InsidersArtistLoft

Thank you and Congratulations!

You've taken a huge step in the direction of learning to draw, (and especially learning to draw those hilarious caricatures) and opening the doors to your own creative locomotive! I thank you for your interest and enthusiasm, I applaud you and look forward to joining you on your new venture.

On the remainder of this page you'll find a short introduction to the various sections of this book, suggestions on how to get active in your learning, how to practice, what to do when you get in trouble, "realism" in drawing and the pre-instruction exercise. Print the whole page out (it's about 7-8 pages printed) or just navigate your way around.

Finding your way around

Links to all the major sections are listed in the left hand column at the top of almost every single page. So you're never more than three links from any major section. And with over 320 different "html" pages there's a lot of links!

Incidentally, the 300 plus html pages print out at about 700 pages - and growing all the time. If a section is mentioned or referred to in any lesson, there's usually a link to it too. The universal blue colored text will cue you it's a link. (You'll be using your "back" button a lot too.)

"Masterlink" pages

All the larger lessons have their own "Masterlink" section. It's a page where all the different subsections within those lessons are summarized and linked. If a lesson has a Masterlink page, it's listed as the first option at the top of the left hand column. Just click on it and you'll be briskly transported there.

Generally, if you link to a lesson from the Lessons Library, you'll get the introduction page to that section and again, the blue underlined Masterlink option will be there in the top left column. So dive on in and don't be afraid!

Warmly,

Jeff Kasbohm
Director
YouCanDraw.com

In a very short time, if you do the lessons with some degree of regularity and get active in your learning, you too will be drawing caricatures! I have no doubt. In fact that's a promise.

You'll be stepping into a whole new way of looking at things, and a whole new way of putting your unique stamp on to and into everything you draw. You'll also benefit directly and indirectly from "R-mode's" other spin-off progeny like enhanced idea generation, increased creativity, and laser-like observational skills. You'll even learn another way to relax. And I think that's pretty exciting! But that's a side dish. You're here to learn to draw faces and caricatures. And how do you do that? You dive in and get active...

How do you get "active" in your learning? Firstly, if you have questions while you're doing any of the lessons, you can email me. At the bottom of almost every page you'll find the red "YouCanDraw". There's an email link line in everyone of those. Just click on it, write me a message and as long as I'm able to, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

If a lesson seems like it has holes in it, if you want more assignments, if you see glaring typos, if you think a lesson needs more illustrations, please also let me know by sending a message. All questions are relevant. If several people have the same question or I think someone's brought up a particularly important point, it will come out in the "every other week" e-communiqué.

Other ways to get active: going to museums, going to the library, search the net, apply what you're learning to appreciate the art of the masters: both in caricature and in "Fine" art. Watch a practicing caricaturist at work, ask questions - if they're open to it - and they always are if they're not too busy. Caricaturists who work parties and work publicly generally seem to have become pretty gregarious and outgoing people.

And send me your pictures! All over this site you'll find reminders for sending your art work to me so I can publish your progress for the whole world to see.

The Lesson Library

The core of the Insiders Artist Loft: the ever-growing, ever-expanding on-line encyclopedia of lessons, drills, and ideas to keep you drawing.

The lesson Library is divided up into three parts:

The Foundation Lessons. Nine lessons that cover the five skills of drawing. You'll learn about lines, shared edges, contours, negative space, perspective, sighting and a whole bunch more.
Features of the Face. In this section you'll find all the features of the face and the shapes of the head broken down into bite sized sub-sections. You'll apply and practice what you leaned in the nine foundation lessons directly to the face.
Case Studies. In this third, still growing section, you'll really get into building and creating your own hilarious caricatures. By going one case study at a time, you'll internalize the "sizing up" system that'll allow you to caricature any face in the world.

The Art Gallery

This is where you'll find all the 72 dpi caricatures you've been emailed. At least one every other week. They're there to help you learn but you're free to use them any way you want to - in your advertising, your personal letters, cards or publications, in your business - I don't' care.

(Just one caveat: if you take the "Courtesy of YouCanDraw.com" off the picture, all I ask is you write somewhere close by, an attribution statement crediting YouCanDraw.com. I think that's pretty generous. I won't draw these for less than 100 dollars a piece for an individual and no less than $300.00 American to start for publication usage rights.)

The YCD Electronic Magazine Files

This is where you'll find the "every other week" e-communiqués stockpiled for your reference. Lot's of links, lots of tips, lots of illustrations to keep you excited about drawing.

