about
HI, I’M PHIL BOWLER,
I’m the owner and artist of Melbourne Caricatures, as well as an all-round nice guy! I am also a proud member of the International Society of Caricature Artists.
It’s a long story, but my journey into the exciting world of caricatures began back in 1993 when I left Melbourne for Spain on my first solo travel adventure, as part of a gap year to take a break from my chemistry degree at the tender age of 19.
You can imagine that I was as nervous as hell but after 6 weeks I went to visit my Uncle who lived in the beautiful Canary Islands in Lanzarote. Would you believe he drew caricatures for a living?
I tried my hand at a few jobs – including being a waiter at a Chinese restaurant – which lasted 5 days. Fortunately, my Uncle came to my rescue and hired me to assist him with his caricature business. My first job was to stand on the side of the footpath and use my English skills to bring in the customers. Fortunately, I was much more successful at this compared to being a waiter! After a few months I not only fell in love with caricature but found that I had a real talent for it.
Watching my very skilled Uncle work was great training. After a while I realised that every caricature followed the same pattern. That is, there is a definite start and end point with each feature changing form relevant to capturing the likeness of every individual.
Could I have unlocked the secret to drawing live caricatures? Or had the one year spent studying chemistry caused a slight chemical imbalance in my head? Either way, something clicked. Three months of solid practice later and I was ready to unleash my talents on the hundreds of British and German tourists that flocked to Spain every summer. I thoroughly enjoyed entertaining tourists with my live caricatures for four years before finally returning to Melbourne to get a ‘real job’.
After I returned to Melbourne, there have been many twists and turns in the story. This includes spending many years back at University gaining numerous qualifications in the fields of business, tourism and education. This was followed by a career in retail travel, tour guiding and even teaching. But I still had the caricature ‘bug’ and drew caricatures in private as my hobby.
I finally decided in 2015, at the age of 42, to take the plunge and become a live caricature artist in Melbourne. It's the best decision I ever made and I love putting a smile on people's faces!
Since then I’ve entertained people at countless events, functions, parties, weddings – you name it, I’ve drawn there! I’ve even been on TV and drawn Shane Crawford whilst being distracted by Lauren Phillips!
I create caricatures in a matter of minutes with exceptional likeness. I am an expert in the art of live caricatures and create ones that are quick, lively, funny and flattering!! If you would like something different to entertain at your next event, you will LOVE my live caricature drawings. This is because they are real caricatures designed to exaggerate a person’s true features whilst still looking like them!
Contact me today and I will guarantee laughter and entertainment at your next function with my live caricatures!
