Toon Goons is expanding the caricature art form while putting the work of real people first

By NATASHA JACKSON

With the rise of AI in digital art and all mediums of art being used to teach AI software, the team at Toon Goons Art is putting local Toronto artists first by creating opportunities for them to make a living with their work.

Toon Goons Art is a live caricature entertainment company based in East Toronto. They have over a decade of experience in the world of caricature art and have a team of professional caricature artists who offer a variety of services. Their focus is on bringing local artists together and giving them a chance to showcase their caricature design skills.

Cameron Woo is one of the founders of Toon Goon Art. In June of 2022, he started the company with his friend and co-founder, Ben Hamilton.

The two of them met at Sheridan College for animation and took a caricature art class. Before this, Hamilton had already worked in the caricature industry for more than eight years.

“He (Hamilton) did a lot of summer work doing caricatures. So he kind of pushed me even further to go more into caricatures and the possibilities with the art form,” said Woo.

The caricature business started with doing only live traditional caricatures with a pen and paper, and more recently started offering live digital caricatures where an artist will draw with an iPad, a photo printer, a stylus and project the drawing process on a TV screen for guests. 

In quick time, they can get a caricature done in as short as 30 seconds, to the longest (and it’s still quite short) being five minutes. They cover events and special occasions such as weddings, corporate events, trade shows, birthday parties and private functions.

Something that makes their business stand out is that patrons get to choose from a meter scale how much their caricature “roasts” or “boasts” them, said Woo. The scale ranges anywhere from a nice, flattering cartoon portrait to a complete roast of their appearance.

“I think ever since we both found out about it, just the idea that you could create a piece of artwork that somebody would really love to see in five minutes or less and then sell it to them, and have them take it home and hopefully frame it, just seemed so cool to me,” said Hamilton.

A new service, commissioned works, will become available soon on their website. Starting in 2026, customers can order a caricature by sending in a photo for reference, which will offer an online version of the in-person “roast or boast” meter.

In order to combat the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in art, they have a sticker of authenticity packaged onto online orders to distinguish themselves from AI creations.

“By definition, we’re the opposite of AI,” said Hamilton. “Because we have artists who all have completely different styles, and AI is just kind of this amalgamation of all these artistic styles.”

Hamilton added on by saying how indistinct and non-descriptive AI art is compared to human-made artwork, and how easy it is to tell the difference between AI and genuine art. 

“You could generate 100 different images with AI characters, but they would all be stylistically the same,” said Hamilton.

At Toon Goons Art, Woo, Hamilton and their team believe that AI is not the end of original art.

On the contrary, they feel that “the larger market” of the art world will start to see more value in human-made work more and  in the process of watching someone making art in real time. Caricature artists are not just creating art, but also performing in the process.

“What people will realize is that there’s something special about a human-made drawing. Like, when a human is analyzing and making their own decisions and exaggerating in a way that makes sense to them. It just feels way more special, the whole process, and I think at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to win out,” said Woo.

For those wanting to get into caricature art,  Woo suggested practicing repetition of creating drawings quickly, within two to five minutes. Hamilton added that bringing your own artistic style is super important, and to also have fun while creating.

“You have this advantage, which is that you’re an individual person who’s gone on their own artistic career to find out exactly the way they like drawing. You can totally retain that,” said Hamilton. “There’s no set style. There’s no ‘You have to do it this way.’ You bring your style in, and you do the art form in your own way.”

For more information on Toon Goons Art, please go to https://www.toongoonsart.com/