In creating a caricature you must concentrate on the overall shape of the subject's face and then concentrate on the features that form the likeness of your subject. I usually start with a light sketch [using a lead stick or
tombow light marker ] starting with the person's right side or left side of my drawing bringing the line down to the jaw line and around the chin and up the other side joining the ear. Then I place the chin line and work up to the smile.
Usually I ask for a smile because it puts more character in the face. Then I place the nose and sort of rough in the eyes with the same light marker or lead stick. Now I reach for my Sharpie 'fine point' marker and start putting in the smile. Next comes the nose, I accentuate the shape as much as possible but do not get way off base. The eyebrows come next and I then sketch in the eyes. Now I switch to my dependable marker by Dixon called
Markette. This marker gives me the line I want...heavy at times and thin at certain areas. I create the hair line and have some fun with hair. If the subject is bald ...oh well that's a different post.
The popular Dixon Markette Pen is a durable permanent ink pen with a bullet type fine point nib. The bold black ink dries quickly and resists fading. When used on coated paper or text stock, one pen will yield dozens and dozens of drawings. The Dixon Markette Pen is widely used by many professional caricature artists. A good replacement or alternative to the Design Art Marker 229-LF.
Sketching a portrait....
PORTRAIT...
The materials used in doing a portrait are
Sharpies [fine point] and the Dixon Markette with Tombow markers dual brush pen for shading. When doing the portrait I do not use pencil sketching first and do not use erasers. I go directly into drawing the features using the fine point Sharpie. I start at the mouth with or without a smile. Next I add the nose starting with the nostrils and work up to the eyes. I watch the distance relationship between each feature. I add the eyebrows next and I do the hairline adding the ears if they are showing. Finish the hair with the Markette. I finish the 7 minute sketch by shading the features as shown in the illustration below.