The Bookstore

In association with Amazon.com: our modest but growing list of titles I've found and subscribers have recommended. You'll find titles here that'll extend what you're learning on subjects that might be of vital interest to you as an artist: caricature and cartoon books, books on perspective and line, getting over your creative blocks, even electronic books that'll show you how to build and market your own on-line business and art store.

The blue "The Bookstore" link just above is the link to the bookstore that shipped within this program. Here's the link to the on-line, ever-growing, ever-expanding On-line Book Store .

Other Caricaturists

Find caricaturists in your area for parties, for outsourcing, even to help you further your practice of caricature. While you're getting up to speed, I recommend Tad Barney's "The Nose" - a nation wide - I take that back - a world wide compendium of caricature artists for hire. When the time is right, maybe you'll be on his list too! (Look over the list of artists - with a little exploration you might find an artist in your area - one who just might be your caricature mentor if you ask right.) Tell Tad Jeff sent you. :-)

Link to the On-line Resource: the Insiders Artist Loft

The book you've downloaded - the one you're looking at right now - prints out at over 700 pages. That's seven hundred pages. And it's not finished yet. All changes, additions and new sections will be uploaded to the online Insiders Artist Loft. One year membership is included in the purchase of the YouCanDraw.com Caricature book.

(The most up to date password was sent to you in your purchase receipt. Any changes will be sent to you by email.)

The Internet is gobbling up talent. Caricaturists, cartoonists and graphic artists are in demand. If you haven't thought about it already it's time to start thinking about starting your own business - it doesn't have to have anything to do with drawing either. Maybe you have other interests, hobbies or areas of expertise that others are very interested in learning.

I've included this link for those of you who are in business on-line, on the brink of starting your own business, or just want to stay abreast of what's happening on-line for small businesses.

Click here for Dr. Ralph Wilson's "Dr.E-Biz" small business resource

Dr. Ralph Wilson has got to be one of the best informed, most generous Web marketing gurus alive today. He has two excellent electronic magazines - both are free. (You can find the second one at http://www.Wilsonweb.com.)

Look in The Bookstore for several excellent offerings on building your own electronic information business.

Learning any art is an investment, a discipline, a journey. To learn the fundamental skills will require a minimum of your time. How much? Like an hour a week. Or to start, 15 minutes a day 3 times a week you will make progress. Of course, the more time you spend, the better and faster you'll get. But don't force it! Start with 15 minutes 3-4 days a week. Little stepping stones. Lots of repetition. Trying to force yourself to do too much too soon will only discourage you, even burn you out.

Forcing yourself to only draw when you have a 2 hour window of time can be counter productive. I used to figure if I didn't have 2 hours to draw, then it it wasn't worth drawing. So guess how much I did? If you said none you're right! I could never find 2 hours. Set up a realistic schedule for yourself, like the 15 minutes of drawing, 3-4 times a week regimen.

Before you do anything, do the pre-instruction drawings! This is an off-the-cuff, shoot from the hip-and-see-where-you're-at exercise. There's no right or wrong way to do them. The only wrong thing to do is judge them. You're probably just starting out. Applaud yourself, reward yourself for being so dang gutsy and adventurous! (Because this is exactly what you're doing - going out on a limb. But it's ok - you were meant to do this.)

Don't let anybody else see your pictures; file them away so in 8 to 12 weeks you can look back and admire the progress you've made. After you've got a good chunk of the foundation lessons under your belt you won't be nearly so protective of them.

You can start anywhere. The way I read a book is like this: I like to get the big picture first so I look over the whole thing. Then I dive in - just somewhere. If I get stuck, I'll eventually find my way back to the first chapter - if that's where I need to be. So look it over, see what grabs you. If you haven't drawn since second grade, I recommend starting right at lesson one.

If you're looking for a more directed approach, do this. After you've done the Pre-Instruction Drawings, go to the very first lesson: Lesson 1. of the Foundations of Drawing (lessons 1-9). Do all the assignments and exercises in each lesson. Do them more than once if feel like you just didn't get the point Don't dwell on any one assignment too long. If your timer goes off - quit. Come back where you left off.

At the bottom of every lesson there's a link to the next logical lesson so you can link right to that step.Work your way methodically through the assignments one lesson at a time. This is important since all the caricature lessons are designed around the techniques you'll learn there. If you're an experienced artist, it never hurts to do a little review. I learned a couple techniques that have cut my drawing time in half!

At several places within the first 9 lessons you'll be prodded to review how you felt. Why? So you can learn to recognize when you might get frustrated, and more importantly, how it felt going in and out of the Artist's mode (R-mode) of perceiving.

