How to draw caricatures vẽ biếm họa

HOW TO DRAW CARICATURES These kinds of things always start out with a definition, but “caricature” is a hard thing to pigeonhole into a single sentence How can you, when the word encompasses the elegant, minimalist lines of Al Hirschfeld to the lavish, value and color soaked paintings of Sebastian Kruger to the graphic, geometrical collages of David Cowles and everything in between? Despite the wild differences in style and technique, “caricature” is the tag that is placed on any of these works of art without hesitation Obviously there is a connection beyond a common technique, school or format So, what are the universal elements PART ONE: BASIC THEORY AND THE FIVE SHAPES all caricatures have that identify them as caricatures? I would say there are three essential elements that transcend style and medium and must be present in a caricature: • be, then it is not successful All good caricatures This is the first of a series of articles I will post here on The MAD Blog about my theories, methods and concerning how caricatures A incorporate a good likeness of their subjects • lot of doing live, quick-draw caricatures However all of that can be applied to more studio orientated caricature work and I have also added points and concepts directly from the less time-constrained world of caricature illustration Therefore this is not instruction for just the live caricaturist but for any artist interested in caricature for any purpose form of vary wildly, but there must be some departure A information is part of what I teach derived partly from the approach some have is a portrait The level of exaggeration can this my theme park artists, so it is Without representation of the subject’s features, all you draw of Exaggeration- exaggeration, or a departure from the exact processes to Likeness- If you can’t tell who it is supposed to straight portrait is not a caricature • Statement- I believe a caricature must editorialize in some way The artist must be trying to say something about the subject It might be something to with the situation the subject is drawn in, it may just be a play on their personality through expression or body language, it might be a simple as making visual fun of some aspect of their persona or image Exaggeration itself can accomplish this in some cases The best caricatures say something more about the subject than that they have a big nose By my ‘definition’, a successful caricature therefore looks like the subject, is exaggerated to varying degrees and also has something that third item is often turned way down or ignored to say about the subject… some completely, sort illustration, it’s an important part of editorial comment In but in the case of caricatures for “live” caricature at a theme park, TEACHING SOMEONE TO SEE I’ve been with they draw a square… well, compared to Mr Normal, at that is all about seeing and the theme parks for over two not drawing The ability to minimal So why is he so decades see, easy? young working caricaturists now, and I’ve and after that the difference would Because you be are learned one very important ability to exaggerate what SEEING a difference based lesson… it’s impossible to you humorous on perception, and that is teach draw effect in a caricature… that giving you your springboard teach has to be developed For for them to DRAW… that isn’t most that means a lot of observation of what makes so hard Learning how a drawing this person different from face looks and works by looking learning Have someone caricatures I to can anatomy, expression how and a lot of a you ever been where face comes the One and running The obvious features, how the angle the changes caricature “normal”, and you are off features at the for walking along at the mall or is changes see ever are easy and along observations… it’s Johnny somebody with and Susie Normal or, worse perception of features, how some hair grows and falls about distinct face that maybe Supermodel that are the the head… those are things sports a gigantic nose or a challenge That is where that can be taught Drawing Cro-Magnon brow or some developing caricatures, on the other other obviously out-of-the- “see” becomes important hand, is a lot more about ordinary There is no face that defies seeing what the Caricaturists have a term caricature, person in you for that kind of face… it’s sometimes have to dig a personal called a “field day” Think little deeper to find the is about it for a second… why keys to unlock the more good, is that face so ripe for difficult caricature compared to the caricature, the old adage of next “practice unique makes front and interpretation about than making confident marks paper can I of it on explain the to crazy, incredibly features? guy’s? Are really the yet, Johnny and an Susie ability you just puzzle makes to In perfect” someone exactly how to features that has never been truer The draw a circle, but if I place different? If you took a ruler ability to see doesn’t spring a circle before them and and measured the size of up overnight, and I often ask them to draw it and Mr tell Shnozzes’s nose eager young caricaturists about they 500 so impossible to help them are general concepts that bad develop their ability to draw apply caricatures in them they them There are many ways approach of a caricature as have first and techniques to help an well as specific tricks and before they start noticing artist develop their ability tips for individual features the subtle things that hide to see what is in front