Every day of the last week I’ve stared deeply into the eyes of Ed Sheeran … and noticed they point in slightly different directions. Check for yourself:
Poor old Ed, never mind, he’s got other talents to make up for it.
Anyway, no, I’m not a secret superfan; I’ve been using Ed’s face to practice caricature and it’s those tiny discrepancies (like eyes that point in opposite directions) that a caricaturist must find and exploit to make a piece with good likeness and humour.
While I have no ambition of being a professional caricaturist, I do believe that regularly taking different courses helps me develop as an illustrator. Take for instance Miss Grottle:
Because of studying caricature, I knew I could push her jowls much wider than my reference photo to exaggerate her wide, toad-like sneer.
I’m following the free Proko caricature playlist on Youtube, by the way. You can access it here: Proko Caricature Playlist
Keep studying and improving!
Chantelle.