sidewalk artist

American  

noun

1. an artist who draws pictures on the sidewalk, especially with colored chalk, as a means of soliciting money from passers-by.

2. an artist working in the streets, who draws portraits of passing individuals who sit for quick sketches executed in charcoal or pastel.

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Example Sentences

That, combined with his exaggerated features—out-there chin, puffy cheeks—make him look like a caricature by a sidewalk artist.

From BusinessWeek • Jan. 22, 2015

We first meet Tintin sitting for a portrait by a jovial sidewalk artist, who then holds up his work.

From Time • Oct. 31, 2011

In this waif of our gutters and ward of our sidewalk artist inhered a spirit of the most punctilious and rigid honor, the gift, perhaps, of some forgotten ancestry.

From From a Bench in Our Square by Adams, Samuel Hopkins