of and inside the “ordinary” face them, recognize elements Although makes what to or have draw “impossible” someone caricatures, out I say to to it’s it’s they what see to the overall important, that I main will be sharing over the multiple teach unique and then amplify parts of draw that uniqueness to create a articles not successful caricature There this series of THE FIVE SHAPES The human face is perceived by many as an incredible complex object There are about 52 muscles in the face, depending on your source and its categorization Age, sex, race, expression (the face is capable of about 5,000 expressions) weight and environment can all play a role in the look and perception of a given face Sounds pretty complex Not really Every building, no matter how complex, starts out with a foundation and framework Look at this simple drawing: Place these shapes in their proper relationship, and you have a human face It really is that simple Drawing the shapes accurately, so they recognizably represent the subject’s features, is the basis for a good likeness Beyond that is nothing but details… things like dimples, wrinkles, eyelashes, cheekbones, etc They are the decor to your building… the millwork, furniture and drapery that makes the place Show that drawing to any human being in unique and filled with life Without the the world and ask them what it is Barring a strong foundation, however, it can all come language barrier, they will tell you it’s “a tumbling down face” No other information needed In it’s What does that have to with caricature? most simple form, the human face is made Everything I mentioned a single word in the up of only five simple shapes: last paragraph that really is the secret to caricature as a whole no matter what technique or approach you intend to practice: RELATIONSHIPS It’s the manipulation of the RELATIONSHIP of these five simple shapes that create the foundation for your caricature In fact, I’d argue that 90% of the entire caricature resides in how you relate these five simple demonstrate how you can change the shapes to one another It is the foundation relationships of the five shapes and create upon which the rest of your building is built, very different caricatures: where the real power of exaggeration is realized Make it good and almost all the heavy lifting is done, the rest merely referring to details What I mean by “relationships”? I mean the distances between the five shapes, their size relative to one another, and the angles they are at in relationship to the center axis of the face Distance Size Angle In traditional portraiture, the head is divided into “classic proportions” (we’ll get into that more next time), meaning the relationship of the features are within a certain, accepted range of distance to one another, size and angle relative to the face and head shape You achieve your likeness in a classic portrait, in it’s most basic form, by correctly drawing the shapes and then the details of each feature according to the model in front of you while staying within the framework of the “classic” proportions Of course each face varies minutely here and there, but still you not stray far from the classic formula In a caricature, like a portrait, the likeness is also achieved by drawing the features as they really look… but you change the relationship of the features based on your perceptions of the face The relationships you change are as I listed before: distance, size and angle Look at these VERY simple drawings that No detail, and all the shapes are basically the same with the exception of the head shape (again, more on that later… MUCH more) but all are distinctly different and when the details are added will make for highly varied caricatures The difference is the relationships between the features, and how they have been exaggerated and changed Caricature is not about choosing one feature and making it bigger, it’s about all the features together and how they relate to one another Here are some quick studies of the shapes beneath a few caricature sketches: The relationships differ in distance, size and angle from one another The bigger the differences are from “classic” proportions, the more exaggerated the caricature It’s much easier to see the differences when the details are removed and only the shapes are left It’s also much easier to create those differences at this simple, fundamental level It’s easy to get caught up in details when the important information rests beneath the rendering How does one determine the “correct” changes to make to a given person’s feature relationships to make a good caricature of them? Well, that’s the trick, isn’t it? That is were that pesky “seeing” comes in In his book “How to Draw Caricatures“, Lenn Redman uses a concept called “The Inbetweener” as a basis for almost every perceive the face, and exaggerate that observation classic perception The result may be different than portraiture relationships used as a point of how others perceive that face, but if the reference for making observations Every three caricature begins with the observations the definition are present it’s still a successful artist makes about the subject, and how caricature Hirschfeld used to say he once their particular face is perceived by them drew Jimmy Durante without a nose at all, MAD yet it was still recognizable as Durante It legend is basically Mort the Drucker has been elements we described in our quoted as saying that there is no “one That’s not to say that any observation is correct way” to