Caricature
A caricature is either a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines. Derived from the Italian word caricare, meaning to charge or load, caricature essentially means a "loaded portrait."
Contents
Steps
Traditional Caricature
- Choose the person you are going to caricature.
- Get out your Style Hair with Pencils.
- Draw a small body with an outfit that the person you are drawing would wear when doing a hobby (e.g.Win at Ballet Contests: a tutu).
- Draw a big head exaggerating the shape. For example, if the forehead of the subject is wide, emphasize this by drawing a wider than normal forehead. If it is narrow in comparison to the average forehead, draw a narrow forehead.
- Draw the hair. If the person has curly hair, make your drawing have really curly hair; if they have long hair, draw it down to their toes; etc.
- Draw the eyes in Make a Cool Swirl of Colors (Food Coloring Experiment) if the person has long eyelashes, do them huge.
- Draw the nose. The nose is pretty straightforward, big or small, lumpy or straight, etc.
- Draw the mouth. The lips are quite easy, plump, thin, straight etc. If the person has good teeth, exaggerate the straightness; if they have big teeth, give them buck teeth; if they have crazy teeth, cross them right over. Just go crazy.
Alternate Caricature
- Get a subject and study it.
- Ask your self the most important questions. What features are most important to the structure of the subject? Do you notice anything about the face that is unusually large , small, brilliant or captivating?
- Draw an outline of the subject and make sure pay close attention to the shape of the face. Your lines should always be long, smooth, and confident. Caricatures are a cartoon-esque style and will not come out right if if your drawing is uncertain and sketchy.
- Start filling in the features.
- Exaggerate and play with the features that you noticed before when you were studying the subject. don't think about realism, but still base your drawing on what you see in front of you.
- make sure to add small minute details such as the hair, freckles ,and teeth.
- Make sure to add elements to go around the head like a hat. This should all be drawn with smooth and confident lines.
- Make sure you compare your drawing to the subject and make corrections or alterations if needed.
- Show your drawing to the subject. Make sure you gauge the quality on their reaction.
Tips
- Choose two or three features of your subject, and exaggerate them greatly.
- If you want the final product to be black-and-white, try inking it for a nice finish.
- Be creative.
Warnings
- Always ask the person before you caricature them because the drawings can be hurtful. Even though most people just laugh at them, some people are insulted.
Things You'll Need
- Pencil
- Colored pencils/crayons
- Paper
Sources and Citations
- Caricature in Wikipedia - Source of Introduction
