How to Learn to Draw Caricatures
Drawing a caricature involves deliberately distorting the features of someone's face to emote a greater emotional response. Caricature drawing is one of the oldest art forms, which indicates how much it is still loved by the average person. Psychological studies have shown that the whimsical and expressive nature of caricatures makes them easy to relate to, which is a possible reason for their popularity. The most fun aspect of caricature drawing is the artist's freedom to play with facial features and expressions.
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Instructions
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Start with the head shape: People's heads come in different shapes and sizes, so this is the first place you should look to and try to exaggerate when drawing a caricature. Ask yourself if your subject's head is block-shaped or round. Use a square or circle, respectively, as the basic shapes for your drawing. Also, pay attention to the shape of the chin, and how pronounced your subject's cheek bones might be. These are also elements that should be exaggerated.
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Figure out the proportions. When drawing a realistic head, the eyes are usually placed half-way between the top of the head and the chin, and the nose half-way between the eyes and the chin. When drawing caricatures, take the subtle differences in people's faces and accentuate them. If a person's eyes are slightly below the middle of his or her head, their forehead will look slightly bigger. When drawing your caricature, make the forehead of your subject look huge by drawing the eyes well below the center of the head. The same goes with moving the eyes up on the head to exaggerate the size of your subject's chin.
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Exaggerate the features. Once you have drawn the shape of the head and figured out where all the features go, it is time to draw in your caricature's eyes, nose and mouth. Again, look closely at your subject for features that are slightly different from the norm, and thus can be accentuated. Make your subject's slightly plump lips really big. Or make his or her slightly larger than average nose really long. Have fun and play with the proportions.
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Finish up your caricature by adding a neck, hair and ears. These are elements of a caricature that can really add variety to your drawing. Exaggerate the size of the ears and the thickness or thinness of the neck. Remember to keep the hair simple: Just a few strands will do.
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Tips & Warnings
Learn to draw from what you see around you. It is equally as important to be able to draw real people as it is to be able to distort features into caricatures.
Be careful which facial features you exaggerate, as some people are rather sensitive about the way they look. If a person has a facial feature which you know they don't like, try not to exaggerate that feature more than necessary.
