Bat Hilliard and his Illustration and Caricature Art

Caricatures from Coker College and The Biltmore Estates!

2011-04-20T22:00:00.003-04:00

More Spiderman! (Simon Gough Colors)

2011-02-28T18:00:00.003-05:00

Hi there neglected blog! I hope you're not angry with me. I promise I still care about you. You're not the long forgotten pet that I left at my grandmothers house to feed one time and forgot to come back and retrieve you.

Ok, all seriousness aside (haha) lets get to the fun stuff....here's the pencils and inks and the colors to a Spider-man commission I recently drew'd up. Simon Gough, a highly underrated but future superstar, provided the colors! I'm a big fan of his and when he colored this piece up for practice I nearly passed out!

Spider-Man (c) Marvel Entertainment Group/ Disney

Thanks for stopping by!

New art!

2010-11-23T23:02:00.002-05:00

Just under the one year mark...woo! in an attempt to update a little heres:

Green Arrow pencils/inks/markers by me

Night Crawler pencils by me, colors by Andrew Harmon

Starfire pencils/markers by me, inks by Mark Stegbauer

thanks for stopping by!

~bat

2009-12-01T17:08:00.002-05:00

Ok, been extremely busy with some work, but I guess I will try and update a little more often. Here's a piece I did recently depicting a fellow artists' characters from his web comic entitled Acrobat. Please check it out.... just gugle (yeah, that's google) keywords: Acrobat Literacysucks Drunk Duck. He's an up and coming talent who is highly intelligent and has improved leaps and bounds in the short time I've known him....oh yeah, don't forget, the artist I'm talking about, Joshua Smith, is a mere 17 years old!! How bout that. This kid is going to rock the comic world one of these days, guys.

SPider-Man Sketch and Colors

2009-09-18T20:42:00.005-04:00

Here's a collab by me (Pencil line art) and Big Bang Comics Terry Huddleston (Digi colors). (I apologize for not updating my blog, I have a ton of stuff but I'm just going to try and hit some of the high notes....well the highest of my low notes! haha)

Mo' Comics stuff.......

2009-03-26T22:25:00.004-04:00

Here's a couple more comic things I've worked.......caricature works been slow, but I've got a few Comic commissions and just personal drawings I'll just post here......the Batman piece was colored by a freind of mine on Deviantart...................

Sketchcards for Cancer Fund raiser.........

2009-03-06T00:33:00.003-05:00

Battle of the Sales Peeps!!

2009-02-19T17:10:00.003-05:00

Ok Here are the shots from my event with the sales group of Atrium Windows. These guys were obviously cracked as the windows they sell. (heh heh). We had fun. I could barely get the page damp with the marker before they were spitting out every bad innuendo about each other they could! I don't know how Zandra (Gomez, the wonderful artist I was working with) and I made it through the night.............anyway, hope you enjoy!

Raised by a mother and a father in Michigan who were separated by the fact that one was a Wolverine fan and the other a Spartan fan. Apparently has never recovered.
This guy was very nice and cool. And musically gifted, or so I was told, hence the musical note. Or my attempt at one!
If you need it fixed, call him. And he'll call the guy who can do it. kidding. I hear he was the all around Mr. Fix-it.

Wis-kahnsin native. Cheese head and proud of it!

Wolfe----Man!

Top salesman who I suspiciously thought likes high heels and spandex. Far off? He didn't punch me at least!

This is the Birthday gal! She was sweet and therefore did not fit in with the rest of these misfits!

After drawing his mouth closed, I was told he has the gift of gab....this is NOT a reference to ventriloquism (sp). So don't try to hire him for your next party.

Money, Diamonds, fancy clothes, designer make up stuff...... this gal got the Diva of the Night award.

The Sheriff!

This fella wanted me to make him taller. Noone is higher than those guys that wash windows and since this was a window sales meeting....ok, you get, I know, I'm cheesy. Sorry. ANyway, to wrap it up, fun gig, look forward to many more like these and would like to say thanks to Zandra for all her help that night!

