Caricature Express

I’m posting these here today because I’m trying to make sense out of it. To make sense out of Caricature - is it better than dull direct portraiture ~

I thought that if I saw them all together, I could judge it clearly.

First I made a direct simple Caricature of this lady. Easy to do - Nothing too exaggerated.

Then I exaggerated it a little. Something that I could still do in a first pass.

Then I let loose. Really blew out the nose:

Haha - yeah, like very funny. Nonsense. The first one, which would have been preferred by the woman - that one was the best one.

Looking at that 3rd picture - like, why was it so stupid? I realized that it could have been a lot better - if I had the feeling of the movement in it. Just shapes? That’s dull. But it’s funny to think how she could scrunch up that nose, squinking the eyes. I just want to try it. And Voila! The best picture of them all. Now this 4th picture has feeling, action, energy, Person-Al-ity. Yes, Caricature is better than Portraiture. If you want to look into the mirror, then do that. But if you can enjoy the Artist’s interpretation, if you want to have fun…..

I’m at it again.
Before going to Yoga, I revisited the picture from 08/06/08.
After Yoga, I drew it yet again:

Now I’m trying to relax more while drawing.
Beautiful approach for beautiful drawings.
Relax - now, that doesn’t mean to sleep!

I’m fluctuating between two approaches.
I guess I’ll work on both of them,
and use whichever one is appropriate at the time when I’m drawing.

The first approach - 3-d shapes. Like wedge, egg, pyramid, book,
dish-detergent-bottle. That sort of stuff. Definite decisions in the predraw instead of
wild scribbling. Here are 2 pictures (just the line-art) using that approach.
I was able to sit back and relax.
I like the results. Even before putting in any shading, it looks real solid:

Until I do maaaaannyyy of those though, I think the second approach will work better at parties.
It’s much faster. NO predraw at all this time. Just basic knowledge and simple shapes
- drawing from the inside out. As you can see in the following sample, though, this approach
usually grows too big for the page.

But when I try things like limited predraw of outsides before doing insides with marker
it gets stiff and boring to me. So now I’m thinking
of trying athird approach - no predraw - outside-in.
Stay tuned - I hope to post those studies soon.

Meanwhile, here’s the picture drawn from the inside out - with no predraw:

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

Studying continues.

Today I decided to simplify. At first, I thought this was perfect. Here’s a simple picture drawn with basic answers:

‘This will make my job easy’, I thought. So I drew another man. Ick - what a crummy picture. I had to draw him again. The 2nd one came out easily, but I can’t very well draw everybody 2ce at a party:

Maybe that was just a difficult Caricature. I tried the simple approach with another photo. Counfounded again. I was only satisfied with the 2nd picture:

Sooooo, it might look easy, it might be fun, but I still have to focus and work at it when I’m creating Artwork.

So there I was. Just watching tv, paper beside me. What to draw?

First I drew a picture loosely based on some innocuous character I saw on the screen.

Then I wondered if I could turn him into a 3/4 view just based on what I drew in the front view.

Then I wanted to pump-up the 3-dimensionality, but the supplies I had there were limited. Still, it passed the time pleasantly:

BTW, if You (Dear Reader) know who said that quote that popped into my mind when I saw this picture’s eyes, “If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”, please let me know. I couldn’t think of it just now, and I’d want to give credit to the originator.

optidust@gmail.com