Part One: Basic Theory and the Five Shapes

This is the first of a series of articles I will post here on The MAD Blog about my theories, methods and processes concerning how to draw caricatures ! lot of this information is part of what I teach my theme par" artists, so it is derived partly from the approach of doing live, #uic"$draw caricatures %owever all of that can be applied to more studio orientated caricature wor" and I have also added points and concepts directly from the less time$constrained world of caricature illustration Therefore this is not instruction for &ust the live caricaturist but for any artist interested in caricature for any purpose These "inds of things always start out with a definition, but 'caricature( is a hard thing to pigeonhole into a single sentence %ow can you, when the word encompasses the elegant, minimalist lines of Al Hirschfeld to the lavish, value and color soa"ed paintings of Sebastian Kruger to the graphic, geometrical collages of David Cowles and everything in between) *espite the wild differences in style and techni#ue, 'caricature( is the tag that is placed on any of these wor"s of art without hesitation Obviously there is a connection beyond a common techni#ue, school or format So, what are the universal elements all caricatures have that identify them as caricatures) I would say there are three essential elements that transcend style and medium and must be present in a caricature:

Likeness- If you can+t tell who it is supposed to be, then it is not successful !ll good caricatures incorporate a good li"eness of their sub&ects E aggeration- ,ithout some form of e-aggeration, or a departure from the e-act representation of the sub&ect+s features, all you have is a portrait The level of e-aggeration can vary wildly, but there must be some departure ! straight portrait is not a caricature State!ent- I believe a caricature must editoriali.e in some way The artist must be trying to say something about the sub&ect It might be something to do with the situation the sub&ect is drawn in, it may &ust be a play on their personality through e-pression or body language, it might be a simple as ma"ing visual fun of some aspect of their persona or image /-aggeration itself can accomplish this in some cases The best caricatures say something more about the sub&ect than that they have a big nose

By my 0definition+, a successful caricature therefore looks like the subject, is exaggerated to varying degrees and also has something to say about the sub&ect1 some sort of editorial comment In 'live( caricature at a theme par", that third item is often turned way down or ignored completely, but in the case of caricatures for illustration, it+s an important part

Teaching Someone to See

I+ve been wor"ing with young caricaturists at theme par"s for over two decades now, and I+ve learned one very important lesson1 it+s impossible to teach someone to draw caricatures I can teach them to *2!,1 that isn+t so hard 3earning how a face loo"s

and wor"s by learning anatomy, how e-pression changes the features, how the angle the face is at changes the perception of features, how hair grows and falls about the head1 those are things that can be taught *rawing caricatures, on the other hand, is a lot more about seeing what ma"es the person in front of you uni#ue and personal interpretation than it is about ma"ing good, confident mar"s on the paper I can e-plain to someone e-actly how to draw a circle, but if I place a circle before them and as" them to draw it and they draw a s#uare1 well, that is all about seeing and not drawing The ability to see, and after that the ability to e-aggerate what you see for humorous effect in a caricature1 that has to be developed For most that means a lot of drawing and a lot of loo"ing %ave you ever been wal"ing along at the mall or where ever and along comes somebody with some cra.y, incredibly distinct face that maybe sports a gigantic nose or a 4ro$ 5agnon brow or some other obviously out$of$the$ordinary features) 4aricaturists have a term for that "ind of face1 it+s called a 'field day( Thin" about it for a second1 why is that face so ripe for caricature compared to the ne-t guy+s) !re the features really that different) If you too" a ruler and measured the si.e of 5r Shno..es+s nose compared to 5r 6ormal, the difference would be minimal So why is he so easy) Because you are S//I67 a difference based on perception, and that is giving you your springboard for a caricature One observation of what ma"es this person different from 'normal(, and you are off and running The obvious features are easy observations1 it+s 8ohnny and Susie 6ormal or, worse yet, 8ohnny and Susie Supermodel that are the challenge That is where developing an ability to 'see( becomes important There is no face that defies caricature, you &ust sometimes have to dig a little deeper to find the "eys to unloc" the more difficult pu..le In caricature, the old adage of 'practice ma"es perfect( has never been truer The ability to see doesn+t spring up overnight, and I often tell eager young caricaturists they have about 9:: or so bad caricatures in them they have to draw out first before they start noticing the subtle things that hide inside the 'ordinary( face !lthough I say it+s 'impossible( to teach someone to draw caricatures, it+s not impossible to help them develop their ability to draw them There are many ways and techni#ues to help an artist develop their ability to see what is in front of them, recogni.e what ma"es what they see uni#ue and then amplify that uni#ueness to create a successful caricature There are general concepts that apply to the overall approach of a caricature as well as specific tric"s and tips for individual features and important, main elements that I will be sharing over the multiple parts of this series of articles

The Five Shapes

The human face is perceived by many as an incredible comple- ob&ect There are about 9; muscles in the face, depending on your source and it+s categori.ation !ge, se-, race, e-pression <the face is capable of about 9,::: e-pressions= weight and environment can all play a role in the loo" and perception of a given face Sounds pretty comple- 6ot really /very building, no matter how comple-, starts out with a foundation and framewor" 3oo" at this simple drawing:

Show that drawing to any human being in the world and as" them what it is Barring a language barrier, they will tell you it+s 'a face( 6o other information needed In it+s most simple form, the human face is made up of only five simple shapes:

Place these shapes in their proper relationshi", and you have a human face It really is that simple *rawing the shapes accurately, so they recogni.ably represent the sub&ect+s

features, is the basis for a good li"eness Beyond that is nothing but details1 things li"e dimples, wrin"les, eyelashes, chee"bones, etc They are the decor to your building1 the millwor", furniture and drapery that ma"es the place uni#ue and filled with life ,ithout the strong foundation, however, it can all come tumbling down ,hat does that have to do with caricature) /verything I mentioned a single word in the last paragraph that really is the secret to caricature as a whole no matter what techni#ue or approach you intend to practice:

2/3!TIO6S%IPS
It+s the manipulation of the 2/3!TIO6S%IP of these five simple shapes that create the foundation for your caricature In fact, I+d argue that >:? of the entire caricature resides in how you relate these five simple shapes to one another It is the foundation upon which the rest of your building is built, where the real "ower of e aggeration is reali#ed 5a"e it good and almost all the heavy lifting is done, the rest merely referring to details ,hat do I mean by 'relationships() I mean the distances between the five sha"es, their si#e relative to one another, and the angles the$ are at in relationshi" to the center a is of the face *istance Si.e !ngle In traditional portraiture, the head is divided into 'classic proportions( <we+ll get into that more ne-t time=, meaning the relationship of the features are within a certain, accepted range of distance to one another, si.e and angle relative to the face and head shape @ou achieve your li"eness in a classic portrait, in it+s most basic form, by correctly drawing the shapes and then the details of each feature according to the model in front of you while staying within the framewor" of the 'classic( proportions Of course each face varies minutely here and there, but still you do not stray far from the classic formula In a caricature, li"e a portrait, the li"eness is also achieved by drawing the features as they really loo"1 but you change the relationship of the features based on your perceptions of the face The relationships you change are as I listed before: distance, si.e and angle 3oo" at these A/2@ simple drawings that demonstrate how you can change the relationships of the five shapes and create very different caricatures:

6o detail, and all the shapes are basically the same with the e-ception of the head shape <again, more on that later1 5B4% more= but all are distinctly different and when the

details are added will ma"e for highly varied caricatures The difference is the relationships between the features, and how they have been e-aggerated and changed 4aricature is not about choosing one feature and ma"ing it bigger, it+s about all the features together and how they relate to one another %ere are some #uic" studies of the 9 shapes beneath a few caricature s"etches:

The relationships differ in distance, si.e and angle from one another The bigger the differences are from 'classic( proportions, the more e-aggerated the caricature It+s much easier to see the differences when the details are removed and only the 9 shapes are left It+s also much easier to create those differences at this simple, fundamental level It+s easy to get caught up in details when the important information rests beneath the rendering %ow does one determine the 'correct( changes to ma"e to a given person+s feature relationships to ma"e a good caricature of them) ,ell, that+s the tric", isn+t it) That is were that pes"y 'seeing( comes in In his boo" 'How to Draw Caricatures', Lenn %ed!an uses a concept called 'The Inbetweener( as a basis for almost every observation It is basically the classic portraiture relationships used as a point of reference for ma"ing observations /very caricature begins with the observations the artist ma"es about the sub&ect, and how their particular face is perceived by them MAD legend &ort Drucker has been #uoted as saying that there is no 'one correct way( to caricature a sub&ect !ny given sub&ect can have several difference interpretations with respect to the e-aggeration of the relationship of their features1 and each may be as successful as the other That+s one of the uni#ue things about caricature as an art form Portraiture is basically absolute1 @our drawing either loo"s li"e the person with the correct features, proportions and relationships, or it does not 4aricature is sub&ective to a point The artists goal is to draw how they perceive the face, and e-aggerate that perception The result may be different than how others perceive that face, but if the three elements we described in our definition are present it+s still a successful caricature %irschfeld used to say he once drew 'i!!$ Durante without a nose at all, yet it was still recogni.able as *urante That+s not to say that any observation is appropriate1 after all you can+t give someone with a small, button nose a gigantic potato schno.. and call it 'e-aggeration( That+s not e-aggeration, it+s *ISTO2TIO6 @ou can, however, choose 6OT to e-aggerate the nose+s smallness but rather find something else to e-aggerate That is the caricaturist+s tas", to find what it is about the sub&ect+s face that ma"es it uni#ue and alter those relationships to e-aggerate that uni#ueness 6e-t time ,e will delve more deeply into the relationships of features, what to loo" for and some rules to follow when changing those relationships that will ma"e the rest of the face fall into place This How to Draw Caricatures tutorial and others of the same series on this website are art of a com lete book on drawing caricatures li!e and in illustration" entitled The 5ad !rt of 4aricatureC shi ing in #e tember of $%&$' This book is &() fully illustrated ages of com rehensi!e" in*de th instruction on the art of caricature" and goes far beyond the information ro!ided in these tutorials' +ou can re*order the book H,-,'

Part Two: 2elating the Features

Previously I mentioned how the relationships between features are the driving force behind caricature: '4aricature is not about choosing one feature and ma"ing it bigger, it+s about all the features together and how they relate to one another ( !ctually caricature is about changing the relationships between features, meaning their distance, si.e and angle relative to one another, from what they truly are and what is considered 'normal( *eciding what relationships to change and how much to change them is one of the caricaturist+s most important &obs, and one of the most difficult to 'learn( The actual difference between the relationship of features of most humans does not add up to much in terms of physical measurements1 a 'big( nose may be only a fraction of an inch larger than a 'normal( nose @et we can see different feature relationships on almost everybody, some which seem very pronounced That is because we spend basically our entire lives loo"ing into people+s faces1 we go it when we interact, wor", play, go shopping or to church1 we are social beings and our faces are both our identities and our method of communication Our ability to observe minute differences becomes very fine tuned 5ostly it+s unconscious, but we see that fraction of an inch larger nose as 'big(, or we see this person+s eyes as large or this person+s mouth as small based not on physical measurements but on our overall perception of the features and how they relate to one another 4onsciously ma"ing those observations, especially for those faces in which the uni#ue aspects are not obvious, is the most difficult part of drawing caricatures There are some techni#ues and methods you can use to help ma"e those observations

4lassic Portrait Proportion and Observation

It+s important to start somewhere, and the best place is with what is considered 'normal( relationships of features for two reasons First, "nowing these classic proportions will help you as a caricaturist to observe where your sub&ect+s face might differ by providing a point of reference to compare it to Second, once you+ve made these observations you can use that same point of reference, the classic portrait proportions, as a guide to get as far away from as possible to create your caricature 3et+s start out loo"ing at the classic human proportions in traditional portraiture <this is boring, but it+s important= One method that has been used for centuries is by using the width of an eye, from corner to corner, as the primary frame of reference:

In this method, the head is five eye widths wide, with a single eye width between the eyes, and between the outside eye corners and the outside of the head The nose is one eye width wide, and therefore the nostrils are e#ual to the corners of the eyes !nother simple method for establishing the 'normal( relationship between eyes and mouth is via the e#uilateral triangle that should be formed by the points of the outside corners of the eyes, and the center point of the bottom of the lower lip /very boo" on learning to draw the human face has some similar method of standardi.ing the proportions of the average face *o human faces really conform to these e-act relationships) 6o, of course not That+s the point There are differences from this face to that, some very slight and some more pronounced, and the caricaturist e-aggerates these differences to create a caricature Dnowing what is supposed to be there is half the battle of seeing where things are different !gain, ma"ing these observations is the tric"iest part of doing caricature, but the good news is you don+t have to come up with a shopping list of deformities in order to do a caricature In fact, all you have to do is come up with one good observation 8ust one, and

you can use that as your cornerstone and build your caricature around it It could be as simple as: this person has a s"inny face1 or big eyes1 or a small mouth1 or a s#uare &aw1 or a bent nose1 or whatever 5ore than one is better, but &ust one will suffice

!ction and 2eaction

,hy is only one observation enough) Because 'no feature is an island( ,hat I mean is that all the features relate to one another fundamentally, and you cannot ma"e a change to one feature without it affecting the others This is one of the few constants you can rely on with respect to drawing caricatures: Action and %eaction In physics every action causes an e#ual an opposite reaction In caricature the action of changing the relationship of a single feature to the others causes the others to react in often predictable ways @ou cannot change the eyes without affecting the nose, mouth, head shape, etc and how it affects those other features follows <for the most part= a predictable path Say we ma"e an observation about our sub&ect that the eyes seem far apart If we move the &ust the eyes farther apart and leave the rest of the face untouched, we have a bi.arre loo"ing result:

There is an awkwardness to the caricature ,e can+t ignore the effect on the other features The act of moving the eyes father apart forces the other features to react Typically when the eyes move father apart, the nose moves closer to the eyes, the mouth moves along with the nose, the head becomes wider and, in turn shorter:

The features work better together here !dditional observations can change the path of the reaction Say our observations are that the eyes are far apart, but the mouth is also far from the nose Because of that action, the lower part of the face must be longer, and therefore the top part of the head becomes smaller:

Hmmm. looks like my brother. %ead shape is often the most affected, and is not coincidentally a big focus In fact part three of this series will deal entirely with head shapes For now we will stic" with the interior features and their relationships

The 'T( Shape

I have tal"ed a lot about simplifying the face by boiling it down into the 9 Shapes, but it can get even simpler than that in terms of both ma"ing observations and in playing with the relationships of features to ma"e a caricature In fact I believe there are two absolutely crucial, "ey components to any caricature: The head shape and the (T) sha"e These are the two elements of a face I loo" at first and try to ma"e observations about, because with them I can push, stretch and e-aggerate the face to great effect with relative ease ,hen I tal" about the 'T( Shape I am spea"ing of the geometric shape created by the eyes and nose as a single unit In simplest terms they create a capital 'T( Sometimes the 'T( can be short and wide, sometimes it can be long and thin, or somewhere in between The angle at which the eyes rest to the center a-is of the face can change the 'T( into more of a '@(, or more of an arrow shape I treat the 'T( not as a set of simple lines but as a contour shape with thic"ness, therefore the stem <or nose= of the 'T( can be thic"er or thinner at one end or the other, and the arms <or eyes= of the 'T( can also change in

thic"ness to accommodate big round eyes or narrow, s#uinty ones Imagine a contour capital 'T( drawn around the eyes and nose in varying relationships

The shape of the 'T( reacts to changes you ma"e to the relationship of the eyes and nose In most cases the eyes and nose wor" in a predictable tandem within their relationship Imagine that the eyes and nose are connected by a string that travels through a two wheel pulleys located in the center of the eyes The length of the string is constant If the person+s eyes are moved farther apart, the string pulls the nose closer into the eyes If the nose is made longer, then the eyes are drawn closer together !ll of this ta"es place within the 'T( shape

The mouth, nose and chin have a similar connection they have a constant amount of distance between each other If the mouth is perceived as being close to the nose, the chin moves a little farther away as a reaction There are similar rules that apply to the head shape, which we+ll get into ne-t time

This is e-treme simplification, but a I have said before the simpler you can ma"e the shapes you are wor"ing with, the easier it is to e-aggerate them and create your caricature If you imagine a shape as simple as a 'T(, it+s very easy to e-aggerate that 'T( shape and then plug in the features as they really loo" within your simple shape and you have your caricature Ta"e a loo" at these caricatures and the 'T( shapes within their head shapes:

