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How to Draw Caricatures: The 5 Shapes

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. A lot of this information is part of what I teach my theme park artists, so it is derived partly from the approach of doing live, quick-draw caricatures. However all of that can be applied to more studio orientated caricature work and I have also added points and concepts directly from the less time-constrained world of caricature illustration. Therefore this is not instruction for just the live caricaturist but for any artist interested in caricature for any purpose. These kinds of things always start out with a definition, but caricature is a hard thing to pigeonhole into a single sentence. How can you, when the word encompasses the elegant, minimalist lines of Al Hirschfeld to the lavish, value and color soaked paintings of Sebastian Kruger to the graphic, geometrical collages of David Cowles and everything in between? Despite the wild differences in style and technique, caricature is the tag that is placed on any of these works of art without hesitation. Obviously there is a connection beyond a common technique, 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: y y Likeness- If you cant tell who it is supposed to be, then it is not successful. All good caricatures incorporate a good likeness of their subjects. Exaggeration- Without some form of exaggeration, or a departure from the exact representation of the subjects features, all you have is a portrait. The level of exaggeration can vary wildly, but there must be some departure. A straight portrait is not a caricature. Statement- I believe a caricature must editorialize in some way. The artist must be trying to say something about the subject. It might be something to do with the situation the subject is drawn in, it may just be a play on their personality through expression or body language, it might be a simple as making visual fun of some aspect of their persona or image. Exaggeration itself can accomplish this in some cases. The best caricatures say something more about the subject than that they have a big nose.

By my definition, a successful caricature therefore looks like the subject, is exaggerated to varying degrees and also has something to say about the subject some sort of editorial comment. In live caricature at a theme park, that third item

is often turned way down or ignored completely, but in the case of caricatures for illustration, its an important part.

Teaching Someone to See


Ive been working with young caricaturists at theme parks for over two decades now, and Ive learned one very important lesson its impossible to teach someone to draw caricatures. I can teach them to DRAW that isnt so hard. Learning how a face looks and works by learning anatomy, how expression changes the features, how the angle the face is at changes the perception of features, how hair grows and falls about the head those are things that can be taught. Drawing caricatures, on the other hand, is a lot more about seeing what makes the person in front of you unique and personal interpretation than it is about making good, confident marks on the paper. I can explain to someone exactly how to draw a circle, but if I place a circle before them and ask them to draw it and they draw a square well, that is all about seeing and not drawing. The ability to see, and after that the ability to exaggerate what you see for humorous effect in a caricature that has to be developed. For most that means a lot of drawing and a lot of looking. Have you ever been walking along at the mall or where ever and along comes somebody with some crazy, incredibly distinct face that maybe sports a gigantic nose or a Cro-Magnon brow or some other obviously out-of-the-ordinary features? Caricaturists have a term for that kind of face its called a field day. Think about it for a second why is that face so ripe for caricature compared to the next guys? Are the features really that different? If you took a ruler and measured the size of Mr. Shnozzess nose compared to Mr. Normal, the difference would be minimal. So why is he so easy? Because you are SEEING a difference based on perception, and that is giving you your springboard for a caricature. One observation of what makes this person different from normal and you are off and running. The obvious features are easy observations its Johnny and Susie Normal or, worse yet, Johnny 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 just sometimes have to dig a little deeper to find the keys to unlock the more difficult puzzle. In caricature, the old adage of practice makes perfect has never been truer. The ability to see doesnt spring up overnight, and I often tell eager young caricaturists they have about 500 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. Although I say its impossible to teach someone to draw caricatures, its not impossible to help them develop their ability to draw them. There are many ways and techniques to help an artist develop their ability to see what is in front of them, recognize what makes what they see unique and then amplify that uniqueness to create a successful caricature. There are general concepts that apply to the overall approach of a caricature as well as specific tricks 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 complex object. There are about 52 muscles in the face, depending on your source and its categorization. Age, sex, race, expression (the face is capable of about 5,000 expressions) weight and environment can all play a role in the look and perception of a given face.

Sounds pretty complex. Not really. Every building, no matter how complex, starts out with a foundation and framework. Look at this simple drawing:

Show that drawing to any human being in the world and ask them what it is. Barring a language barrier, they will tell you its a face. No other information needed. In its most simple form, the human face is made up of only five simple shapes:

Place these shapes in their proper relationship, and you have a human face. It really is that simple. Drawing the shapes accurately, so they recognizably represent the subjects features, is the basis for a good likeness. Beyond that is nothing but details things like dimples, wrinkles, eyelashes, cheekbones, etc. They are the decor to your building the millwork, furniture and drapery that makes the place unique and filled with life. Without the strong foundation, however, it can all come tumbling down. What does that have to do with caricature? Everything. I mentioned a single word in the last paragraph that really is the secret to caricature as a whole no matter what technique or approach you intend to practice:

RELATIONSHIPS
Its the manipulation of the RELATIONSHIP of these five simple shapes that create the foundation for your caricature. In fact, Id argue that 90% 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 power of exaggeration is realized. Make it good and almost all the heavy lifting is done, the rest merely referring to details. What do I mean by relationships? I mean the distances between the five shapes, theirsize relative to one another, and the angles they are at in relationship to the center axis of the face. Distance. Size. Angle.

In traditional portraiture, the head is divided into classic proportions (well get into that more next time), meaning the relationship of the features are within a certain, accepted range of distance to one another, size and angle relative to the face and head shape. You achieve your likeness in a classic portrait, in its 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 framework 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, like a portrait, the likeness is also achieved by drawing the features as they really look 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, size and angle. Look at these VERY simple drawings that demonstrate how you can change the relationships of the five shapes and create very different caricatures:

No detail, and all the shapes are basically the same with the exception of the head shape (again, more on that later MUCH more) but all are distinctly different and when the details are added will make for highly varied caricatures. The difference is the relationships between the features, and how they have been exaggerated and

changed. Caricature is not about choosing one feature and making it bigger, its about all the features together and how they relate to one another. Here are some quick studies of the 5 shapes beneath a few caricature sketches:

The relationships differ in distance, size and angle from one another. The bigger the differences are from classic proportions, the more exaggerated the caricature. Its much easier to see the differences when the details are removed and only the 5 shapes are left. Its also much easier to create those differences at this simple, fundamental level. Its easy to get caught up in details when the important information rests beneath the rendering. How does one determine the correct changes to make to a given persons feature relationships to make a good caricature of them? Well, thats the trick, isnt it? That is were that pesky seeing comes in. In his book How to Draw Caricatures, Lenn Redman 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 making observations. Every caricature begins with the observations the artist makes about the subject, and how their particular face is perceived by them. MAD legend Mort Druckerhas been quoted as saying that there is no one correct way to caricature a subject. Any given subject can have several difference interpretations with respect to the exaggeration of the relationship of their features and each may be as successful as the other. Thats one of the unique things about caricature as an art form. Portraiture is basically absolute Your drawing either looks like the person with the correct features, proportions and relationships, or it does not. Caricature is subjective to a point. The artists goal is to draw how they perceive the face, and exaggerate 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 its still a successful caricature. Hirschfeld used to say he once drew Jimmy Durante without a nose at all, yet it was still recognizable as Durante. Thats not to say that any observation is appropriate after all you cant give someone with a small, button nose a gigantic potato schnozz and call it exaggeration. Thats not exaggeration, its DISTORTION. You can, however, choose NOT to exaggerate the noses smallness but rather find something else to exaggerate. That is the caricaturists task, to find what it is about the subjects face that makes it unique and alter those relationships to exaggerate that uniqueness. Next time We will delve more deeply into the relationships of features, what to look for and some rules to follow when changing those relationships that will make the rest of the face fall into place.

