a circle of friends or classmates or rivals. fauves like matisse (above) and andre derain (below) are a great example of all three.

jeannette langmead & ammon perry

jeannette (portrayed above) has "never tried to win anything" but she is well on her way to winning to the first ever portrait party contest with the help of newcomers like ammon (below).

if anyone wants to give jeannette a run for her money, just do a portrait swap every day of the week for the rest of the month! (i think that's the only way to catch up.)

jeannette langmead & josh pincus

jeannette (portrayed above) continues her bid for world domination. this time with the help of "josh pincus is crying" (portrayed below).

aaron renier & craig thompson

aaron renier (portrayed above) created one of my favorite comics, Spiral-Bound. one of the many characters in his story is a dog named stucky (portrayed below). while his classmates work on pinch pots in the art room, stucky creates a larger-than-life fully functional clay submarine that is put to use in the climax of the book. it's hard not to love stucky. his ambition and his perseverance are inspiring. can you imagine how delighted i was to discover that stucky is actually a portrait of aaron's good friend, craig thompson? and the submarine is craig's comic book masterpiece, Blankets.

this is maybe my favorite portrait of the party so far! because it tells us more than what craig looks like. it tells us what it's like to be his friend.

jeannette langmead & frederik jurk

contestants beware: jeannette (portrayed above) has taken an early but powerful lead in the first portrait party contest. with the help of portrait partners like fred jurk (below).

is that his real name, we all wonder?

jennifer m. lee & jeannette langmead

jennifer (portrayed above) waited forever for this drawing because jeannette, the portrait dynamo, tried a painting first. we'll have to take her word that it was "miserable."

jeannette langmead & karl stevens

jeannette (portrayed by the eiffel tower) partied her way into one of karl steven's comic strips.

lance king & olli juutilainen

lance (portrayed above) is hosting a portrait party even more ambitious than this one. on Draw Me Draw You, he promises to draw charicatures of anyone who draws him. it's obviously a lot of work but i look forward to his updates. here is his trade with olli juutilainen (below).

jeannette langmead & nate bellegarde

jeannette (portrayed above) brought nate (below) to the party.

tato rodriguez & edel rodriguez

tato (portrayed above) hadn't seen his son, edel (below) in a year or so. he was up for anything when they got together on memorial day. they had a portrait party.

edel uploaded both portraits to drawger to show his dad how this whole internets thing works.

jeannette langmead & sarah biteyourowntail

jeannette (above) and sarah (below) thought it would be fun to draw each other "looking kind of creepy."

christine castro & rama hughes

my wife (portrayed above) christened her new journal this evening with a bunch of one minute portraits (below) of me! i think we were in agreement that, when drawing against a clock, the first portrait is always painful but the last one's pretty fine.

diego rivera & frida kahlo

this painting (above) by frida kahlo of herself and her husband, diego rivera, is pretty famous. his portraits of her (including the one below of himself and frida) aren't as well known. it's funny, i think, that he was the famous one when they met. his social and political work were very important then but they have been eclipsed over time by frida's deeply personal paintings.

these portraits by diego are part of a much larger mural.

bigaroo & coocoodoodoo & wacadoo

when i arrived to class yesterday, three of my students waved these drawings at me. "we drew portraits for your website!" coocoodoodoo sang.

"this one (above) is cubist!"

obviously, the girls used their code names. mine's "thattledoo." thank you so much, girls! thattledoo.

jeannette langmead & dan nolan

jeannette (portrayed above) had her first "real-life-non-virtual-human-interaction" portrait party with dan (below). they met in cambridge and, from the looks of it, ate at a food court. yum! i love shakes!

Can I Draw You? (A Portrait Party Contest)

since i started the portrait party in march, i have received a lot of offers to trade portraits. i honestly want to accept every invitation but i don't have time. to make myself more available, my wife suggested a contest.

i will trade portraits with whoever invites the most new artists to join the portrait party in the month of august.

here are the details:

1. "new artists" will be defined as anyone who has not submitted a drawing to the portrait party already.

2. new artists won't be counted until they complete a portrait swap and share the results with the rest of us.

3. the deadline to submit portraits will be august 31, 2007.

on september 1st, i will count up the new recruits and announce the winner. when our swap is complete, i will frame my portrait of you (like this) and mail it to your favorite address.

if you have questions, just let me know.