by Rachel Witkowski
Staff Writer
A young girl sits patiently in a chair next to Bill Burbridge as he airbrushes her caricature onto a poster in Hemming Plaza. A couple children surround Burbridge as he completes the brightly colored photo and places it in an envelope.
“How much do we owe you?” the children asked.
“Nothing,” Burbridge said. “Just be really nice students.”
Burbridge would have never been able to say that years ago when he first started as a caricature artist at Sea World in Orlando. In 1999, he began painting only what he was allowed to paint — mouse ears and fictitious characters with little commission and success. He received anywhere between 23 percent to, sometimes but rarely, 45 percent commission, he said. After Sept. 11, the tourism dynamic completely changed in Orlando and many artists were forced to find business elsewhere. Burbridge decided to become an airbrush freelancer.
“It’s better, but there’s more potential,” he said. “At Disney there was only one thing.”
Burbridge currently airbrushes many faces at the Farmer’s Market during his visits to Hemming Plaza every Friday. He said he is very happy with his career and freedoms as a caricature artist and so are his customers.