Have you seen cartoons in newspapers? They often show famous people such as politicians and movie stars. The subjects are often drawn in an unkind way which exaggerates certain of their features. This type of drawing is a caricature. Caricatures can be portrayed in many forms including pencil, ink or watercolor paint on quality paper to acrylic or oil paintings on canvas…

Caricatures are often meant to be humorous, and they are often used in comic strips, particularly political cartoons. Good-spirited individuals might also consider having their caricatures drawn by a talented professional, either on the street or at a festival or other event. An artist chooses certain features about a person such as their nose or teeth. These features are then exaggerated.

In order for the artist to be able to draw or paint a caricature accurately it is important that you provide fairly clear photos of your subject, preferably at a similar angle to how you would like the person to be depicted. For example, the figure at left is looking in a 5 o’clock direction. Caricatures can be drawn between angles from 3 to 9 o’clock but angles between 5 and 7 o’clock usually give the best results.

So, what Are the Education Requirements for a Caricature Career?

There are some caricaturists that might be able to build a successful caricature career without any formal training or education. This is typically the exception to the rule, however, rather than the norm. The majority of very successful caricaturists usually have some type of formal education under their belts.

Art schools can usually help aspiring caricaturists hone their already existing skills. Typically, a budding caricaturist should consider a degree in drawing or illustration. A graphic design degree can also come in handy for caricaturists that prefer to work with a digital medium.

Individuals interested in a caricature career are often able to choose from a few different degrees. For instance, those who want to study the basics of drawing and illustration can choose to earn a certificate. Others interested in caricature careers can also choose to earn two or four year degrees.

You have decided to learn comics drawing but don’t know where to start. Whether you already have a background in art or drawing or not, you can learn more as you go. If you are learning to draw comics, here are three books to help you get started.

You’ll need to know what the heck comics are in the first place, and how to lay them out. You’ll also need to know how to tell a story using a sequence of pictures. And unless you want it to be page after page of similar-looking frames, you’ll need to know how to mix up the layout and look of your drawings to create interest. It’s the same way a director changes the look of the different shots in a film.

You don’t just have one long shot of two people sitting on a couch, talking. You might start with a close-up of one person’s face, then move to a long shot with both of them sitting on the couch. Then another close-up of the second person, then maybe a shot of both of their upper bodies.

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond puts all this together into one comprehensive book. It is structured to work like a classroom textbook, which you can attack as if you were in a comic book writing class.

They discuss storytelling, character creation, layout, transitions, lettering, and more. All the basics on graphics and writing, with lots of examples to illustrate the points covered.

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels discusses all aspects of sequential art, or how to make a series of pictures tell a story. It covers things like how many panels to use and what sorts of things make a comic stand out.

If you already have a background in art or drawing but want to stylize your work to match a comic book style, then Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist: How to Draw the New Streamlined Look of Action-Adventure Comics! can help. Today’s comic book characters have a more streamlined, edgier look. This book will show you how to reduce muscle groups and simplify anatomical features to get that look.

There you have three books to help you get started if you are learning to draw comics. So get brainstorming, then get planning, and get drawing.