The 'T( Shape and head shape combine to create the base of your caricature, over them the 9 shapes further define the relationships of the features, and over the 9 shapes the features themselves are drawn and things li"e bone structure, anatomy, e-pression, s"in, hair and other details wor" to create the li"eness and bring the underlying structure to life It+s still all built on these simple foundations I would suggest as an e-ercise to forget about rendering and drawing details caricatures for a moment and fill up a few s"etchboo" pages with nothing but the head shape and 'T( shape of the faces you see when paging through a maga.ine *raw one #uic"ly using &ust your initial observations and first impressions of the face Then loo" bac" at it and try to see where it differs from the 'normal( template of classic proportion, then try it again, this time e-aggerating your first try *o this with a do.en faces a day, and see how your ability to 'see( the caricature in a given face develops This How to Draw Caricatures tutorial and others of the same series on this website are art of a com lete book on drawing caricatures li!e and in illustration" entitled The Mad Art of Caricature/ shi ing in #e tember of $%&$' This book is &() fully illustrated ages of com rehensi!e" in*de th instruction on the art of caricature" and goes far beyond the information ro!ided in these tutorials' +ou can re*order the book H,-,'

Part Three: The Importance of %ead Shapes

,hen I first started drawing live caricatures I felt that the eyes were the most important part of the face, and I put a lot of emphasis and focus on them I still thin" the eyes are a crucial element, but over the years I+ve come to believe that the head sha"e is the most important part of a caricature The head shape is the fulcrum upon which a caricature hinges The heavy lifting of all e-aggeration is accomplished via the shape of the head, and it is more easily accomplished that way 4onsidering that the head shape is a single shape, it is easier to recogni.e how that shape differs from 'normal( and it is easier still to draw a corresponding simple shape that e-aggerates those properties as opposed to the more comple- multiple relationships of the features By stretching and e-aggerating the head shape, you create the framewor" within which your other features and their relationships are drawn to achieve your caricature I have spo"en of the '9 Shapes( and the importance of their relationships already, but digging a little deeper it+s accurate to say that the head shape is 'Shape EF and the other four shapes are planets to it+s sun, wor"ing within it+s all encompassing field of gravity If a caricaturist can 'see( and e-aggerate the head shape, all the other features fall into place and follow along In the last lesson I tal"ed about the 'T( shape being a focal point of the basic caricature, but it+s really the 'T Shape( and the head shape together as a whole that acts are the basic foundation of a caricature ,ith those shapes and their relationships established, the rest of the caricature #uic"ly follows suit

Seeing the %ead Shape

I tal" endlessly about seeing shapes within the features and the face, and the importance of drawing those shapes accurately to capture li"eness and to create a convincing drawing !gain, it+s difficult to teach anyone to 'see(1 that ability is developed over time via practice and hard wor" Still, there are a few techni#ues and tric"s I have learned that can help artists to better see what is in front of them, and better interpret it in their drawing 5any wor" for any feature or 'shape( within the face, but some are specific for individual features %ead shapes have several of these tric"s for both initial observations and e-aggeration Classic *ro"ortion !s with 2edman+s 0(/veryman( concept, it+s important to have an understanding of classic human proportion an anatomy to have a springboard from which observations can be made This is important both for helping to see what ma"es a given face uni#ue by comparing it to those 'normal( proportions, and for helping to e-aggerate those uni#ue aspects by giving the artist a 'starting point( from which to depart as much as possible

The classic adult head is an oval, slightly flattened along the top The head is e-actly divided in half at the eyes, meaning there is e#ual distance from the hori.ontal line of the eyes to both the top and bottom of the head The head is five eye widths wide, and the widest point is typically at the temples, but can be anywhere from the chee"bones to &ust above the ears The distance, or more accurately the 'mass( of the head above and below the eyes, and how those two areas relate, is a crucial part of the head shape as it relates to caricature I will refer to it often Si!"lif$ing Sha"es The head shape is really made up of a lot of different features including chee"bones, chee"s, brow, &awline, chin, forehead, hair, etc ,hile these are all important elements of the whole, at this stage we need to treat the head as a single shape and "eep it as simple as possible Simple shapes are easier to draw, control and manipulate than ones with a lot of comple- elements to them It+s easy to get hung up on the details and not be able to see past them to the underlying foundation %ere are some tric"s to help ma"e initial observations and come up with a simple head shape: +, S-uint .our E$es This is an old portrait artists tric" S#uint your eyes or close them so you are loo"ing through your eyelashes at your sub&ect This eliminates the details and forces you to see only vague shapes and forms That ma"es it easier to see the simple shapes and drawn them

/, *oints of %eference I loo" for these with every feature I draw ,hat I mean by 'points of reference( is finding a specific point or part of a feature to use as an anchor point from which you can ma"e your observations /ach feature has uni#ue points of reference, but in general things li"e hori.ontal or vertical dividing lines can always be used for this purpose

,ith the head shape, the hori.ontal line create by the eyes is a good point of reference Bsing this imaginary dividing line, it+s easy to see how much of the head lies above that lie, and how much below I also will loo" for the widest point of the head shape, "nowing that once I have found these points I need only to ma"e sure the rest of the head shape lies in between them I will also loo" for straight lines along the contour of the head shape, and draw them accordingly Finally, I will loo" for points along the face contour where there is an angular change of direction The bac" of the &aw and sides of the chin will often have these points !ny or all of these points of reference can help you 'see( the rest of the head shape by comparing what is around it to the point of reference you have established 0, Sha"e Association This is a strange but effective way of grasping a simple head shape, and for e-aggerating it at the same time Try to associate the head shape of your sub&ect with the shape of some inanimate ob&ect you are familiar with 5aybe this person has a head shaped li"e a lightbulb <small, narrow bottom of the face with a big forehead= or that person+s head shape may remind you of a peanut <s#uee.ed at the temples= ,hatever stri"es you I don+t mean you draw a light bulb with the face on it, but rather use your imagination and "eep that ob&ect in mind as a template for the head shape you draw

Of course, it+s a fun e-ercise to draw those ob&ects with faces on them &ust for fun and practice *oing that helps your ability to spot those associations within your sub&ect+s head shape

/-aggerating the %ead Shape

I mentioned earlier that the head shape is a place where e-aggeration is most easily applied to the greatest effect This is because altering the head shape to any appreciable degree creates a drawing radically different than a portrait !ny change to the head shape from the 'normal( shape has a very high impact to the viewer, and the features, by way of their necessary relationships within the head shape, are forced to follow suit and become e-aggerated 5y analogy of the head shape being a 'fulcrum( is an apt one, because the slightest change in the head shape can radically change all other aspects of the face Because the head is treated as a single shape, it is relatively easy to ma"e those e-aggeration decisions and e-ecute them Bnli"e the interior features of the face, which change with e-pression, the head shape is a constant that only changes with the angle of the head, and then only as any ob&ect will change when rotating in space ,hen e-aggerating the head shape, all you really need is O6/ observation about it to build your caricature upon It could be as simple as observing that the model has a s"inny face, or a large chin, or a small forehead 5ultiple observations are great, but one strong one is

all you need because it will create a cascading effect with your drawing to define your caricature %ere are some methods of seeing and e-aggerating the head shape: +, 1isual 2eight One "ey to e-aggerating the head shape is to decide where the 'visual weight+ of the head lies That can be as simple as using the afore mentioned line of the eyes as a reference point and as"ing yourself 'does more of the face lie above the eyes, or below)( That is visual weight1 the placement of head mass relative to some point of reference li"e the line of the eyes

,e "now that in a 'normal( proportioned head the mass is e#ual %owever how we perceive the face is different than it+s physical measurements ,henever you can depart from the e#ual mass rule it+s important to do so That is caricature /, The Law of Constant &ass There are very few 'rules( that are universal as it applies to caricature1 things li"e e-pressions, posture and uni#ue physical attributes ma"e it almost impossible to be able to say 'this is always true( %ere is one rule that never changes, however, and it+s a powerful tool to create convincing e-aggerations1 the law of constant mass By using it, you can ta"e that 'one observation( about the head and follow through with the rest of the head shape Imagine you have sculpted a perfectly proportioned head out of wet clay @our head is done, but you have used up all your clay @ou decide you want to create a caricature rather than a realistic bust of your sub&ect 3oo"ing at the model you decide they have a large &aw, so you want to ma"e the &aw bigger ,ith no more clay to wor" with, you need to get that clay from somewhere to pac" on to the &aw and ma"e it larger ,here do you get it from) @ou ta"e it from the top of the head, ta"ing away from the si.e of the top to ma"e the bottom bigger That is the law of constant mass

