A TERRIFIC CARICATURE LESSON!

Here's two pictures of me. The top one was drawn by Mike Fontanelli and is influenced a bit by John K's caricature style. The bottom one was drawn 100% by John and was used in a Ren & Stimpy episode called "Onward and Upward."

I find it shocking that two pictures of the same man can be so different. Evidently I'm still recognizably me even when the back of my head sticks out like a torpedo, as it does in Mike's sketch above. It doesn't matter that my head doesn't really have that shape. 

As long as my most recognizable unique features are still there (the nose, teeth,dog ears and chinless neck) a lot of the other features can apparently be changed at will, without harming the likeness.


What this demonstrates is that a caricaturist is not confined to exaggerating what he sees. We only have to do that for the most significant parts. We can make up other parts. We can put something in just because its funny, as long as in some sense it still feels like the person we're drawing.

I don't know about you but I find that liberating!