caricature a subject Any appropriate… given subject can have several difference someone with a small, button nose a interpretations gigantic with respect to the after potato all you schnozz can’t and give call it exaggeration of the relationship of their “exaggeration” That’s not exaggeration, it’s features… and each may be as successful DISTORTION You can, however, choose NOT as the other That’s one of the unique things to exaggerate the nose’s smallness but about caricature as an art form Portraiture rather find something else to exaggerate is basically absolute… Your drawing either That is the caricaturist’s task, to find what it looks like the person with the correct is about the subject’s face that makes it features, proportions and relationships, or it unique and alter those relationships to does not Caricature is subjective to a point exaggerate that uniqueness The artists’ goal is to draw how they PART TWO: RELATING THE FEATURES Previously I relationships mentioned between how features are the most important jobs, and one of the most the difficult to “learn” The actual difference driving force behind caricature: “Caricature is one humans does not add up to much in terms feature and making it bigger, it’s about of physical measurements… a “big” nose all the features together and how they may be only a fraction of an inch larger than relate to one another.” a “normal” nose Yet we can see different Actually caricature is about changing the feature relationships on almost everybody, relationships between features, meaning some which seem very pronounced That is their distance, size and angle relative to one because we spend basically our entire lives another, from what they truly are and what looking into people’s faces… we go it when is what we interact, work, play, go shopping or to relationships to change and how much to church… we are social beings and our faces change them is one of the caricaturist’s are both our identities and our method of considered not about “normal” choosing between the relationship of features of most Deciding communication minute Our differences ability becomes to observe very relate to one another Consciously making fine those observations, especially for those tuned Mostly it’s unconscious, but we see faces in which the unique aspects are not that fraction of an inch larger nose as “big”, obvious, is the most difficult part of drawing or we see this person’s eyes as large or this caricatures There are some techniques and person’s mouth as small based not on methods you can use to help make those physical measurements but on our overall observations perception of the features and how they CLASSIC PORTRAIT PROPORTION AND OBSERVATION It’s important to start somewhere, and the width of an eye, from corner to corner, as best place is with what is considered the primary frame of reference: “normal” relationships of features for two reasons First, knowing these classic proportions will help you as a caricaturist to observe where your subject’s face might differ by providing a point of reference to compare it to Second, once you’ve made these observations you can use that same point of reference, the classic portrait proportions, as a guide to get as far away from as possible to create your caricature Let’s start out looking at the classic human proportions in traditional portraiture (this is boring, but it’s important) One method that has been used for centuries is by using the In this method, the head is five eye widths wide, with a single eye width between the eyes, and between the outside eye corners and the outside of the head The nose is one eye width wide, and therefore the nostrils are equal to the corners of the eyes Another simple method for establishing the “normal” relationship between eyes and mouth is via the equilateral triangle that should be formed by the points of the outside corners of the eyes, and the center point of the bottom of the lower lip Every book on learning to draw the human face has some similar method of standardizing the proportions of the average face Do human faces really conform to these exact relationships? No, of course not That’s the point There are differences from this face to that, some very slight and some more pronounced, and the caricaturist exaggerates these differences to create a caricature Knowing what is supposed to be there is half the battle of seeing where things are different Again, making these observations is the trickiest part of doing caricature, but the good news is you don’t have to come up with a shopping list of deformities in order to a caricature In fact, all you have to is come up with one good observation Just one and you can use that as your cornerstone and build your caricature around it It could be as simple as: this person has a skinny face… or big eyes… or a small mouth… or a square jaw… or a bent nose… or whatever More than one is better, but just one will suffice? ACTION AND REACTION Why is only one observation enough? Because “no feature is an island” What I leave the rest of the face untouched, we have a bizarre looking result: mean is that all the features relate to one another fundamentally, and you cannot make a change to one feature without it affecting the others This is one of the few constants you can rely on with respect to drawing caricatures: Action and Reaction In physics every action causes an equal an opposite reaction In caricature the action of changing the relationship of a single feature to the others causes the others to react in