Fuzzy friends...... well, most of 'em

2009-02-09T21:08:00.005-05:00

This poor gal looked like a tick.

A beaut of a St. Bernard....the only thing that could have made it any more beautiful would have been if it was sporting a whiskey barrel. I had a cold that day and a shot of Granny's home remedy, Rock'n Rye with lemon and honey, would have done the trick!

I actually caricatured the snake, but no pic dang it!!! She was molting so her eyes looked wicked. I used to be deathly afraid of snakes, but a guy I knew who owned a zoo let us hold the snakes he cared for and I slowly weened that fear!

HULK!!

2009-02-05T23:22:00.004-05:00

Here is a comic commission I recently finished up.... I've got a few of these going, along with some caricature commissions too. Business seems to be up despite what the nay sayers are saying! Lets hope it continues to increase for everyone!! Click on the picture to enlarge it.

2008-12-24T17:20:00.005-05:00

This is the B'day gal, Edie!! And the rest are all her friends.....great group! I had a blasty blast with these guys!! Hope you had fun too Edie!

Ok guys here's one of two B'day parties I did in December...sorry haven't updated sooner but I had the host of the parties to email me pictures instead of bringing my camera.

Spiderman sketch and inks.........

2008-12-14T08:57:00.014-05:00

Some Spidey sketches that I have messed around with (click on the drawings to enlarge them). I post most my super hero sketches on http://bathill8.deviantart.com/gallery/ . Check it out!

New commission pieces..............

2008-12-14T08:54:00.003-05:00

Two pieces I did for a christmas gift...after they recieve them I'll post thier photos.

More sketchiness

2008-12-12T00:09:00.003-05:00

Finally wrapped up two more commission pieces.... I would post them but they are way too large for the scanner. I might take a pic of them tomorrow and scan them. anyway here's a couple of sketches I threw down to celebrate!!!........

CHAMAS Brazilian Steak House and GSK holiday event

2008-12-05T16:47:00.013-05:00

This is Wendy, the event planner and admin for GlaxoSmithKline IT dept. She was a great help giving me some cannon fodder on all these guys. This was a blast and I have to admit a very tight nit and lively group! The food at Chamas Churrascaria was unbeeeelievable and served Rodizio style and let me tell you, immediately one of my favorite restaurants ever! I will definitely go back time and again! The staff was top notch and the different flavors of meat that they bring out on the skewers are mouth watering sensations and the salad bar is superb (try the smoked salmon...mmmmm mmm!)!! If your ever in the area and you love meat like I do, check it out. Don't usually plug the restaurants I work at but this one is worth it!

Movie Buff....don't know where my pic of him is??

Everyone seemed to have a blast. I know I did with this group!

Wine and Germ-X. 'Nuff said.

The Gadget man!!

Hocky and Country music?? And he's from the birthplace of NASCAR....Wilkesboro!

Super nice fella who happens to be a fan of Jimmy Johnson and most Hendrick Motorsports drivers, so I added all their numbers to his ride!

This lady was sweet and very energetic. She wanted something that brought out her beauty and that her husband would hang in his office. I think she just needs to just give him a polariod!

This gal just recently got engaged and had a very large rock to show for it. I had a few ideas bouncing around, like a wheelbarrel to haul it with, etc. But she mentioned that the last caricature she got had her sitting on a jet ski and she thought it was lame, so I did continued with the lameness!! Sorry! Couldnt resist. At least it wasn't a wheelbarrel.

This guy was an intern at GSK and attended ECU (home of the Pirates!). Hence the Captain Morgan stance and the worst Parrot I've ever drawn!! I was drawing (no pun intended) blanks on what a freaking parrot looked like. Anyhow, victim number one. He wasn't a big ECU Pirate fan either.

