Meet the caricature artist, cartoonist and illustrator whose enquiries have quadrupled due to viral AI designs
Meet the caricature artist, cartoonist and illustrator whose enquiries have quadrupled as a result of AI-generated designs going viral as part of a social media trend.
Vicky Hunt runs Vix Caricatures and launched her career in this line of work in 2012, after it had been a hobby for years and she did not expect it to go any further than that.
Having been asked to draw at a friend’s wedding, this opened Vicky’s eyes to the fact she could turn her passion into a career and it has continued to grow over the past 14 years.
“I’m a light-hearted caricaturist,” Vicky told the Chronicle & Echo. “I enjoy the delight that people get from my work. I want them to like it rather than question what I have done to them. They take three-to-five minutes to complete, and there’s lots of laughs and a great buzz.”
Vicky is hired for all sorts of events, including weddings, birthdays, leaving parties, christenings, baby showers and business and corporate bookings. This spans team building days to having drawn everyone in an office for a mural wall.
The artist also takes on commission work and it depends on the booking as to whether she puts pen to paper or draws digitally, which can also be watched live if displayed on a big screen.
Vicky is based near Weston Favell but travels all over the UK. The majority of bookings are Northamptonshire based and, impressively, the furthest she has travelled with Vix Caricatures is the Middle East.
When asked her favourite thing about her job, Vicky said: “I absolutely love my live work going to such a varied amount of events. It’s the buzz I get while drawing, meeting everyone, and the human connection between strangers. The reveal is my all-time favourite.”
Vicky raised the point of the virality of AI caricatures on social media at the moment, and admitted she did not feel threatened by AI to begin with when it added extra limbs when generating photos.
“All of a sudden this trend happened and there’s been mixed feelings in the caricature community,” said Vicky. “It’s quadrupled the amount of enquiries I have and AI has brought a spotlight onto caricatures.
“People always want that human connection, especially on the creative side of things, and AI is never going to do what we can when we turn up to an event. People watch the work happen right in front of them in minutes.”
Vicky is excited about the future, with a busy year ahead of weddings and events, and hopes to book in more off the back of local wedding fairs lined up over the coming weeks and months.