How to draw a caricature

The first stage is to LOOK at the basic shapes within the head. Then sketch these down as faithfully as you can. But, bearing in mind that we’re looking for a caricature, not a portrait, decide which key features need to be bigger or smaller than normal. Here, we can emphasize the pout and tip of the nose to great effect.

The next stage is a refinement of these quick pencil lines. The eyes become more defined and an idea of where tonal cross hatching will be effective is already indicated: Then we go into these quick sketchy lines and continue to refine them to a much more finished stage. now we are clear about where the ink has to go. The first ink stage is mainly outlines and at this stage we pause to check that the likeness is there. It is sometimes the case that what looked good at rough stage just doesn’t translate over when it is inked. Ink is such a definite medium that it can rob a drawing of immediacy which it nearly always has as a rough. Fortunately, I think this one succeeds and we are now ready to add the finishing touches by way of cross hatching which adds depth and brings a face to life. And there we have a finished caricature. I will often go over this in Photoshop adding colour, but a pure black and white caricature is always satisfying by itself. I now fully expect to have a lot of competition! Get your pencils out and start practising!