Part Two: Relating the Features


Previously I mentioned how the relationships between features are the driving force behind caricature: Caricature is not about choosing one feature and making it bigger, its about all the features together and how they relate to one another. Actually caricature is about changing the relationships between features, meaning their distance, size and angle relative to one another, from what they truly are and what is considered normal. Deciding what relationships to change and how much to change them is one of the caricaturists most important jobs, 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 measurements a big nose may be only a fraction of an inch larger than a normal nose. Yet we can see different feature relationships on almost everybody, some which seem very pronounced. That is because we spend basically our entire lives looking into peoples faces we go it when we interact, work, play, go shopping or to church 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. Mostly its unconscious, but we see that fraction of an inch larger nose as big, or we see this persons eyes as large or this persons mouth as small based not on physical measurements but on our overall perception of the features and how they relate to one another. Consciously making those observations, especially for those faces in which the unique aspects are not obvious, is the most difficult part of

drawing caricatures. There are some techniques and methods you can use to help make those observations.

Classic Portrait Proportion and Observation


Its important to start somewhere, and the best place is with what is considered normal relationships of features for two reasons. First, knowing these classic proportions will help you as a caricaturist to observe where your subjects face might differ by providing a point of reference to compare it to. Second, once youve 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. Lets start out looking at the classic human proportions in traditional portraiture (this is boring, but its 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 equal to the corners of the eyes. Another simple method for establishing the normal relationship between eyes and mouth is via the equilateral 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. Every book on learning to draw the human face has some similar method of standardizing the proportions of the average face. Do human faces really conform to these exact relationships? No, of course not. Thats the point. There are differences from this face to that, some very slight and some more pronounced, and the caricaturist exaggerates these differences to create a caricature. Knowing what is supposed to be there is half the battle of seeing where things are different. Again, making these observations is the trickiest part of doing caricature, but the good news is you dont 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. Just 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 skinny face or big eyes or a small mouth or a square jaw or a bent nose or whatever. More than one is better, but just one will suffice.

Action and Reaction


Why is only one observation enough? Because no feature is an island. What I mean is that all the features relate to one another fundamentally, and you cannot make 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 Reaction. In physics every action causes an equal 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. You 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 make an observation about our subject that the eyes seem far apart. If we move the just the eyes farther apart and leave the rest of the face untouched, we have a bizarre looking result:

There is an awkwardness to the caricature We cant 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

Additional 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 Head 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 stick with the interior features and their relationships.

The T Shape
I have talked a lot about simplifying the face by boiling it down into the 5 Shapes, but it can get even simpler than that in terms of both making observations and in playing with the relationships of features to make a caricature. In fact I believe there are two absolutely crucial, key components to any caricature: The head shape and the T shape. These are the two elements of a face I look at first and try to make observations about, because with them I can push, stretch and exaggerate the face to great effect with relative ease. When I talk about the T Shape I am speaking 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 axis of the face can change the T into more of a Y, or more of an arrow shape. I treat the T not as a set of simple lines but as a contour shape with thickness, therefore the stem (or nose) of the T can be thicker or thinner at one end or the other, and the arms (or eyes) of the T can also change in thickness to accommodate big round

eyes or narrow, squinty ones. Imagine a contour capital T drawn around the eyes and nose in varying relationships.

The shape of the T reacts to changes you make to the relationship of the eyes and nose. In most cases the eyes and nose work 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 persons 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. All of this takes 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 well get into next time. This is extreme simplification, but a I have said before the simpler you can make the shapes you are working with, the easier it is to exaggerate them and create your caricature. If you imagine a shape as simple as a T, its very easy to exaggerate that T shape and then plug in the features as they really look within your simple shape and you have your caricature. Take a look 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 5 shapes further define the relationships of the features, and over the 5 shapes the features themselves are drawn and things like bone structure, anatomy,

expression, skin, hair and other details work to create the likeness and bring the underlying structure to life. Its still all built on these simple foundations. I would suggest as an exercise to forget about rendering and drawing details caricatures for a moment and fill up a few sketchbook pages with nothing but the head shape and T shape of the faces you see when paging through a magazine. Draw one quickly using just your initial observations and first impressions of the face. Then look back at it and try to see where it differs from the normal template of classic proportion, then try it again, this time exaggerating your first try. Do this with a dozen faces a day, and see how your ability to see the caricature in a given face develops.

Part Three: The Importance of Head Shapes


When 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 think the eyes are a crucial element, but over the years Ive come to believe that the head shape is the most important part of a caricature. The head shape is the fulcrum upon which a caricature hinges. The heavy lifting of all exaggeration is accomplished via the shape of the head, and it is more easily accomplished that way. Considering that the head shape is a single shape, it is easier to recognize how that shape differs from normal and it is easier still to draw a corresponding simple shape that exaggerates those properties as opposed to the more complex multiple relationships of the features. By stretching and exaggerating the head shape, you create the framework within which your other features and their relationships are drawn to achieve your caricature. I have spoken of the 5 Shapes and the importance of their relationships already, but digging a little deeper its accurate to say that the head shape is Shape 1 and the other four shapes are planets to its sun, working within its all encompassing field of gravity. If a caricaturist can see and exaggerate the head shape, all the other features fall into place and follow along. In the last lesson I talked about the T shape being a focal point of the basic caricature, but its really the T Shape and the head shape together as a whole that acts are the basic foundation of a caricature. With those shapes and their relationships established, the rest of the caricature quickly follows suit.

