'I like to honour the person as well as make them laugh!' Meet a Smethwick caricature expert

“I was pretty obsessed with drawing from an early age,” says Ben, who draws caricatures, cartoons and illustrations for a range of occasions, including birthdays, special days and weddings.

“The first caricature I drew was when I was eight or nine. It was a caricature of my dad and grandad coming back from the pub a little worse for wear. I don’t think they found it funny, but everyone else did.”

“It cracks me up to think I’ve been taking the mickey ever since,” he adds.

A love of both art and animals led Ben to study scientific and natural history illustration at Blackpool & The Fylde College.

He was working in London 2010 when he decided to try his hand at being a street caricaturist, in order to make some extra money to help pay his rent.

“I decided to use my artistic skills to make a quick buck,” says Ben, who lives in Smethwick.

He made his own sign offering caricatures for £5 and set up his stall on a footbridge over the River Thames.

Ben started to improve his drawing speed by sketching people as they walked by - but his riverside pitch wasn’t without its challenges.

“It would get so windy that my sign was like a sail and I would have to grab it to stop it going over the railings,” he recalls.

One day, a passerby asked him if he drew caricatures at weddings and without hesitation he responded ‘yes’.

“That was 14 years ago and I have been doing weddings and other events ever since,” says the 39-year-old.

Speed is important when Ben is doing caricatures at a function because he wants to ensure he can get through as many guests as possible during the event.

“I can do a quick caricature in five or six minutes depending on whether they have a massive hairdo or not. I can do a family portrait in 20 minutes. I get speedier as I go,” explains Ben.

“It doesn’t feel like pressure – I quite like a little crowd,” he adds.

When capturing someone’s face on paper, he will always start at the top of the head.

“I start from the hair and work my way down to the eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth.

“I work in pen so there is some pressure with that because if I make a mistake, I have to start again.

“In 14 years I’ve only had to start again a handful of times.

“When somebody has massive hair, I have to draw their head much smaller so there is enough room to fit it in,” explains Ben.

Although caricatures by their nature exaggerate a person’s features, he prefers a gentler approach.

Ben likes to create accurate caricatures that people will want to keep as a momento for years to come.

“I like to honour the person and make it look like the person as much as I can as well as making them laugh.

“I don’t give people big honking noses for no reason. People have to see themselves and it has to be funny,” says Ben, who also works as a freelance illustrator.

He believes as well as entertaining guests and creating keepsakes, a caricaturist can also be a great conversation-starter and ice-breaker at an event.

Over the years, he has drawn a lot of celebrity caricatures from photographs but he has also had the opportunity to impress TV presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary with his artistic skills.

“I had the pleasure of caricaturing Alison and Dermot at the same event.

“I was actually a bit nervous then because there was a lot at stake.

“I thought I had better do this one well because people know what they look like and will expect accuracy,” says Ben.

But he needn’t have worried about their reaction to his drawings. He added: “They liked their caricatures – it would have been awful if they had hated them, wouldn’t it?”

He enjoys seeing the delight on people’s faces when they see their caricature for the first time. “It’s great to see the joy it brings.”

As well as drawing caricatures at events, Ben also accepts commissions to create personalised artwork, illustrations, animal portraits, murals, family trees and visual minutes.

“If people have ideas for artwork they want to see realised, I can do it,” he says.

His advice for anyone considering a career as a caricaturist is “don’t let your inner critic stop you from starting”.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself and draw as much as you can,” he adds.

To see more of Ben’s work, visit penjones.co.uk or www.facebook.com/penjonescartoons.