Hi Folks in the Universe,
I am safe here in the Antiverse, which is made up entirely of Antimatter. Except having to wear this unfashionable Antimatter suit, I am quite comfortable. In fact, everything’s just like home. We’ve got a US President who’s called Barack Obama and who the Press is happily denigrating because he couldn’t stop Wikileaks from leaking those cables (ever wonder why the Americans didn’t change the spelling of Cable to Cabel? or did they?!)
The funny part of the whole deal was the revelation I had, which is that the US diplomats are in the same trade as I. They are all Caricaturists. If you don’t believe me, here are some fantastic caricatures that they’ve created of other world readers. I’d like to do a critical review of these caricatures.
Moammar Gadhafi the Libyan leader, they say “relies heavily on his long-time Ukrainian nurse, Galyna Kolotnytska, who is a voluptuous blonde and who is possibly his lover.
Critical Review: Dear Creative Diplomat whose name I couldn’t find out, are you caricaturing Gadhafi, or the prop. Note the that nurse is only a prop and a caricature of her voluptuousness can be served as a side dish but not be the main course. You need to speak about Mr. crooked cap Gadhafi and tell us what you see in him.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, nicknamed “Teflon Merkel,” avoids risk and is seldom creative.
Critical Review: The Teflon Merkel bit says it all. First you use the minimalist technique beautifully and then kill the caricature with the details. There was no reason to add on those extra strokes, “avoids risk and is seldom creative.” The main stroke “teflon” said it all – didn’t it? Stay with what’s essential for the caricature – if you want to add a prop, don’t use extra jaggies to create a shadow of a prop – create a “voluptuous” prop. Refer to Gadhafi’s caricature above.
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been referred to as “alpha-dog.”
Critical Review: Excellent Caricature – no comments!
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The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been compared with Adolf Hitler and described as “unbalanced, even crazy.”
Critical Review: Adolf Hitler?! I think you are more of an exaggerationist than a caricaturist. Adolf Hitler was an organizer, a manager, and he never had anyone to key him up – he did all the keying up! The second part of the statement does a better job of creating Ahmadinejad’s caricature – I mean, who in his right mind would say that the leaks were organized by the US?! But then to give the guy some credit, he might know a mite more than I do.
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Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi is pegged as “feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader”
Critical Review: Interesting adjectives, but you are skimming the surface. Go deeper. A caricature needs to exaggerate the important characteristics of the subject – and when one particular characteristic outshines others, you can’t just play it down. As a caricaturist, you need to feel more confident of your treatment – and you need to also add “ruthlessness” to your skill-set, dear unknown friend.
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Pakistani Leaders, President Asif Ali Zardari is called, Dirty but not Dangerous; while Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif has been hailed as Dangerous but not Dirty!
Critical Review: Very poetic. Have you considered becoming a poet instead. I should tell you that the ability to rhyme is in much shorter supply than the ability to caricature. But I like the way you’ve linked your two caricatures – using the same words but changing their sequence. Great Job!
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Well…so you know why you don’t find good caricaturists and copy writers easily. It’s because they’ve all become American Politicians! But then the art of caricature is quite similar to wailing baby, you just can’t hide it!
I plan to board the 2:00 PM shuttle, reach the portal, (which opens only for a few seconds) – and will be back in my good old Universe, which as you know is exactly the same as the Antiverse – and neither I nor you’d know the difference. See you then.
Shafali's Caricatures, Portraits, and Cartoons 