The other day, I grabbed a MAD Magazine back issue at a local BookSale shop. What prompted me to buy a still overpriced mag was its cover for that month -- lots of caricatures and a teeny weeny bit of Alfred Neuman's face. Hehe!
I'm always amazed at how someone's face can be translated to just a few strokes of a brush or a pencil or whatever tool and medium that the artist chooses. A how-to-caricature book would tell us that the trick to drawing a recognizable face would be to play up and exaggerate whatever obvious or unique features that a face have. But this is always a case of easier said than done. Finding that unique part to blow up in a person's face takes skill and practice. And these guys at MAD are really good at it!
Let's dissect a couple of those I love...
Isn't this Jack Black?!!! He really got pinned down on this one. That smirk, those bulging eyes, receeding rockstar hair built up this very funny drawing.
Two peas in a pod? That's Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon! I think Kinnear's lips did it for him. Matt was pinned down with his smile and pointy chin.
This one of Ben Affleck and J.Lo is hilarious! Ben has his hairstyle for the Gigli movie and his wriggly lips. J.Lo's got her sharp features and thin brows down pat.
While this is the style of caricature I want to emulate, there's a whole lot of other styles out there. This one below,
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got fewer lines but does the job equally well -- to look fun, quirky and spontaneous -- and still look like the people the artists intended them to be. Not some pantograph copied face with a badly drawn funny body. But that's just me of course. Hehe!
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