Brilliant!....who is it?

Confession time....I hate doing caricatures. Loathe them, detest....am.... not..... partial! I've done quite a few of them, but they are just not something I enjoy.

Why?

Well, its the pressure.

Achieving a good likeness, capturing their face and features, but being significantly cartoonish is tricky. What doesn't help is thinking the participant will be offended because I've given them a big nose, or made them look more overweight than they already are. And if the painting is of a female, that anxiety only gets worse!

Invariably I've tried to dissuade people from getting them, or offered alternatives - I do more simplified portraits that remove the need for big noses altogether.

And yet, every couple of months someone will ask, and invariably I will say yes.

I struggle to say no to anything, and my personal pride wont let me do a bad job.

But a good painting does not a good caricature maketh.....or something.

If you would like a caricature from me in the future however, I have a few simple conditions then.

They are as follows:

1. Have a 'caricature ready' face to begin with - big nose, questionable facial hair, few teeth missing....gents, you too.

2. Provide photo's - plenty of, all angles and decent quality....just the face though and maybe the ears, though I can probably improvise there.

3. Ask for lots of distracting other details- these will put me at ease when drawing, and distract your eyes when you see that I may have given you that big nose or a few pounds.

4. Try not to be female, or if you have to be accept you may not look female in watercolours.

Obviously if you've already had a caricature from me cheers, you probably want to ignore half of what I've just written. Unless you're someone enjoys having the piss taken out of them visually, which is effectively what they are anyway.

If that's the case, I thank you.

Sorry about your nose.

#caricature #illustration #painting #tameink