There's some really good art being done on the wharf outside Boothbay Harbor’s Pier 1 this summer. It’s not a gallery, and there are no high prices on these pieces, but if you're wandering around the harbor looking for a keepsake to take home, consider having a caricature done by Benjamin Schell.

Caricatures are not considered fine art, but the drawings being done by Schell (and by his friend and fellow caricaturist, Emily Anthony) are indeed fine.

Caricature is all about exaggeration and fun.

Judging by the reactions of most of the subjects who had drawings made by Schell and Anthony on July 7, looking funny or foolish was OK with them. There was a lot of laughter and smiling when the finished drawings were revealed to the models. No one complained about how silly they looked.

Many of the drawings Schell and Anthony did on that particular day were of two people — couples, friends and cousins. Two friends from Azerbaijan, who are here working at Ports of Italy for the summer, had a double caricature drawn July 7. When shown the finished drawing, they doubled over with laughter.

Schell had been an art student and was working at Riverside Park (now Six Flags) in Agawam, Mass., when he was asked if he could do caricatures. “I was a cartoonist and loved to draw and tell stories,” he said. At this point, he’s been in the caricature business 21 years.

Though he feels confident about the outcomes of his drawings, Schell said there's always the possibility that people won't be happy with the way he portrays them. “The hardest part about this for me is the fear that I'll insult someone.”

Schell said he has been coming to the area since the ’80s, and it is his fourth summer doing caricatures in Boothbay Harbor. Business is good. “Sometimes it gets so busy I can't do them all,” he said.

Considering that he spends only 10 to 15 minutes on each person, he can get a lot done in a day. Looking at his finished drawings, people are amazed at what he can accomplish in 15 minutes.

Knowing how busy it can be for Schell around the Fourth of July holiday, he asked his friend Emily Anthony to come up from Philadelphia to help out. As it turned out, heavy rain over the holiday put a damper on business outside on the wharf. “So I enjoyed visiting Boothbay Harbor and Ocean Point and having lobster rolls and shopping in town,” Anthony said.

Her drawings are a little different from Schells, but equally as impressive.

On July 7 she was doing a caricature two sisters on vacation, Andrea and Olivia Mammoccio of New Jersey. Upon seeing their finished drawing, the response was: “Awesome!”

Anthony, who makes her living doing caricatures at weddings, birthday parties, graduation parties and other events, said she has always drawn, but didn't really think she would be able to make a living at it.

“I was at an art show doing pastel portraits and I saw someone doing caricatures. I thought that looked like a lot more fun.”

She said that now, after years of doing them, she is confident that they will be well-received.

Asked if anyone who has the desire can become a caricaturist, Anthony referred to “pencil mileage.”

“I believe desire to do it and practice and commitment make a good caricature artist. Artists who are good caricaturists are skilled because they've drawn many thousands of faces. They persevere when learning the craft, and realize that they will have to draw many bad caricatures before being able to draw good ones.”

If that's true, most would agree that these two artists have a lot of pencil mileage.

Schell, who can be found on the wharf next to Mountain Tops (most non-rainy) days, charges $15 per person for color, airbrushed caricatures.