often predictable ways You cannot change the eyes without affecting the nose, mouth, There is awkwardness to the “caricature” head shape, etc and how it affects those other features follows (for the most part) a predictable path Say we make an observation about our subject that the eyes seem far apart If we move the just the eyes farther apart and We can’t ignore the effect on the other features The act of moving the eyes father apart forces the other features to react Typically when the eyes move father apart, the nose moves closer to the eyes, the mouth moves along with the nose, the head becomes wider and, in turn shorter: components to any caricature: The head shape and the “T” shape These are the two elements of a face I look at first and try to make observations them I about, can push, because with stretch and exaggerate the face to great effect with relative ease The features work Hmmm… looks like better together here my brother… When I talk about the “T” Shape I am Head shape is often Additional the most affected, and observations can is not coincidentally a change the path of the big focus In fact part reaction our three of this series will observations are that deal entirely with head the eyes are far apart, shapes For now we but the mouth is also will far interior features and from Say the nose Because of that action, stick with the their relationships of the becomes smaller: head the geometric shape created by the eyes and nose as a single unit In simplest terms they create a capital “T” Sometimes the “T” can be short and wide, sometimes it can be long and thin, or somewhere in between The angle at which the eyes rest to the center axis of the face can change the “T” into shape I treat the “T” not as a set of THE “T” SHAPE simple lines but as a contour shape and therefore the top part of more of a “Y”, or more of an arrow the lower part of the face must be longer, speaking with thickness, therefore the stem (or I have talked a lot nose) of the “T” can be thicker or about simplifying the thinner at one end or the other, and face by boiling it down the arms (or eyes) of the “T” can also into the Shapes, but change in thickness to accommodate it can get even simpler big round eyes or narrow, squinty than that in terms of ones Imagine a contour capital “T” both making drawn around the eyes and nose in observations and varying relationships playing with in the relationships features to caricature of make In fact a I believe there are two absolutely crucial, key The mouth, nose and chin have a similar connection They have a constant amount of distance between each other If the mouth is perceived as being close to the nose, the chin moves a little farther away as a reaction There are similar rules that apply to the head shape, which we’ll get into next time This is extreme simplification, but I have said before the simpler you can make the shapes you are working with, the easier it is to exaggerate them and create your caricature If you imagine a shape as simple as a “T”, it’s very easy to exaggerate that “T” shape and then plug in the features as they really look within your simple shape and you have your caricature Take a look at these caricatures and the “T” shapes within their head shapes: The “T” Shape and head anatomy, expression, skin, details shape combine to create hair and other details work moment and fill up a few the base of your caricature, to create the likeness and sketchbook over them the shapes bring underlying nothing but the head shape further the structure to life It’s still all and “T” shape of the faces the built you define relationships of the on these features, and over the foundations shapes I the features would themselves are drawn and exercise things like bone structure, rendering simple see pages when for a with paging through a magazine Draw suggest to caricatures as forget and an one quickly using just your about initial observations and first drawing impressions of the face Then look back at it and try it again, to see where it differs from exaggerating your first try caricature in a given face the “normal” template of Do this with a dozen faces a develops classic proportion, then try day, and this see how PART THREE: THE IMPORTANCE OF HEAD time ability to “see” the your but it’s really the “T Shape” and the head shape together as a SHAPES whole that acts are the basic foundation of a caricature With When I first started drawing live caricatures I felt that those the eyes were the most important part of the face, relationships established, the rest and I put a lot of emphasis and focus on them I still of the caricature quickly follows think the eyes are a crucial element, but over the suit shapes and their years I’ve come to believe that the head shape is the most important part of a caricature The head shape is the fulcrum upon which a caricature hinges The heavy lifting of all exaggeration is accomplished via the shape of the head, and it is more easily accomplished that way Considering that the head shape is a single shape, it is easier to recognize how that shape differs from “normal” and it is easier still to draw a corresponding simple shape that exaggerates those properties as opposed to the more complex multiple relationships of the features By stretching and exaggerating the head shape, you create the framework within which your other features and their relationships are drawn to achieve your caricature I have spoken of the “5 Shapes” and the importance of their relationships already, but digging a little