The head has only so much mass @ou cannot ma"e one area bigger or smaller without affecting the other areas ! person with a big chin will automatically have a smaller top of a head 3i"ewise someone with a big forehead will also have a smaller bottom of a face This serves to create e-aggerations of higher impact, since the perception of a large &aw is made more pronounced when the top of the head is smaller It+s the same concept as when a gray value appears closer to white when surrounded by a much dar"er value and loo"s dar"er when surrounded by white The law of constant mass also wor"s sideways, with respect to the width of a face1 if the face is very wide you need to ta"e mass from both the top and bottom to create that width Of course this will also affect the relationships of the interior features, because they must now fit within he e-aggerated head shape 0, %ubber Conce"t !nother way to thin" about how the entire head shape is affected by a single observation is to imagine a head made of soft, goo filled rubber 6ow if we ma"e the observation that our sub&ect has a narrow face, we need to s#ueeee.e our rubber head li"e a vice to ma"e it narrower The effect of this is that the head bulges out on the top and bottom If we decide the head is wide, we pull the outsides out1 the result is the top and bottom get suc"ed in If we s#uee.e the forehead, the &aw bulges out

,hat is good about this method is that if we imagine the features of our sub&ect also molded into the initial rubber head, we can see how they will faithfully follow the s#uee.ing, stretching and it+s conse#uences It+s important to trust the follow through of the cause and effect associated with the e-aggeration of the head shape via the law of constant mass andGor the rubber concept when drawing a caricature /ven if that lantern &awed sub&ect does not appear to have a small top of the head, it is important to follow through with that moving of the mass if you want to emphasi.e that &aw and maintain a balance in your drawing1 otherwise your e-aggeration will be aw"ward and a lot less clear The shape of the head is a crucial element to a good caricature1 arguably T%/ crucial element !ccurately observing the head shape, ma"ing good decisions on where to place the visual weight and e-aggerating that shape is central to an effective caricature This How to Draw Caricatures tutorial and others of the same series on this website are art of a com lete book on drawing caricatures li!e and in illustration" entitled The Mad Art of Caricature/ shi ing in #e tember of $%&$' This book is &() fully illustrated ages of com rehensi!e" in*de th instruction on the art of caricature" and goes far beyond the information ro!ided in these tutorials' +ou can re*order the book H,-,'

Part Four: *rawing /yes

I+ve written in past tutorials on drawing caricatures that you can+t really teach someone to draw caricatures1 that is more about developing their 'sight( and observation s"ills and also developing an ability to find that which ma"e an individual face uni#ue and e-aggerating it Since every face is different this is an e-ercise in personal observation and decision Therefore after I have gone over the information in my pervious tutorials, I switch gears an concentrate on teaching roo"ie live caricaturists how to draw the individual features, both how to see them, e-aggerate them and how to draw them in line to best effect %ere is where style becomes an issue ,hat I have written about previously can apply to almost any style of caricature, from the richly painted to the most minimalist of line In these ne-t series of tutorials some aspects of what I tal" about will relate specifically with a style of caricature li"e my own1 based on cartoon line either in"ed or in some other medium Therefore those with different sensibilities and styles can ta"e from it what they will and apply what ma"es sense to them, and ignore the rest I will try to center my discussion on that which applies to a broader range of styles than &ust my own 5y method for teaching the individual features begins with a lesson on real anatomy I+m not a big believer in memori.ing every anatomical name but I do believe you must have a good wor"ing "nowledge of how a feature is put together in order to have a good command over the drawing of said feature Following the anatomy lesson, I tal" about different techni#ues to help 'see( the shape of the feature and understand how to draw it, including realistic proportion Finally I tal" about interpreting the feature in terms of e-aggeration and incorporating it into the whole

Points of 2eference
Seeing and drawing anything is all about shapes and the correct drawing of them or in the case of caricature the correct drawing of the e-aggeration of them /ither way you still have to 'see( the ob&ect you are drawing and understand it+s form first ,e have all seen depictions of artists on TA raising their arm outstretched towards their models with the thumb out from the fist and s#uinting their eyes before drawing That is supposed to represent an old artist+s tric" of using their thumb, or hand, or pencil or some other ob&ect to measure their sub&ect+s features relative to one another, or to see angles or other relationships The thumb is supposed to be a 'point of reference(1 a constant that is used to ma"e accurate observations of the sub&ect /stablishing points of reference in the face is "ey to helping to 'see( shapes and ma"e observations ,ith each feature and the face overall I will suggest several things I use as constant points of reference, which I can then use as a starting point from which other observations are based !ny "ind of drawing can benefit from this simple concept Our first feature is the eyes I+ve always felt that the eyes of a caricature are the center of everything, literally the center of the face but figuratively the center of e-pression,

personality and 'life( as it were Therefore I+ve always place special emphasis on the eyes and begin and end with them, after the head shape, as the focus of almost any caricature

!natomy of the /ye

The human eye is made up of an round orb <eyeball= that rests in and slightly protrudes from a soc"et of bone and tissue, surrounded orbital muscles and by covered by s"in in the form of eyelids The visible parts of the eyeball include the pupil <blac" circle in the center of the eye=, the iris <colored area around the pupil= which includes the stroma <the thread$li"e fibers that radiate from the pupil out to the edge of the iris=, and the sclera <whites of the eyes= The tissue surrounding the eyes include the inner and outer canthus <the 'corners( of the eyes=, the caruncula <the small, reddish, oval shaped piece of tissue in the inner corner which is sometime incorrectly referred to as the 0tear duct+=, and the semilunar fold <where the eyeball meets the caruncula= The eyelids consist of the upper and lower lid plates <the actual eyelids that fold down and up to cover the eyeball=, the eyelashes or cilia, which are attached to the free edges of the lid plates in a double or triple row and are short, thic" and curved hairs

Seeing the /ye Shape

*espite what I said about the importance of the eyes, the eye is still &ust another feature and it has a shape li"e any other feature of the face ,hen I refer to the 'shape( of the eye I am tal"ing about the visible portions of the eyeball, created by the space between the upper and lower lids

The e-terior part of the eyes, li"e the lids themselves and the area that surround the eye also are very important in capturing the eye itself, but it+s that initial shape that you use and a springboard for the rest of the eye In order to 'see( the eye shape, you must ignore the pupil, iris and all the lines and visual noise that surround the eye, and loo" at &ust the pure shape Imagine an eye this pure white li"e the /-orcist eye1 that white is the shape you are loo"ing for 2emember also that the eye is not flat, but protrudes #uite a bit from the face and the lids have a definite thic"ness to them

Typically the eye is 6OT shaped li"e a football or an almond The upper and lower lids are not mirror images of each other In fact, they are very different The lower lid is usually much less of an arc than the upper lid, moving more straight across from corner to corner The upper lid overlaps the lower lid in the outer corner, and and is farther removed from the hori.ontal a-is of the eye, which is created by an imaginary line connecting the corners This hori.ontal a-is, or 'corner to corner( line, is a central part of

ma"ing observations about the eye, it+s shape and it+s relationship with the rest of the face 5ore on that in a second The eye shape is more of an asymmetrical ying$yang shape that a symmetrical almond The upper lid line rises somewhat sharply from the caruncula, pea"s about EGH of the way across the eye and then arcs more softly towards the outer corner The lower lid does the opposite, it+s 'pea"( being it+s lowest point, about not #uite EG; of the way from the outer corner in, and arcing to the caruncula In the simplest of geometric terms, the eyes are #uadrilaterals with the four points being the inner and outer corners, the highest point of the upper lid and lowest point of the lower lid 6aturally we don+t draw the eyes with straight lines connecting the dots, but in 'seeing( the shape in simple terms li"e this we can use these points of reference to better capture the shape of the eyes, as well as using them to manipulate the feature for e-aggeration purposes 3et+s get bac" to the 'corner to corner( line I mentioned earlier This is very useful in helping to determine not only the shape of the eye, but it+s relationship to the a-is of the face Imaging the line going from the outside corner of each eye inward to the inside corner and then onward to the center a-is of the face, what we really have it the central angle of the arms of the 'T Shape( I tal"ed about in an earlier tutorial By loo"ing at how that line intersects the eye itself, we can see how much of the eye shape lies above the line, how much below, where the contour lines of the eye shape travel along that line ,e can also see at what angle the eye lies to the center a-is of the face !re the outside corners of the eyes higher than the insides) 3ower) /ven) !re they the same or is one different than the other) @ou can use the line to e-aggerate the angle you see to great effect The 4orner$to$4orner line is a great tool for observation and 'seeing( the eye itself, as well as a point of reference both both accurate drawing and observation

