100000 Views :-) Crossing the Sound Barrier with a resounding Thank You!

Dear Visitors,

Your favorite caricature blog (ahem!) crossed the 100000 views milestone sometime last night. I am also happy to tell you that this post is my 200th post since this blog came into existence in December 2009.

I want to say that I enjoyed playing the blogging game, but I am also enjoying the score:) As Karma says, “Winning is as good as digging!”

100000 Views - Whats the big deal? Ask the Human.

I love the purity of numbers. If there were no numbers, we’d still be living without electricity, airplanes; we’d be living without the Internet! Can you imagine that?!

The 0s and the 1s – they are the fundamental building blocks of everything in this virtual world, and the number that’s my immediate favorite is made of 0s and 1s too 🙂

In my previous post “A Note of Thanks”, I thanked all those who made me smile during these 16 blogging months. In this post, I’d like to thank those who made it possible for me to blog. I’d like to thank the WordPress team for creating this fabulous blogging software and the Google Knol team for establishing the Knol platform, without which I couldn’t have written and published my book “How to Draw Caricatures – Evolution of a Caricaturist“, which has received about 40,000 views since I began writing it.

It’s customary to recount some interesting details of your journey, when such milestones are reached…so here’s the briefest of all summaries.

I’d like to say that though I was rather short of time this whole year, and I couldn’t really create as many caricatures as I’d have liked to, let alone visit other blogs; still there were some nice people who visited my blog. I also received a few nice emails and some heartening comments that kept me going. Thanks everyone (sniffle!)

That’s all for now…until I post the caricature of…the Hollywood Dracula:)

Wishing everyone the best of everything!

Regards,

Shafali

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The Final Chapter of the Book “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” has been Written!

Dear Readers: Please note that the KNOL Platform stopped functioning in 2012, so the following links won’t work. An enriched and expanded “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures” is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon. It has about 150 pages, more than 70 illustrations, and discusses about 3 dozen celebrity faces. The Content Outline of Evolution of a Caricaturist can be downloaded as a FREE pdf here.

Hello Readers and Visitors,

I’ve posted the final chapter of the book, “The Evolution of a Caricaturist“. This chapter is titled, “The Final Note – Weaving a Story around your Caricature,” and it’s about increasing the “stickiness” of your caricature by adding a visual story to it.

With this chapter, the book ends on Knol. As I mentioned earlier, I would love to get it published through the print route and I’ve been trying to figure out how. I’ve been weighing the option of self-publishing but I am not sure if I should go for it…especially as there’ve been a couple of inquiries from some cybernetic well-wishers. I’m going to swim along with the current and so if you want to send any inquiries/information, or even good wishes my way – you are welcome!

I have plans of including a lot of other stuff in the printed/formally published version, but I believe that if you want to truly develop the ability to caricature, the online version of it should be sufficient to put you on the fast track.

 

Dear Readers: Please note that the KNOL Platform stopped functioning in 2012, so the following links won’t work. An enriched and expanded “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures” is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon. ‘

It has about 150 pages, more than 70 illustrations, and discusses about 3 dozen celebrity faces. The Content Outline of Evolution of a Caricaturist can be downloaded as a FREE pdf here.

The Evolution of a Caricaturist

• Chapter 1 – How to Draw Caricatures – Getting Down to the Basics
• Chapter 2 – Why Caricaturists Love Celebrities?
• Chapter 3 – The Human Face – Observing it from the Caricaturist’s Perspective
  
• Chapter 4 – The Psychology of Face Recognition – The Caricaturist’s Secret Weapon!
• Chapter 5 – Caricaturing the Shape of the Face
• Chapter 6 – Caricaturing the Eyes
• Chapter 7 – Caricaturing the Brows and the Brow-ridge
• Chapter 8 – Caricaturing the Lips and the Mouth
• Chapter 9 – Caricaturing the Forehead, the Hairline, and the Hair
• Chapter 10 – Caricaturing the Ears
• Chapter 11 – Caricaturing the Nose
• Chapter 12 – The Final Note – Weaving a Story around your Caricature!

