The reason I draw a lot of caricatures is to look for new head
shapes and features that my hand is not used to drawing.
This reporter below has a really interesting mouth and when she speaks it
forms all kinds of unique shapes. I need to study her again but she's
not on the news as much as others.
It’s so easy to fall into the habit of drawing generic
animation shapes that we are so used to that they've become second nature.
For example Sody Pop is a slight variation on the stock
animation pretty girl structure – as is Red Hot Riding Hood, Coal Black, Elmer
Fudd, Tinkerbell and a million more.
There are also many animated characters based on the more simplified UPA-ish stock woman head shape - the Betty Rubble template:
When I do caricatures I try to absorb the new shapes I see and
hope that on another day, I can take inspiration from them to come up with less
realistic, more cartoony designs.
Real people’s heads and features (bodies too) come in an
infinite variety of shapes and proportions.
There is a commentator who has a rocket or bullet shaped head.
My first drawing of her is hesitant and conservative as I slowly try to understand her features.
A couple days later I tried some simpler, more cartoony variations.
I go through a lot of paper hoping that eventually I'll end up with a couple of cartoony designs I might be able to use for something.
