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Train Your Brain: How to Develop Your Caricature Instincts (view source)
Revision as of 01:40, 12 July 2020
, 01:40, 12 July 2020no edit summary
drawing live or
from photos.
In addition to that,
it’s impossible to
only that on paper. In doing these,
over time you’ll learn to trust your
eyes and trust yourself. With lots ofpractice, you’ll eventually find thateven if all your drawings are of peoplesitting, the differences between eachperson will be much greater thanyou may have imagined if you’venever given the importance of thefirst impression a second thought.Eventually, translating the mentalsnapshot will become more and moreinstinctual and will eventually find it’sway into whatever type of caricature(or any art, for that matter) you areapproaching. '''Eliminating unnecessary biases, or Satire vs. Sarcasm''' <br>We all come to the table with biases,both good and bad (though few wouldbe happy to admit it). With thatsaid, realize that a caricaturecan and often does speakas much about theartist who createdit as it does aboutthe subject! Generally, how anartist regards hisor her subject willbe reflected in theirrepresentation of thatsubject. Like it or not, the artist comesthrough. How much so is what wewant to control. If you’re in a bad mood when doing acaricature, that same caricature wouldhave looked and felt very differentlyhad you been in a good moodat the time! For example, drawingsthat come off as “mean”, regardlessof their quality, are more often thannot, a true representation of how theartist is feeling, whether it is aboutthe subject in particular, or the artist’sdisposition in general. That ‘mean’vibe (the gut feeling it gives you)came from somewhere! On that same note, an artist who isupbeat with a great sense of humorwill have the tendency to createimages that reflect this in the subject,whether intended or not. For a goodexample of this, look back at any1950s horror comic by the greatJack Davis. Though the imagesare gruesome sequences of death,torture, suspense and murder, Jack’slegendary sense of humor and laidback nature somehow reassuringlypeek through. But, with all that said, the moreobjectively the artist sees the subject,the more the actual subject will shinethrough in the artwork, and the artist’s conscious or unconscious agenda willfade to the background, hopefully,subtly, merely enhancingthe drawing for the better (as in theJack Davis example), rather thanoverpowering it. Although caricature is, by definition,an artist’s comment on a subject, andtherefore biased, having a greaterunderstanding of what you arecontributing to the character of yoursubject is another thing that separatesthe good caricaturists from the great.Being true to yourself, understandingyour feelings and how you relate tothe subject from the beginning willhelp you more accurately controland manipulate your interpretationof the subject. This doesn’t mean that you can’thave fun and give someone a bignose, for example, but there is afine line between satire and sarcasm.Sarcasm, in this regard, beingnothing more than satire with theaddition of a (usually mean spirited)personal agenda! Remember, knowing who youare and being honest with yourselfas an artist, as well as viewingeach subject as a clean slateare the keys to remaining objectiveand fair to your subject and this will,in the long run, make you a muchbetter caricature artist.
==See Also==