With this chapter, one of my projects come to an end. I had hoped to complete it last year, but with food-on-the-table work occupying about 90% of my waking moments, I just didn’t find the time. I hope that the regular readers of this book will forgive this lapse and enjoy the final chapter 🙂

A Request:

If you’ve read this book, I’d like to ask you what you’d like to see included in its printed version. Please send me an email at my email id, which is DrawToSmile[at]gmail[dot]com.

And a Note of Thanks too 🙂

The book “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” was visited more than 30,000 times in 2010. Some readers left comments, some sent me emails, and a few sent me the caricatures that they had drawn using the methods that were discussed in the book.

I would like to thank you all – for your visits, your comments, your emails, and your drawings. You were there watching me. Whenever I felt tired and wanted to give up, you did something to inspire me. You don’t remember it – but you were there, telling me that if I wrote another chapter it’ll help you DRAW TO SMILE 🙂

So…

A BIG THANK YOU!

Learning to Draw Caricatures – 5 Important Tips for New Caricature Artists

UPDATED: Jan 08, 2014

 “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures”  is now available as an eBook on Amazon’s Kindle Store. 

Click the Cover Thumbnail to view the book.

Kindle eBooks can be read on all devices; all you need is a Kindle Reader App which is available as a free download from Amazon. If you have a non-Kindle reading device (for instance, an iPad/iPhone or any other tablet/Smartphone,) you can visit the following page to download the Free Kindle Reader app for your device.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000493771

—————————————-

If you are a budding caricaturist, here are a few tips to help you reduce the gradient of your learning curve.

1. Find at least half-a-dozen pictures of the subject (the person you want to caricature.)
2. Study the features of the subject carefully and try to identify the deviations from the normal.
3. Remember that the deviations could be in size, shape (form), or both, so look for such deviations.
4. Don’t ever kill the look in those eyes!
5. Play a Secret Game – When you look at people, see their Caricatures!

So what do these tips mean? Let’s find out.

1. Find at least half-a-dozen pictures of the subject (the person you want to caricature.)

This is important. A caricaturist can’t work with just one picture, while a portrait artist often can. The reason why portraiture is easier is because it involves copying the subject’s features – if an artist can copy the features exactly, likeness is automatically assured. However, a caricature artist needs go further and achieve the twin objectives of:

• exaggeration
• likeness

Thus, a caricaturist needs to begin by first studying the subject’s features from different angles, and in different light conditions. If the subject of your caricature is a performer, there’s a good chance that his or her face is made to look different through makeup and at times even through the use of certain props. All this would make it difficult for you to figure out the exact shape and size of the facial features, if you studied only one picture…so find as many as you can, and lose yourself into those lines and creases!

2. Study the features of the subject carefully and try to identify the deviations from the normal.

While a portrait artist lives on his ability to reproduce the facial features faithfully, a caricaturist thrives on his capability to exaggerate the deviations from the normal. If we all were given a standard set of features by our maker, caricaturists wouldn’t exist. We exist because we have a keen perception, using which we can determine those facial features that:

• make a face unique
• deviate considerably from the ideal face.

3. Remember that the deviations could be in size, shape (form), or both, so look for such deviations.

Select the top two or three features that deviate most from their normal size/appearance. Close your eyes and try to visualize the following faces – then note down 2-3 features which you’d like to exaggerate in their faces:

• Abraham (Abe) Lincoln
• Morgan Freeman
• Michelle Obama
• Tom Hanks

Done?

Now view their caricatures here. What’s been exaggerated? Do you think that the exaggerated features match the list of the features that you’ve created?
Note how the noses of Morgan Freeman and Tom Hanks, and the Hair of Abe Lincoln and Michelle Obama have been exaggerated not only in size buy also in shape!

