| Thank God it's Friday! Good afternoon everybody, today I sent you another three view progression. (I got some favorable feedback from several members - One said he was happy because he got two caricatures and a picture all for the price of one. (Yes you can use these anyway you want.) And what's a "progression"? It's just a group of pictures that get progressively exaggerated. Today's subject, (er, victim), is Snoop Doggy Dogg. After collecting a bunch of small and medium sized photos on the Internet (actually from the Alta Vista image finder), I found a handful of what I thought were representative views of Snoop. Views were from all angles: left, right, up and down - enough so that I could put together a three-dimensional view in my head. Then I just picked one good picture and did three sketches of it. In the top sketch I did quick realistic sketch. In the middle picture I did the first exaggeration. In the bottom picture I did started heading off into slightly wilder exaggeration. How to make progressively progressive exaggerations? Firstly, after seeing how widely Master Caricaturist John Kascht uses tracing paper I too have made it my best friend. There's nothing wrong in using it in the learning stages or on a commissioned piece that you really want to get right - when you have more time to complete it. Of course this is tough when you're drawing at a live gig. But you WILL learn how to exaggerate! How? by constantly going back and forth comparing your realistic feature with the feature you're exaggerating. What did I exaggerate? Here's the exact order: The first feature: I started by making the eyes a little larger but as realistic as possible. I traced these directly from my own original realistic sketch. Second: Snoop has a prominent nose. In each progressive picture I made it broader, increased the projection, (that is, how much it sticks out), then I eventually made the nostrils huge. Third: Working my way down, I stretched the mustache. I kept the lips pretty much realistic - so I could exaggerate the under bite a little more. This made it easier to make the beard into a billy goat kind of thing. From there I started on filling in the line of the forehead back into the rest of the head. Snoop has a thin jaw - to really exaggerate that I flattened the whole head (just a little in each picture), and made the lower border of jaw very abrupt. After getting the shape of the head finished, I magnified the ear keeping the general shape real - just bigger - in each picture. The most notable shadow in Snoop's face I think is the shadow shape under the cheekbones - the bigger this shadow is, the thinner/leaner a face looks. And Snoop looks lean. Adding a few corn rows added to Snoops sparse hair - though I think I went overboard on the hairline, makes him look older than he is - captures the general Snoop hair-doo look. (Easily correctable though.) Lastly, I thinned the neck and stretched it in each picture. End result: We've a great start at a decent, recognizable caricature. Sure I could push it a lot farther. And maybe I will in the final picture (in 2 weeks). Keep on drawing! Warmly, Jeff K. Snoop Doggy Dogg
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