(disclaimer: I am a novice on this subject; this article is because of the Feynman technique)
Most of us think that caricature is making fun of someone. This is totally nonsense because of those headstrong people who cannot take a joke on what they represent or do.
Caricature is the skills of observation expressed as an art of exaggeration.
Our faces are unique, but at a micro level there are very minor difference among the different facial features. For e.g. my nose may be few millimeters wider than someone or I may have slightly wider jaw, etc. These small differences add up to form a distinctive face. Hence, the most important skill of a caricature artist is observation. (I like to believe that I am good at it, hence my fiddling with this topic)
The second skill is what to exaggerate and how much. Maybe, throw in something additional like clothes that the person wears the most or his general nature, say, replace the legs with a spring for an over enthusiastic person.
And voila. You have a caricature !!
How can software help ? (any image processing software will suffice)
For amateur artists, the process is not easy even if they have good observation skills. Following are some tricks.
1. Try to get a good photograph of the person. Nothing better if the exact posture can be found. It may not possible if it is a celebrity. To compensate, you can do a image search and find the one closest. No need to get the exact one. Use your imagination.
2. Cut the head and body and place it in two layers.
3. Draw the head on a new layer above the head; and body on a new layer above the body. This step is like copying of the silhouette from the layer below. (the new layer should be transparent backgrounds)
3. This is most important. No one can teach how to observe. Assuming you are competent find at most two features which you wish to exaggerate. (Ref: Geon
theory of Recognition by Components and the Gestalt theory of Figure &
Ground)
4. If you haven't read the theories, please go back to step 3.
5. Use the cage deformation (transformation) tool and exaggerate the feature. This tool obeys the law of constant mass. For e.g. if someone's eyes are a bit wide and you wish to push those to the edges, you need to adjust the upper cheeks accordingly. This tool provides a cage which you can adjust.
6. Do the same for a single feature from the body.
You still need to retouch for artistic qualities. And merge all layers sans reference.
See how far the machine can bring you if you know how to observe. And this is what personal computers are meant.
The disturbing thing is that good old cartoons and caricatures have disappeared from newspapers. Following is a tribute to sirs - Mr. R.K Laxman and Mr. Kutty. I miss you. (my first attempt; please pardon errors)
My father's photographs.
Now he is scolding me !!
Most of us think that caricature is making fun of someone. This is totally nonsense because of those headstrong people who cannot take a joke on what they represent or do.
Caricature is the skills of observation expressed as an art of exaggeration.
Our faces are unique, but at a micro level there are very minor difference among the different facial features. For e.g. my nose may be few millimeters wider than someone or I may have slightly wider jaw, etc. These small differences add up to form a distinctive face. Hence, the most important skill of a caricature artist is observation. (I like to believe that I am good at it, hence my fiddling with this topic)
The second skill is what to exaggerate and how much. Maybe, throw in something additional like clothes that the person wears the most or his general nature, say, replace the legs with a spring for an over enthusiastic person.
And voila. You have a caricature !!
How can software help ? (any image processing software will suffice)
For amateur artists, the process is not easy even if they have good observation skills. Following are some tricks.
1. Try to get a good photograph of the person. Nothing better if the exact posture can be found. It may not possible if it is a celebrity. To compensate, you can do a image search and find the one closest. No need to get the exact one. Use your imagination.
2. Cut the head and body and place it in two layers.
3. Draw the head on a new layer above the head; and body on a new layer above the body. This step is like copying of the silhouette from the layer below. (the new layer should be transparent backgrounds)
3. This is most important. No one can teach how to observe. Assuming you are competent find at most two features which you wish to exaggerate. (Ref: Geon
theory of Recognition by Components and the Gestalt theory of Figure &
Ground)
4. If you haven't read the theories, please go back to step 3.
5. Use the cage deformation (transformation) tool and exaggerate the feature. This tool obeys the law of constant mass. For e.g. if someone's eyes are a bit wide and you wish to push those to the edges, you need to adjust the upper cheeks accordingly. This tool provides a cage which you can adjust.
6. Do the same for a single feature from the body.
You still need to retouch for artistic qualities. And merge all layers sans reference.
See how far the machine can bring you if you know how to observe. And this is what personal computers are meant.
The disturbing thing is that good old cartoons and caricatures have disappeared from newspapers. Following is a tribute to sirs - Mr. R.K Laxman and Mr. Kutty. I miss you. (my first attempt; please pardon errors)
My father's photographs.
Now he is scolding me !!
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