!nother method I use for understanding the eye shape is to loo" for any straight lines in the contour of the eye 3ines that are straight or nearly straight can be used as another point of reference for seeing the rest of the eye and also used as beginning points for the actual drawing of the eye itself In many cases, the longer part of the upper eyelid, that from the 'pea"( to the outside corner, is often close to a flat line 3oo" for straight lines

and observe their relationships to the rest of the eye shape+s contour to better 'see( the eye shape

/-aggerating the /ye

The e-aggeration of any feature must be done with the whole in mind, and not be treated as some separate entity Seen in a vacuum, it might be tempting to e-aggerate the si.e of the eyes because they have a round and wide eyed loo" %owever when the rest of the face is ta"en into account, it might very well be that the eyes need to be small and beady within a massive face ,xaggeration in caricature is all about the relationshi s of the features to one another" and not the features themsel!es taken indi!idually' %owever many of the observations you might ma"e about the eyes can factor into the essential whole, especially the angle the eyes are at relative to the center a-is, and the shapes of the eyes themselves The angle of the eyes is the easiest thing to e-aggerate If the outer corners are higher than the inner, then you simply ma"e them higher still, and vice versa Once you ma"e the observation, doing the resulting e-aggeration is easy /-aggerating the shape of the eye is a little tric"ier It can be easy to compromise the li"eness, but when done right it actually enhances the li"eness of the caricature That+s because the shapes of features are also describing the e-pression of the sub&ect, and e-aggerating e-pression is a central part of good caricature If someone+s eyes become s#uinty when they smile, drawing them s#uinty$er will e-aggerate their e-pression as well as their face, and e-pression is personality 4apturing personality is an essential goal If your eye shape is s#uinty, ma"e it more s#uinty

If it+s wide open, ma"e it more wide open They should still loo" li"e the eyes you are drawing, but with your observations as a guide you turn up the volume a bit1 or a lot if you can without losing the li"eness Ta"e this set of eyes that are very round and intense:

,e can e-aggerate the shape of them as well as their loo" by emphasi.ing the whites surrounding the pupilGiris, and the roundness of the lower eye In this case I also e-aggerate the angle of them by raising the outside corners 6ot by much in either case here1 what I am really e-aggerating and trying to capture is the intensity of the eyes themselves Those little observations combine to allow me to get that piercing ga.e

4ertain styles of caricature will go farther and 'interpret( the shape and actually change it into a representation of the shape itself %ere are those eyes as might be drawn by !l %irshfeld:

or 5ort *ruc"er:

!n artist+s individual style aside, it comes to the same1 seeing the shapes and uni#ueness of the features and drawing it in a way that describes it for the viewer to understand !s always, caricature is about P/24/PTIO6 and not hard physical reality In this picture, our perception of the eyes of this model is changed by the ma"eup surrounding them:

The heavy eyeliner and over$thic" e-terior lashes near the outer canthus ma"e her loo" li"e the inner whites of her eyes are much larger than the outer, giving her a 'walleye( loo" that we can ma"e fun of:

%ere are some caricatures from some of my s"etches where the eyes are a central part of the e-aggeration or personality of the sub&ect *rawing eyes that really loo" bac" at the viewer can ma"e for a startling effect 2emember the e-aggeration of the caricature involves all the features and their relationships The eyes may not be as important in another caricature, but as they are one of the chief agents of human communication and e-pression, they are always of import

This How to Draw Caricatures tutorial and others of the same series on this website are art of a com lete book on drawing caricatures li!e and in illustration" entitled The Mad Art of Caricature/ shi ing in #e tember of $%&$' This book is &() fully illustrated ages of com rehensi!e" in*de th instruction on the art of caricature" and goes far beyond the information ro!ided in these tutorials' +ou can re*order the book H,-,'

*art 3ive4 Drawing 5oses

In this ne-t <and long delayed= installment of my '%ow to *raw 4aricatures( series of tutorials we will e-amine the ever popular and often abused nose I thin" the most common feature that gets e-aggerated in a caricature is the nose 5any people actually thin" the definition of caricature is a drawing with a big nose ,hat is it about the nose that ma"es it such a ripe target for e-aggeration, so often pic"ed on <pardon the pun= that even the layman notices) Simply put, the nose is the most obno-ious of features It sits in the very center of the face It is a very vertical feature when compared to the hori.ontal nature of the eyes and mouth It stic"s out radically from the plane of the face, much more in relief than any of the other features It+s so prominent that it+s all too often used as a de$facto way to 'e-aggerate( the face The fact is that the nose is li"e any other feature1 its perceived relationship with the other features determines the e-tent and direction of the e-aggeration 5any people have small, button noses that need to be made smaller by way of e-aggeration In some cases the end of the nose may rest close in between the eyes, and in others it+s very far way down the face Some people have big, hon"ing schno..es that need to be stretched In short, despite its prominence the nose is no different that the other features1 it must be e-aggerated and drawn in the manner the feature itself calls for

The Anato!$ of a 5ose

The nose is a combination of bone and cartilage made up of various parts that while uni#ue in appearance and relationship in the individual nonetheless, as in any feature, are the same in all people Starting from the top, the area between the eyebrows is called the glabella The area directly between the eyes is the root or bridge The area e-tending from the root down towards the end of the nose is called the lateral surfaces The end or 'ball( of the nose is called the ape- The two 'wings( of the nose, the areas that define the outside of the bottom of the nose and the outside of the nostrils are called the ala The septum is the area that connects the ape- to the face and separates the two nostrils, which are the cavities that open into the interior of the nose and the nasal passages The alar furrow is the crease made by the separation of the ala and the chee" muscles The nose 'grows( out of the brow, and is connected at the top of the feature by the brow ridge and at the bottom, to the lipsGmouth by the philtrum and the nasolabial furrow The upper part of the nose, including the brow, glabella and root is bone1 the 'root( or bridge protrudes from the brow of the s"ull and then ends about EGI to EGH of the way down the nose itself !fter that the nose is all cartilage and soft tissue Because cartilage continues to grow throughout your life, your nose continues to grow and will alter shape as you age <ears are the same way= That is why many older people have larger noses, and why drawing a larger nose on someone ma"es them loo" older in the drawing

Seeing the 5ose Sha"e

Sa! 1iviano, acclaimed caricaturist and art director for MAD Maga0ine, once offered an e-planation of how sometimes your reference can 'lie( to you about your sub&ect that uses the nose as an e-ample, and that I now relay all the time to artists to describe the challenges involved with ma"ing accurate observations of this feature Bac" in the J:Ks there was a movie called '2o-anne( starring Steve &artin and Darr$l Hannah It was a modern retelling of '4yrano de Bergerac(, with 5artin in the 4yrano role In 5artin+s first scene he+s in a conversation with his face loo"ing directly into the camera for several minutes %e loo"s normal Then he turns to the side, and you see he has an incredibly long, Pinnochio$li"e nose From straight on, it was impossible to see That describes in a nutshell the difficulty of both observing and drawing the nose from a straight on, full face view both from photo reference or from life The nose has no real edges between the root and the nostrils1 it+s all curves and fleshy tissue Foreshortening perspective and the lac" of hard edges can fool the eye into not seeing the nose as it really is This is easily remedied ,hen wor"ing from photo reference ma"e sure you have ade#uate e-amples of the sub&ect from many different angles so you have ample opportunity to see the nose from various viewpoints /ven if you are basing your caricature on a specific photo, it !3,!@S helps to have e-amples of different angles of the face so you can avoid being fooled by the '2o-anne /ffect( If you are wor"ing from life, as" the sub&ect to turn to the side once so you can see their profile Seeing the nose from both the front and the side will give you the whole story !nother complication of seeing and drawing the nose is how radically it can change with the angle of the head position Of course all the features change with the head angle1 but the nose+s high degree of relief from the plane of the face ma"es it the most susceptible to change ! person who+s head is tilted bac"ward shows much more nostril, the ape- is higher than the bac" of the nostrils, the septum is visible and the nose appears shorter If the head is tilted forward, the ape- drops below the bac" of the nose, the nostrils disappear, the nose seems longer and the space between the mouth and nose smaller HGI views create even more variations on the shape !ll this can ma"e observing the nose and it+s shape<s= challenging but understanding the nose well will help ma"e accurate observations Because the nose doesn+t have any hard edges, especially between the root and bottom, I treat those two elements li"e boo"ends and fill the rest of the nose in between The root and the nose bottom <including the ala, nostrils, ape- and septum= have more definition than the softer edges of the nose+s lateral surfaces, which ma"es them easier to see and draw From straight on, the nose is a basic triangle and in most cases narrower at the root than at the bottom There are e-ceptions to everything of course, but that+s a good generali.ation to begin ma"ing your observations !ctually some observations and choices about the nose should already have been made bac" when we loo"ed at the overall face and the T$Shape, so these more specific observations are &ust building on our more general ones I loo" at three different 'measurements( or relationships of the nose to understand it+s shape: First, I loo" at the width of the root or bridge of the nose compared to the overall nose shape It is usually narrower than the width of the bottom of the nose, but if it+s close to