deeper it’s accurate to say that the head shape is “Shape 1″ and the other four shapes are planets to it’s sun, working within it’s all encompassing field of gravity If a caricaturist can “see” and exaggerate the head shape, all the other features fall into place and follow along In the last lesson I talked about the “T” shape being a focal point of the basic caricature, CLASSIC PROPORTION SEEING THE HEAD SHAPE I talk endlessly about seeing shapes within the features and the face, and the importance of drawing those shapes accurately to capture likeness and to create a convincing drawing Again, it’s difficult to teach anyone to “see”… that ability is developed over time via practice and hard work Still, there are a few techniques and tricks I have learned that can help artists to better see what is in front of them, and better interpret it in their drawing Many work for any feature or “shape” within the face, but some are specific for individual features Head shapes have several of these tricks for both initial observations exaggeration and As with Redman’s ‘”Everyman” above and below the observations and come concept, it’s important to have an eyes, and how those up with a simple head understanding two areas relate, is a shape: of classic human proportion an anatomy to have a crucial part of springboard from which observations head can be made This is important both relates to caricature I This is an old portrait for helping to see what makes a given will refer to it often artist’s shape the as it face unique by comparing it to those “normal” proportions, and for helping SIMPLIFYING to exaggerate those unique aspects SHAPES Squint Your Eyes: trick your eyes or them so you are through your looking by giving the artist a “starting point” Squint eyelashes close at your from which to depart as much as The is subject This eliminates possible really made up of a the details and forces lot different you to see only vague including shapes and forms That cheeks, makes it easier to see head shape of features cheekbones, brow, jawline, forehead, chin, hair, etc the simple shapes and drawn them While these are all important elements Points of of the whole, at this Reference: stage to I look for these with treat the head as a every feature I draw single and What I mean by “points keep it as simple as of reference” is finding possible Simple a specific point or part shapes are easier to of a feature to use as The classic adult head is an oval, draw, and an anchor point from slightly flattened along the top The manipulate than ones which you can make head is exactly divided in half at the with a lot of complex your eyes, meaning there is equal distance elements to them It’s Each from the horizontal line of the eyes to easy to get up unique both the top and bottom of the head on the details and not reference, The head is five eye widths wide, and be able to see past general the widest point is typically at the them horizontal or temples, but can be anywhere from underlying dividing lines the cheekbones to just above the foundation always be used for this ears more Here are some tricks purpose accurately the “mass” of the head to help make initial The distance, or we need shape control to the observations feature has points of but in things like vertical can With the head shape, the This is a strange but effective way of grasping a horizontal line create by the eyes simple head shape, and for exaggerating it at the is a good point of reference Using same time Try to associate the head shape of your this imaginary dividing line, it’s subject with the shape of some inanimate object you easy to see how much of the head are familiar with Maybe this person has a head lies above that lie, and how much shaped like a lightbulb (small, narrow bottom of the below I also will look for the face with a big forehead) or that person’s head shape widest point of the head shape, may remind you of a peanut (squeezed at the knowing that once I have found temples) Whatever strikes you I don’t mean you these points I need only to make draw a light bulb with the face on it, but rather use sure the rest of the head shape your imagination and keep that object in mind as a lies in between them I will also template for the head shape you draw look for straight lines along the contour of the head shape, and draw them accordingly Finally, I will look for points along the face contour where there is an angular change of direction The back of the jaw and sides of the chin will often have these points Any or all of these points of reference can help you “see” the rest of the head shape by comparing what is around it to the point of reference you have established Shape Association: Of course, it’s a fun exercise to draw those objects with faces on them just for fun and practice Doing that helps your ability to spot those associations within your subject’s head shape EXAGGERATING THE HEAD SHAPE I mentioned earlier that the can head place other aspects of the face forehead where exaggeration is most Because the head is treated observations are great, but easily as a single shape, it is one strong one is all you relatively need because it will create shape is a applied greatest to effect This the is radically change easy to all make a small Multiple shape to any appreciable decisions degree creates a drawing them Unlike the interior caricature radically different than a features of the face, which Here are some methods of portrait Any change to the change seeing head the from the with head execute