4. Don’t ever kill the look in those eyes!

I’ve seen a lot of caricaturists create excellent caricatures with beautifully crafted and realistically painted features – but with eyes that see nothing, say nothing, and do nothing! Eyes are the windows into a person’s soul…don’t shut that window. Never exaggerate the eyes to the point when they begin to look unreal. Don’t exaggerate the eyes unless you really have to – unless you are really confident of your ability to retain the expression while you manipulate them.

5. Play a Secret Game – When you look at people, see their Caricatures!

I don’t want to explain it because people might stop wanting to meet me – but if you want to be good at the art of drawing caricatures, you really need to transform your eyes into that magic-prism!

And of course, if you are interested in learning how to draw caricatures, I’d recommend “How to Draw Caricatures – Evolution of a Caricaturist“. (Updated: January 08, 2014.)

1. The book is expected  on the App Store – shortly 🙂 The book shall follow an interactive format. You can view the basic content outline at the above link.
2. It simplifies caricature-drawing and presents it in the form of a process, which if followed, could help you learn and master caricature-drawing in a very short time.
3. You can signup for an email notification, which will be sent whenever it becomes available on the App Store.

So, if you’ve got your sketchbook and your pencils ready, what are you waiting for?

DRAW to SMILE!

Another Important Update (October 06, 2014)

If you are a hobbyist and would like to create funny caricatures, or if you want to try out the principles outlined in my book Evolution of a Caricaturist, you can check out the Free Caricature App for iPhone and iPad –  Toonsie Roll, which has been developed under my expertise and guidance. The App will become available on the App Store soon, but if you’d like me to drop you a line when it becomes available, please use the contact form given here.

How to Draw the Caricature of Lady Gaga & The Story of Bad Romance!

Lady Gaga (yes the very same lady who’s entangled in a Bad Romance) is an extremely interesting and an unbelievably creative person.

She is a magician, a dress designer, a hairdresser, a lyricist…and of course, she is a woman trying hard to prove that she’s indeed one. If you ask me, she is one of those amazingly talented control-freaks who don’t even want to leave their caricatures to chance – they want to do them themselves! (Remember Ozzy Osbourne?)

Anyone who’s ever looked at Lady Gaga would know that there’s no caricaturist in the world who could do a better job of caricaturing her, than the lady herself. However, I made the attempt, and now I am here to discuss how you too can draw Lady Gaga’s caricature. (And no – you don’t stop at making her portrait!)

Here’s the caricature under discussion.

Lady Gaga and the Spider Colony!

Caricaturing the Eyes of Lady Gaga:

Lady Gaga’s eyes are characterized by the kohl she puts around them! You’ve got to load her eyelids and eyelashes with black paint to get the look right. Also stretch those eyelashes to exaggerate them. Don’t change the basic almond shape of her eyes.

Read about “Caricaturing the Eyes” here.

Caricaturing the Lips of Lady Gaga:

Lady Gaga has thicker than usual lips (which go well with her slightly heavy yet chubby face.) Note that I’ve drawn her with an open mouth, which helps you see her teeth. Her teeth are slightly crooked and I’ve maintained that lack of symmetry in the drawing.

Read about “Caricaturing the Lips and the Mouth” here.

(If I were drawing the caricature of a man, I’d treat the teeth differently (they’d be exaggerated to add more humor to the treatment.) However, while drawing the caricatures of women – ensure that their caricatures continue to look pretty:-))

Caricaturing the Hair of Lady Gaga:

Ah! This is where I had to compete with Ms. Gaga herself. I selected what I call her “Candy Floss with Noodles” hairstyle. The size of her coiffure was big enough but I did exaggerate it a bit. The cobwebs were added for the storyline.

