Caricature art has been popular at carnivals and in newspapers and magazines for decades. A caricature is an exaggerated representation of its subject matter, typically as a sketch, that accents certain physical or personality traits to create what is often a humorous or satirical piece of work. With the graphics software available today, creating caricatures on your computer is easier than ever, and a lot of fun.
Instructions
1. Open your graphics software, go to the "File" menu and choose "New" to create a new blank document. Photoshop and GIMP are two popular graphics programs, both available for PC and Mac. GIMP is free. Either of these programs will work for drawing caricatures.
2. Use a reference photo of the subject you want to make into a caricature. Select the drawing tool and begin the outline of the subject you want to draw leaving areas you want to exaggerate blank. If you're going to expand the chin or forehead, leave those features blank until you have the rest of the outline finished. This allows you to proportion these feature appropriately.
3. Create a new layer from the "Layers" menu. This is like placing a transparent sheet over what you've already drawn. Drawing each element onto its own layer lets you remove only that layer if you make a mistake or want to make changes, leaving the rest of your caricature untouched. Draw the exaggerated features of the outline onto this new layer -- big chin, wide forehead or huge nose.
4. Create a new layer and do the facial features. Draw a few lines to give the face texture. You don't want to do too much detail here. It will take away from the exaggerated features. Do a little shading to bring out the eyebrows and nose, some color to add light points to the eyes, and lines around the mouth. Unless the facial details are part of the exaggeration, keep them to a minimum.
5. Sketch the hair onto your caricature. Pay attention to your subject's hair and use this feature to add to the exaggerated features of the drawing. If your subject has excessively curly hair or very thin hair, these are characteristics you want to emphasize.
6. Keep the body smaller than the head. This is a characteristic of caricatures. Think about how your subject dresses and exaggerate the style. If your subject has big biceps, exaggerate them in the body by making them out of proportion with the rest of the body.