Seeing the Head Shape


I talk endlessly about seeing shapes within the features and the face, and the importance of drawing those shapes accurately to capture likeness and to create a convincing drawing. Again, its difficult to teach anyone to see that ability is developed over time via practice and hard work. Still, there are a few techniques and tricks I have learned that can help artists to better see what is in front of them, and better interpret it in their drawing. Many work for any feature or shape within the face, but some are specific for individual features. Head shapes have several of these tricks for both initial observations and exaggeration. Classic Proportion

As with Redmans Everyman concept, its 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 makes a given face unique by comparing it to those normal proportions, and for helping to exaggerate those unique 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 exactly divided in half at the eyes, meaning there is equal distance from the horizontal 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 cheekbones to just 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. Simplifying Shapes The head shape is really made up of a lot of different features including cheekbones, cheeks, brow, jawline, chin, forehead, hair, etc. While these are all important elements of the whole, at this stage we need to treat the head as a single shape and keep it as simple as possible. Simple shapes are easier to draw, control and manipulate than ones with a lot of complex elements to them. Its easy to get hung up on the details and not be able to see past them to the underlying foundation. Here are some tricks to help make initial observations and come up with a simple head shape: 1. Squint Your Eyes This is an old portrait artists trick. Squint your eyes or close them so you are looking through your eyelashes at your subject. This eliminates the details and

forces you to see only vague shapes and forms. That makes it easier to see the simple shapes and drawn them. 2. Points of Reference I look for these with every feature I draw. What 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 make your observations. Each feature has unique points of reference, but in general things like horizontal or vertical dividing lines can always be used for this purpose.

With the head shape, the horizontal line create by the eyes is a good point of reference. Using this imaginary dividing line, its easy to see how much of the head lies above that lie, and how much below. I also will look for the widest point of the head shape, knowing that once I have found these points I need only to make sure the rest of the head shape lies in between them. I will also look for straight lines along the contour of the head shape, and draw them accordingly. Finally, I will look for points along the face contour where there is an angular change of direction. The back of the jaw and sides of the chin will often have these points. Any 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. 3. Shape Association This is a strange but effective way of grasping a simple head shape, and for exaggerating it at the same time. Try to associate the head shape of your subject with the shape of some inanimate object you are familiar with. Maybe this person has a head shaped like a lightbulb (small, narrow bottom of the face with a big forehead) or that persons head shape may remind you of a peanut (squeezed at the temples). Whatever strikes you. I dont mean you draw a light bulb with the face on it, but rather use your imagination and keep that object in mind as a template for the head shape you draw.

Of course, its a fun exercise to draw those objects with faces on them just for fun and practice. Doing that helps your ability to spot those associations within your subjects head shape.

Exaggerating the Head Shape


I mentioned earlier that the head shape is a place where exaggeration 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. Any 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 exaggerated. My 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 make those exaggeration decisions and execute them. Unlike the interior features of the face, which change with expression, the head shape is a constant that only changes with the angle of the head, and then only as any object will change when rotating in space. When exaggerating the head shape, all you really need is ONE observation about it to build your caricature upon. It could be as simple as observing that the model has a skinny face, or a large chin, or a small forehead. Multiple 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. Here are some methods of seeing and exaggerating the head shape:

1. Visual Weight One key to exaggerating 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 asking yourself does more of the face lie above the eyes, or below? That is visual weight the placement of head mass relative to some point of reference like the line of the eyes.

We know that in a normal proportioned head the mass is equal. However how we perceive the face is different than its physical measurements. Whenever you can depart from the equal mass rule its important to do so. That is caricature. 2. The Law of Constant Mass There are very few rules that are universal as it applies to caricature things like expressions, posture and unique physical attributes make it almost impossible to be able to say this is always true. Here is one rule that never changes, however, and its a powerful tool to create convincing exaggerations the law of constant mass. By using it, you can take 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. Your head is done, but you have used up all your clay. You decide you want to create a caricature rather than a realistic bust of your subject. Looking at the model you decide they have a large jaw, so you want to make the jaw bigger. With no more clay to work with, you need to get that clay from somewhere to pack on to the jaw and make it larger. Where do you get it from? You take it from the top of the head, taking away from the size of the top to make the bottom bigger. That is the law of constant mass.

The head has only so much mass. You cannot make one area bigger or smaller without affecting the other areas. A person with a big chin will automatically have a smaller top of a head. Likewise someone with a big forehead will also have a smaller bottom of a face. This serves to create exaggerations of higher impact, since the perception of a large jaw is made more pronounced when the top of the head is smaller. Its the same concept as when a gray value appears closer to white when surrounded by a much darker value and looks darker when surrounded by white. The law of constant mass also works sideways, with respect to the width of a face if the face is very wide you need to take 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 exaggerated head shape. 3. Rubber Concept Another way to think about how the entire head shape is affected by a single observation is to imagine a head made of soft, goo filled rubber. Now if we make the observation that our subject has a narrow face, we need to squeeeeze our rubber head like a vice to make 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 out the result is the top and bottom get sucked in. If we squeeze the forehead, the jaw bulges out.

What is good about this method is that if we imagine the features of our subject also molded into the initial rubber head, we can see how they will faithfully follow the squeezing, stretching and its consequences. Its important to trust the follow through of the cause and effect associated with the exaggeration of the head shape via the law of constant mass and/or the rubber concept when drawing a caricature. Even if that lantern jawed subject 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 emphasize that jaw and maintain a balance in your drawing otherwise your exaggeration will be awkward and a lot less clear.

Part Four: Drawing Eyes


Ive written in past tutorials on drawing caricatures that you cant really teach someone to draw caricatures that is more about developing their sight and observation skills and also developing an ability to find that which make an individual face unique and exaggerating it. Since every face is different this is an exercise in personal observation and decision. Therefore after I have gone over the information in my pervious tutorials, I switch gears an concentrate on teaching rookie live caricaturists how to draw the individual features, both how to see them, exaggerate them and how to draw them in line to best effect. Here is where style becomes an issue. What 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 next series of tutorials some aspects of what I talk about will relate specifically with a style of caricature like my own based on cartoon line either inked or in some other medium. Therefore those with different sensibilities and styles can take from it what they will and apply what makes 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 just my own. My method for teaching the individual features begins with a lesson on real anatomy. Im not a big believer in memorizing every anatomical name but I do believe you must have a good working knowledge 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 talk about different techniques to help see the shape of the

feature and understand how to draw it, including realistic proportion. Finally I talk about interpreting the feature in terms of exaggeration and incorporating it into the whole.

Points of Reference
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 exaggeration of them. Either way you still have to see the object you are drawing and understand its form first. We have all seen depictions of artists on TV raising their arm outstretched towards their models with the thumb out from the fist and squinting their eyes before drawing. That is supposed to represent an old artists trick of using their thumb, or hand, or pencil or some other object to measure their subjects features relative to one another, or to see angles or other relationships. The thumb is supposed to be a point of reference a constant that is used to make accurate observations of the subject. Establishing points of reference in the face is key to helping to see shapes and make observations. With 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. Any kind of drawing can benefit from this simple concept. Our first feature is the eyes. Ive always felt that the eyes of a caricature are the center of everything, literally the center of the face but figuratively the center of expression, personality and life as it were. Therefore Ive always place special emphasis on the eyes and begin and end with them, after the head shape, as the focus of almost any caricature.

