Jim Naylor
Caricaturist

Highlights
* One of the UK's most successful 'quick-draw' caricaturists!
* Previous clients include BBC, ITV, Greater London Radio, Lloyds Bank, Natwest Bank, Barclays Bank, BP, Stock Exchange, P&O & many more!

Luckily The Phone Still Rings...

There used to be a description of a bachelor as a man who “comes to work from a different direction each morning”. I am well passed bachelorhood- last month I celebrated my ruby wedding anniversary- but after 32 years of going to work each day to the same place, I now go off to work in a different direction each time.

For 32 years I taught at local schools and knew at the beginning of September exactly which room I would be in, and with which group of pupils every day for the coming school year, and pretty well which page of the mathematics textbook we would be covering.

Now I work with comedians, magicians, fire-eaters, stilt walkers, can-can dancers, jugglers, limbo dancers (and even a pick pocket!) rubbing shoulders with the likes of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei, Robbie Williams, Sir Richard Branson, Rory Bremner, Ronnie Corbett, Jasper Carrot… you get the message.
My places of work include the London Eye, the Chamber of Horrors, the Orient Express, and the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Illustrious, the High Wycombe Hell Fire caves, the shop window in Dickens & Jones department store, even a nuclear PowerStation! Further afield, I have performed in Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and Marbella.

I am one of those singularly fortunate people whose hobby has become a well paid fulltime job and have become my own boss hence, as a sole trader; I have an excellent workforce and an understanding boss! To do this you have to be a self-starter, dedicated and have a truly professional approach- as they say “you are only as good as your last job”.

What is it then that I do in this business we call “show”? I am a quick draw sketch artist hired to draw caricature portraits at corporate function trade exhibitions, weddings, military establishments and charity balls- producing coloured portraits on the spot every four minutes, table-hopping among the guests who are often household names. Initially it is unnerving to draw a face so familiar from the TV screen but meeting its owner for the first time (not always the first time- I drew the newscaster Penny Smith twice in a single week at difference functions!).

I draw on good quality card exactly A4 for easy framing, and use double-ended refillable, quick drying felt tip pens and always start by drawing the eyes- they HAVE to be right, then the eyebrows, very expressive, nose, general shape of face and the hair- very important too. I then add colour and Bob’s your uncle, another masterpiece! Masterpiece or not, it is an original, unique work of art. Theoretically, the sitter owns the card but I retain copyright but I waive this enabling the “victim” to use the image on business cards, websites etc.

The most common requests are “give me more hair” from the gents and “only one chin please" from the ladies.

I am actually paid to enjoy the Silverstone Grand Prix, Cowes Week, Henley Regatta, Ascot, a clay pigeon shoot and a yacht launch. As well as “posh” places, I have also worked in bingo clubs and snooker halls.

A far cry, you might think from teaching mathematics, but teachers have many transferable skills- as head of a faculty containing 6 departments and over 40 teaching staff, I have often addressed gatherings of more than 1000 pupils and prepared eight “performances” a day.

For some ten years I was a part-time (i.e. after the school day) freelance jobbing cartoonist producing single gags, strip cartoons, full colour magazine covers, logos, adverts in more than 200 different publications but have no happily settled in my niche market of live caricature.

I retired once- 18 years ago- but will not need to again “in show business you don’t retired, the phone just stops ringing!”

I could regale you with stories about agents, working on a Telethon surrounded by the great and the good of the world of entertainment, my adventures driving 18000 miles a year, winning a medal in Japan, performing in fancy dress, and having not one by two marquees blown away from over my head leaving me and my sitter in the middle of a field in a downpour etc, but must turn away from my word processor to start preparing for my next booking which will have, I understand, His Royal Highness Prince Charles in attendance so I must practice bowing! Every job is different and I just love it!

Name-Dropping!
If you are already a household name, you are probably already on Jim Naylor's client list. If you are not, you could be...

H.M. Sultan of Brunei, BBC, ITV, Greater London Radio, Lloyds Bank, Natwest Bank, Barclays Bank, BP, Stock Exchange, St. Hildas College Oxford, P&O, Hamburgische Landesbank, Hewlett Packard, Cafe Royal, Lanesborough, Spit Bank Fort, Langham, Kempton Park, Olympia, Earls Court, Business Design Centre, Yves St Laurent, Oracle, Anglian Water, Price Waterhouse, RTZ, Superdrug, Hon. Artillery Company, Vogue, Fenwicks, Dickens and Jones, Four Seasons, City Brewery, Hampshire Police, Guildford Police, National Provincial, American Express, Greenwich Naval College, Johnson Wax, Somerfield, Zurich Insurance, Racal, Southampton Univercity, Guildford University, Channel TV, The Dorchester, Savoy, Claridges, Cartier, Range Rover, IBM, Esso, Shell, Elf, Mobil, Marriott Group, Forte Group, DeVere Group, NEC, Moor Park Golf Club, Vauxhall, Seat, Toyota, Honda, Madame Tussauds, BT Tower, Mercury, Rugby Cement, Yoplait, Goodwood, SWEB, Lloyds Building, London Zoo, Calor Gas, Cheltenham Hunt Ball, Rothmans, Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, Rank Zerox, Wilson Sports, Boots the Chemist, Compleat Angler, Whitbread, Baltic Exchanges, Sandhurst, Henley Royal Regatta, Mossimanns, Quaglinos, Zeneca, Estee Lauder, Kellog, Direct Line, MFI, McDonalds, Mars, Pearl Insurance, Tesco, Texaco, Virgin, Eurostar Channel Link to Brussels, Bateaux Mouches on the Seine, Trianon Palace Hotel at Versailles, EMI, Thorn, Citroen, Laura Ashley, John Lewis, Royal Navy, RAF, Royal Marines, US Navy, Glaxco, Microsoft, Allied Dunbar, Chase DeVere, Oddbins, Thresher, United Distillers, Arthur Anderson, Hilton Group, Orient Express, Cunard, RIBA, Pfitzer, SmithKlien, Bayer, ICI, British Airways, Hurlingham Club, British Gas, Silverstone Circuit, Roof Gardens, Taylor Walker, Carlsberg, Grosvenor House, Grenadier Guards, Science Museum, V & A, Natural History Museum, Lord & Lady Cadogan, Middle Temple, Lincolns Inn, Boodles, Ascot, Epsom, Alpha Romeo, Volvo, Highclere Castle, Bank of Bermuda, St. Pierre Golf Club, Waldorf, Securicor, Proctor and Gamble, Unisyn, Apple, Thorpe Park, Royal Lancaster, Carlton Tower, Hilton Group, Luton Hoo, Lord Mayor of London, Canary Wharf, Bisham Abbey, Leeds Castle, Bank of England and countless others all over the UK and overseas...