(Read about “Caricaturing the Forehead, the Hairline, and the Hair” here.)
Storyline?
Well. Since Ms. Gaga had done a great job of caricaturing herself, I had to go do something extra to exaggerate her hairstyle, and so I thought of the spiders and the cobwebs. Whenever Lady Gaga discards a wig, the space on the wig is auctioned away to the spiders that want to move in to this “premium” location!

Well…
So in came the spiders and their webs, and of course the decorations added by the property dealers along with the prize car!

And Ms. Gaga was decked up and ready to give the other singers a run for their money!

And yes, if you want to learn how to draw caricatures, you should check out “How to Draw Caricatures – And Evolution of a Caricaturist.”

Before I wave goodbye, here’s an interesting bit about her current hit “Bad Romance”.

The Theme of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga – A Verbal Caricature:

Bad Romance is a bad-bad song that begins with the abduction of Lady Gaga by some super-models. These super-models, who probably are about to slide into middle age and hence into oblivion, dream up a new way to make money. They kidnap Lady Gaga, bathe her in a white bathtub, and then in her inebriated condition attempt to auction her off to the Russian Mafia. (Note the Russian connection in all such deals, and also note the marked absence of the Italian Mafia from this whole show.)

While the Russian men sit around with their electronic bidding machines, Lady Gaga seductively walks towards them and then selects the one with a golden chin guard (guess he wore it because he expected Lady Gaga to slap him) to do a provocative lap-dance for him. Now this all is hogwash, because after he becomes the highest bidder, she roasts him alive by activating her pyrotechnic bra. The point to be noted here is the Lady Gaga remains unscathed…and probably vanishes with the auction money, and shares the booty with the models who had kidnapped her…because it was all staged!

But that part wasn’t there in the video that I watched, and so I believe that the video was edited!  If anyone has access to the unedited video of the song Bad Romance , please let me know, because I am dying to hear the end of the story.

BTW, I wonder if the Russian Men would have bid at all if she had worn her meat dress to the auction?
(Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress.)

How to Draw the Caricature of Jack Nicholson – The Wolf

Two caricatures have challenged me like no other. They are Jack Nicholson’s and George Clooney’s – however, the reasons that made them challenging were diametric opposites.

Before I tell you more, here’s the caricature that we’ll be discussing today.

Jack Nicholson’s face has a lot of elements that can be caricatured, while George Clooney has but one (his chin.) Thus, with Jack Nicholson’s caricature, I faced the problem of plenty. Yes, the same problem that plagues rich kids of rich dads (does it remind you of a Ms. Hilton?) – they don’t know what to do with what they have – and so they go through their lives baffled and uneasy. Jack Nicholson’s face to a caricaturist is like Paris Hilton’s rich dad. Really. His dreamy eyes, his deriding mocking smile, his crazy untidy hair, his strong dimpled chin, and of course, his poking-fun-at-you eyebrows! I was a confused caricaturist who had plenty to play around with and who wanted to splurge at everything and anything.

It is at moments such as these that self-restraint becomes a quality in a caricaturist. Instead of following my instincts blindly, I organized my thoughts and decided to exaggerate the brows and the chin more than I exaggerated the other features. I felt that these two features set his face apart from others’.

Here’s how I drew the caricature of Jack Nicholson.

Caricaturing Jack Nicholson’s Eyes

As I said, Jack Nicholson’s eyes have that dreamy drunken look, which seems to mock everyone they look at. The look seems to tell them, “I know better!”
I exaggerated the differences between his left and right eyes. I also gave him a slightly sideways glance to capture and exaggerate the look in his eye. Note that I haven’t played around with the shape of his eyes much. (Read “Caricaturing the Eyes” here.)

Caricaturing Jack Nicholson’s Jaw and Chin

The shape of Jack Nicholson’s face can be best classified as pentagonal (though his chin is heavy, somewhat squarish, and not too pointed, it is very prominent.) I pulled all the anchor points and the mirror points out of the feature frame, with all my might. In fact, I could well caricature myself having lost my foothold as I dangled from the mirror points on his jaw – trying to use all my weight to pull those points lower and wider, making his chin about three times his nose. (Read “Caricaturing the Shape of the Face” here.)