Anatomy of the Eye

The human eye is made up of an round orb (eyeball) that rests in and slightly protrudes from a socket of bone and tissue, surrounded orbital muscles and by covered by skin in the form of eyelids. The visible parts of the eyeball include the pupil (black circle in the center of the eye), the iris (colored area around the pupil) which includes the stroma (the thread-like 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 tear 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, thick and curved hairs.

Seeing the Eye Shape


Despite what I said about the importance of the eyes, the eye is still just another feature and it has a shape like any other feature of the face. When I refer to the shape of the eye I am talking about the visible portions of the eyeball, created by the space between the upper and lower lids.

The exterior part of the eyes, like the lids themselves and the area that surround the eye also are very important in capturing the eye itself, but its 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 look at just the pure shape. Imagine an eye this pure white like the Exorcist eye that white is the shape you are looking for. Remember also that the eye is not flat, but protrudes quite a bit from the face and the lids have a definite thickness to them.

Typically the eye is NOT shaped like 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 horizontal axis of the eye, which is created by an imaginary line connecting the corners. This horizontal axis, or corner to corner line, is a central part of making observations about the eye, its shape and its relationship with the rest of the face. More 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, peaks about 1/3 of the way across the eye and then arcs more softly towards the outer corner. The lower lid does the opposite, its peak being its lowest point, about not quite 1/2 of the way from the outer corner in, and arcing to the caruncula. In the simplest of geometric terms, the eyes are quadrilaterals with the four points being the inner and outer corners, the highest point of the upper lid and lowest point of the lower lid. Naturally we dont draw the eyes with straight lines connecting the dots, but in seeing the shape in simple terms like 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 exaggeration purposes. Lets get back 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 its relationship to the axis 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 axis of the face, what we really have it the central angle of the arms of the T Shape I talked about in an earlier tutorial. By looking 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. We can also see at what angle the eye lies to the center axis of the face. Are the outside corners of the eyes higher than the insides? Lower? Even? Are they the same or is one different than the other? You can use the line to exaggerate the angle you see to great effect. The Corner-to-

Corner 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.

Another method I use for understanding the eye shape is to look for any straight lines in the contour of the eye. Lines 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 peak to the outside corner, is often close to a flat line. Look for straight lines and observe their relationships to the rest of the eye shapes contour to better see the eye shape.

Exaggerating the Eye


The exaggeration 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 exaggerate the size of the eyes because they have a round and wide eyed look. However when the rest of the face is taken into account, it might very well be that the eyes need to be small and beady within a massive face.Exaggeration in caricature is all about the relationships of the features to one another, and not the features themselves taken individually. However many of the observations you might make about the eyes can factor into the essential whole, especially the angle the eyes are at relative to the center axis, and the shapes of the eyes themselves. The angle of the eyes is the easiest thing to exaggerate. If the outer corners are higher than the inner, then you simply make them higher still, and vice versa. Once you make the observation, doing the resulting exaggeration is easy. Exaggerating the shape of the eye is a little trickier. It can be easy to compromise the likeness, but when done right it actually enhances the likeness of the caricature. Thats because the shapes of features are also describing the expression of the subject, and exaggerating expression is a central part of good caricature. If someones eyes become squinty when they smile, drawing them squinty-er will exaggerate their expression as well as their face, and expression is personality. Capturing personality is an essential goal. If your eye shape is squinty, make it more squinty.

If its wide open, make it more wide open. They should still look like the eyes you are drawing, but with your observations as a guide you turn up the volume a bit or a lot if you can without losing the likeness. Take this set of eyes that are very round and intense:

We can exaggerate the shape of them as well as their look by emphasizing the whites surrounding the pupil/iris, and the roundness of the lower eye. In this case I also exaggerate the angle of them by raising the outside corners. Not by much in either case here what I am really exaggerating and trying to capture is the intensity of the eyes themselves. Those little observations combine to allow me to get that piercing gaze.

Certain styles of caricature will go farther and interpret the shape and actually change it into a representation of the shape itself. Here are those eyes as might be drawn by Al Hirshfeld:

or Mort Drucker:

An artists individual style aside, it comes to the same seeing the shapes and uniqueness of the features and drawing it in a way that describes it for the viewer to understand. As always, caricature is about PERCEPTION and not hard physical reality. In this picture, our perception of the eyes of this model is changed by the makeup surrounding them:

The heavy eyeliner and over-thick exterior lashes near the outer canthus make her look like the inner whites of her eyes are much larger than the outer, giving her a walleye look that we can make fun of:

Here are some caricatures from some of my sketches where the eyes are a central part of the exaggeration or personality of the subject. Drawing eyes that really look back at the viewer can make for a startling effect. Remember the exaggeration 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 expression, they are always of import.

Part Five: Drawing Noses


In this next (and long delayed) installment of my How to Draw Caricatures series of tutorials we will examine the ever popular and often abused nose. I think the most common feature that gets exaggerated in a caricature is the nose. Many people actually think the definition of caricature is a drawing with a big nose. What is it about the nose that makes it such a ripe target for exaggeration, so often picked on (pardon the pun) that even the layman notices? Simply put, the nose is the most obnoxious of features. It sits in the very center of the face. It is a very vertical feature when compared to the horizontal nature of the eyes and mouth. It

sticks out radically from the plane of the face, much more in relief than any of the other features. Its so prominent that its all too often used as a de-facto way to exaggerate the face. The fact is that the nose is like any other feature its perceived relationship with the other features determines the extent and direction of the exaggeration. Many people have small, button noses that need to be made smaller by way of exaggeration. In some cases the end of the nose may rest close in between the eyes, and in others its very far way down the face. Some people have big, honking schnozzes that need to be stretched. In short, despite its prominence the nose is no different that the other features it must be exaggerated and drawn in the manner the feature itself calls for.

The Anatomy of a Nose

The nose is a combination of bone and cartilage made up of various parts that while unique 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 extending 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 apex. 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 apex 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 cheek 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 lips/mouth by the philtrum and the nasolabial furrow. The upper part of the nose, including the brow, glabella and root is bone the root or bridge protrudes from the brow of the skull and then ends about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way

down the nose itself. After 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 makes them look older in the drawing.

