This is the first of a series of articles I will post here on The MAD Blog about my theories, methods and processes concerning how to draw caricatures. A lot of this information is part of what I teach my theme park artists, so it is derived partly from the approach 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.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 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:
[Tom’s MAD Blog]
I love mad, and this lesson is actually pretty cool. I suggest you go and look it over. One other thing I thought was cool was that they, or at least Tom, uses Wordpress.
Also as a side, another reason to do the lesson. Is that I can see using this myself as entertainment at parties. Only bad thing… wondering how well I’ll do buzzed, and if I’ll really want to see the final drawings.
Tags: Art, comics, drawing, interesting tutorials, Wordpress
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