The Down Under

2008-12-05T16:31:00.002-05:00

Went to this cool little pub in Durham after the event (Post coming right up) I did down there and the guy walks in by the name of Clif (yeah one F) and just seemed to be full of character and had a great face for caricature. I drew this up and added a few elements of the scene as well. He didn't punch me in the mouth, he laughed and said....... I'm going to show this to my girlfriend. His buddy Bill (A professor of Nuerobiology at Duke!) was hanging with him (not at church, like he told his wife! sorry that one slipped) informed me that he should have added an 'S" to girlfriend. Play on Clif!

Saturn Girl and Supah Man WIPs. Comic commissions coming back!

2008-12-03T00:22:00.003-05:00

Martian Manhunter

2008-12-01T19:50:00.003-05:00

Or better known as J'on J'onzz to the comic geek elite out there.......my first love was comics and over at the Drawing Board there having an Outer Space Jam, so I did a quick sketch of the shape changing martian!

Tommy Lee Jones

2008-11-28T20:35:00.003-05:00

Al Hitchcock

2008-11-25T19:55:00.001-05:00

Mall Creatures

2008-11-24T17:43:00.003-05:00

Just a quickie on some sketches I did last weekend at the Mall while I had some down time............ you know the type. Come in just to lurch around the mall and cuss about the weather. This is more of a portrait than caricature!! (note: I outlined her in body for better presentation but other than that, I had about 10 minutes to draw her)

SKretchhhin again....

2008-11-19T21:56:00.005-05:00

I finished up a commissioned piece tonight and decided I would reward myself with some things I wanted to sketch! The top one is hopefully recognizable as Supes. The bottom pic is a guy who is a fantastic artist from down under. His work can be viewed on at the Drawing Board and his name is Chris Wahl. I was going to post it on the DB but for some reason it was denied?? Click the images to enlarge them if your a detail freak like I am!

Day Care Fun!!! Love them kidz!

2008-11-17T19:05:00.003-05:00

He wanted TEETH!!! Mama didn't, so I compromised!

Another satisfied customer!!!!

I always get them drooling babies! They are the best to caricature!

I learned a lesson today........always get there before the face painter does or else you gotta be guessing at some features. Oh well, I tried, hope these looked somewhat like my targets.

Yet Mo' Sketching.........I really do real work (promise)

2008-10-28T20:44:00.002-04:00

More sketching............

2008-10-27T18:33:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple more from the ol' sketch book! Take a guess if you want...... I'll edit the post and tell you who they are soon.........

A couple more from last night..........

2008-10-22T15:43:00.003-04:00

Founders Hall and Nat'l Fabric Designers thinga-ma-hoochey!!! (making fun of Corporate peeps in Charlotte again!)

2008-10-22T09:19:00.007-04:00

Ok some of these are not chronologically in order, but you get the idea!! SOmetimes this blog thing is a "you-know-what" to get a handle on and I think it messes with me.....oh well. Comments welcome!..........

More sketching and stuff...............

2008-10-20T22:05:00.003-04:00

Mazerick Park Event...........Continued

2008-10-19T18:03:00.002-04:00

Mazerick Park Event...........

2008-10-19T17:59:00.001-04:00

BB KING!!!!!

2008-10-15T21:43:00.002-04:00

Barney Frank

2008-10-07T00:44:00.003-04:00

I am going to post some more commissioned work soon, but I decided to have a little fun with this politcal character, Barney Frank. He's already a caricature it seems, one of those faces that easy to just capture!

Mystery MySpace friends.....

2008-10-04T16:02:00.003-04:00

Here's one of my Myspace friends who can be seen at any of the local hang outs! .....

New Commision work......... Luke and Noah....

2008-10-01T20:58:00.003-04:00

Luke's a true boy who likes four wheelers, motorcycles and anything to with outdoors and riding through mud. (I added the mud part, but I think I'm correct on that one!)