expression, shape is a cascading or those and a chin, because altering the head shape exaggeration large effect with your drawing to define your and exaggerating the head shape: “normal” shape has a very constant that only changes high impact to the viewer, with the angle of the head, Visual Weight: and the features, by way of and then only as any object One key to exaggerating their will change when rotating the head shape is to decide in When where the “visual weight’ of necessary relationships within the space head shape, are forced to exaggerating head the head lies That can be follow become shape, all you really need is as simple as using the afore exaggerated My analogy of ONE observation about it to mentioned line of the eyes the head shape being a build your caricature upon as a reference point and “fulcrum” is an apt one, It could be as simple as asking yourself “does more because slightest observing that the model of the face lie above the change in the head shape has a skinny face, or a eyes, or below?” That is suit and the the visual weight… the relative to some point of placement of head mass reference like the line of the eyes We know that in a “normal” proportioned head the mass is equal However how we perceive the face is different than it’s physical measurements Whenever you can depart from the equal mass rule it’s important to so That is caricature The Law of Constant Mass: There are very few exaggerations… the law of constant from? You take it from “rules” are mass By using it, you can take that the top of the head, it “one observation” about the head and taking away from the to follow through with the rest of the size of the top to make head shape the bottom bigger That expressions, Imagine you have sculpted a perfectly is the law of constant posture and unique proportioned head out of wet clay mass physical attributes Your head is done, but you have used almost up all your clay You decide you want impossible to be able to create a caricature rather than a to say “this is always realistic bust of your subject Looking true” Here is one at the model you decide they have a rule never large jaw, so you want to make the however, jaw bigger With no more clay to work and it’s a powerful with, you need to get that clay from tool somewhere to pack on to the jaw and that universal as applies caricature… like make it that changes, to convincing things create make it larger Where you get it smaller without affecting the other works areas A person with a big chin will respect to the width of automatically have a smaller top of a a face… if the face is head Likewise someone with a big very wide you need to forehead will also have a smaller take mass from both bottom of a face This serves to the top and bottom to create create that width Of exaggerations of higher sideways, this impact, since the perception of a course large jaw is made more pronounced affect the relationships when the top of the head is smaller of the interior features, The head has only so It’s the same concept as when a gray because they must now much mass You value appears closer to white when fit make one surrounded by a much darker value exaggerated bigger or and looks darker when surrounded by shape cannot area will with within also he head white The law of constant mass also Rubber Concept: Another way to think about how the entire head shape is affected by a single observation is to imagine a head made of soft, goo filled rubber Now if we make the observation that our subject has a narrow face, we need to squeeeeze our rubber head like a vice to make it narrower The effect of this is that the head bulges out on the top and bottom If we decide the head is wide, we pull the outsides out… the result is the top and bottom get sucked in If we squeeze the forehead, the jaw bulges out What is good about this squeezing, stretching and constant mass and/or the method it’s consequences rubber imagine the features of our It’s important to trust the drawing a caricature Even subject also molded into follow through of the cause if that lantern jawed subject the initial rubber head, we and effect associated with does not appear to have a can will the the small top of the head, it is the head shape via the law of important to follow through see faithfully is that how if they follow we exaggeration of concept when with that moving of the awkward and a lot less observing the head shape, mass clear making good decisions on and The shape of the head is a where to place the visual maintain a balance in your crucial element to a good weight drawing… otherwise your caricature… arguably THE that shape is central to an exaggeration crucial element Accurately effective caricature if you emphasize want that jaw to will be and exaggerating PART FOUR: DRAWING EYES I’ve written in past tutorials on drawing richly painted to the most minimalist of line caricatures that you can’t really teach In these next series of tutorials some someone to draw caricatures… that is more aspects of what I talk about will relate about and specifically with a style of caricature like my observation skills and also developing an own… based on cartoon line either inked or ability to find that which make an individual in some other medium Therefore those with face unique and exaggerating it Since different sensibilities and styles can take every face is different this is an exercise in from it what they will and apply what makes personal sense to them, and ignore the rest I will try developing their observation Therefore after