Caricature
- caricature drawing
- exaggerated likeness
One or two features pushed hard while everything else is held accurate.
Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.
What it is for
A caricature works because the brain recognises people by their differences from average. Pushing the feature that already differs makes the likeness stronger rather than weaker, which is why a good caricature can be more recognisable than a photograph.
How it works
The artist finds what is already unusual about a face and pushes it hard, while drawing everything else accurately. The head is enlarged against a smaller body. The line is economical, because confidence is part of the effect, and tone is usually light.
When to use it
Use it for editorial work, events and anything affectionate or pointed about a specific person. Avoid it for a generic character, because there is nothing to exaggerate away from.
Told apart from its neighbours
Big Eye enlarges one feature on every face as a house style. Chibi shrinks the whole body and keeps the face generic. Funny Animal replaces the head entirely.
Where it is used
It carries an editorial illustration, an event drawing, a merchandise print and any picture about a particular person.
- Editorial and political illustration
- Event drawing and merchandise
The prompt
Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.
<character> as a caricature, one or two distinctive features exaggerated far past life while every other feature is drawn accurately and at normal scale, the head enlarged against a much smaller body, the likeness preserved and made stronger by the exaggeration rather than lost in it, a confident economical ink line with a few sure strokes, light watercolour washes for tone, a plain background
What goes wrong
A generic cartoon face comes back with everything enlarged. Name the one or two features to push, and say the rest is drawn accurately.
Leave out
uniform exaggeration, every feature enlarged, a generic cartoon face, a lost likeness, heavy rendering
Watch for
Exaggerate one thing, not everything. A face where every feature is pushed is a cartoon; a face where one feature is pushed and the rest is true is a caricature, and the difference is the whole craft.
Questions
Draw it
Pay for the one run. No subscription, and the price is on the model page before you sign in.
