WANT TO GO?

Mountain State Art & Craft Fair

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

WHERE: Cedar Lakes, Ripley

TICKETS: Adults $6, seniors $5, children (6-12) $2, children under 6 free

INFO: www.msacf.com or 304-372-3247

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- "I'm retired," David Brinkley says. "I do what I want when I want."

What he does is caricatures -- lots of them. Retired from Union Carbide, Brinkley has been a professional character artist for 20 years. This weekend, he's one of more than 130 regional artists in Ripley for the annual Mountain State Art & Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes. This is his 18th year there.

Brinkley got started creating caricatures during his days at Union Carbide. He says it's been about 25 or 30 years ago when he started drawing them for retirees and people who were celebrating their 25th year with the company.

"It just took off from there," he said. "I started doing flea markets and festivals, and started going to The Greenbrier."

Now, in addition to Greenbrier visits and the festivals, which he says he attends 18 to 20 a year, Brinkley also does parties. Companies will hire him as the entertainment for the evening.

"To do a party, you have to be fast," he said. "I did a law firm picnic recently, and at times, there were 25 people behind me, waiting or watching."

So how fast is Brinkley?

If it's a black-and-white face-only caricature, three minutes. If it's a color, full-body caricature with a background, give him about 12 more.

Not all character artists will do face-only caricatures, but Brinkley likes to offer something a little more affordable to people visiting festivals. For face-only caricatures, he charges $8-$10. For full caricatures, it's $20.

"At a lot of the festivals I do, they have a lot of kids; they bus them in. This way, they can at least afford to get their face drawn, whereas they maybe can't afford a full-color caricature."

In full caricatures, Brinkley says he likes to make the situations whimsical.

"I do lots of parties at The Greenbrier, so there are lots of golfers. I might put them hitting a bird instead of a golf ball with the feathers flying and the caption 'Harry gets another birdie.' Silly stuff like that," he said. "Or fly fishermen actually fishing with flies."

Occasionally, he does get unhappy customers.

"Sometimes, ladies aren't real pleased with it," he said. "As soon as they sit down in my chair, they'll say, 'David, leave out the wrinkles,' or 'Can you change my hair a little bit? Can you leave out my gray hair?' High school girls are the same way. I guess they're a little vain or fickle."

Caricatures aren't meant to be portraits, though.

"A portrait is more about the subject; a cartoon is more about the face. Plus, [a caricature] doesn't have to be perfect like a portrait. It can be close."

Caricatures don't even have to be true to life. Sports are a popular theme for Brinkley's caricatures, especially for kids, and shopping and traveling are frequent motifs for adults, but he says they can be anything the subject wants.

"It doesn't even have to be something they do, but something they want to do, like maybe they want to go skydiving," he said. "It's a cartoon; it can be anything. It's not real."

Reach Amy Robinson at flips...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4881.