the same width the overall effect is a thic" nose and I might want to e-aggerate that Some people have a very narrow root, loo"ing li"e there is a pencil under their s"in between their eyes Others might have a wide root, with that thic" nose loo" 6e-t I loo" at the lower nose, and ma"e comparisons between it and the rest of the face 4onsider the relationship between the lower nose and the eyes There is distance of course, although after our T$shape observations earlier we should have a fair idea of that relationship %ow about the width) ,here does the outside of the ala lie compared to the eyes) In classic proportion, the lower nose is one eye distance wide, ma"ing it+s edges even with the inside corners of the eyes Is there a reason <or opportunity= to change this) If the nose seems wide, ma"ing it wider than the inside corners of the eyes ma"es for an effective e-aggeration If you observed earlier the face itself is wide and you drew the eyes far apart accordingly, then &ust drawing the nose width even with the inside eye corners will give you a wide nose The final relationship is the space between those 'boo"ends(, i e the root to the lower nose !gain, this is part of that crucial T$shape I "eep referring to, and much of what we do with the nose is predicated on that T$shape Bear in mind that the distance you draw the nose from the eyes will affect the perception of the width of the nose itself ! nose drawn closer to the eyes will appear wider than one drawn far away from the eyes, even if the actual width of the nose drawn is the same !s with any feature, simplification of the shape is the "ey to not only drawing accurately, but being able to more easily e-aggerate the shape Try to forget about all the wrin"les, frec"les and other distractions of the nose Imagine the basic shape that is created by the three measurements I mentioned above %ere are four different noses, each with a distinct shape, represented by the geometric shape ne-t to it The details of the nose are drawn within this shape using this simplified shape we can more easily e-aggerate it and simply plug in those details as they relate to your e-aggerated shape

I mentioned earlier that the angle of the head will ma"e a big difference in how the nose is perceived and drawn The nose has an angle of it+s own as well /ven from directly straight on, the ape- of the nose rests at some angle to the bac" of the nose ,hile that angle can be of any increment, I+ve found it helpful to classify the one into one of three basic categories in terms of angle This helps with observation as well as giving us a chance to e-aggerate this angle if we feel it+s warranted The three angles are pretty simple: Bpturned, straight$on and down$turned

!n u"turned nose is one were the ape- is higher than the rear of the nose, where the septum meets the ma-illa <area of bone between the teeth and the nose= @ou can see most or all of the nostrils with the upturned nose, and the ma-illa area is totally visible and often loo"ing large in area 3ots of "ids have this type of nose The straight-on nose is when the ape- is even with the rear of the nose, and is stic"ing straight out at the viewer The septum is only visible slightly as it+s seen curving bac" under the nose to the ma-illa Some nostril is seen, usually as &ust a slit or narrow oval of dar"ness under and to each side of the apeThe down-turned nose is where the ape- is lower than the rest of the nose The nostrils are not visible at all, nor is the septum The ape- often comes close to the upper lip, and some of the ma-illa area is covered by the end of the nose 5any elderly people have this type of nose Identifying one of these three angles as relating to our specific nose and using it as a general guideline will help us ma"e decisions and observations

Drawing the 5ose

/-plaining specifically how to draw the nose is complicated as the different angles and variations of even a single nose with respect to head angle, rotation and drawing style ma"es for a lot of variables Therefore in the interest of simplicity I am going to stic" with a front view <which is the most difficult to do anyway= and e-plain how I would approach drawing a nose in a live caricature in my line style !ctually for you live caricaturists this step by step might be more useful than a lot of general drawing tips For those who are wor"ing in different styles of rendering and drawing either live or in a studio, get from it what you can I draw live caricatures <and in"ed ones in 5!* and other freelance &obs= with lines The trouble with that is lines define edges, and the nose has very little in the way of edges, especially from the difficult straight$on angle 3ines are harsh things that demand definitions and are uncompromising If I draw the side of the nose in line, it loo"s flat, if I leave the lines out, it loo"s undefined and shapeless The tric" is to ma"e the nose loo" li"e it protrudes from the face, but have it still retain the rounded feel of a nose There is a way to do this: using line weight variation and my secret weapon1 I cheat That+s right ,hen I draw a straight on caricature, I cheat the nose slightly to to a HGI angle In this way, combined with lighter line weights to define the area between the root and the ape-, I can create the suggestion of a H$* nose that is well connected to the face without a lot of rendering The "ey is to establish a strong root and nostrilGalaGape- area, then connect the two together and to the rest of the face

1e2!e got our eyes drawn already +, Start with the root$ ,hen drawing live I wor" from the eyes down and then outward with each face, so I begin by drawing the root structure between the eyes This is accomplished using I lines, the distance between which is that root measurement we observed before The inside two lines define the upper edges of the root that connect with the brow This area is thin s"in stretched over the nasal bone, and has a more defined and stronger edge to it than the rest of the nose The brow also tends to throw some shadows in here, which adds to the definition of the edges I use fairly sharp lines here but not very bold They curve coming down from the brow area and then start heading toward the ape-, but taper #uic"ly away to nothing These lines define the upper plane of the root, connecting it to the brow and into the lateral surfaces

The two sets of lines that define the root The second set of lines boo"ends the inner lines &ust drawn These represent the tops of the lateral surface, or the fleshy area of the sides of the nose leading into the chee"s on either side The top edge of this line roughly coincides with the eye soc"et bone These lines also usually define an area that is dar"er, directly underneath the thin light s"in beneath the eye, which tends to catch the light These lines start close to the inside line, but then curve away to suggest an oval as it tapers away about EGH into the eye width

#ome lines for shading I often add a few simple shadow, light shading lines between the lines to add some shadow and depth on both sides I will also occasionally add some light parallel hori.ontal lines across the root to establish some of the protrusion of the brow /, 5e t 6 !ove to the botto! of the nose$ This is where that overall shape, the T$shape and all those earlier observations about the general face shape and decisions for e-aggeration really come into play In the studio I+d be s"etching in the overall shape first and then drawing the lower nose within it, but drawing live I have not that lu-ury I start by defining the length and width of the entire nose by drawing the ala on each side These lines can be stronger as they have definite edges, albeit curved and rounded ones

Drawing the ala lines defining the nose sha e' 0, Draw the nostrils and se"tu! 7if visible8- In the case of a down$turned nose, you can draw one line from ala to ala, with the ape- in the center of the line The nostrils are the

dar"est lines of the nose There is usually some separation between these lines, although the septum can be drawn as connecting he two nostrils

3ostrils4se tum distinctly se arate 9, Draw the a"e - This is tric"y there are no real lines to define it Some ape-es are round, some are oval Others are bo-y or triangular or even separate shapes split by a crease <the butt noseC= 3oo"ing at that profile again would help at this point The lower half of the ape- is the most defined, as the edge of the shadow from under the nose creates a more obvious plane If the nose is straight$on or down$turned, you can draw a solid line for the bottom of the ape- 8ust remember you are using these lines to define the shape of the end of the nose, so if it+s a round ape- than use a rounded line If it+s s#uare, use a straight line I usually add some simple shading lines here, helping to define what might be a highlight at the end of the ape- The upper part of the ape- is tric"ier I usually &ust draw some very thin lines here, often two basically parallel ones that suggest the top of that ape- shape without ma"ing it too harsh The top and bottom ape- lines can be further strengthened by the addition of side lines, but the ape- would need to be a very strong and defined shape to do that

Delicate lines suggest the rounded a ex sha e :, Connect the root and a"e of the nose- %ere+s where the cheating comes in I draw one line longer and more defined than the other side This is a slight cheat to a HGI view that I incorporate into the straight on view I am drawing It+s a subtle cheat, and will help the nose seem more substantial There are much lighter lines, and must taper and fade away as they approach the ape- They should !PP/!2 to be heading for either side of the ape- at the end of the nose, but disappear on their way there

