Gift Caricature marking first Transatlantic Flight from Cork Airport!

Gift Caricature of man in Norwegian Airlines plane waving an American flag by Allan Cavanagh
This was a gift caricature for the head of communications in Cork Airport to mark the first direct transatlantic flight from Cork Airport last month. It was a tight turnaround (this things usually are) but I got it there in plenty of time and the client was delighted. An historic day for Cork too, making it the first port of call for lots of tourists flying in from across the Atlantic. Maybe they’ll get to order a gift caricature from me while they’re here! If you’d like to order a gift caricature you can visit my Caricature Gift Order page.

Aviation history was made at Cork Airport today with the departure of Norwegian flight D81821 from Cork to Boston/Providence – the airport’s first ever scheduled transatlantic service.

The new transatlantic service will operate three times per week, linking the South of Ireland region to the Greater Boston, Rhode Island and New England areas. The long-awaited opening of the new route will lead to greater travel, trade and tourism between the two regions.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport, thanked the team at Norwegian for partnering on the long and hard journey to deliver new direct transatlantic service from Cork to Boston Providence. “I would like to thank especially all of our stakeholders, on both sides of the Atlantic, who assisted us with their support to secure the granting of the licence,” he added.

“I also want to acknowledge the wider team here at Cork Airport, across our own and many companies, who work seven days a week, fifty two weeks of the year, to deliver outstanding customer service to all of our passengers. I am proud to say that this great service from all our staff was recognised recently when Cork Airport won the ‘Best Airport in Europe’ award of its class at the Airport Council International Congress in Paris earlier this month.

“The official history of Cork Airport was last published in 2011 in a book entitled ‘Fifty Years Have Flown’. Today I am very proud to say that a new chapter can be added to that book and Cork Airport is now Ireland’s and Europe’s newest transatlantic airport.

Canvas Signing Boards for Weddings!

Canvas signing boards for weddings

Canvas signing boards for weddings are a unique, fun, and highly personalised alternative to wedding guestbooks. I create a caricature from your photos and descriptions of dresses/suits, your hobbies, work, pets, (or any other reference you’d like included!) The newlyweds pictured are a teacher and electrician respectively, as you can probably ascertain! I’ve drawn everything … Read more

Teambuilding Caricature Class in Irish Life HQ!

Team building exercises Ireland

Teambuilding caricature drawing eventOn Monday I was in Irish Life in Dublin giving a caricature class as part of a week-long teambuilding programme of fun events for staff. We got lucky with the weather and were able to do it outside, albeit in slightly breezy conditions! I started off with a quick presentation of some of my work, followed by a demonstration of how I draw a live caricature (I have it down to about 3 minutes but that’s taken me about 20 years!) I then gave the participants a handout on what to look for and what to exaggerate when drawing a caricature which I went through with them.

Then the fun began!

Caricature class run by artist Allan Cavanagh for teambuilding event DublinI had them sit opposite each other, bearing in mind what I’d demonstrated. They then had to draw the person opposite in the time allocated. The process involved capturing a simple likeness in pencil, then using Big Brush Tip Pitt Pens to commit the likeness to ink! Pitt pens are great. They have a brush tip which means you can vary the width of the line depending on the pressure you apply.

Teambuilding crash course in drawing caricatures. Great results!The standard was really very high, I was very impressed with the results.

Windy day but sunny at teambuilding caricature class Irish Life!I took a couple of shots hoping the breeze would let us see all of them eventually!

20 minutes into teambuilding caricature class, sun is still out, the drawings are great!They’re good, right? 🙂 And no-one took offence during this teambuilding task!

Things get competitive!

The competition began next. Sean, one of the Irish Life managers, sat for the artists.

The rest of the staff came out to see the progress, ice-creams in hand!

Of course I had a go myself! Myself and Sean then judged the results, giving 1st 2nd and 3rd places. Points were then allocated to each team represented by the winners. These go to a total based on all the other teambuilding events they’re running in there this week. A lot of fun, and nice to get a bit of sun!

Caricature of Pran Kumar Sharma, creator of Chacha Chaudhary

Caricature of Cartoonist Pran
This is a caricature of the late Indian cartoonist Pran, creator of hugely popular character Chacha Chaudhary. That’s him over his shoulder. Pran’s comics sold nearly 10 million copies.




This cartoon is due to be published in an upcoming Pran biography.

Pran Kumar Sharma (Wikipedia)



Caricature Wedding Invitations Ireland!

GAA wedding caricatures

Caricature of bride and groom outside St. Patrick's Church Fermoy, hurling GAA caricature
Artwork from a wedding caricature invitation by me, featuring the couple outside St Patrick’s Church Fermoy! From the couple:

Everyone loved the artwork on our invites so they are all looking forward to seeing you!

(I’m drawing live caricatures on the day too!) For details for your artwork drop me a line!