Contrasts, Exaggeration, Caricature - My Most Important Lesson!

We all know what caricature is, right? Sort of. But we only apply it to drawing people's faces.
I say caricature everything!

A caricature is an analysis of something in words or in your mind, that is then exaggerated on paper.

A lousy caricature that tones down what you see is what I call an "underture".

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/Underture

Here is a very exaggerated drawing of Daffy Duck, but still well constructed and uses all the principles we like.

Below are toned down poses of Daffy. Less contrast.

Most cartoonists when copying something, tone down the thing they are copying. Everyone here is doing it. Even the most talented people do it automatically, until they learn how to do the opposite.

Before copying a drawing, analyze what you are looking at. Describe what you see:

The Bulldog has a big head compared to his body: make it bigger
His chest is bigger than his rump: Make it even bigger in comparison to his rump
His jaw is bigger than his cranium: make it even BIGGER!

Try making a caricature of this dog.

all those contrasts are just contrasts in size. There are other kinds of contrasts.

Contrasts in:
Types of shapes
Asymmetry
Curves VS angles
Empty space VS filled space
and more.

Think about what you are looking at all the time and never tone it down when you copy it!

My exercise for today:

1) Draw a caricature of the bulldog
2) Describe that Daffy Duck pose, and then draw a caricature of it - without losing the construction and negative shapes that make it read clearly. Caricature with control.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/06/animation-school-8-proportions-affect.html

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/contrasts