Seeing the Nose Shape


Sam Viviano, acclaimed caricaturist and art director for MAD Magazine, once offered an explanation of how sometimes your reference can lie to you about your subject that uses the nose as an example, and that I now relay all the time to artists to describe the challenges involved with making accurate observations of this feature. Back in the 80 s there was a movie called Roxanne starring Steve Martin and Darryl Hannah. It was a modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, with Martin in the Cyrano role. In Martins first scene hes in a conversation with his face looking directly into the camera for several minutes. He looks normal. Then he turns to the side, and you see he has an incredibly long, Pinnochio-like 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 nostrils its all curves and fleshy tissue. Foreshortening perspective and the lack of hard edges can fool the eye into not seeing the nose as it really is. This is easily remedied. When working from photo reference make sure you have adequate examples of the subject from many different angles so you have ample opportunity to see the nose from various viewpoints. Even if you are basing your caricature on a specific photo, it ALWAYS helps to have examples of different angles of the face so you can avoid being fooled by the Roxanne Effect. If you are working from life, ask the subject 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. Another 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 angle but the noses high degree of relief from the plane of the face makes it the most susceptible to change. A person whos head is tilted backward shows much more nostril, the apex is higher than the back of the nostrils, the septum is visible and the nose appears shorter. If the head is tilted forward, the apex drops below the back of the nose, the nostrils disappear, the nose seems longer and the space between the mouth and nose smaller. 3/4 views create even more variations on the shape. All this can make observing the nose and its shape(s) challenging but understanding the nose well will help make accurate observations. Because the nose doesnt have any hard edges, especially between the root and bottom, I treat those two elements like bookends and fill the rest of the nose in between. The root and the nose bottom (including the ala, nostrils, apex and septum) have more definition than the softer edges of the noses lateral surfaces, which makes 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 exceptions to everything of course, but thats a good generalization to begin making your observations. Actually some observations and choices about the nose should already have been made back when we looked at the overall face and the T-Shape, so these more specific observations are just building on our more general ones. I look at three different measurements or relationships of the nose to understand its shape:

First, I look 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 its close to the same width the overall effect is a thick nose and I might want to exaggerate that. Some people have a very narrow root, looking like there is a pencil under their skin between their eyes. Others might have a wide root, with that thick nose look. Next I look at the lower nose, and make comparisons between it and the rest of the face. Consider 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. How about the width? Where does the outside of the ala lie compared to the eyes? In classic proportion, the lower nose is one eye distance wide, making its edges even with the inside corners of the eyes. Is there a reason (or opportunity) to change this? If the nose seems wide, making it wider than the inside corners of the eyes makes for an effective exaggeration. If you observed earlier the face itself is wide and you drew the eyes far apart accordingly, then just drawing the nose width even with the inside eye corners will give you a wide nose. The final relationship is the space between those bookends, i.e. the root to the lower nose. Again, this is part of that crucial T-shape I keep 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. A 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. As with any feature, simplification of the shape is the key to not only drawing accurately, but being able to more easily exaggerate the shape. Try to forget about all the wrinkles, freckles and other distractions of the nose. Imagine the basic shape that is created by the three measurements I mentioned above. Here are four different noses, each with a distinct shape, represented by the geometric shape next to it. The details of the nose are drawn within this shape. using this simplified shape we can more easily exaggerate it and simply plug in those details as they relate to your exaggerated shape.

I mentioned earlier that the angle of the head will make a big difference in how the nose is perceived and drawn. The nose has an angle of its own as well. Even from directly straight on, the apex of the nose rests at some angle to the back of the

nose. While that angle can be of any increment, Ive 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 exaggerate this angle if we feel its warranted. The three angles are pretty simple: Upturned, straight-on and down-turned.

An upturned nose is one were the apex is higher than the rear of the nose, where the septum meets the maxilla (area of bone between the teeth and the nose). You can see most or all of the nostrils with the upturned nose, and the maxilla area is totally visible and often looking large in area. Lots of kids have this type of nose. The straight-on nose is when the apex is even with the rear of the nose, and is sticking straight out at the viewer. The septum is only visible slightly as its seen

curving back under the nose to the maxilla. Some nostril is seen, usually as just a slit or narrow oval of darkness under and to each side of the apex. The down-turned nose is where the apex is lower than the rest of the nose. The nostrils are not visible at all, nor is the septum. The apex often comes close to the upper lip, and some of the maxilla area is covered by the end of the nose. Many 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 make decisions and observations.

Drawing the Nose


Explaining 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 makes for a lot of variables. Therefore in the interest of simplicity I am going to stick with a front view (which is the most difficult to do anyway) and explain how I would approach drawing a nose in a live caricature in my line style. Actually for you live caricaturists this step by step might be more useful than a lot of general drawing tips. For those who are working in different styles of rendering and drawing either live or in a studio, get from it what you can. I draw live caricatures (and inked ones in MAD and other freelance jobs) 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. Lines are harsh things that demand definitions and are uncompromising. If I draw the side of the nose in line, it looks flat, if I leave the lines out, it looks undefined and shapeless. The trick is to make the nose look like 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 weapon I cheat. Thats right. When I draw a straight on caricature, I cheat the nose slightly to to a 3/4 angle. In this way, combined with lighter line weights to define the area between the root and the apex, I can create the suggestion of a 3-D nose that is well connected to the face without a lot of rendering. The key is to establish a strong root and nostril/ala/apex area, then connect the two together and to the rest of the face.

Weve got our eyes drawn already 1. Start with the root- When drawing live I work 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 4 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 skin 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 apex, but taper quickly 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 bookends the inner lines just drawn. These represent the tops of the lateral surface, or the fleshy area of the sides of the nose leading into the cheeks on either side. The top edge of this line roughly coincides with the eye socket bone. These lines also usually define an area that is darker, directly underneath the thin light skin 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 1/3 into the eye width.

Some 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 horizontal lines across the root to establish some of the protrusion of the brow. 2. Next I move to the bottom 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 exaggeration really come into play. In the studio Id be sketching in the overall shape first and then drawing the lower nose within it, but drawing live I have not that luxury. 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 shape. 3. Draw the nostrils and septum (if visible)- In the case of a down-turned nose, you can draw one line from ala to ala, with the apex in the center of the line. The nostrils are the darkest lines of the nose. There is usually some separation between these lines, although the septum can be drawn as connecting he two nostrils.

Nostrils/septum distinctly separate 4. Draw the apex- This is tricky. there are no real lines to define it. Some apexes are round, some are oval. Others are boxy or triangular or even separate shapes

split by a crease (the butt nose!). Looking at that profile again would help at this point. The lower half of the apex 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 apex. Just remember you are using these lines to define the shape of the end of the nose, so if its a round apex than use a rounded line. If its square, 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 apex. The upper part of the apex is trickier. I usually just draw some very thin lines here, often two basically parallel ones that suggest the top of that apex shape without making it too harsh. The top and bottom apex lines can be further strengthened by the addition of side lines, but the apex would need to be a very strong and defined shape to do that.

Delicate lines suggest the rounded apex shape 5. Connect the root and apex of the nose- Heres where the cheating comes in. I draw one line longer and more defined than the other side. This is a slight cheat to a 3/4 view that I incorporate into the straight on view I am drawing. Its 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 apex. They should APPEAR to be heading for either side of the apex at the end of the nose, but disappear on their way there.

6. Connect the nose to the rest of the face- Draw the alar and nasolabial furrow lines (lines that extend 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. Working 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. Connecting the nose into the brings it into the whole.