Noah's mother informed me that he loves food.... I figure a menacing shadow, coupled with some evident drool from his picture cascading into a room full of slobber would suffice to prove this fact! (and a little help from a cartoon think bubble.)

Green Valley Fall Festival Round 4!!!!!!!

2008-10-01T20:24:00.001-04:00

Gre

Green Valley School Fall Festival Round 3!

2008-10-01T20:21:00.001-04:00

GV School Fall Festival Round 2!!

2008-10-01T20:20:00.001-04:00

Green Valley School Fall Festival Pics.... Round One

2008-10-01T20:12:00.001-04:00

This is the girl from the caricature above... she was a little camera shy, so I resulted to grabbing a quick shot that she might kill me for posting!

KALEY POE!!!!

2008-10-01T00:10:00.003-04:00

Here's one of the cutest little gals around, Sommer and Johnny Poe's daughter, Kaley! Love the smile and pigtails! .................. On another note, I am going to post the Green Valley Fall Festival pictures later on today, so be on the lookout for the latest event! And this weekend, I am looking at going down to the Apple Festival in Wilkes Saturday.

Ladies and Gents.....BERT GONZALES...another NCN member!

2008-09-23T20:48:00.001-04:00

Kirkland and Gabby!! (my niece and nephew!)

2008-09-22T21:11:00.002-04:00

Maersk Company Retirement Picnic! (Part Two)

2008-09-22T20:00:00.004-04:00

Another fun victim at the picnic.... Fun stuff. I tried to add some color to the earrings and necklace.... wish I could have done all my caricatures in full color!
This was a fun couple that had been married 27? years..... congrats!
These gals were some of my earlier "victims" but I should have played around with their likeness some more...still learning! (and will forever)
This pretty lady had some cool heart shaped earrings and a pretty smile. I was pleased with the likeness, but being a detail freak that I am could have really done it up some more!
Fun stuff here, she was with the girl above and had some great hair going on with a bow in it.... I love the "extras"!!
First timer! She was fun...I hope her love of caricatures catches on like a fever...I know it's easy to do!
Missed!...Cute little fella I should have really played with the hair in the eyes look a little more!
More fun hair.... had a blast!

This young lady was very polite and classy, she even had a cute lil beauty mark that I love to add for a more accurate depiction!
Great curls that I didn't capture the way I'd like to have!
Two words: Princess Jasmin!
Barbara was a very kind lady who brought us water in the nick of time.... another likeness I didn't quite get the way I'd like tho!
This cute gal was sportin some cool hair too... I could have really detailed her up given the time!

Maersk Company Retirement Picnic! (Part One)

2008-09-22T19:09:00.004-04:00

This couple was great... Their family was jawing them the whole time behind me and just cutting up....fun stuff!
One word.........DIVA!! She was styling and I hope I caught a smidge of that in the pic!
This couple was real fun! They waited patiently and had the greatest features to work with!
Jordan Michael!! Hit me up and we'll get you a better pic with a Bronco on it, my man! (I don't feel like I got you on this one!)

This was the first gal up and right in the middle of getting started with the caricature... BOOM, a clown right behind her popped a balloon and freaked her out.... she calmed down and we finished up!

Here's the three pros (well, two of 'em and me), Brian Vasilik(left), Brent Brown(right), and me in the middle. We had a blast down in Charlotte for the Maersk Oil Company picnic.... lots of great people down there made for a special event.......

Two more NCN victims-- Mike and Mike!

2008-09-19T22:36:00.003-04:00

Mike Giblin is a stellar artist, check out my list of fav artist on this blog for his link!! He did a killer picture of me!
Mike Hasson is the bossman... he's another awesome artist that also runs the agency About Faces that helps me put food on the table! Thanks Mike!

Drawing in Process.....

2008-09-17T23:20:00.004-04:00

Here's my NCN subject Taka Watanabe.... an established and extremley gifted artist from the other side o' the world!

