How I Painted Jamal Roberts from American Idol (Even though I Didn't want to!)
Updated: Aug 13
I was checking my email late one night when I saw an email from the City of Atmore AL.
Thinking it was just a confirmation of the caricature entertainment I was going to be providing for them in a few days, I opened it.
They wanted me to create a presentation piece to present to Jamal Roberts from American Idol 2025.
I sat there stunned. This was a new one. I had never been called upon to do anything like this before. Lord, Should I take this? I thought.
I'm a live caricature artist. I draw people in 2-3 minutes each. I'm one of the fastest in the world, and that's what I do. I don’t normally do commissions.
Why? Because I HATE commissions. I don't WANT to take hours to do a painting.
I have ADHD. Anything longer than a few minutes is not something I enjoy. I tell people all the time that I enjoy doing live work - I like being around people. Not sitting in a stuffy little room like a sweatshop worker. And that's exactly how I feel about it.
If I do this, I thought, I would have to drop EVERYTHING I was doing and work three days straight on this piece.
I majored in painting in college. And I enjoyed it back then. But there was no pressure to paint for a celebrity back in art college. No impostor syndrome to have to deal with.
I also hadn't done any actual physical painting with paints and a brush on canvas in a good 2 or 3 years. Most of my painting I do digitally. Which is super easy because if you need to erase you just hit the back button.
Physical painting is a LOT harder. One wrong stroke and your painting is ruined and you have to start over,
So I thought about this. I talked to my husband . Should I take this commission?
It WOULD be good for my business if I could get a picture of Jamal holding my Painting.
They didn't mention anything about pay. I was NOT doing this for free. What should I do?
After talking it over and praying about it, I decided to email them with a suggested price for a rush job, and told them I would do my best. If they agreed, I would do it, if not, I thought, I wouldn't.
They emailed me back - they said yes.
I was actually disappointed. I didn't want to do this! What was I getting myself into?!?
But I got a contract together, we both signed it, and I set to work that very night.
The first thing I did was to print out the reference photos and take a good look at them to figure out how to compose the piece. Jamal and his daughters seemed almost perfectly aligned already in the photos, except for the baby. I decided to put her in front with her arms outstretched so that it would create kind of a family circle.
I sketched it out on a board and sent it to Cassandra, who was the one who commissioned me. I was nervous. I always am when I'm doing a commission. Will they like it? Will they want a million revisions? Time was of the essence here and I didn't have time for all that. Plus it was nerve wracking - I already felt like I wasn't good enough.
But Cassandra loved it. She said she was sure I would do a beautiful job. I wasn't so sure.
But I rolled up my sleeves and dug in. I had already been thinking about the color palette.
I began mixing, and that's when impostor syndrome REALLY set in.
I can't do this. I suck at color. I'm a line artist for heaven's sake. I draw, I don't paint. What was I thinking? I can't do this. Lord, HELP!
Just then, my 16 year old son Dan came in. He's something of an artist himself, the product of two artists, one of them a rather famous one (Not me. His late father was Buddy Rose, the caricature artist who started our trade organization the ISCA)
I think Dan knew what was going through my head. We're a pretty close family. He told me I could do this., He said he knew I don't like using color, because I still haven't found a way I like to lay down color that works with my style for physical art pieces. Which is why digital coloring is what I prefer by far. But that won't work for this. They wanted a physical piece.
Dan encouraged me a bit, so I gritted my teeth and set to work mixing colors. You might not know this but artists generally don't use colors right out of the tube. We mix colors specially to match the colors in our reference photos or model. (Reference photos are harder to use by the way. At least for me)
I knew I wanted to use black, white, brown, burgundy, purple and yellow ochre because those were all in the photos. I set to work doing an underpainting of yellow ochre. This allows there to be no white showing through.