Conclusion
This is just one method of drawing the nose, from a specific angle and using a specific technique. Drawing the nose (and the face for that matter) from a straighton is less interesting and effective as drawing it from some variation of a 3/4 view, but sometimes you need a straight on shot and thats it. Especially when working live, most people like being drawn as they see themselves daily from straight-on. In the studio, however, more interesting angles make for more interesting drawings, and its much easier to draw the nose from anything but a straight-on view. A profile is even easier. I will often decide to draw a given face at a 3/4 angle specifically because the subject has a great nose that needs that angle. Here we learned a simplified anatomy of the nose, suggested some categories of different nose types to look for and some key areas of the nose to make observations of to help grasp the shape of the nose itself and then to simplify it to aid exaggeration. We also took a page from the live caricaturists handbook 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. Its too easy and lazy to resort to abusing the nose with every caricature. Take a good look at your subject, decide what makes that face unique and put the attention and exaggeration on those features. If its the nose, then its the nose. As with any feature, always remember it;s the RELATIONSHIP it has with its neighboring features that is the crux of a good caricature, not the exaggeration of a single feature.

Here are some interesting noses from past sketch of the week and various other sources for you to look at and see what observations I made and exaggerations I decided on:

Part Five: Drawing Mouths


Like all features, mouths follow certain tendencies with regards to the subjects sex, race, and age. More so than the other features, the mouth changes RADICALLY with expression. It is by far the most expressive part of the face, even more than the eyes. As a result, drawing the mouth becomes not only an exercise in observation of its structure, but sensitivity to its projection of the subjects emotions. The real key to capturing personality in a caricature rests in the eyes and mouth. When a live caricaturist hears the magic words from the friends of their subject exclaim: He ALWAYS has that look on his face! THATS HIM! you know you just read the subjects expression right and captured it in the drawing. That is what you strive for not just the likeness, and not just exaggeration, but CHARACTER PERSONALITY. That is what makes a drawing come to life and spring from the surface of the paper. Mouths 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 complex feature. Its made up of bones, muscles and tissues that create many distinct elements like teeth and lips, which vary widely with variables like age, which in turn interact in many different ways depending on expression. When I talk about the mouth, I am also including the musculature around the mouth, connecting it to the nose, cheeks and chin. Drawing the mouth basically finishes off the interior of the face, the center of likeness and expression.

The Anatomy of a Mouth


As with all features, it is very useful to understand the structure and anatomy of that which you are trying to caricature. Knowing the names of the muscles and bones are not really important, but understanding where they are, how they work and what you are really seeing is the best kind of foundation for a good drawing of anything.

Lets start with the underlying anatomy, the teeth and surrounding bone (fig.1). The Mandibula and Mandible (jaw bone) is the only movable bone in the face/skull. It has several specific features, including the Ramus (The rear jaw that connects to the skull), the Angle (point at which the jaw angles toward the chin), the Mental protuberance (chin), the Mental tubercle (hollow area under and behind the chin) and the Lower dental arch (area below bottom teeth). The upper bones of the mouth are part of the larger skull. They include the Upper dental arch (area just above the teeth), the Maxilla (area above dental arch, under nose and nostrils) and the Coroniod and Condyliod processes (where the law bones and skull connect.) Humans have two sets of teeth, (three if you count dentures), that appear at different points in their lives. The first set aredeciduous or temporary (baby) teeth, and the second are permanent teeth. There are 20 deciduous teeth and 32 permanent teeth. They all have names and distinct positions and features, but for our purposes there are only six 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 six teeth generally are what you see when a subject 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 six. Still, if you want to learn the names of all the teeth, knock yourself out. Your dentist will love you.

The muscles (Fig.2) that surround the mouth are highly flexible and interconnected, with the lower layers of the muscles peeking out behind gaps in upper layers. There is a large oval shaped muscle that completely surrounds the mouth itself called the Orbicularis oris. This muscle inserts itself into the skin 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: theZygomaticus, which connects to the cheekbone area; the Masseter Risorius, which connects to the rear of the jaw area; and the Triangularis, which connects to the bottom jaw. The Masseter is a large muscle that makes up the outside of each jaw. The Quadratus labii inferioris are two muscles that extend under the Triangularis from the sides of the chin and angle inward to disappear under the lower part of the Orbicularis oris. The Mentalis connects to the skin right at the bottom center of the chin and extends out in the V shape to disappear under the Quadratus muscles.

Finally, the surface features (fig.3) of the mouth and surrounding areas. The upper lip consists of the Tubercle, or meaty area in the center, and two wings that extend to the corners of the mouth. The lower lip has a dip or depression in the center called the groove, 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 cheeks on each

side by the Nasolabial furrow, which is the line coming from the upper nostril and extending 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 Philtrum. The area between the lower lip and the top of the chin us the Mentolabial furrow. Whew. Thats a lot of long, unpronounceable names. Dont worry about it. You dont need to be able to get a perfect score on an anatomy exam to draw a good mouth. Its just a very good idea to have some understanding of what is happening beneath all that skin when you are looking at the features. It is harder to get fooled by odd lighting or a bad angle when you have some working knowledge of the structure you are looking at. I had to look up most of these terms for this article, but I know them all by understanding they are there. For example, I didnt know the muscle on the side of the jaw was called a Masseter, but I did know it was there, and that it is a muscle you often see tough guys flex when clenching their teeth in the movies (see: Tom Cruise). Also, knowing how things work is the first step in exaggerating how they work.

Seeing the Mouth


As I mentioned before, the mouth seems very complex because it has so many elements that interact with one another, and they change so drastically depending on expression and other variables. Still, when all the extras are boiled away, the mouth is a shape, just like any feature. When I talk about the shape of a mouth, I mean the shape created by the opening of the mouth through which the teeth are visible. Like any shape, it will have its widest points, its tallest points, narrowest, etc. Like the other features, you need to eliminate the details and visualize the simplest representation for the shape you can, and use it for a guideline as you render the mouth to include all those details.

As always, its best to start with understanding traditional proportions (fig.4) 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 exactly 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 exactly 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 equilateral triangle, so the distance between the outside the outside corner of each eye is equal distance from those corners to the bottom center of the lower lip. As always, with caricature, its the departure from this norm we seek to achieve, so long as the departure is a reflection of the perception of the face, and not done merely to distort.

The mouth isnt flat across the face. It wraps around the face, like its being pulled toward the back 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.5). The upper lip overhangs the lower, which overhangs the chin slightly. The entire mouth structure actually slopes backwards 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. Its 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 quarter 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 subject took a slip of heavy paper and placed it over his/her mouth between the lips, so it looked as though they had a white mouth guard like a boxer obscuring their teeth. (fig.6).

The area of the paper visible between the lips is the shape we are looking for. Typically, in a smiling mouth, its 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 simplification 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 its 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 making observations, as with all features.

