Caricature drawing

Using Leonardo Da Vinci's Idea box

Da Vinci's caricatures were made using an Idea Box.

Here is how an idea box works:You lay out the features of the face then list varieties that you could possibly draw with that feature. Then blindly (close your eyes then point and look) or simply choose each feature then draw it.

Another way to look at it is the basic shapes of the human face. The only difference from this and the idea box in the last slide is this one does not address the chin.

Here are samples of shape relations with a human face. There are tons of ways to mix and match. I suggest starting with simple thumbnails like this before you start a final drawing of a caricature.

Look at the shapes to the left and then what followed with the final drawing. You get the idea?

You have now drawn cartoon characters in the form of political cartoons. The previous slides lend themselves towards cartooning. Now we are going to draw creatures that have human like faces but are not necessarily human. Think of it a fantastical creatures such as demons or dragons. Another way to approach this is to think of a character in

the Hobbit or Lord of the rings. These are characters that a Hollywood illustrator would do for a Sci-Fi movie. You are to create a new creature for an animated or partially animated movie. This is why we are going to use the idea box in the 3rd slide. It will lead you to draw a character with less effort than trying to just do it with out the idea box. This is how Hollywood illustrators work, now you get to try it.

Samples of movie characters:

With these next few slides let’s break down the characters’ characteristics as if it were found in an idea box.

Short forehead, large nose, new human species found?

Think of looking realistic or photo shopped. I want these to be almost real just like you would see in the movies. So if you draw an option like a long nose, why not make it a dogs nose.

It does not have to be for a movie. Can you recall a TV show that used makeup to create human like creatures?

By now you are probably thinking what the heck is our new project??? Remember we are following a course of studying careers that require drawing

skills. We did calligraphy which is lettering by hand which then led to graphic design

with the redesign of the book. We have done political cartooning. Now we are moving on to designing creatures for use in animation, game

design, movies, or TV characters. The main requirement is that we first use an idea box to give us our

parameters. We are just creating the face as those are the features we choose out of the

idea box, No anime, must NOT be cartoony but realistic. The creature we create must have humanoid features. It can be a troll, a fairy, an alien, or what ever the idea box leads us to. As a class we will create that idea box. It will start with 2nd period through 4th.

The next day you all will have an idea box and one by one you will blindly select each feature that your creature must have. Then it is sketching out shapes then on to a final drawing.

Now let us view a few web sites that are listed on the last slide to help with colored pencil techniques and how to approach drawing humanoid looking faces.

Some web sites to check out: http://

www.elfwood.com/farp/thewriting/animalash/animalash.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkGmU9zVXZc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2i2WOV-_RA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hScXRFd4id0