In addition to the color, I also struggled a lot with the fact that I was using watercolor - a medium I'm not proficient at - as I originally was going to just do a watercolor wash and then go over it with colored pencil. But then i decided I really wanted this to be an excellent presentation piece and that only paint would do. Of course, I did that. Overachiever and perfectionist that I am. GR.
It was late when I started and I didn't have any other kind of paint handy. Once I started in with watercolor I didn't want to switch to something else.
But I struggled because I'm used to acrylic. And that you can layer on top of each other and it won't affect what's underneath.
But watercolor doesn't work that way. Watercolor sort of melts when you add water. And I kept adding too much water because I was used to using acrylic that doesn't work that way.
I must have redone Jamal's face 10 times because I kept messing it up by adding too much water.
I went over everything else but I kept coming back to Jamal's face.
One day went by. I kept on painting. Two days went by, I just kept at it. It was coming together now,,,
It kind of evolved as I went along. The gold was on the outfits of the two older girls and that went perfectly with the yellow ochre I had originally planned as an undertone in the skin tones. I found some gold watercolors at one of my probably 5 trips to the craft store, (not knowing this existed beforehand) and I used gold as a highlight throughout the painting.
Originally, I was going to do a blue sky but instead I kept it yellow and added gold - and I LOVE how it turned out. Ironically, It turns out that I really began to love the color palette. Color is DEFINITELY not my strong suit, trust me! However, the color is the thing I'm the most proud of in this painting..
On day two, I had a gig that I nearly missed because I lost track of time due to the painting. I had to go do that, and then I came home and painted some more, late into the night.
I was growing desperate. The painting was nearly done, but I still couldn't finish Jamal's face and it was due in the morning. I even started thinking what I would tell Cassandra -
"I tried my best but I just couldn't get it done in time, here's your money back."
But I couldn't fail. This was too important. To my career as well as to Cassandra - not to mention Jamal & his girls.
Desperate, I texted my friend Jenni who is also an artist and she reminded me that I could do something called glazing - where you use watercolor paint with very little water. I decided to try it. I had nothing to lose.
I put the painting in front of my fan to dry one last time. And then I went to bed, thinking I'd get a little shut eye and wake up early and finish in the morning.
But I couldn't sleep. I kept seeing the painting in my mind's eye, unfinished.
Leaving my husband, Mike snoring in bed (loudly), I quietly got up out of bed. It was about 2:30 am. I had to be up at 9am to get ready for the event the next day.
Praying I would get this done and for some divine help, I mixed a fresh plate of paint and set to work on Jamal's face using the glazing technique Jenni had reminded me of.
Within an hour, it was done! And not only that, but I actually LIKED it!
Thanking God, I went to bed and slept well for the first time in 3 days.
In the morning, I got up and went to frame the finished piece - but the frame I'd bought wouldn't fit! My husband and I tried everything. But that frame was meant for a photograph, not a painting. It just wasn't thick enough!
Thankfully I had just enough time to go to Michael's and get a new frame. This time I checked to make sure it had the right kind of backing that would accommodate a thicker piece of art.
When I went in, I immediately found a frame that matched perfectly with the painting, with burgundy, black and gold marbled throughout, AND it had the right kind of backing.
I wasted no time. I put the painting into the frame right there at Michael's on their cash out counter. People were staring. I did not care.
Then I rushed off to the City of Atmore.
When I got there, Cassandra came by to take the painting from me.
Strangely, I found myself not wanting to give it up!
It wasn't the act of painting itself, or the long hours that I had put in, nor even being up against the clock. None of that was the hardest part of this painting. The hardest part was battling against the impostor syndrome that threatened to capsize me.
Was I good enough for this? A lot of the caricaturists make rude comments about my work. It's too cute, they say. It's not exaggerated enough. 26 years of doing this and I have newbies trying to tell me I need to exaggerate more. There are even people who won't even speak to me at the very organization my late husband started. I can only assume that's the reason why. I'm not good enough. Even admitting this here is a struggle and is making tears spring to my eyes.
