How to Become a Caricature Artist
A good caricature artist can draw a caricature -- exaggerating the traits of the subject, often for satirical purposes -- while keeping the subject recognizable. By developing your drawing skills and your ability to recognize the best traits to emphasize, you can earn a living as a caricature artist.
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Instructions
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Study the craft. Drawing, like any art form, requires tenacity. There are numerous ways you can study the craft, depending upon how you learn best. Attending art classes, whether at a community college or as part of a degree in art, is the best approach for some people. Others learn best from the many art books available on the subject. Books like "Caricatures: Everything You Need to Know" by freelance artist Alex Hughes or world-famous caricaturist Lenn Redman's "How to Draw Caricatures" offer insight into the necessary skills for developing an eye toward caricature recognition as well as drawing techniques.
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Practice consistently. Regardless of the approach you take to learning the art of caricature, actually attempting to draw is the best way to learn. Sketch someone you know and whose character traits you are familiar enough with that you can judge your work. Your subject can be your significant other, a friend, a sibling or someone famous. Jay Leno is an example of a famous candidate to draw. He has a prominent chin that caricature artists have captured many times. Choose someone with a big nose, wide lips or big ears and draw with particular attention on these aspects. Test your ability to accurately depict someone in a caricature by allowing others who know the person to view your work and tell you who you've drawn.
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Draw your subject until you are able to easily replicate their features. Exaggerate ears, eyes, nose, mouth or other body parts to create a caricature. Practice is key to developing your drawing and observational skills.
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Watch people when you are out. Carry a pencil and sketch pad and capture brief sketches. This can be an effective practice exercise because you are typically going to have a limited time to determine which of their features you'll make the focal point of your caricature. Challenge yourself to make a quick sketch of these strangers, then develop the sketches into more detailed caricatures when you get home. The better you get at this, the closer you will come to being able to recreate what you see.
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Sell your work. Set up a booth at craft fairs and create custom caricatures for people on the spot. Local fairs are ideal for selling your work. Apply for a job at amusement parks, where caricature artists are often employed to draw caricatures of guests. Use the "Artists Market" to find magazines that purchase caricature art and submit your work to these publications by following the submission guidelines for individual publications. The guidelines are extremely specific. They tell you what to submit, where to submit it, how to submit and what you will be paid for your work. Craft websites such as Etsy allow you to sell your work in online stores and sell your work directly to customers.
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Display your work online. Register with a web hosting service and register a web domain name (for example, yourart.com). Most hosting services will do this for you as part of the service. Use your web host's built-in tools to upload scanned images of your artwork to an online gallery. This is an ideal way to attract interest in your work because it gives you the ability to reach a worldwide audience.
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References
Resources
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