For Money or Just for Fun?
Regardless of the reason you want to learn how to draw caricature it is really a lot of fun. The first time I drew a caricature was for an actress I had a crush on back when I was 18. After I was done with the caricature I started to admire my drawing more than the actress herself. It turned out that by attempting to draw that pretty face of the actress I ended up drawing the girl of my dreams. Haven’t met her yet though ;-).
I still remember the reason I grabbed the pencil and started my first attempt to draw that face. It was after I watched a TV show that starts with someone holding a pencil and drawing the face of another beautiful actress. He started with her eyes (weird technique if you ask me, but this is how I got to do the drawings) and quickly finished the whole face in 30 seconds. Of course it took me one good hour to finish my first caricature, but it was worth it.
Now that I am in the mid forties drawing caricature for me is not just for fun any more as I have almost as much fun making money from it :-).
In this lens I’ll show you some resources on how to draw a caricature. I learned by watching. So if you are like me then you’ll like the videos I’ll share on this lens.
Photo Transfer Technique
This is the easiest technique to get the face features of the subject right. Get a photo of the subject magnified to your preference and print it. Then get the sketch paper on top of it then start transferring while “caricaturing” it. The video below explains it with an example.
There are certain guides for the “caricaturing” thing but can not be shared here without the permission of the author, but you can get them in his members only area. Scroll down for more details about his program.
The Geometric Method
In this technique you use lines, circles, and oval shapes to outline face features, then use your hand to draw more natural lines. This method is a good start for learning how to draw a face of a model.
Again this method is explained by the following video.
Caricaturing a Model
Advanced artists can draw the caricature by portraying the model. This requires some knowledge with lights and shades, and the human anatomy to some extent. The following video features Graeme Biddle drawing a caricature live for a customer. As a professional caricaturist he charges between $400 and $1500 per caricature.
That was just a sample
The rest of the material is here
How to start
First get a guide and stick to his instructions. Having a model to follow is very useful in keeping you focused at the beginning. After you get a grip of the terminology and the technique and after you master them you can start adding your own touch and share your personality with the world in your art.
I personally prefer a video guide vs. a written one. I want to see how things are done so that I can copy them. The artist in the above videos has a video guide that’s both cheap and well organized.
There is also a need to learn about the anatomy of the human body. There are courses on the Internet that teach just that for non-medical students.