One trick I use for seeing the shape of the mouth is that corner to corner imaginary line created by the corners of the mouth (fig.7).

Similar to the technique used with the eye, you imagine a line extends from the right corner of the mouth to the left corner. The shape of the mouth (white area when you think 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 subject 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. Using the line as a point of reference you can see and interpret that shape. Now look at where that line intersects the shape of the mouth, and ask yourself some questions: How much of that shape is above that line? Below it? Where 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. Thats a result of one corner of the mouth being higher than the other. Few faces are exactly symmetrical, and there are few single observations that can have as great an impact on the capturing of the personality of the subject than seeing if they have a crooked smile.

There is another technique I use for helping see the mouth shape I call nodes (fig.8). I look for points at which there are distinct changes of angle in the lines that define the mouth shape where are straight line becomes a curved line, or vise versa. In computer design programs, these are called nodes. Anyone who has ever worked with Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw computer drawing programs is familiar with nodes. A shape in one of these programs is created by drawing segments of lines connected together, and between each segments is a point or node. Each node is where the line changes direction, and can change from a straight line to a curved line. A quick look 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. Thinking 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 90% of the work. The rest becomes fairly easy because the shape of the mouth creates a great frame of reference for making observations regarding the teeth and other elements that make it easy to draw those features. Most of these observations are a function of knowing and seeing what features typically do, and drawing them.

Drawing the Mouth


Of course seeing the mouth shape properly is only half the battle. Drawing it, and in the case of caricature exaggerating it, is the rest of the fight. Like the other features weve previously discussed, drawing the mouth is a function of accurately capturing the shapes and structures and caricaturing the mouth is about recognizing the unique relationships between it and the other features and exaggerating those relationships. Since the mouth itself can change so drastically with expression, there is no one approach to drawing it that works 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 center/top and work to each side and around the mouth shape first, defining the interior area where the teeth and gums will appear. This mostly works best when doing a straight on head angle. In a 3/4 view, it would be better to start with the nearest corner and work in to the tuberuncle. 3/4 views are further complicated by the protrusion of teeth and the partial hiding of the far side/corner of the mouth.

The next step is to connect the mouth to the rest of the face the nasolabial furrow, philtrum and the muscles/tissue surrounding the mouth connect it to the nose, chin and cheek areas. Age becomes a factor here, especially when working in line. The addition of lines around the mouth will instantly age your model. The younger the subject the more minimal you must be with your linework. In some cases you have to literally ignore lines you can plainly see on a kids face, simoly because drawing it with a line is too harsh and will make them look like 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 make them all the same size and shape like fenceposts. Remember its the upper 6 teeth that make up the majority of what is visible in a typical smile, and they are of different sizes and shapes. I compare the Central Incisors (front teeth) to Old Testament tablets, the Lateral Incisors (teeth to left and right of front teeth) to an upside down Superman symbol, and the Canines/Cuspids (eye teeth or fangs) as long Tic Tacs with one sharper end. Teeth are not squared off on the edges but rounded and smooth, covered by a shiny enamel and are wet all these elements combine to make the sperations between the teeth indistinct from a normal distance (barring

gap spaces where the darkness of the inner mouth is seen). Therefore using hard lines makes the teeth look wooden and blocky. I will used implied line here, to suggest the lines between the teeth without drawing them from top to bottom. Just make sure if you use that technique your gum point and the corresponding spot between the teeth on the edge line up. It might seem in this example that you should expect the teeth to remain obediently within the mouth shape 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 recognizing the relative importance/unimportance of these elements is something you have to develop your eye for.

The relationships of the mouth to the rest of the face, like with all features, is determined by factors like its size relative to the other features (for example like 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. More so than the other features, the mouth projects expression and personality so exaggerating things like the crookedness of a smile, the toothiness of a grin or the pucker of pursed lips captures not just likeness but a recognizable attitude and personality. Recognizing these relationships and exaggerating them is the key to caricaturing the mouth.

Here are a few examples of some different generic mouths and some considerations to think about:

Conclusion

Take a look at this drawing of David Letterman. The mouth is a central part of the effectiveness of the caricature. Letterman 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. His entire mouth shape lies below the corner-to-corner line. His famous gap is only one part of his unusual dental structure. His front teeth curve off each side making 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. Note 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 3/4 view, where the left side teeth were more strongly overlapped in space while the right side were more parallel to the viewer.

Drawing Hands

Easily the most asked question I get is how do you draw caricatures?. However a close runner up is how do you draw hands?. Im not exactly the king of drawing hands, but I have made a special study of them as they are very important when doing comic book type work hands and their gestures are a big part of acting and therefore of storytelling. Next to faces, hands are probably the most expressive and intricate part of the human form. In fact, humans probably spend more time looking at their hands than they do looking at anything else over their entire lives. Being that we are all so familiar with the way hands look, a poorly drawn hand sticks out like a sore thumb (sorry about the pun). Oddly enough, hands are something that most artists struggle to draw well. So, with that in mind I thought Id do a tutorial on my approach to drawing hands. Im a cartoonist at heart, so the hands I draw are not realistic hands by most definitions. However my style of cartooning lends itself more to realistic representation than, say, a certain four fingered gloved mouse or other much more cartoony characters do. Therefore a lot of the information in this tutorial will apply to drawing hands realistically as well as in more cartoon form. Ill attempt to explain the basic anatomy of a hand, things to keep in mind at all times when drawing them and common mistakes and issues that plague many artists when drawing hands.

Breaking Down Hand Structure


As with drawing anything, it all starts with an understanding of the basic form and structure of your subject matter. Hands are certainly no different. In fact, many of the most common problems with drawing hands stems from incorrect notions of the form of the hand. Im not a big stickler for memorizing the names of muscles and bones because it seems to zone people out when you start tossing around Carpal this and Metatarsal that however labels are something that some people need to be able to apply, so some general surface anatomy with laymans terms seems to be the best approach. Here is a breakdown of a hand with the important surface elements labeled:

Not really much to it, is there? Everybody knows what knuckles and fingernails are. Where an artist gets tripped up is not understanding how they relate to one another, and how they move in relationship to one another when the hand starts doing its thing. Things like how the knuckles line up, where the pad creases fall, how the fingers bend and interact these are all important elements to drawing convincing hand gestures.

These are the principal area of the underside of hand

Relationships of Hand Structure


I can sum up the biggest problem most beginners have with drawing hands in one word: CURVES. For some reason people seem to insist that hands are made up of straight lines.. fingers are parallel to each other (they are not), knuckles line up in a row (no) the edges of the hand are straight and parallel (nope!), Once an artist starts seeing the curves in the hands and thinking of them as flexible objects made of multiple parts, they quickly improve their hand drawings. Fingers- Everybody knows (or should) that the Our naughty middle finger is the longest, and side are almost the same length (ring is a little out, being much shorter. That of course forms fingers are not all the same length. the pointer and ring fingers along shorter). The pinky is the odd man a curve along the top of the hand.

