- 1). Find either a model or a photo from which to work. Drawing a successful caricature requires walking a tight rope between realism and cartooning. Without source material to refer to, you will fall off that tight rope on one side or the other.
- 2). Look closely at your subject and try to see what makes him different from other people. Study the shape of your subject's head and find features unique to him. Most people do not have a huge honker or a Neanderthal's forehead so you will need to look beyond the obvious. Ask yourself questions about your subject. If drawing a pretty woman, what makes her appear beautiful? Does she have high cheekbones or doe eyes with thick lashes?
- 3). Sketch the shape of your subject's head. Unlike other forms of portraiture, the head may take just about any shape, not just an oval. In fact drawing an oval for the head shape will result in a very boring caricature. Find a way to exaggerate the shape of the head. It could look long, fat, or, in the case of high cheekbones, oval with protrusions jutting out of the horizontal center of the face.
- 4). Look at your subject again to study the relationship of his facial features. Draw basic shapes to map out the position of the eyes, nose and mouth. If your subject has close-set eyes, draw the football-shaped eye markers very close to the triangular nose. If he has a large chin, draw the mouth shape high on the face, close to the bottom of the nose. This "blueprint" of the face is where your caricature succeeds or fails, so don't rush through it. Take your time and make sure you nail the relationships and spacing before moving on.
- 5). Refer to your subject often as you begin to draw her features in detail. At this point you have pushed and pulled at her face in the pursuit of exaggeration, but capturing the person's likeness lies in the details. You may draw the nose bigger for exaggeration's sake, but it must still look like your subject's nose. Build up the illustration by sketching and refining the facial features, hair and shape of the face. To finish your caricature, add shadowing to make it really pop.
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