(Note: if the terms anchor points, mirror points, and feature frame make your eyebrows rise up in the middle (in other words, makes you wonder), you need to check out the Free Online book “How to Draw Caricatures – The Evolution of a Caricaturist”!)

Caricaturing Jack Nicholson – the Wolf’s Hair

Once again, I didn’t do much with the hair. I went for his slightly Wolf-y look and made his hair look a little rougher through some truly violent strokes of my pencil. I wanted them to look like the hair on a badger’s much talked about behind (or what I imagine the hair on a badger’s behind to be – discover in this funny poem here.)

And…finally,

Caricaturing Jack Nicholson’s Eyebrows

Honestly, his eyebrows look like he’s got them cello-taped to his forehead. Probably he has, but I couldn’t find enough evidence to support my hypothesis. I did contemplate taping his eyebrows up, but upon some reflection I discarded the idea. I wasn’t caricaturing Frankenstein’s monster, I was caricaturing a good-looking Hollywood Celebrity, who despite his years can make women swoon! So up went the brows – they got pierced and got those golden rings. (Read “Caricaturing the Brows & Brow-ridge” here.)

Caricaturing the Birds

When I was ready with the strings, the birds just flew in. They began chirping and I turned my translator on. Aha. On the sly, Jack Nicholson employs birds that keep his brows hitched up…nobody knew – until now. But now, the secret is out!

Here are some other things to do:

• Download the Free Jack Nicholson Caricature Calendar here.
• Read the Jack Nicholson Caricature Post here.
• Read the Free Online book “How to Draw Caricatures – The Evolution of a Caricaturist” here.

Have fun caricaturing:-) Spread the Smile!

How to Draw the Caricature of Tiger Woods, his Women, his Cup, Nike, and the Devil!

Wondering how to draw the caricature of Tiger Woods? Let me share with you the process of drawing it. Here’s the caricature once again (to help you put your memory into Nike’s jogging shoes!)

Who wouldn't?

As you must’ve already figured out, this caricature is about Tiger Woods tumbling wherever with those nineteen or so women. The story is now old, and Mr. Woods is now back in action. Nike stayed with him through these rough times, more for their sake than his, or so I think – because Woods is the Nike icon for the testosterone-driven men who’d idolize the new macho image of Woods far more than his boring, all too predictable, one-woman-man image!

But put all that aside for now. We are right now the students of art – and we want to discuss how this caricature came to be.

Caricaturing Tiger Woods:

Other than the Nike logo on his cap and t-shirt, Tiger Woods can also be recognized by his huge round eyes, his thick lips, and his pearly whites! He’s got a shy half-smile and a nice round nose, which makes his face look rather boyish. Note that his upper eyelids are slightly heavy and they hide the top third of his pupils. You can read about caricaturing the eyes, here.

Caricaturing the Smile:

For this caricature, I selected his smile as his most important feature. As you can see, his lips and his teeth have been exaggerated the most. I focused on the smile because of the context. Think about it. If you were a man (or if you are one,) and if you were offered a cup full of buxom beauties, how would you react?
(You are welcome to add your above-the-waist reactions to the comments.)

Well, I imagined that Tiger Woods’ reaction would be a shy smile.

Caricaturing the Women:

Ah, the women! Remember that women aren’t easy to caricature. You need to ensure that the women in your caricature don’t look ugly. Every woman is beautiful. Period. So at best, you can make them look like the Disney Princesses, and at worst you may want them to look cute like the pixies. So in this caricature, I made the cute little pixies climb over one another, clamoring for Tiger’s attention.

Caricaturing the Devil:

This is the part that I liked best!

