About Mark

Sitting in a chair while an artist studies your face in front of a circle of party guests can feel a little intimidating. Mark gets that. The second you sit down across from him, though, the pressure drops right off. He’s easy to talk to, quick with a joke, and makes the whole thing feel more like shooting the breeze on a front porch than getting put on the spot.

Mark has been drawing faces all over Chicagoland for decades. If you get around town, you’ve probably seen him at the United Center during a Bulls game, out at the ballpark with the Windy City ThunderBolts, or set up at neighborhood street fests, parish picnics, and school events throughout Cook, Will, and DuPage counties.

He launched under names like Affordable Caricatures and Caricatures 4 Less with a simple goal in mind: having an artist at your party shouldn’t break the bank. He doesn’t do the mean-spirited style of caricatures, either. The idea isn't to roast anyone, but to catch what makes a person grin, get the people standing behind them chuckling, and send them home with something they'll actually want to hang up.

From backyard graduations and golden anniversaries to 90th birthdays and weddings, Mark treats every crowd like his own. Long after the tables are folded up and the music shuts off, people still have that paper rolled up under their arm, ready to frame on the wall and laugh about for years to come.