First, I laid down some subtle colors using some prisma color stix.........
I continued working the form until I had something concrete to really help solidify the subject...
I began adding different line wieghts with the marker and tried not to lose the overall likeness....
My computer skills are awesome.... I didn't erase my colors...this was actually supposed to be before that last pic!
And finally done and I add a fuzzy little alien dude that is not sure what he is looking at!! Hope you enjoyed this little insight! See you soon!

The Todd-Stone Family!!

2008-09-14T20:21:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple of my best buds, Trevor (top) and Caleb (below) as their fav movie personas from Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I remember these movies when I was a wee fella too, amazing how some things stand the test of time! Great to see you guys and many, many thanks to their "ma" and "pa", Mike (better known as T-stone) and Sara Todd-Stone for letting me stay their this weekend while I did a wedding at the beautiful Rock Springs Center in Greenville, NC.... Home of the ECU Pirates..... Yaaaarg!

VANN-HICKS WEDDING CARICATURES ii

2008-09-14T20:08:00.005-04:00

Beautiful eyes, this gal kept trying to peek at my picture and then the pretty eye's turned to the evil eye when she thought I was messing her up!!
Fun stuff here, I wanted to go all out on the shirt...yeah, I'm a detail freak, but unfortunately, time is my worse enemy!
Benjamin!.... he had a long day, but was a real champ and stayed up throught the caricature!
This is Nick's (the detailed shirt guy above) mom!

Another pretty lady at the event!

Here's my "lil' manager" who kept me in line with my drawings by telling me when I had them person looking right and when I had them "too ugly"! He also showed me where to add the CURLS!!

VANN-HICKS WEDDING CARICATURES

2008-09-14T19:53:00.005-04:00

These gals and guys were lots of fun, we had a blast (at least I did...they may have been cursing my name all the way home!!) I even got an A plus from the pretty girl with the high hair and large pink earrings...Right Kenitra?

Random artwork.... sketches and such.....

2008-09-09T20:43:00.009-04:00

my friend Tom Crabtree is writing a childrens book based upon the adventure's of a tater tot........ working on some prelim drawings. Also, have the man, Ben Franklin in there along with some random drawings just to keep from getting rusty!

Mr. Pete Emslie

2008-09-09T20:05:00.005-04:00

Pete is yet another NCN member... he's one of the most talented guys I've seen. Great cartoony and fun stuff.

The Great Audrey Hepburn

2008-09-06T09:42:00.004-04:00

Every month the NCN hosts a celeb drawing contest...this month Audrey Hepburn was picked as the celeb to caricaturize.......

Mike Paglia

2008-09-04T23:59:00.004-04:00

Had lunch with this cat here.... he's another NCN member and can have you in stitches with just a few short strokes of the pen.......... I tried to do the little robber dude in his unique style!

Bisch!

2008-09-03T00:03:00.003-04:00

Another NCN member..... Bischoff.... he's from Florida so, being the hillbilly I am, I figured he wrestles gators on a daily basis. (no, not really guys!)

Rock

2008-09-02T22:10:00.003-04:00

This is Rock Cowles of the NCN... I've just joined this tremendous network of fellow caricaturist and I already feel like I'm back in college in a fraternity, cutting on my friends and living the good life! I'll post some other members soon!

BIRTHDAY BASH SIGN

2008-08-27T16:19:00.003-04:00

picture is not exactly centered up, but regardless heres a Birthday Board I do for birthday party's. This one was for Cailey Eller..... hope you have many more great b'days Cailey!!

Some celebs..........

2008-08-24T12:40:00.004-04:00

ARMED FORCES TRIBUTE..... KIDS, KARATE AND KOPTERS!

2008-08-24T07:39:00.021-04:00

Aint nothin cooler than a Black Hawk --- unless your on the business end of a hellfire missle. I would post the video of this thing taking off, but my IT department (me) doesnt know how to do it.