This particular devil is a modern guy. It personifies the evils that exist in the modern world, specifically the evils that influence sportsmen like Tiger Woods – otherwise known as advertising! This devil wears his cap backwards, sports an untidy stubble, and wears a tee-shirt with slacks. He carried the Nike logo as his weapon, and incites the tiger in Tiger Woods to indulge in adultery – one of the seven deadly sins!

The Story in the Caricature:

The story in the caricature is told by the Devil. When he whispers to Tiger Woods, and tells him to, “Just Do It,” it makes you wonder how many men in Tiger Woods’ position would be able to resist the temptation!

So that’s that about the Caricature of Mr. Woods and his longtime relationship with Nike and the Devil.

If you want to learn the nuances of creating caricatures in a fun and easy to learn way, you would like to read, “How to Draw Caricatures – The Evolution of a Caricaturist.“

Download the calendar “Tiger Woods as the Casanova” here.

The Zen of Finding your Lost Love Makes Tom Hanks Disappear!

I was going to post Tom Hanks’ caricature today, but a comment on my book made me change my mind. (Updated: March 15, 2010 – Tom Hanks’ Caricature Posted:-))

The gentleman who commented, is an authority in the field of information technology, and he (as he says in his comment,) is only a few years away from retirement. Long time ago when he was younger, he used to draw. It was his hobby. Then many years passed and the hobby was forgotten, until recently, when he rediscovered it. Now he hopes to start again:-)

He made me think about the years we do things that aren’t driven by our passion. He made me think of all that we leave behind, in the race to become “respected citizens” of this world. He made me wonder about the value that we place on life’s precious moments – in a currency chosen by others, and in a manner guided by our social norms.

Do we have to leave and forget what we love…forever?

There’s this one life that we’ve got. It was given to as an empty basket so that we could fill it up with moments that either fell into it or that we chose consciously. We can’t do much about the moments that destiny drops into our basket, but if we relinquish our control over those moments that are ours to choose – we suffocate ourselves, into a slow death. We make ourselves an airtight chamber and we sit in it waiting for random moments to fall into our basket – waiting for the time when our empty gasps would end and the searing, burning pain in our chest would stop!

Pull yourself out of that dark, lonely chamber – stop waiting for the continuous patter of random moments – get a life that you love. Close your eyes for a second and think.

What did you love doing, what did you dream of becoming; before you were blinded by the blazing lights of practical needs?

Here are some choices. Pick yours.

• You loved to draw people, animals, buildings, trees, cartoons, caricatures…
• You danced for hours…you loved swinging to the music…
• You played the piano, the keyboard, or the guitar…
• You liked to write stories, poems, jokes…
• You enjoyed creating puzzles, designing games…
• You loved to make things out of wood, paper…

This list, of course isn’t exhaustive. Take a moment, and a slip of paper. Now write down your “lost” dream. If you are here, there’s a strong possibility that you too are chasing a lost dream.

• You may be here because you aren’t working as an artist, but you loved to draw or sketch, once upon a time.
• You might also be here looking for references or for pictures to alter, you are probably someone who’s straitjacketed into the role of an artist or a graphic designer, but it isn’t your true calling. You dreamed of being someone else, once upon a time.

I don’t recommend that you leave what puts bread on your table – but I strongly advise you to spend at least an hour a day following your true love. One day, it shall become yours – but until then, the sweet memories that you collect in that hour of the day, will fill your basket of life with happiness and satisfaction.

And yes, if your lost dream is drawing people (cartoons, caricatures, or otherwise,) “The Evolution of a Caricaturist”, a book on how to draw caricatures, may help.

“Chapter 6 – Caricaturing the Eye” of “The Evolution of the Caricaturist”, a book on How to Draw Caricatures – Updated.

Dear Visitors,

Some of you must be aware that I am writing a book on How to Draw Caricatures. This book is called “The Evolution of a Caricaturist“, and it is being published as a collection of Google Knols. It is an evolving text, to which I add a chapter every 10 days or a fortnight. Yesterday, I added the sixth chapter called, “Caricaturing the Eye” to this book. Here are the links to the Chapter Outline, and the Six Chapters that’ve been completed so far.