But I pushed through it. All of it. And I was happy with it - PROUD of it even - and now I had to give it up.
Cassandra gazed at my painting lovingly and cradled it like a baby. And I - I let her take it away.
It was hard for me to give this one up! I felt weird and empty when she took it. Like I was giving up a part of myself, so easily. I had worked really hard on this piece. Maybe harder than anything else I'd ever done. I felt like i was giving up a child for adoption.
Cassandra left me there. I had to get ready to draw live. So I went and set up to draw live and did so through the smoldering heat and even a relatively short thunderstorm. People stayed there and so I drew them. They were all there waiting to see Jamal Roberts from American Idol. I waited too, wondering about my painting and when they were going to present it to him.
I finished my 2 hours of drawing live in a jiffy. It wasn't too difficult - despite the smothering heat of lower Alabama and a downpour that left us hotter than we had been beforehand.
Cassandra got drawn along with her coworker, whose name I forgot, and they were last. They said that they would be presenting Jamal with the painting at 4:00. It was a little after 2:00.
I packed up quickly and since I hadn't eaten lunch, I grabbed a bite at a local burger place.
I downed 4 iced teas in 20 minutes, it had been so hot out there drawing with nothing to drink. Nervous, I gulped down my burger and got out of there quickly so I could find a spot to stand and maybe see Jamal in person.
Because I had been drawing backstage, I was allowed back there, where I had a great view of the stage. I snagged a chair and waited.
At exactly 4:00 a black Hummer pulled up and a back door opened up. I stood there getting video of it, not sure if this was Jamal Roberts from American Idol or not..
Someone exited the hummer and went up on stage. Not Jamal. I followed him with my phone, but then I heard cheers and I turned. There was Jamal, exiting the car. I recognized him from the photos I'd been poring over for the previous three days and nights. He was dressed in light blue, along with his 2 older girls who were dressed identically. Just like they had been in the photos - dressed identically. I was glad I had dressed them alike in my painting.
The crowd, which was rather sizeable despite the earlier rain, was cheering.
Jamal came right up next to me to get up on stage and I got a great video of him literally so close I could've touched him. But of course I didn't. I meet a lot of famous people in my job. I try to be respectful and treat them just like anyone else, and they usually really appreciate that. Do unto others as you want the m to do unto you. That's what I try to live by.
(remember my late husband was famous, at least in caricature circles, so I'm familiar with what it's like to feel like you live in a goldfish bowl)
Jamal went up on stage and the mayor gave a little speech and gave him the key to the city of Atmore, Alabama.
I strained around a couple of people to get video. Oh, please, I thought. I'm not going to get a pic of him. He's facing front and there's too many people. Please God, help. I prayed.
The woman who I'd drawn earlier along with Cassandra was presenting Jamal my painting now. She handed it to him and told him it was for fathers day. He smiled big but she was in the way and i was freaking out. I needed him to turn so I could get a picture!
As he accepted the painting, the mayor asked Jamal for a speech and he said " I'm not good at making speeches, but I just want to tell y'all to trust God." He said it again. Trust God.
Lord, I breathed, please let him turn!
And then... HE TURNED
I got video of Jamal Roberts from American Idol, showing my painting of him off to my side of the stage. He didn't do it to the other side. Just mine.
And though I was happy about that for my art portfolio (and for this blog,)
a moment later I saw one of his young daughters just staring at the painting.
I've seen this behavior before, many many times, when drawing live. kids staring at my art, mouth open, transfixed.
I smiled.
She liked it.
And I realized - that’s really all I cared about.
My name is Kathy Buskett. I'm a live caricature artist who has been working at events for 26 years. This is my full time job and I LOVE it. I especially love working at weddings and with children.
If you'd like me to do a painting like this, or to come draw live at your wedding, corporate event or other event, contact me now at kathybuskett@gmail.com
You can also check out the rest of my website here
and remember... Trust God. ;)
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