Caricature tutorial: Project Dubya

George Bush's main 'hook' is the mouth and nose. The nose is pinched similar to that of John Lennon (featured later). The mouth, however, is pure Bush. It's an interesting mouth as the upper lip appears to belong to a larger mouth than does the lower lip. Therefore it overhangs the lower lip slightly. However, there is no "slightly" in caricature so this is homed in on and exaggerated.

The eyes are fairly simple as he has thick eyebrows and an almost permanent squint as if gazing into the sun. You'll notice that the eyebrows are simply a squiggly line forming an arch and the eyes are just a single stroke. No need for fine detail here.



I tend to draw the features first before framing them with the head and hairline. This last is easy to rub out, alter etc. without interfering with the features. Get the likeness sorted then decide how you want to draw the head. As you can see on the right. The likeness is already established with just the face. This could now be applied to a gorilla, a horse, a blue whale or whatever. Everyone will know it's a caricature of Dubya. So let's look a little more closely at those 'hooks'....


Draw the most characteristic feature first (in this case, his mouth) as this is the easiest bit to evaluate in isolation. You'll know if it's right or not without having to draw the rest in to see the likeness.


When you're happy that you've got this right, You can draw in the eyebrows and eyes. Although the eyes are single strokes, the position of the eyebrows suggest that the eyes are squinting rather than closed. If the eyebrows were raised slightly, the eyes would look closed.

Bush does not have a strong jawline so his face is framed with simple curves down to the chin. This, in turn, protrudes only slightly and is not particularly pronounced.

As for the hairline, you'll see that I've sketched this in rather crudely and, had I inked this in, I would have retained a crude sketchy look to this. Bush's hair is an interesting texture so that, although not tousled as such, it never looks freshly combed. The ears are well proportioned. Having had a spate of public figures with large ears, British caricaturist seem to be drawing large ears on everybody by default. I always felt that too much was made of Blair's ears but I think this was to compensate for the fact that he had no strong visual hooks.

Politicians are always good subjects to learn caricature as there are so many examples to inspire you. Practice by shamelessly copying other caricatures in the papers. Then practice by drawing from photo references and finally practice by drawing from memory. If you can draw presentable caricatures of politicians, you can find a market in the press and magazines. But don't delay.... they have a habit of retiring or dying just at the point that you've got the hang of drawing them!

Project: John Lennon

OK. John Lennon is not seen in caricature quite as frequently (and never as unkindly) as Dubya so the hooks will be less familiar. I don't know if you've noticed but caricatures of politicians tend to be a little shaky when they first come to public attention. Gradually, different artists discover different hooks which are quickly taken up by other artists so that the standard of capturing the likeness improves but they all end up looking as if they were drawn by the same person. You can't copyright or patent a hook; consequently, caricaturists steal from each other shamelessly. This is OK. I'm inviting you to steal from me and, if you get good and get published, I shall certainly steal from you.

Usually, the most prominent hooks are the mouth and the nose. The eyes are also very important in setting the likeness but mouths and noses tend to vary in appearance much more so let's take an analytical look at these features. I've drawn a rather formal caricature of Lennon which is less of a cartoon than the one of Bush (arguably, the same could be said for the subjects).

Perhaps Lennon's most distinctive feature is his nose so we'll analyse the anatomy of this. In the first drawing (Fig. 1), I've highlighted the nostrils which are pinched rather in the same way that Bush's are. Usually, when drawn full face, the line of the nostrils curve in a little towards the centre of the nose at the top. With Lennon as with Bush, this line continues on down as if to meet at the tip of the nose in a 'V' but stopping just short.

Where Lennon's nose differs from Bush's is the slight broadening of the nose directly above the nostrils, giving the effect of a slight sneer as if wrinkled in disgust (see Fig. 2). This feature fits well with his reputation as a master of sarcasm and a fierce critic of the establishment. Remember too, that the nose is very narrow compared to other noses. There is always the tendency in drawing in general to draw what we know rather than what we see. In this case, that would mean that we draw a nose as we understand noses to look like rather than drawing the nose we are looking at. If you're familiar with drawing anyway, you will be used to dealing with this inclination. In caricature, however, you need to emphasise the difference so pinch that nose right in.

OK? Happy with what you've drawn so far? Now let's get on to his mouth. Lennon's mouth is as distinctive as his nose but the distinction is far more subtle. Lennon has fairly thin lips and the upper lip is very slightly fuller than the lower lip. Also, the upper front teeth project forward slightly; not enough to protrude as such but I think enough for Lennon to feel conscious of this. Consequently, he always chewed gum when singing (in fact, I think he always chewed gum period) so that his mouth was always busy, ensuring that he didn't inadvertently break into a goofy smile (although there are rare photos of relaxed moments when this is quite evident). He was also quite careful in the way he opened his mouth so that the centre of the lips parted while endeavoring to keep the corners closed. This resulted in the upper lip curling up slightly. He would open his mouth by raising the upper lip a little more than lowering the lower lip. This creates an aquiline swoop to the line of the upper lip (see Fig. 3).

