In 48 years of drawing caricatures — quick sketches of people that emphasize their facial features for comedic effect — Ted Couling has made hundreds of people laugh.
Only once has he made someone cry — an eight-year-old boy unclear on the concept.
“It was at the PNE and he was from Finland and didn’t understand that we draw everybody with a big head and a little body, that’s a caricature thing,” said Couling, one of the feature attractions of this weekend’s BC Northern Exhibition.
“So his mom explained to him that’s what we do in caricature, and then he was ha-ha and then he started to laugh, so it was all good.
“I love it when you get a chuckle or even a smile, and laughing out loud is fun.”
It was cool with a light mist of rain falling on Exhibition Park Saturday morning, and there was virtually no lineup of customers waiting for Couling to show off his talents as a graphic artist at his stall at the entrance to Kin 1.
Blame the weather, not the price, for the slow activity. The cost of Couling’s caricatures is absolutely free, included with the BCNE gate admission.
“I’ve done quite a few but the rain is cramping our style. Hopefully the weekend is going to be busier,” said Couling. “It takes about three minutes a person, so when we get lined up it moves pretty fast.”
So what’s the trick to doing his craft?
“You really look at people and try to figure out what makes them different from everybody else, what makes them distinct, and you play that up,” said Couling. “You exaggerate a little bit. There’s pressure now and people are really getting into extreme caricature — very extreme exaggeration — but I question whether the person getting drawn wants that.
“The people watching love it, but the person being drawn, I’d rather give them a great souvenir.”
Couling works 10-hour days, and it’s not unusual for him to do at least 500 caricatures in one day. The felt pens he uses have special tips — one side wide, the other thin — and he spends about $1,200 per year just on pens.
People ask him all the time if he gets tired doing all those drawings, and the 63-year-old says he doesn’t feel the effects of a long day until he gets back to his hotel room. Sometimes he feels a bit of pain in his elbow, but it’s never that bad.
“I’m good until I quit, and then I’m really tired,” said Couling.
“Getting up in the morning is the hardest part. I’m a nights and weekend guy,” he laughed.
One of 10 caricaturists in the province, Couling lives in Cloverdale, and he goes all over BC, working fairs, conventions and corporate events. Originally from Winnipeg, he got his start drawing people with Sharpies at Expo 1986 in Vancouver, and that’s been his full-time occupation ever since. He averages 130 events each year.
“I only drew one day at Expo, and after Expo they started hiring entertainers for all sorts of events — Expo really kicked that off and changed the entertainment industry,” said Couling. “It was a nights and weekends gig, but that was 35 years ago. It took over and became the entire gig.”
He also designs graphics to illustrate books and puts his caricatures on beer labels, one of which was specially commissioned for Boston Pizza founder James Treliving.
“I’ve been a paid caricaturist since I was 15,” he said. “I went to art school and worked my way back to it.”
He does some of his caricature work in colour on an iPad Pro, but that takes a lot longer to complete a sketch.
After Prince George, Couling will get one day off before he goes to Victoria, and will also be in Williams Lake for the Harvest Fair later this month.
“Then I go to Banff and I’ll draw on the train (Rocky Mountaineer) back to Vancouver,” he said. “That’s a really cool gig. I get to draw in the dome car, so it’s great lighting. Normally I’m in a dark room at a convention or something.”
The BCNE fair grounds are open from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
