Caricature artist gets laughs, frowns at Hunsader Festival

EAST MANATEE -- Within 10 minutes or so, a caricature artist must turn a blank sheet of drawing paper into a portrait that gets an immediate reaction.

For Clearwater-based caricature artist Justin Dick, a Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival regular for the past three years, doing caricatures at festivals, fairs and parties and getting screams of laughter or even a huff and puff of indignation has become his reward.

"When I started, I was kind of nice about it, and I cut people a break," said the University of South Florida-art educated Dick, while doing a portrait at the festival Sunday. "If a woman had a double chin, I wouldn't draw it. I found a lot of people were disappointed. Then, a friend told me to consider caricature as insult comedy. That was my 'ah ha' moment. When people get these portraits they want something funny. They want to laugh."

Dick charges $10 for a black-and-white depiction of one person and $20 per person for color, but at Hunsader he runs a special -- two people for $15 in black and white or two for $25 in color.

Dick was constantly busy Sunday as the festival crowd was estimated at about 15,000, according to Hunsader family members.

If Dick did a caricature of the festival, it would have had people everywhere.

"The crowd was large, but they were mingled throughout the entire grounds," said Hunsader Farms co-owner

Kim Hunsader.

The crowd may have broken the single-day record for the 24-year-old festival, Hunsader said.

Ryan Griffin and Christy Malin of Arcadia asked Dick to draw them as garden gnomes on a motorcycle. When he presented it to them, Malin laughed hard. The drawing looked like them, but them in a kind of the weird, exaggerated, way that is the secret to a good caricature.

"We love it," Christy Malin said. "He's a good artist."

"Believe it or not, there are a few different schools of thought on caricature," said Dick who will be back at Hunsader Farms 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for the wrap-up of the three-weekend festival, which lost the first weekend to soggy fields.

Admission for the festival, which is located between state roads 70 and 64 on Country Road 675, is $10 and children 12 and younger attend free. Parking is $5.

"Most people who aren't in the business think a caricature is a drawing of a person with a big nose," Dick said. "Although that might be true for some people, that's not exactly what it is.

"Tom Richmond, who wrote 'The Mad Art of Caricature,' which is one of the best books on caricature, defined the art as 'a portrait with the volume turned up.' So you want to zero in on what it is about that person that makes them distinct, or unique. and you want to crank up the volume. It could be buggy eyes or a long face or big ears."

"Ryan kind of looks like a gnome," Dick added.

Dick also did a portrait of Socorro Gonzalez and Jairo Acosta and their daughter, Areizy.

He gave Gonzalez big beautiful eyes and Acosta more narrow eyes and flaring nostrils.

"Socorro has striking eyes and amazing cheekbones," Dick said. "The baby has her father's eyes."

Although few consider caricature art museum quality, Dick thinks if artist Vincent van Gogh emerged from a time machine to Hunsader Pumpkin Festival the creator of "The Starry Night" would smile watching him work.

"He did some funky stuff," Dick said of van Gogh. "He'd like caricature."

Dick has Pumpkin festival regulars.

"There are people who come every year and get a drawing from me," Dick said. "I just drew a lovely family this morning. They have them all framed."

People, people everywhere

Somewhere in the middle of Sunday, Rachel Hunsader, 23, manager of the family's produce market and the festival's sweet roasted corn expert, had a gut feeling she was witnessing a record setting day for attendance.

"I think this is probably one of the busiest days we have ever had," Hunsader said. "I think this could be a record. It seems like it. I'm judging by the line at our sweet roasted corn stand. We never have a long line there and today it was constant."

Despite the crowd, festival-goers, who came from Tampa, Arcadia, Englewood and other locales, gave the event high marks.

"It's much larger than I thought it was going to be," said Sarasota's Melody Hamm with attended with husband, Alan and sons, Myles, 3 and Alan, 5. "I think its great that this many people would gather at a festival. It's very family-oriented."

Brothers John Bass and Adam Fulp were dressed in orange, matching the pumpkins. Their mother, Toshia Bass, and grandmother, Nicole Bass, both of Englewood, said the boys were having the time of their lives.

"The boys want to go through the maze, they want a train ride, they want to pick out a pumpkin, they want to get their faces painted and they want to eat popcorn," Toshia Bass said.

"It's awesome," Toshia added. "It's a blast. It's better than any festival I've ever been to."

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Caricature artist gets laughs, frowns at Hunsader Festival ."