Caricatures are a distorted portrait of an object but needs a reasonable likeness. The subtle but very important skill in caricature art is being able to capture your subject’s personality and expressing it well as you learn how to become a caricature artist. A portrait artist attempts to recreate real-life pictures while a caricature artist focuses on exaggeration. Some over-exaggerate facial features; this is only a matter of style. Always start with the shortest subject if you are drawing multiple subjects on a single page. Rather than draw horizontally, stack them vertically on your paper. Art class 101 lessons of drawing circles for the head and then filling the eyes, nose and mouth is reversed. In sketching caricatures draw the insides of the face first and mentally get an idea of where the cheeks and chin will fall on the paper. Lightly sketch some boundaries, but leave finishing touches yet.

Begin with the eyes, the top eyelids first. Observe the distance, size and shape. Next draw the outline of the nose and note the relationship between the eyes and the nose. If your subject has a large nose, use thick lines, here is a good opportunity to exaggerate. When drawing the mouth, pay attention to the distance from the nose to the mouth. Observe the top lip. Is it thin or pouty? For wide-mouthed subjects, over-exaggeration works well here. Use softer lines. The face is drawn in a top to bottom order. Next, draw the chin, cheeks, and jaw in that particular order. The chin provides another opportunity to exaggerate. Drawing the chin first also automatically suggest how the jaw line ends. Remember this while learning how to become a caricature artist – exaggerations do not always have to be up-scaled.

Next, draw the ears and the inside hairline. At this point, the finished caricature will clearly show if or not they have a big forehead. Round up by drawing in the hair and head. If they have hair, be generous, bear in mind that the outer perimeter of the head is an edge so a thick line is needed. If the subject has thick, bushy eyebrows, or almost invisible ones, you want to bring this out when sketching it. Next, draw in the bottom eyelid and add the eye bags if present, next, eyeballs and return to finish the bridge of the nose. Next draw the cheeks, take note; some people have more cheek structure than others. The final steps are to add the minor details such as freckles, scars, and facial hair and your caricature is almost complete. Add finishing touches and now you have successfully mastered how to become a caricature artist.

Most of the time a picture that is straight on to the subject lacks an appealing dynamic and will likely make the subject seem wider than they are. The easiest way to eliminate this is to have your subject stand at an angle to the camera. The face should be slightly tilted to one side as the subject looks directly into the camera lens. Pay attention to the the size of the subjects eyes. There is always one eye bigger than the other. Make sure the smaller eye is closer to the camera to make it appear bigger.

Diffused light will make all the difference in a photograph. A slightly cloudy day will provide a huge soft filtered light. If you are indoors try shooting a subject with the light from a window. Avoid direct light. Position the subject at an angle to the light source and don’t be afraid to try a few different angles. Side light can be dramatic and make a person’s face seem thinner.

If you have a zoom camera you may like the effects a zoom camera will have on your subject. Zooming in makes a shallower depth of field and will blur the background making your subject “pop”. Also zooming will make the subjects body look more proportionate like it should. Also decideif you are going to get a shot of just the subjects upper body, three quarter length pose, or a full length portrait. Too often people don’t get in close enough to make a shot more personal. Make sure your camera can zoom in enough to fill the frame with a person’s head and shoulders without being too close to them.

Have your subject avoid standing on both feet evenly. It is better if they put all of their weight on their back and have a slight bend in their front leg. Whatever you do, do nothave your subject put all their weight on their front foot. Make sure they are slightly bent away from the camera and that they are holding their back up straight. If you want to capture the subject sitting down try using a stool or a bench to encourage good posture. What ever you do avoid straight lines. Eyes should not be perfectly parallel with the ground and neither should the shoulders. If you are taking pictures of a loved one make sure and be positive and bring out the best in them so they will smile from the eyes. This will be evident in a picture. If it is somebody you don’t know as well, make sure and compliment them and find things to connect with.