Dear Readers: Please note that the KNOL Platform stopped functioning in 2012, so the following links won’t work. An enriched and expanded “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures” is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon. ‘

 

 

It has about 150 pages, more than 70 illustrations, and discusses about 3 dozen celebrity faces. The Content Outline of Evolution of a Caricaturist can be downloaded as a FREE pdf here.

The Evolution of a Caricaturist

• Chapter 1 – How to Draw Caricatures – Getting Down to the Basics
• Chapter 2 – Why Caricaturists Love Celebrities?
• Chapter 3 – The Human Face – Observing it from the Caricaturist’s Perspective
  
• Chapter 4 – The Psychology of Face Recognition – The Caricaturist’s Secret Weapon!
• Chapter 5 – Caricaturing the Shape of the Face
• Chapter 6 – Caricaturing the Eyes

If you are fond of sketching and you want to explore the skill of caricaturing, you are the right audience for this book. You follow the chapter updates by either subscribing to this blog through email (check the first link in the right sidebar.) As the chapters would lead you into subsequent practice activities, I would recommend that you put aside 2-3 hours of your time per chapter, and ensure that you practice before proceeding to the next chapter.

I would like to thank those readers who’ve sent me emails telling me that they’ve found this book useful. I intend to complete this book in the next two months. If you are a serious reader of this book, I recommend that you work out a practice schedule with about 12-15 chapters spread over the next two months. It will ensure that you’ve acquired a new skill by the time you are done reading the book.

Remember this book contains original content (right from this caricaturist’s pen, so to speak,) and it’s FREE. It is an improbable combination but freak accidents do happen, and this is probably one of them:)

Create a few caricatures and “Spread the Smile”!

Regards,
Shafali.

The List of Celebrities whose Caricatures Grace this Blog…so far:-)

As many of my visitors would know, I started this blog sometime in the middle of December 2010. Since then, I’ve added quite a few Celebrity Caricatures to it. The regular visitors have probably seen them all, but I wouldn’t want my new visitors to miss out on the treats:) So here’s a consolidated list for your viewing delight.

1. Gorgeous George Clooney’s Impeccable Hairstyle
2. Julia Roberts – The Pretty Woman’s Dazzling Smile helps the Rodent Household!
3. Pamela Anderson (Lee)…the Fish, and the Missing Fish-bowls
4. Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft – The Tomb Raider
5. Brad Pitt and Achilles’ Dilemma in Troy
6. Avatar – A Visual/Verbal Caricature
7. Bruce Willis – the Unbreakable, and the Die Hard Woodpecker.
8. Jack Nicholson and the Two Birds – As Good as it Gets!
9. Morgan Freeman a.k.a Detective Alex Cross and… The Two Dueling Mosquitoes.
10. Michelle Obama – The First Lady’s Smile & The Toothpaste Ad!
11. Barack Obama – What worries him? The Pups Know – Sasha, Malia, and Bo!
12. Nicole Kidman, Her Nose and the Bloodhounds!
13. Tiger Woods, Women, Nike, and Devil!
14. Halle Berry, her Hairstyle, and the Birds!
15. Johnny Depp – Captain Jack Sparrow – The Pirate!

Another Caricature of a Forever Celebrity graced this blog recently (The Pierced, Tattooed, Dermal-Implanted, and Otherwise Modified Human’s Unique Selling Proposition!)

If you liked my caricatures and if you’d like to make caricatures too…my Book – “How to Draw Caricatures – Evolution of a Caricaturist” , which I am publishing as a collection of knols, should interest you. If you are interested…do visit. You can also read more about this book in “The Book” section of this blog. Your comments shall be appreciated.

