Don Rosa Duck:
>>>>> Do you ask your fans if they want a black-and-white head, or if they want a full body drawing? Or is full body drawings ONLY something you do very rarely? Or is THAT a mood thing (are you drawing faces when you are in mood for that, and full bodies when you are in mood for that?
You hit on a subject that is at the core of what I try to do for comics fans when I am doing free sketches at a festival or book-signing.
Whatever I do for each person in line can never be a matter of my "mood" -- I can't change what I do for the people who come to me hours into the signing because I am getting tired (or, like I said, getting stupid). Everyone must get the same thing as everyone else -- if I can't do the job right, then I should not be there. Or I should be doing a shorter session.
The same goes for what I draw -- I will only draw large heads. One drawing per person (but more if they want to stand in line again). Any character, any expression, maybe any thought bubble or speech bubble contents (well, except obscene or otherwise inappropriate). I have no trouble sitting and doing drawings for 10 hours non-stop, but what I *always* find difficult is finding a way to be absolutely fair to *everyone* so no fan gets something more or less than another fan in line.
Sometimes someone wants, say, $crooge holding his #1 Dime, but I explain that I *can't* put any other "body parts" into the drawing. If I do, the next fan will want both his hands, the next fan will want his arms, the next fan etc., etc. So I'll draw $crooge *thinking* of his #1 Dime with a big smile and lots of red hearts.
I also can't draw Huey, Dewey and Louie all together as much as I would *like* to consider them "one subject" for a drawing. If I do that, the next fan will want Donald and $crooge and Daisy, and I would have no logical reason to offer as to why I would not draw three heads for that fan also.
Sometimes a fan will want a Donald and Daisy head-pair, or $crooge and Goldie. And I'll explain that I can only draw one head per customer, sorry! But I suggest that, if they have time, they get in line a second time, then I'll first draw a Donald looking to one side, and the next time draw a Daisy there in the other area on the same sheet. Or I'll whisper "Pst! Ask me to draw $crooge THINKING of Goldie!" -- then I can bend the rule and draw a tiny extra head of Goldie in a thought bubble.
It gets really difficult when someone says something like they have a child at home who could not come, and could I do a second drawing for that poor crying child? But I simply can't! Then every other person in line would (or should!) suddenly have a crying child at home who wants a drawing.
Or similarly, someone has a brother who is dying of a terminal illness in the hospital and his deathbed wish is to have a drawing. (But somehow the guy in line wants *his own* drawing first, not willing to give his up for his beloved brother's sake. Odd, eh?) And I'll say "Well, sorry, but you'll need to put him on a gurney and wheel him through the line if he wants a drawing." (Of course, even if he's unwilling to give up his own drawing to his brother, all the "healthy brother" needs to do is stand in line a second time and get the second drawing, if he so loves his "dying brother".)
Even more heart-breaking are the instances when an old friend I've known for many years comes to see me, and (instead of seeing me privately) stands in the darn line and comes to me and wants something extra, and naturally I'll want to do something special. But I *can't* do anything special for someone IN THE LINE! Then I hafta hope that the old friend has time to meet me later or something.
I've had all of those situations arise in different forms a number of times. It's a tough job, doing signing/drawing sessions, but not tough due to the time or labor. It's "philosophically" stressful.
I've been doing such signing & drawing sessions for over 20 years now, and I've learned all the "tricks" to being as absolutely fair as possible to all the nice folks waiting so long in line to see me. I am very strict about treating everyone equally -- maybe it's the American half of my heritage?