To watch is to learn
Keep your eyes wide open. Watch every character and everything about them. Absorb yourself into your characters and feel their presence around. Understand their behaviour, attitudes, experiences, and temperament. There is a story made by all these elements. Observe their actions, as they often determine the story. And then exaggerate all these through your strokes to re-tell the story.
Mind precedes the pen
Forget paper and pencil for some time. Take mental notes of their personality, work, and gestures, creating images in your mind, that’ll eventually come out in the form of caricatures. A caricaturist not just observes, but dissects. Study not just the character of every person, but the characteristic features as well. Generally, subjects have distinctive features that instantly catch the eye of an artist. In such cases, it becomes easy to exaggerate them and create the caricature. In other cases, the artist needs to dig deep into the subject and find out which feature or aspect to play with.
Fun is inbuilt
One needs to know the nuances of the subject to add to the appeal of the artwork. Read and analyse everything about your character. It will automatically develop a personal opinion about the person. As a caricature artist, the opinion is often laden with humour. Put the character in focus and the fun in the story will come out automatically. The more colourful a personality, the more fun you have doing the caricature.
Caricature is not fiction
Almost every time, a caricature is about a real personality and the story attached. It is the duty of a caricaturist to portray the true character of the subject chosen. Therefore it is important to understand the thin line that separates humour from sarcasm. The key lies in creating insightful humour and most importantly, being true to the character. That is why one needs to spot the “LOL” factor in everything around. You never know, what strikes off the next story.
A story is timeless
A good caricature starts a relationship, between the story and the viewer. Media, today, is moving at an astonishing rate. Therefore it is important to choose topics that are not going to be forgotten at the next ‘Breaking News’ segment. The importance of a story lies in the fact that it brings education along with fun. This way, the news may become redundant but the awareness of the change that the news brings to the daily lives of the people, lingers on.
This article first appeared on Creative Gaga.