Fine artist, cartoonist and caricaturist “Art Girl” Debbie Schafer has won three Caricaturist of the Year awards--in 1995, 1997 and 1999--from the National Caricaturist Network, a professional caricaturist organization. From the same organization she won several Golden and Silver "Noseys"--the Oscars of caricature entertainment--for the consistently high quality and humor of her work.

A veteran caricaturist and still loving it, Schafer has delighted thousands with her drawings, serving both corporate and private clients at all kinds of events and parties. Last year Schafer was honored by an invitation to work at the Japanese caricature company, Hoshinoko, in Japan. While there, she also spent time drawing for the Japanese public in the greater Tokyo area.

Schafer’s artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally in both group and one-woman shows. Her work ranges from classic representational rendering, portraiture and medical illustration to whimsical invention and cartoon. She has illustrated books and designed toys, and taught art to students from 7 to 70.

For nearly 10 years, she owned and operated seasonal quick-sketch retail concessions at several southern New Jersey resorts and malls, managing and providing work for other artists as well as herself.  She also hosted her own local-access TV show, “It’s So Easy,” a weekly half-hour program of  “follow along” drawing fun, broadcast live from the WACY TV studio in Atlantic City.   

Perhaps most rewarding has been her work with cancer patients. Several times a month, Schafer brings the gentle fun of her caricature art to patients at the Center for Cancer in Cherry Hill, NJ. 

The intention is not simply to be a momentary distraction for those dealing with a serious illness. During the time she engages each patient, anxiety levels go down. 

“My purpose is to promote healing using surgical markers and chalks in a way that elevates the spirit and tickles the funny bone.  I 'treat' people not as patients but as unique individuals. This is the most important and gratifying work I do. Humor is powerful medicine, with no ill side effects.”

Schafer began her professional career drawing quick-sketch portraits when she was just 18.  After attaining a BFA from Tyler School of Art, she undertook graduate art studies at other schools including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the University of the Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University. Medical School, and the Art Student’s League. She also studied psychotherapy at Hahnemann University. (Prior to working as a full-time artist, Schafer worked in an acute crisis psychiatric unit at the Atlantic City Medical Center as a Creative. As a member of the treatment team there, she worked as an Art and Activities Therapist with psychiatric patients in groups and individually.) 

Schafer has studied with some of the best portrait artists today, including Nelson Shanks, Burt Silverman, Everett Kinstler, and Daniel Greene.  She currently studies painting with Shanks at his school in Philadelphia, “Incaminati.”