Short, frequent but regular sessions...
Get a timer. Quit when it goes off!
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Here's what I recommend. Get a timer. One of those hand wound ones you've seen your mom or grandmother using in the kitchen. They go "ding" just once after "times up".

Set it for 15 to 40 minutes to start (after you've got all your materials collected and at the ready). In the beginning, quit when it goes off! Stay hungry. You'll be looking forward to your next session. And just like building any muscle, your drawing muscles will get stronger over time.

Back to your first drawing - the pre-instruction drawings: materials needed
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(If you want to work bigger than 8 & 1/2 x 11, that's great. I recommend 8 and 1/2 by 11 because it's easy to find and secondly, it's all the bigger my scanner can scan - that's right, when you send me your "before" and "after" pictures, I'll scan your work - I want to show the whole world what you've accomplished!)

These first drawings aren't going to be judged in any way, I don't want you to show them to anybody - not until you've gotten through the foundation skills section. In fact, after you do the pre-instruction drawings, I suggest you put them somewhere out of sight! When you get to the end of that section, then it'll be time to pull them out and see what progress you've made!

This is not a time for judgement or comparisons - you should only be applauded for stepping up to the challenge, for taking the risk. So go ahead, pat yourself on the back. You deserve it.

Before you learn to draw caricatures, I'm assuming you have little or no background in drawing. That's great! That's where I want to start. We'll be diving in pretty fast and before you know it, you'll will be drawing faces. Before the anxiety level goes too high, let me assure you: all drawing is the same! It's true. Once you've got a good feel for the basic skills, drawing faces or flowers - anything will be a worthy subject for you.

The Other Bonus to Drawing faces and Caricatures -
or "why start with something as tough as drawing faces?"
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The caricatures you'll be learning here will be mainly caricatures of faces Since the ability to recognize faces is a right brain function, drawing faces helps you to access your right brain modes. Let me say this another way. Researchers have discovered the part of your brain that gives you the ability to recognize faces is physically located in the right hemisphere. People who've had strokes or trauma to the right side of their brain lose part or all of this function. They recognize names, (a left brain function), but not faces. So jumping in learning to draw faces serves double duty for drawing: we want to draw faces and learn to access the right brain. One throws us into the other. So it only makes sense, doesn't it?

As difficult as people think drawing faces is, and right now you might think it is, drawing faces will only accelerate the acquisition of your drawing skills. It still amazes me how complex and unique every face is. In fact, I'm only more amazed every time I draw someone. But that appreciation comes when you slow down enough to really see.

Before you learn how to draw caricatures, I want you to be able to draw realistically. Why? Because learning the steps to draw realistically teaches you to observe more carefully. It teaches you to fully access your "right" brain, a direct connection to your visual sense - at will. Drawing realistically teaches you to observe as an artist does - it's not about creativity, not yet. Drawing is a creative act all by itself - but the kind of drawing I'm talking about here is about drawing what you see.

Creativity will come as your confidence grows, and as you learn to observe both what's in front of you and the small messages, images, and ideas that bubble up out of your own mind and subconscious. But that's a different story - realism will teach you about accessing and appreciating what's there under your nose first. This is "realism" and yes, it teaches you to do that! So, we'll be aiming for realism first. Everything else springboards off that.

And once you see you can draw both simple and complex objects realistically, (especially faces), you'll be filled with a profound confidence: you'll feel ready to draw anything you want to. Faces seem complex, but learning to draw all the small shapes, breaking it down into small manageable pieces will make drawing faces/caricatures understandable and doable. In fact you'll learn any picture or scene can be broken down into smaller more manageable pieces.

Like learning to ride a bike, once you've mastered the basic skills, you can travel anywhere you want: caricatures, landscapes, people, abstractions. etc.

I want you to get 4 drawings down on paper so you'll have some way to gauge your progress. And you'll be cheerfully shocked by your improvement as you do the assignments. :-)

I would love it if you would send me your before and after pictures: chronicling your progress as an artist. You might be so tickled with the results of your efforts, you might want to show them off. See your own successful drawing progress chronicled right here at the Insiders Artist Loft and at the "YouCanDraw.com" homepage.

With your feedback this site will be forever evolving. So send me all your suggestions, ideas, and comments. If you think a lesson might benefit with a second or third animation, tell me so. If you think a section needs more explanation, or just isn't clear, please let me know - there's an email link at the bottom of every page. I take all suggestions seriously - and I truly appreciate them. Thanks again for your interest and enthusiasm!

PS So, if you haven't yet, go to the pre-instruction drawings and do them. It won't be so bad. And just doing them will break the ice. Remember to put them away when you're done, show them to nobody, and above all don't judge them.