How to Draw Caricatures

June, 2001- I own more than twenty books on the subject of how to draw caricatures and cartoons. Following only five weeks of practice, I recently started working part time as a caricature artist at a major theme park (mostly for the fun of it). I have no previous experience in art or drawing. Studying Redman's book did more for me than any other. The key to success in caricature is being able to produce a clean, simple sketch that has adequate likeness to the subject's face yet, in a kind way, also employs some fun with "exaggeration" -- not distortion. Redman's book does the best job, for the complete beginner, of any text out there. This is one of the only instructional references that makes a special point to include at least one and often several photographic views of each subject before showing you how to construct the basic caricature drawing. There are many such examples of photo studies and caricature results. He also covers children and and a wide variety of ethnic groups. Redman includes examples of how to draw the same subject using several different caricature styles. There are also examples of famous people done in caricature. Too many of these to even count. If you combine this book with Jack Hamm's Cartooning: The Head & Figure to learn cartoon bodies to go along with the faces, you have a great pair of reference books. As a cautionary note, Redman's book does contain some cartoon nudity which I feel was not needed at all to make the text a valuable learning reference. Parents might want to remove these few pages before the book is used by children. This is a great learning tool. Good luck!July 2, 2002- As a follow up to the above review, for those seeking the very best caricature training references, I must add a third book from the many that I have reviewed. I recently purchased, for a reference on cartooning, The BIG Book of Cartooning by Bruce Blitz. To my surprise and delight this turned out to be perhaps the best text yet on CARICATURE as the art form is applied in theme parks and private parties. Like Redman's book, Blitz offers many training exercises starting with actual photos of the person to be sketched and showing step by step how to "construct" the caricature. More than this, Blitz ties together at a beginner to intermediate level the techniques of "catching" a caricature likeness and adds a huge resource of comic techniques and gag ideas.Redman's and Jack Hamm's books are still the best for starting to draw caricature. However, a theme park or private party caricaturist in their early years of development will see a BIG jump in skill, income, and tips after a thorough study of Blitz's BIG Book of Cartooning. Blitz's book, having been published in 1998 is more current in its examples and styles, and, due to its emphasis on gags and cartooning, more likely to hold the interest of young artists of say junior high or high school age. Warm regards, Brock

As a part-time caricaturist, I can attest to the value of this very instructive book. Yes, there are several celebrity caricatures sprinkled throughout, but more importantly, there are dozens of photos of "real" people -- friends of Lenn Redman's -- along with his step-by-step analyses of their faces. The principles of exaggeration are easy to follow with Mr. Redman's text and simple diagrams.I've looked at several how-to books on caricature, and without a doubt, this is the most complete, professionally done and most fun. If you practice what you learn in this book (emphasis on practice!), you could very likely surprise yourself and others with a highly enjoyable skill and pasttime.

I recommend this book for anyone that wants to do caricatures. It is a step by step book on doing different faces from photos of different people. If you want to learn how to do a caricature, this is truly a good book to own. M. Hoove

The most comprehensive book ever written on the challenging art and science of drawing caricatures! Lenn shows multiple examples of each face, showing how each decision the artist makes can lead to very different interpretations of the subject's features. The book is well organized and, naturally, copiously illustrated with examples of every race, gender, age, and body type imaginable. There is no other book on caricatures that covers the 'how' and 'what' quite so well as this gem of an art instruction book

This book has to be the definitive book on caricaturing. I have read and re-read this book to such an extent that I need to order a new copy because the old one is so dog eared.