Goth portraits in effect.
The weekend before Halloween, I spent a lovely weekend in the front window of Toronto’s Type Books (883 Queen Street West), drawing goth portraits of customers throughout the day. That is, rapid portraits of people as goths. Perfect for Halloween, right? You walk in for some books, sit down and get to take home a free goth portrait of yourself! And who doesn’t like sitting in a window for ten minutes while people stare at you like some sort of zoo animal?
Saturday started off quietly, as the really miserable weather meant foot traffic was light, but over the course of the afternoon, I must have drawn about twenty portraits. About half adults, half kids and even one dog. (One lucky Pomeranian got a goth rendition.) During a light period, I also drew a goth (a) Jack David, publisher of ECW Press and (b) young Mark Twain. Sunday was jam-packed, however. From noon to five, I was drawing goth portraits non-stop!
You can find photos of some of the goth portrait sessions at the Quill & Quire website or the Type Books Instagram feed. But if you wait, Type Books (with the help of filmmaker Daniel Reis) is putting together a short video of the whole weekend’s festivities. Stay tuned for that!
Thanks to the staff of Type Books – especially Kalpna Patel, who designed the store window and bought me a shawarma (!). There’s a slim chance I might return to the Type Books window closer to the holidays … it was a lot of fun.