What is often missed is that arc of that curve is not just a function of the length of the fingers, because the knuckles are also curved. Pinky therefore is not only shorter its set farther down into the hand, giving it the double whammy. Ring finger is actually the same length as pointer, but it appears shorter because its knuckle is lower on the hand than pointers. Likewise the pads of fingers are not the same size, and the creases that define the separation between the pads are very staggered. Pinkys first crease (down from the tip) lines up with ring fingers SECOND crease. The tip of pinky lines up with rings FIRST crease. Knuckles- Each finger has three knuckles on the back of the hand. The main knuckle is located at the base of each finger. The two minor knuckles farther up toward the tip. The main knuckle is knobby and has tendons that cross it creating a corded look running up into the finger. The second knuckle is covered with a very circular wrinkled surface, and the smallest final knuckle is indicated with some horizontal creases. You would think the knuckles would line up with the corresponding separations between the pads on the underside of each finger, but youd be wrong. Curl your pointer finger and look from the side the second knuckle and the pad crease under it exactly line up. However the smaller upper knuckle is more forward on the finger than the crease below it. Thats nothing compared to the main knuckle. Here is where a lot of people get confused with hands. Open your hand and look at it palm toward you. Look at the base of each finger. Many people think the knuckle of the finger rests directly behind the crease that represents the base of the finger right under the bottom finger pad. Now turn your hand around. That main knuckle is SIGNIFICANTLY lower on the hand. In fact its below the upper pad of the palm that curve below all the fingers. A lot more of your finger resides inside the palm/body than you might think. Understanding that is a big part of figuring out hands.

The Thumb- The thumb is a shorter, meatier version of the fingers. It has only two knuckles, one of which is hidden when extended. Compared to the fingers the thumb is much more diverse in its movements. It has a base that I think of as the meaty part of a chicken drumstick, and that drumstick can rotate inward, across and in circles from the palm. The drumstick of the thumb sort of coexists with the thinner drumstick of the outer part of the hand, which is a little like the bottom extension of the pinky. These two larger elements frame the hand and the palm. When drawing the thumb the curved vs. straight lines that define its form is important.

The Palm- This is the area between the fingers and the wrist, and the thumb and the outside heel of the hand. This is an often misunderstood area. Roughly square/rectangular in shape, its got asymmetrical curved sides, and is made up of three major elements: Thumb pad, outer pad and upper pad. Many drawing books want you to think of the hand as a rectangular block from which the fingers and thumb protrude, but that is where many people get into trouble. You must think of the hand as more flexible and curved than that. Think of the pads as three separate elements that combine to make that curves shovel shape. They can roll in on one another, and create a hollow pocket or spread out and be almost flat.

Fingernails- often glossed over, the fingernails have a curved, narrow base, straight sides that fan out as they approach the tip of the finger, then have a very curved top. Womens nails are often grown out past the end of the fingertip. The are slightly recessed as they grow out from under the skin.

What to Look for When Drawing Hands


Trying to describe how to draw a hand in every imaginable position would be an impossible task. There are too many and hands themselves have different shapes and sizes. Fortunately you are never far away from a perfect source of reference for any hand position the end of your arms, in fact. I have a small mirror near my drawing table and often pose my hands when I am struggling with a certain hand position. Still there are a number of tips and common issues that I would suggest an artist look out for when drawing hands in general: CURVES- I cannot emphasize that enough. Knuckles curve when the hand is open or when its in a fist. Looking at a fist from the knuckles you see that the act of making the fist curve the back of the hand from thumb to pinky. Hands that are reaching or gesturing also have a thumb to pinky curve to them. Curves, curves, curves. Hands with more than just a few straight lines are stiff and unnatural.

Fingers- Remember that the length of the fingers are different, but the action of the hand also changes the way fingers relate. Fingers are rarely ever side by side. They tend to overlap and stagger their positions between each other. When you hold a curved object like a bottle, for example, your fingers overlap and your

pointer tends to be back farther than the other three fingers, which crowd together. Look for that when you pose your hands. Nothing looks less natural than four perfectly parallel fingers. Even in repose, your fingers will not be parallel. In a relaxed state, they naturally separate and crowd each other at random. Your pinky tends to separate from the other most often but not always.

Remember the Meat!- That sounds graphic but your hands are made up of a lot of meaty muscle and padding. When they squeeze or clench or cup they pinch and gather all that meat in ways that make for a lot of creases, wrinkles and lumps. Remember the three important pads of the palm. The thumb and outer pads stay roughly that drumstick shape, but the upper pad does a lot more curving and bending, and it bulges up a lot as the fingers move toward the thumb. Your hand is thickest across the lower palm.

Mens vs. Womens Hands- Mens hands are thicker, with bigger fingers and a meatier palm whereas womens hands are slimmer, with thinner fingers and palm. They are also typically smaller than mens hands. Womens nails when long create difficulties drawing fingertips. I just give women pointy fingertips and suggest the nail rather than trying to articulate the end of the finger unless its a close up of the hand and then I have to draw the whole thing.

In Conclusion
People hate it when I say this, but learning to draw hands is all about practicing. If you want to be able to draw something convincingly without relying on perfect reference, you need to develop an instinct for drawing that something and that means drawing a lot of it. As I said before, you have the perfect reference source with you at all times. Spend some time observing your hands. Place your fingers and thumb on your dominant hand and move that hand around while you feel the muscles and bones beneath. Observe how the basic elements of the hand we have discussed move, rotate, flex and relax amid different movements. Its funny, but the hands that people draw end up looking like their own hands probably because they not only use their own hands for reference, but they have been staring at they hands for their entire lives and thats what hands look like to them. If you ever meet Mort Drucker(a master of drawing hands) and look at his hands, they are the same hands he draws on his MAD men characters! Wide hands with thick, short fingers. The hands I draw have long fingers with knobby knuckles just like my own hands. One exercise I do is to try and draw a hand in some position just out of your head, then pose your own hand and observe where you went wrong. One piece of advice dont knock yourself out in your work trying to do some impossible hand gesture. Some had positions are simple awkward by nature, and even drawing them correctly looks weird. If a hand position just isnt working, come up with a different solution rather than banging your head against the wall. Most people have a repertoire of hand positions and gestures they will use a lot, and stick with them. As long as your repertoire is sufficiently large and varied, you can easily get away with this.

The other thing to do is look at hands as drawn by others. You can see how they solved certain problems or positions and learn from it. There are a few books on the subject, but for sheer volume of example George Bridgmans The Book of a Hundred Hands is a great one. Lots of impossible hand positions in that one. Here are a bunch of examples of hand drawings Ive done in MAD and elsewhere just for reference:

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