Jim Van Der Kyle - Caricature Artist - Los Angeles, CA
Like many caricaturists before him and after him, he got his start drawing caricatures of his teachers. Getting laughs from his fellow students was all he needed to continue learning about the art form. His physical education teacher got him his first paying gig by drawing the wrestling team. Jim attended Boston University's School for the Arts and graduated with a degree in painting.
He found his first steady employment drawing front view caricature/ cartoons, for a small company specializing in caricatures for bar mitzvahs, conventions, and colleges. Jim then traveled to California to draw caricatures at the major amusement parks in southern California. Jim's real luck came about when he learned about an animation school in Hollywood that could teach him the basics of animation. After learning "inbetweening", he decided to try his luck with Disney Studios who were gearing up for "the Little Mermaid" at the time.
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After the 2nd attempt, the studio accepted his application and he became one of the Disney inbetweeners. He soon realized that the real fun was in actual animation so he once again hit the books and decided to learn the mechanics of animation and landed a job with WB's Feature Animation unit in 1996. Working on several Feature Animation Films such as Space Jam and Quest for Camelot, his real chance for some juicy animation came in the form of "The Iron Giant", directed by Brad Bird. Thanks to Brad, Jim was able to show off his talents by animating the character Kent, voiced by Chris Mcdonald.
After "Iron Giant Jim worked briefly as a character layout artist on the Simpsons and then moved on to Warner Brothers' next feature animation film, "Osmosis Jones" released in the Summer of 2001. Seeing how the industry was changing, Jim decided to make the transition into computer animation and started working for Sony Imageworks. He animated the Troll on the Harry Potter movie and the Quidditch match characters. (The athletes on broomsticks playing a game similar to basketball, but in the air above in a football-like stadium). Also at Sony, Jim animated Stuart Little, Margalo the bird, and Falcon on Stuart Little II.
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Serves:
Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley, CA. Will travel.
Speeds:
- Speeds: 15-20/hour
Rate:
$160/hour with a 2 hour minimum.
Email us to book caricature artist Jim Van Der Keyl today! Include your phone number, the date, time, and specific location of your event. You can also call us at 800-92-FUNNY (800-923-8669)
Jim also does illustration and gift caricatures.
Prices subject to change. Holiday rates may be higher. Number of caricatures per hour are approximate and cannot be guaranteed.