Here's Rebecca Pepin and Lt. General Metz on a Goal Board I drew up for the Armed Forces Tribte (AFT).

Wide shot of the goal board featuring Pepin, Metz and local radio personality Jan Caddell.

Occasionally you get a great couple like these guys to come along cut loose on the caricatures with their reluctant consent. I have to throw in that the girl, Jan, gave me plastic surgeon liberties on certain areas of the pic!!

Best buds from Georgia!

The next Karate Kid, Jacob... he is a black belt in Tai Kwon Do! Needless to say, I was careful not to upset him!

Kaylie and Allie (the pup). Luckily I got this one done before Allie got jacked up on Dr. Pepper!

SUE!... I mean Kellie! Sorry, inside joke!

This guy is gonna grow up and play for the Carolina Panthers, and then I'll finally get my box seats if he isn't too mad about the pic I made for him! Thanks Gabriel (Great football name too!)

This is Gabriels sister, Sloan........gals with guns are always fun to draw!

Lt. General Metz with a Patton-esque pose (that flag was huge!-- look at the girl standing down beside it)

This cute lil' gal was sporting a dress her grandma had made her. I was asked to make sure to include it, but right in the middle of the drawing her love of turtles came up and with my limited short term memory a slapped the turtoise in there before I remembered grannies dress.....Ooops!

Rebecca Pepin from News Channel 5, author of the book "Faces of Freedom", and not-so-proud owner of that jacked up piece of art I gave her! She thanked me for it later, out of pity maybe?

These little cutie pies belong to Travis and Mandy Lovell! Thanks Aubre and Maleah!!

It's all about the hair! Thanks, Josh! Don't ever cut it, my man.

Ola Belle Reed Festival, Blue Grass and Mermaids.....

2008-08-17T14:38:00.000-04:00

Here's the two gals together. Jewel and Kate. I thought they were together and was set to do one picture of the two of them as mermaids when I was quickly informed that they wanted to be done individually....... they were great sports and we had fun. Queen Mermaids of the Sea, as I was told!

2008-08-17T14:32:00.000-04:00

This cute little girl came with another little friend (from the picture above)....... her individual post is on down a ways.....and they both wanted to be mermaids. THeir the only two mermaids I've seen up here in the mountains!

OBR Fest-- GOOB!!!!!!!

2008-08-17T14:28:00.001-04:00

This is a couples (there pics are below) daughter who is in town from OHio and they wanted to surprise her with this picture........ love the nickname Goob!

OBR Festival

2008-08-17T14:24:00.001-04:00

NOrman Hughes and his wife Linda, great people....... I had to work off a photo for each as they both wanted to listen to the tunes while I did the picture!

OBR Fest 2008

2008-08-17T14:21:00.000-04:00

JUst giving a shout out to the two that helped me get through the festival, Jennifer Adams and Lindsay Blevins.....Thanks guys.

OBR Festival

2008-08-17T14:13:00.000-04:00

Watermelon, the staple of the OBR Festival. It looked delicious, but this little gal, Haley (Jennifer Adams daughter), refused to share it with me..... oh well, I got revenge with this little picture.

More Ola Belle Reed pictures (OBR from here on out!!)

2008-08-17T14:07:00.000-04:00

Here's one of my co-workers and friends, Jennifer Adams........ The absolute best subject ever! I can draw her caricature in 10 minutes with one eye closed.

Ola Belle Reed Festival

2008-08-17T13:59:00.000-04:00

The Ola Belle Reed Fest is an annual festival in Lansing NC that features around the clock blue grass. After about an hour it all sounds the same. The crowd wasn't as big as last years but fortunatly for me there were plenty of kids running around that wanted to caricaturized.

This pretty young lady came with another little girl who she had befriended at the festival and they both wanted to be little mermaids. She thought this was close enough to Arielle (sp?) from the famous disney movie so I guess it was for me as well, being no expert!