Good day all!

Here's your latest issue of the "Every Other Week Caricature". And this week
- mostly because we've been so busy with the new site - we broke from
tradition: rather than do a caricature of a well known celebrity, we did a
lesser known one: my brother Tony (aka "Tonus Balonus"). (I've been
commissioned by my Sister in Law to do a caricature for Tony's 40h birthday
in mid August.) So lets dive right in...


Starting with realism

The picture on top is the realistic sketch - and as hard as family members
are to draw (because we're so familiar with them) - I feel I really nailed a
likeness. (My family agrees so I must have done OK).

Tony runs his own concrete business, runs marathons, is a true outdoorsman -
he's a pretty rugged fellow. That wasn't foremost in my mind when I started
drawing this, but will make a difference in the final rendering (you'll see
that in 2 weeks.)


Exaggeration feature by feature

I'll be jumping around. First, Tony has an infectious smile and
as I drew him I discovered in terms of light and shadow and line what that
means: mainly these little "H-shaped" shadows at the corner of his mouth. I
never noticed that before until I started drawing him. Look at the corners
of the mouth - see if you can't see the subtle "H" shape.


The jaw

Tony has a strong jaw and chin and a relatively "narrow radius" upper jaw
(the maxilla where your two front teeth come out of). This contrast is
something to play on...(and yes it does feel weird and a little clinical
saying my brother has a "narrow radius maxilla" :-) Look at the upper teeth
and see if they don't look like they curl around pretty fast. (Mainly that's
exaggerated by strong incisors - i.e. strong "two front teeth".)


More on the smile

Part of an infectious smile is warm eyes. How to show that: push the lower
lids up over and into the lower half of the iris of the eye - so they kind
of arch over the lower part of the iris (the colored part of the eye) and
then "slit" the eyes a little - you know, that squinty look.


Eye brows

Tony's got bushy eye brows - something to play on later. Notice this: how
close the brows come to the upper lids - almost right on top of them. This
is typical in men. In women, the eyebrows tend to arch a lot higher over the
upper lid. (Plastic surgeons will tell you real quick high arching eye brows
on a man just don't work, and if you - the surgeon - add them even
accidentally during a face lift, it's gonna cost you a lot more later
in lawyer fees.)


The nose

Next, the nose. I have a bulbous nose, but I realize Tony's is narrow and a
not-so-bulbous at the tip. His nose also has a low arching septum (the
middle part of the nose right there between the nostrils...I'm realizing all
this stuff from drawing.) Also notice in the series of three pictures how
the lowest part of the nose starts to encroach on the upper lip.


Cheap shot - the ears :-)

Tony's always had prominent ears and got a lot of hassle for it in grade
school (poor guy) but never really let on if it ever bothered him. Didn't
look like it ever did. But I had to work on those a little...wait until the
next "Every-Other-Week-Caricature". (My sister in law says I'm Eeevill :-)


Hair

He's got dense hair, with just a little of a widow's patch (you know that
part of the hair right there in the middle of the forehead - picture Eddy
Munster on the Munsters TV show who has the world's best known one..or is it called a "cow lick"? I'm a little ignorant about a few of these names.)
Anyway, the mildly receding hairline and the strong bony brow makes me want to shrink the forehead to exaggerate the bony brow. (This is a lot more obvious
in the third picture at the bottom.)


Overall shape of the head

Lastly, the overall shape of the head changes like this over the
progression: the cheeks and jaw get more pronounced, rockier, more angular
in appearance, while the hair and the top of the shrink. Compare what you
learned about neck anatomy in these pictures. (We talked about them
briefly in last week's communiqué: the Sternocleidomastoid muscles, the
trapezius muscle, the Adam's Apple, and the general cylindrical shape of the
overall neck that's built around the actual spine.)


Very lastly a couple of foopas (faux paus):

1) the level of the eyes in the top picture is a touch off - specifically,
the right eye strays a little high. Compare to the other two pictures.

2) the "Ollie North" appearing middle picture - just that - it started to
look like Ollie North more than my brother. Where does that happen? I think
the teeth got too wide and broad and the eyes just a little too squinty.

I'll post the original photo in the Insider's Loft so you can see if this
"works" (but give me some time - I'm pretty swamped around here these days :-)

Please feel free to ask any questions or contribute what
you know about faces, drawing, anatomy, staying motivated, related sites,
(even remotely related), "Right brain - Left brain" stuff, building a
caricature business, etc. I value and appreciate all your feedback. Keep on
drawing!

Warmly,


Jeff K.

Tonus Balonus:

Kasbohm & Company's

YouCanDraw.com

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e-mail: jeffkaz@YouCanDraw