I have “sight” and decision gone over the to center my discussion on that which information in my pervious tutorials, I switch applies to a broader range of styles than gears an concentrate on teaching rookie live just my own caricaturists how to draw the individual My method for teaching the individual features, both how to see them, exaggerate features begins with a lesson them and how to draw them in line to best anatomy effect memorizing every anatomical name but I Here is where style becomes an issue What believe you must have a good working I have written about previously can apply to knowledge of how a I’m not a big on real believer in almost any style of caricature, from the feature is put together in order to have a good command over the drawing of said feature Following the anatomy lesson, I talk about different techniques to help “see” the shape of the feature and understand how to draw it, including realistic proportion Finally I talk about interpreting the feature in terms of exaggeration and incorporating it into the whole POINTS OF REFERENCE case of caricature the correct drawing of the exaggeration of Seeing and drawing them? Either way you still have to “see” the object you are anything is all about drawing and understand it’s form first We have all seen and the correct depictions of artists on TV raising their arm outstretched drawing of them or in the towards their models with the thumb out from the fist and shapes squinting their eyes before accurate observations of the subject Establishing points of drawing That is supposed reference in the face is key to helping to “see” shapes and to represent an old artist’s make observations With each feature and the face overall I trick of using their thumb, will suggest several things I use as constant points of or hand, or pencil or some reference, which I can then use as a starting point from which other object to measure other observations are based Any kind of drawing can benefit their from this simple concept subject’s features relative to one another, or Our first feature is the eyes I’ve always felt that the eyes of a to see angles or other caricature are the center of everything, literally the center of relationships The thumb is the face but figuratively the center of expression, personality supposed to be a “point of and “life” as it were Therefore I’ve always place special reference”… emphasis on the eyes and begin and end with them, after the that is a used constant to make head shape, as the focus of almost any caricature ANATOMY OF THE EYE radiate from the pupil out to the edge of the iris), and the sclera (whites of the eyes) The tissue surrounding the eyes include the inner and outer canthus (the “corners” of the eyes), the caruncula (the small, reddish, oval shaped piece of tissue in the inner corner which is sometime incorrectly referred to as the ‘tear duct’), and the semilunar fold (where the eyeball caruncula) The eyelids The human eye is made up of a round orb meets (eyeball) that rests in and slightly protrudes from consist of the upper and lower lid a socket of bone and tissue, surrounded orbital plates (the actual eyelids that fold muscles and by covered by skin in the form of down and up to cover the eyeball), the eyelids The visible parts of the eyeball include eyelashes or cilia, which are attached the pupil (black circle in the center of the eye), to the free edges of the lid plates in a the iris (colored area around the pupil) which double or triple row and are short, thick includes the stroma (the thread-like fibers that and curved hairs the SEEING THE EYE SHAPE Despite what I said about the “shape” of the eye I am talking about the visible importance of the eyes, the eye is portions of the eyeball, created by the space still just another feature and it has between the upper and lower lids a shape like any other feature of the face When I refer to the The exterior part of the eyes, like the lids themselves and the area that surround the eye also are very important in capturing the eye itself, but it’s that initial shape that you use and a springboard for the rest of the eye In order to “see” the eye shape, you must ignore the pupil, iris and all the lines and visual noise that surround the eye, and look at just the pure shape Imagine an eye this pure white like the Exorcist eye… that white is the shape you are looking for Remember also that the eye is not flat, but protrudes quite a bit from the face and the lids have a definite thickness to them Typically the eye is NOT shaped like a about 1/3 of the way across the eye and football or an almond The upper and lower then arcs more softly towards the outer lids are not mirror images of each other In corner The lower lid does the opposite, it’s fact, they are very different The lower lid is “peak” being it’s lowest point, about not usually much less of an arc than the upper quite 1/2 of the way from the outer corner lid, moving more straight across from corner in, and arcing to the caruncula In the to corner The upper lid overlaps the lower simplest of geometric terms, the eyes are lid in the outer corner, and and is farther quadrilaterals with the four points being the removed from the horizontal axis of the eye, inner and outer corners, the highest point of which is created by an imaginary line the upper lid and lowest point of the lower connecting the corners This horizontal axis, lid Naturally we don’t draw the eyes with or “corner to corner” line, is a central part of straight lines connecting the dots, but