;, Connect the nose to the rest of the face$ *raw the alar and nasolabial furrow lines <lines that e-tend from the top of each ala to wrap around the corners of the mouth= so that you tie in the bottom of the nose to the rest of the face ,or"ing live I save these lines until after I have drawn the mouth itself The root is connected to the brow by those first lines we drew 4onnecting the nose into the brings it into the whole

Conclusion
This is &ust one method of drawing the nose, from a specific angle and using a specific techni#ue *rawing the nose <and the face for that matter= from a straight$on is less interesting and effective as drawing it from some variation of a HGI view, but sometimes you need a straight on shot and that+s it /specially when wor"ing live, most people li"e being drawn as they see themselves daily1 from straight$on In the studio, however, more interesting angles ma"e for more interesting drawings, and it+s much easier to draw the nose from anything but a straight$on view ! profile is even easier I will often decide to draw a given face at a HGI angle specifically because the sub&ect has a great nose that needs that angle %ere we learned a simplified anatomy of the nose, suggested some categories of different nose types to loo" for and some "ey areas of the nose to ma"e observations of to help grasp the shape of the nose itself and then to simplify it to aid

e-aggeration ,e also too" a page from the live caricaturist+s handboo" to learn how to draw an effective straight$on nose in a live, line based style The nose is the literal center of the face, but not necessarily the center of the the caricature It+s too easy and la.y to resort to abusing the nose with every caricature Ta"e a good loo" at your sub&ect, decide what ma"es that face uni#ue and put the attention and e-aggeration on those features If it+s the nose, then it+s the nose !s with any feature, always remember itLs the 2/3!TIO6S%IP it has with it+s neighboring features that is the cru- of a good caricature, not the e-aggeration of a single feature %ere are some interesting noses from past s"etch of the wee" and various other sources for you to loo" at and see what observations I made and e-aggerations I decided on:

This How to Draw Caricatures tutorial and others of the same series on this website are art of a com lete book on drawing caricatures li!e and in illustration" entitled The Mad Art of Caricature/ shi ing in #e tember of $%&$' This book is &() fully illustrated ages of com rehensi!e" in*de th instruction on the art of caricature" and goes far beyond the information ro!ided in these tutorials' +ou can re*order the book H,-,'

*art 3ive4 Drawing &ouths

3i"e all features, mouths follow certain tendencies with regards to the sub&ect+s se-, race, and age 5ore so than the other features, the mouth changes 2!*I4!33@ with e-pression It is by far the most e-pressive part of the face, even more than the eyes !s a result, drawing the mouth becomes not only an e-ercise in observation of its structure, but sensitivity to its pro&ection of the sub&ect+s emotions The real "ey to capturing 'personality( in a caricature rests in the eyes and mouth ,hen a live caricaturist hears the magic words from the friends of their sub&ect e-claim: '%e !3,!@S has that loo" on his faceC T%!T+S %I5C( you "now you &ust read the sub&ects e-pression right and captured it in the drawing That is what you strive for1 not &ust the li"eness, and not &ust e-aggeration, but 4%!2!4T/21 P/2SO6!3IT@ That is what ma"es a drawing come to life and spring from the surface of the paper 5ouths are a central part of this, both in and of themselves and more importantly how they are relating to the rest of the face The mouth is a comple- feature It+s made up of bones, muscles and tissues that create many distinct elements li"e teeth and lips, which vary widely with variables li"e age, which in turn interact in many different ways depending on e-pression ,hen I tal" about the mouth, I am also including the musculature around the mouth, connecting it to the nose, chee"s and chin *rawing the mouth basically finishes off the interior of the face, the center of li"eness and e-pression

The Anato!$ of a &outh

!s with all features, it is very useful to understand the structure and anatomy of that which you are trying to caricature Dnowing the names of the muscles and bones are not really important, but understanding where they are, how they wor" and what you are really seeing is the best "ind of foundation for a good drawing of anything

3et+s start with the underlying anatomy, the teeth and surrounding bone <fig E= The Mandibula and Mandible <&aw bone= is the only movable bone in the faceGs"ull It has several specific features, including the -amus <The rear &aw that connects to the s"ull=, the Angle <point at which the &aw angles toward the chin=, the Mental rotuberance <chin=, the Mental tubercle <hollow area under and behind the chin= and the 5ower dental arch <area below bottom teeth= The upper bones of the mouth are part of the larger s"ull They include the 6 er dental arch <area &ust above the teeth=, the Maxilla <area above dental arch, under nose and nostrils= and the Coroniod and Condyliod rocesses <where the law bones and s"ull connect = %umans have two sets of teeth, <three if you count dentures=, that appear at different points in their lives The first set are deciduous or temporary <baby= teeth, and the second are permanent teeth There are ;: deciduous teeth and H; permanent teeth They all have names and distinct positions and features, but for our purposes there are only si- teeth that are prominent and visible enough for us to be concerned with in the adult mouth They are the upper four incisors and first two upper cuspids, commonly called the canines or eye teeth These si- teeth generally are what you see when a sub&ect smiles Other teeth are not as important to a caricature as what little of them might be visible are overpowered by the prominence of the afore mentioned siStill, if you want to learn the names of all the teeth, "noc" yourself out @our dentist will love you

The muscles <Fig ;= that surround the mouth are highly fle-ible and interconnected, with the lower layers of the muscles pee"ing out behind gaps in upper layers There is a large oval shaped muscle that completely surrounds the mouth itself called the 7rbicularis oris This muscle inserts itself into the s"in at the corner of each mouth This insertion point on each side is also where the orbicularis connects with three other top layer face muscles: the 8ygomaticus, which connects to the chee"bone areaL the Masseter -isorius, which connects to the rear of the &aw areaL and the Triangularis, which connects to the bottom &aw The Masseter is a large muscle that ma"es up the outside of each &aw The 9uadratus labii inferioris are two muscles that e-tend under the Triangularis from the sides of the chin and angle inward to disappear under the lower part of the 7rbicularis oris The Mentalis connects to the s"in right at the bottom center of the chin and e-tends out in the 'A( shape to disappear under the 9uadratus muscles

Finally, the surface features <fig H= of the mouth and surrounding areas The upper lip consists of the Tubercle, or meaty area in the center, and two wings that e-tend to the corners of the mouth The lower lip has a dip or depression in the center called the groo!e, which the tubercle fits neatly into <actually overhangs somewhat=, and two lateral lobes on either side that correspond with the curves of the wings above The area above the mouth is separated from the chee"s on each side by the 3asolabial furrow, which is the line coming from the upper nostril and e-tending toward and around the corner of the mouth The depression directly below the nose and above the tubercle, defined by sometimes$sharp ridges on either side is the :hiltrum The area between the lower lip and the top of the chin us the Mentolabial furrow ,hew That+s a lot of long, unpronounceable names *on+t worry about it @ou don+t need to be able to get a perfect score on an anatomy e-am to draw a good mouth It+s &ust a very good idea to have some understanding of what is happening beneath all that s"in when you are loo"ing at the features It is harder to get fooled by odd lighting or a bad angle when you have some wor"ing "nowledge of the structure you are loo"ing at I had to loo" up most of these terms for this article, but I "now them all by understanding they are there For e-ample, I didn+t "now the muscle on the side of the &aw was called a 5asseter, but I did "now it was there, and that it is a muscle you often see tough guys fle- when clenching their teeth in the movies <see: Tom 4ruise= !lso, "nowing how things wor" is the first step in e-aggerating how they wor"

Seeing the &outh

!s I mentioned before, the mouth seems very comple- because it has so many elements that interact with one another, and they change so drastically depending on e-pression and other variables Still, when all the e-tras are boiled away, the mouth is a shape, &ust li"e any feature ,hen I tal" about the shape of a mouth, I mean the shape created by the opening of the mouth through which the teeth are visible 3i"e any shape, it will have its widest points, its tallest points, narrowest, etc 3i"e the other features, you need to eliminate the details and visuali.e the simplest representation for the shape you can, and use it for a guideline as you render the mouth to include all those details

!s always, it+s best to start with understanding traditional proportions <fig I= and structure of a feature, and use it as a basis for caricaturing that feature In traditional portraiture, the bottom of the lower lip is e-actly halfway from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin That places the mouth itself slightly closer to the nose than the chin in typical proportion The corners of the mouth usually rest e-actly even with the center of the pupils This is portraiture placement of the mouth There is also a portraiture rule regarding a triangle created by the outside corner of each eye and the bottom of the lower lip The rule is that this is an e#uilateral triangle, so the distance between the outside the outside corner of each eye is e#ual distance from those corners to the bottom center of the lower lip !s always, with caricature, it+s the departure from this 0norm+ we see" to achieve, so long as the departure is a reflection of the perception of the face, and not done merely to distort