Because Lennon always tried to keep the corners of his closed (possibly for fear of losing his chewing gum), this intensifies the creases at the corners of the mouth which, with Lennon, extends downwards. This is less apparent with his moustache which is why I chose the clean shaven look for this exercise (Fig. 4)

Initially, I found John Lennon quite difficult to draw largely because of the subtleties of his mouth. There was something going on with that mouth that I couldn't quite put my finger on. This is where I find analysing both the structure and the way he used his mouth helpful. When you do encounter a feature that you just can't get to look right, it's usually because you're looking too superficially. Study as many photos as you can get hold of (thank God for Google Images!) and, if possible, study video footage so that you become familiar with the problem feature in action. The more you understand, the better you can draw it. Remember what I said about the tendency to draw what we know rather than what we're looking at. The more you know, the better you are able to draw it.

When drawing the head, note that Lennon has a strong jawline, high cheek bones and a fairly pronounced chin. Note too, the musculature of the jawline. In later years, the hollow below the cheekbones became quite pronounced.

The only real distinctive thing about Lennon's eyes is that they were quite small and he tended to squint until he began to wear his glasses openly.

Lennon changed his appearance frequently throughout his life and you need to be aware of the subtle differences that age or the fact that he initially didn't wear his glasses had on the overall look. In the early "Mop-Top" years, his eyes appeared even smaller due to his squint. His face was fuller so the musculature of the jawline was less pronounced.

An alternative glossary of computer terminology

A drive
The process of going nowhere in particular in the car

Byte
An unpleasant wound usually inflicted by a Jack Russel

Megabyte
As above but more generally inflicted by a crocodile

Kilobyte
To be avoided at all costs

C
The first step in writing words such as “cat”, “cabbage” and “canary”

C+
A C that always gets ‘A’s

C++
A C that always gets ‘A’s and still remains popular

CAD
An absolute bounder

CGI
A C that didn’t get any grades and ended up in the army

CGI script
Prescribed dialogue for CGIs who are not allowed to speak for themselves

CGI bin
The last resting place for most CGIs

Cursor
One who responds to error messages with profanities

Desktop
The top of a desk

Digital information
A finger gesture accompanied by the command: “Spin on this!”

Defragmentation
Something computer buffs like to do from time to time for no particular reason

Disk memory
Recollection of the things we used before MP3s

Edit
What Ian Hislop does in his spare time

Edit-Undo
What the Private Eye production team have to do when Ian’s gone home.

Emulation
The sincerest form of flattery

Error message
Your computer’s way of reminding you that it is smarter than you are.

Extended memory
Remembering what you had for breakfast yesterday.

F-key
A key that one cannot find. See also Effing key and F***ing key

Female connector
A dating agency for lesbians

Fields
Large areas of land that contain little but grass and, occasionally, cows.

Files
Used to repair keyboard damage to fingernails

File folder
See Uri Geller

Floppy disk
A disk prior to taking Viagra

FTP
The sound a file makes when you try to upload it.

Function
A gathering of people with whom you would not normally associate.


Garbage characters
The people your mother always told you to avoid.

GUI
A state of icky-stickiness

Hard disk
A disk after taking Viagra

Hyperlink
A link with a severe caffeine OD

IBM
Archaic term for computers

Input
A polite request for an error message

Internet
A system by which researchers kill several hours before going to the library

ISP
A dyslexic attempt at a colloquialism for ‘urine’

Jack
The man who does the plumbing and other odd jobs around the place.

Java
A holiday destination for those with an adventurous spirit and an armed tour guide.

Keyboard
A tool for mis-spelling words in common usage

Laptop
An extremely popular dance in Thailand

Log on
A boastful term for an erection

Macintosh
See ‘raincoat’

Memory errors
Wachamacllits.... you know.... wassnames.

Microsoft
A problem not even Viagra can solve.

Mouse
A small rodent

Mouse ball
The part of a mouse to grab if you want its heart and mind to follow

Mouse cursor
A foul-mouthed rodent

Mouse icon
A small portrait of the Patron Saint of rodents

Mouse pad
A snazzy apartment for batchelor rodents

Mouse port
A fortified wine popular among rodents

Network
General repair jobs done during the slack season in the fishing industry.

Online
A gathering place for loud birds at 5.00am.

Output
A dyslexic attempt at writing ‘potato’

PC virus
A viral infection that avoids minority groups

Pentium
A popular tourist attraction in Athens

Phone Jack
What to do when the plumbing goes wrong or odd jobs need doing.

Pie chart
The top 100 pastry polls of which steak & kidney is currently No. 5

Plug & play
A popular form of vibrator

Power strip
A performance guaranteed to create a few log-ons

PPTP
A common response to phrases such as: “You wanna come back to my place an’ jump on my bones?” and usually results in spilling your Martini over your shirt.

QWERTY
The feeling you’re left with after an alarming PPTP experience.

RAM chips
A crude method of eating French fried potatoes.

ROM
A traditional gypsy

Serial mouse
A popular rodent soap opera

Terminator
A rather unwelcome visitor

USENET
A good way of catching fish

Web mail
How garden spiders correspond with each other

Web address
Where the postspider delivers the web mail

Windows operating system
Often called a ‘hinge’