in making observations about the eye, it’s “seeing” the shape in simple terms like this shape and it’s relationship with the rest of we can use these points of reference to the face More on that in a second better capture the shape of the eyes, as The eye shape is more of an asymmetrical well as using them to manipulate the ying-yang shape that a symmetrical almond feature for exaggeration purposes The upper lid line rises somewhat sharply from the caruncula, peaks Let’s get back the angle of the arms of the “T eyes “corner to corner” line I Shape” I talked about in an insides? Lower? Even? Are mentioned earlier This is earlier tutorial By looking they the same or is one very useful in helping to at how that line intersects different than the other? determine the the eye itself, we can see You can use the line to shape of the eye, but it’s how much of the eye shape exaggerate the angle you relationship to the axis of lies above the line, how see to great effect The the face Imaging the line much the Corner-to-Corner line is a going outside contour lines of the eye great tool for observation corner of each eye inward shape travel along that line and “seeing” the eye itself, to the inside corner and We can also see at what as then onward to the center angle the eye lies to the reference both both axis of the face, what we center axis of the face Are accurate drawing and really have it the central the outside corners of the observation not from to only the below, where higher well as than a the point of Another method I use for understanding the eye shape is to look for any straight lines in the contour of the eye Lines that are straight or nearly straight can be used as another point of reference for seeing the rest of the eye and also used as beginning points for the actual drawing of the eye itself In many cases, the longer part of the upper eyelid, that from the “peak” to the outside corner, is often close to a flat line Look for straight lines and observe their relationships to the rest of the eye shape’s contour to better “see” the eye shape EXAGGERATING THE EYE The exaggeration of any feature must be the rest of the face is taken into account, it done with the whole in mind, and not be might very well be that the eyes need to be treated as some separate entity Seen in a small and beady within a massive face vacuum, it might be tempting to exaggerate Exaggeration in caricature is all about the the size of the eyes because they have a relationships of the features to one another, round and wide eyed look However when and not the features themselves taken individually However many the especially the angle the eyes are at relative observations you might make about the to the center axis, and the shapes of the eyes can factor into the essential whole, eyes themselves The angle of the eyes is the easiest thing to exaggerate If the outer corners are higher than the inner, then you simply make them higher still, and vice versa Once you make the observation, doing the resulting exaggeration is easy Exaggerating the shape of the eye is a little trickier It can be easy to compromise the likeness, but when done right it actually enhances the likeness of the caricature That’s because the shapes of features are also describing the expression of the subject, and exaggerating expression is a central part of good caricature If someone’s eyes become squinty when they smile, drawing them squinty-er will exaggerate their expression as well as their face, and expression is personality Capturing personality is an essential goal If your eye shape is squinty, make it squintier of If it’s wide open, make it more wide open They should still look like the eyes you are drawing, but with your observations as a guide you turn up the volume a bit… or a lot if you can without losing the likeness Take this set of eyes that are very round and intense: We can exaggerate the shape of them as well as their look by emphasizing the whites surrounding the pupil/iris, and the roundness of the lower eye In this case I also exaggerate the angle of them by raising the outside corners Not by much in either case here… what I am or Mort Drucker: really exaggerating and trying to capture is the intensity of the eyes themselves Those little observations combine to allow me to get that piercing gaze An artist’s individual style aside, it comes to the same… seeing the shapes and uniqueness of the features and drawing it in a way that describes it for the viewer to understand Certain styles of caricature will go farther and “interpret” the shape and actually As always, caricature is about PERCEPTION change it into a representation of the shape and not hard physical reality In this picture, itself Here are those eyes as might be our perception of the eyes of this model is drawn by Al Hirshfeld: changed by the makeup surrounding them: like the inner whites of her eyes are much larger than the outer, giving her a “walleye” look that we can make fun of: The heavy eyeliner and over-thick exterior lashes near the outer canthus make her look Here are some caricatures from some of my sketches where the eyes are a central part of the exaggeration or personality of the subject Drawing eyes that really look back at the viewer can make for a startling effect Remember the exaggeration of the caricature involves all the features and their relationships The eyes may not be as important in another caricature, but as they are one of the chief agents of human communication and expression, they are always of import