The mouth isn+t flat across the face It wraps around the face, li"e it+s being pulled toward the bac" of the head with a string on each corner From the side, you can see the mouth protrudes not only according to the bones beneath but the nature of the lips <fig 9= The upper lip overhangs the lower, which overhangs the chin slightly The entire mouth structure actually slopes bac"wards slightly from the bottom of the nose, and the front of the chin ends up roughly on the same vertical line as the front of the brow in profile It+s important to remember the three dimensional aspects of the mouth when you draw it, so you are prepared to place parts of the mouth over other parts as needed to create depth, not so much with a frontal pose as a three #uarter one So we need to see that simple shape of the mouth Forget about the teeth, the lips, the furrows and all that other stuff Imagine if the sub&ect too" a slip of heavy paper and placed it over hisGher mouth between the lips, so it loo"ed as though they had a white 'mouth guard( li"e a bo-er obscuring their teeth <fig M=

The area of the paper visible between the lips is the shape we are loo"ing for Typically, in a smiling mouth, it+s narrow at the corner, widest in the center and has a curve from the corner to tubercle, and an opposite curve to the other corner, with a somewhat flattened center area Of course this is ridiculous over simplification1 the shape of the mouth can vary widely, with about the only common element being the top and bottom lip always meet on each side Sometimes the shape can be very narrow, with only a thin

'white( area visible Sometimes it+s very tall in the center, sometimes more so towards the corners The lines that define the shape can be subtle curves or have very distinct, sharp changes of direction and angles Seeing that shape is all about ma"ing observations, as with all features One tric" I use for seeing the shape of the mouth is that 0corner to corner+ imaginary line created by the corners of the mouth <fig N=

Similar to the techni#ue used with the eye, you imagine a line e-tends from the right corner of the mouth to the left corner The shape of the mouth <white area when you thin" in 'paper mouth guard( terms= will interact with that line in some ways Sometimes the entire mouth shape will lie below the corner$to$corner line, giving the sub&ect a wry sort of grin or smile Other times it will lie entirely above the line, as is the case with small children and infants Other times the line will intersect the mouth shape Bsing the line as a point of reference you can see and interpret that shape 6ow loo" at where that line intersects the 'shape( of the mouth, and as" yourself some #uestions: %ow much of that shape is above that line) Below it) ,here is the narrowest part of that shape) The widest) The tallest) One thing to remember is that the corner$to$corner line often is not perpendicular to the center line of the face, but at an angle That+s a result of one corner of the mouth being higher than the other Few faces are e-actly symmetrical, and there

are few single observations that can have as great an impact on the capturing of the 0personality+ of the sub&ect than seeing if they have a croo"ed smile

There is another techni#ue I use for helping see the mouth shape I call 0nodes+ <fig J= I loo" for points at which there are distinct changes of angle in the lines that define the mouth shape1 where are straight line becomes a curved line, or vise versa In computer design programs, these are called nodes !nyone who has ever wor"ed with !dobe Illustrator or 4orel*raw computer drawing programs is familiar with nodes ! shape in one of these programs is created by drawing segments of lines connected together, and between each segments is a point or node /ach node is where the line changes direction, and can change from a straight line to a curved line ! #uic" loo" at a given mouth shape lets me identify where the nodes of that mouth shape lie The corners of the mouth are almost always nodes, or points where the line of the mouth shapes direction Thin"ing in these terms, I can mentally 'connect the dots( with straight or curved lines, depending on the mouth, to create the simple shape The beauty of the mouth is that seeing and placing that mouth shaped on the face is >:? of the wor" The rest becomes fairly easy because the shape of the mouth creates a great frame of reference for ma"ing observations regarding the teeth and other elements that ma"e it easy to draw those features 5ost of these observations are a function of "nowing and seeing what features typically do, and drawing them

Drawing the &outh

Of course seeing the mouth shape properly is only half the battle *rawing it, and in the case of caricature e-aggerating it, is the rest of the fight 3i"e the other features we+ve previously discussed, drawing the mouth is a function of accurately capturing the shapes and structures and caricaturing the mouth is about recogni.ing the uni#ue relationships between it and the other features and e-aggerating those relationships Since the mouth itself can change so drastically with e-pression, there is no one approach to drawing it that wor"s the best every time In terms of doing live caricatures and drawing the mouth using line, here is a basic method of drawing the mouth from start to finish:

The basic idea is to start in the centerGtop and wor" to each side and around the mouth 'shape( first, defining the interior area where the teeth and gums will appear This mostly wor"s best when doing a straight on head angle In a HGI view, it would be better to start with the nearest corner and wor" in to the tuberuncle HGI views are further complicated by the protrusion of teeth and the partial hiding of the far sideGcorner of the mouth

The ne-t step is to connect the mouth to the rest of the face1 the nasolabial furrow, philtrum and the musclesGtissue surrounding the mouth connect it to the nose, chin and chee" areas !ge becomes a factor here, especially when wor"ing in line The addition of lines around the mouth will instantly age your model The younger the sub&ect the more minimal you must be with your linewor" In some cases you have to literally ignore lines you can plainly see on a "ids face, simoly because drawing it with a line is too harsh and will ma"e them loo" li"e they are an adult

Teeth are something people struggle drawing well They often want to define the lines between them too strongly, or they gloss over them and ma"e them all the same si.e and shape1 li"e fenceposts 2emember it+s the upper M teeth that ma"e up the ma&ority of what is visible in a typical smile, and they are of different si.es and shapes I compare the Central ;ncisors <front teeth= to 'Old Testament tablets(, the 5ateral ;ncisors <teeth to

left and right of front teeth= to an upside down Superman symbol, and the 4aninesG4uspids <eye teeth or 'fangs(= as long Tic Tacs with one sharper end Teeth are not s#uared off on the edges but rounded and smooth, covered by a shiny enamel and are wet1 all these elements combine to ma"e the sperations between the teeth indistinct from a normal distance <barring gap spaces where the dar"ness of the inner mouth is seen= Therefore using hard lines ma"es the teeth loo" wooden and bloc"y I will used 'implied line( here, to suggest the lines between the teeth without drawing them from top to bottom 8ust ma"e sure if you use that techni#ue your gum point and the corresponding spot between the teeth on the edge line up It might seem in this e-ample that you should e-pect the teeth to remain obediently within the mouth shape1 not so The front teeth often protrude over the lower lip, and may partially obscure it Teeth can be very prominent features, as can gums Observing and recogni.ing the relative importanceGunimportance of these elements is something you have to develop your eye for

The relationships of the mouth to the rest of the face, li"e with all features, is determined by factors li"e it+s si.e relative to the other features <for e-ample li"e how wide it is compared to the centerpoint of the eyes and its 'tallness(= and the distances from the mouth to the nose and the chin 5ore so than the other features, the mouth pro&ects e-pression and personality1 so e-aggerating things li"e the croo"edness of a smile, the

toothiness of a grin or the puc"er of pursed lips captures not &ust li"eness but a recogni.able attitude and personality 2ecogni.ing these relationships and e-aggerating them is the "ey to caricaturing the mouth %ere are a few e-amples of some different generic mouths and some considerations to thin" about:

Conclusion

Ta"e a loo" at this drawing of David Letter!an The mouth is a central part of the effectiveness of the caricature 3etterman has a very distinct mouth shape, especially when he displays the toothy grin One side of his mouth curves upward at the corner, and the other curves downward %is entire mouth shape lies below the corner$to$corner line %is famous gap is only one part of his unusual dental structure %is front teeth curve off each side ma"ing the outside edge seem longer than the inside, and all his teeth protrude forward the gums to the point of overlapping his lower lip in an obvious overbite 6ote how I completed the teeth separation lines on the left side of the mouth and made them stronger, and on the right side I used a little implied line and a lighter touch This was because of the HGI view, where the left side teeth were more strongly overlapped in space while the right side were more parallel to the viewer This How to Draw Caricatures tutorial and others of the same series on this website are art of a com lete book on drawing caricatures li!e and in illustration" entitled The

Mad Art of Caricature/ shi ing in #e tember of $%&$' This book is &() fully illustrated ages of com rehensi!e" in*de th instruction on the art of caricature" and goes far beyond the information ro!ided in these tutorials' +ou can re*order the book H,-,'