How to Draw Step-by-Step Caricatures

Caricatures are drawings of people that have been stylized and manipulated to emphasize specific prominent features of that person. For example, caricatures of Barack Obama often emphasize his tall forehead, large chin and wide grin. Caricatures are often intended to be humorous. Caricature artists are sometimes found drawing for money in parks and at fairs.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pencil

Instructions

1. Study your subject. What features are important to the structure of your subject? Do you notice anything about the face that is unusually large or small, or particularly brilliant or captivating? Does your subject have wide, beautiful eyes or huge earrings, or fluffy, curly hair? The best caricatures often start with the features of the subject that already seem exaggerated, in their natural state.

2. Draw the outline of the subject. Pay attention to the shape of the face--whether long and narrow, round and oval, or sharp and triangular. Your lines should be long, smooth, and confident. Caricatures often simulate a cartoon-esque style that will not come through if your drawing is uncertain, or sketchy.

3. Start filling in the features. Exaggerate and play with the features that you noticed before when you were studying the subject. The large should get larger and the small should get smaller. Do not worry too much about realism, but still manage to base your drawing on what you see in front of you.

   This will take practice. The inclination will be to exaggerate too much, or exaggerate the wrong things. Over time, you'll develop a sense of when to emphasize, and when a feature is perfect exactly like it is.

4. Add smaller, minute details and textures like the hair, freckles, teeth.

5. Add elements that go around the head like hats, hair, ears and ear rings. Like the rest of the portrait, this should all be drawn with smooth, confident lines.

6. Take a step back from your drawing and compare it to the face of your subject. Make corrections and alterations as needed.

7. Show your drawing to your subject. Gage the quality of the caricature by their reaction--do they laugh? Only smile? Are they offended? Learn from these reactions.

Tips & Warnings

• When you are still learning to draw caricatures, you may find that it is easiest to draw from people who already seem funny to look at. The hardest subjects are the people who seem to have nothing spectacular or strange about them. People with big noses, big smiles and big eyes all provide a good jumping off point for beginning caricaturists.

References

• How To Draw Caricatures
• You Tube: Drawing Caricatures

Resources

• Caricatures Online