Caricature/Cartoon – Julia Roberts – The Pretty Woman’s Dazzling Smile helps the Rodent Household!

Of course, you’ve seen this smile before. But did you know that her dazzling smile could help Mr. and Mrs. Mouse get over their electricity woes.

Julia Roberts has many reasons to smile. She’s one of the prettiest women in the world, she was one of the best-paid actresses in Hollywood, she won an Academy Award (for her performance in Erin Brockovitch,) and in 2007 (according to Wikipedia) her estimated net worth was $140M. She also made to the list of the “50 Most Beautiful People” by People Magazine, 11(!) times, and 2001, Ladies Home Journal voted her the 11th most powerful woman in the world! All these reasons put together could make Hitler win the Best Smile contest – leave aside Ms. Roberts, who has a spontaneous smile:)

Here are my favorite Julia Roberts Movies:

• Pretty Woman (with Richard Gere.)
• Sleeping with the Enemy (with Patrick Burgin – the psycho husband.)
• The Pelican Brief (with Denzel Washington – The movie’s based on an extremely readable book by John Grisham – Do read it.)
• My Best Friend’s Wedding (with Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett.)
• Erin Brockovitch (with David Brisbin and Erin Brockovich-Ellis (Yes, the real Erin Brockovitch, who played the part of the waitress.) (Read the real Erin Brockovitch story. )

Julia Roberts’ smile is almost as famous as the MonaLisa smile…but do you really know her smile? Find out here.

Download the Printable Julia Roberts Hollywood Celebrities Calendar for 2010.

The Book “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” – 3 Chapters up and Growing…

Dear Readers: Please note that the KNOL Platform stopped functioning in 2012, so the following links won’t work. An enriched and expanded “Evolution of a Caricaturist – How to Draw Caricatures” is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon. ‘

 

 

It has about 150 pages, more than 70 illustrations, and discusses about 3 dozen celebrity faces. The Content Outline of Evolution of a Caricaturist can be downloaded as a FREE pdf here.

I am writing a book called “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” on How to Draw Caricatures. This book explains the art of creating caricatures and helps you develop a method to achieve a humorous likeness to the subject of your caricature. It begins by explaining what a caricature is, establishes an effective method for observation of human facial features, and then feature-by-feature, it helps you develop “the skill of exaggerating to achieve humor and likeness.”

The Evolution of a Caricaturist

• Chapter 1 – How to Draw Caricatures – Getting Down to the Basics
• Chapter 2 – Why Caricaturists Love Celebrities?
• Chapter 3 – The Human Face – Observing it from the Caricaturist’s Perspective

I will be updating this page, whenever I add a new chapter to this book, which I hope to do once or twice a week. (Definitely once a week.) I’ll appreciate your suggestions on how to make this book available after it has been published completely. I’ll also appreciate suggestions on what else you’d like to see in the book.

And finally a Personal Note:

I believe that the artists of this world form a continuum. There are a lot of caricature artists who are ahead of me and I could learn a lot from them…but then there probably are an equal number of artists and graphic designers who want to master the art of drawing caricatures. They are looking for “simple-to-understand and ready-to-apply” methods of creating caricatures so that they may explore yet another facet of art. Through this book, I wish to share my knowledge of caricature drawing with them. I hope they find it helpful.

Happy reading and drawing.

Thanks.
Shafali

The Evolution of a Caricaturist – A Book on How to Draw Caricatures (a Google Knols Collection)

Dear Readers,

This post may be of interest to you if you want to learn how to create caricatures:–)

I aim to add at least one chapter a week to this book (more if possible,) and hope that you won’t just find it useful but also interesting to read. Find “The Evolution of a Caricaturist” at Google Knols. This short and sweet book will have about 15 chapters (did I hear you say, “Thank God!”), and I hope that it will help you start you on your way to becoming a Caricaturist Magician!

Your visit will be inspirational:) Feel free to drop me a line or post a comment here.

Smiles,

Shafali