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CARICATURECaricature is an art that is drawn by artists to show the exaggerated or distorted physical features or pecularities of a person or object. Fun of the subjects are made with the drawings. Many caricatures ridicule famous persons to make it appear humorous. Groups can also be caricatured to expose fun. Caricature is an Italian word which means making larger or exaggerate. The first caricatures appeared in Europe in 1500’s. Either the Protestians or Roman Catholic side were drawn during the religious revolution called Reformation. By 1700’s, British produced number of outstanding Caricatures. George Cruikshank, James Gilfray and Thomas Rowlandson became famous for making Caricatures of Politicians. Karl Marx was caricatured with his beard made very big whereas the Hat of Napolean was caricatured funnily and a Cigar highlighted while caricaturing Winston Churchil to show humour. Leonardo da Vinci became famous for his Caricatures. The trend of caricaturing continued since time long and they have also appeared as Political Cartoons in many Newspapers and magazines. R.K. Laxman, the famous Cartoonist portrays Political Caricatures to make the message through. In the United States, most of the Caricatures have appeared as Political cartoons in Newspapers. Thus, many Cartoonist use the form of Caricature in Editorial Cartoons changing the physical characteristics or expressions commenting on current or important event. It's difficult to become a good caricature artist. There are a few key elements to a caricature that will separate the good from the mediocre. Keep them in mind while drawing. In order to become a good caricature artist you need to practice drawing faces constantly and always observe expressions and emotions. The following are major issues you need to keep in mind. LikenessThe most important element to a caricature is likeness. Without careful observation, likeness can not happen when drawing caricatures.LifeIt is difficult to grasp the understanding of what actually gives a drawing life. But once you see good artists at work, you'll know if your drawings have life or not. A caricature drawing that has life should convey some sort of emotion or personality. In caricature, try to capture that particular individual's personality/character. Don't paste the same expression on every face.ExaggerationImagine a line with two ends on it. One end is labeled Exaggerated Caricatures and the other end is labeled Portrait Caricatures Every caricature artist finds some spot between the two ends. It could be a mixture of both or completely one-sided. Line QualityIn a caricature drawing (or any drawing), line quality is important. Sometimes, good line quality is all that is separating a mediocre drawing from a good drawing. One of the main things to keep in mind is to have your lines varied as much as you can. Varied lines are much more pleasing to the eye than flat boring lines. Make sure your lines are thicker where there are harder edges (under nose, mouth, chin, eyes, all outer lines) and softer where there is detail (wrinkles, facial structure). CompositionThis is important for any picture that you draw. Boring compostition kills the life and energy of the drawing. Make your composition dynamic. There can be a full book written on composition alone so I'll focus on composition relating to them park caricatures. When I first started drawing caricatures this summer I tried squeezing the people onto a page side by side. (yuck) Gary Fasen took me aside and told me to think of it as if I were looking through a window, visualizing a 3 demensional space which was occupied by people. It's best to stack each person (shortest to tallest) behind each other in space. Also, make sure you leave some space up top for their heads. Here is an example. Find more useful information on Caricature Drawing on the following: Drawing and Sketching : Caricature Learn to Draw Caricatures in OttawaMore caricature and illustration resources
Caricature Meetup
comics research bibliography
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