or, "how I learned to stop hating my work and love the process of learning to get better".
If you are like me, you've agonized over your work. You've sought others opinions to see if they'd boost your ego, tried to take classes or learn from others but found them less than helpful, and beat yourself up endlessly.
You are not alone.
First, I will not tell you whether your work is "good" or "bad". That's subjective. However, you can always improve, and should strive to. As professional artists (and if you're getting paid, you ARE a pro), we have no certifications or training aside from art school to keep us growing. So self-motivation is key. And I'm assuming you have that if you're reading this post. The rest is just sweat. Trust me, if you try the exercises below, and really work at them, not just trythem once or twice, you'll improve. Guaranteed.
Occasionally I still suffer from the "My work sucks" syndrome, but not as much as I used to. Because I've put in the work. You can too. Follow some (or all) of the suggestions below and watch your work improve dramatically. It's all about time and practice. The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Then, Practice some more. You wouldnt expect to just sit down at a piano one day and be able to play Chopin. It takes years of work. Be prepared for it.
However, doing the same thing over and over ("canned" caricatures) doesnt really seem to help improve peoples work. Einstein said that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. So MIX IT UP. Here's some of the things I've done over the years. Feel free to chime in and add your own ideas for what you've done to help you improve:
1. get a sketchbook and start sketching wherever your go. Restaurants. Libraries. Airports. Bars. (This has the added advantage of giving you an opening with that cute girl or hot guy sitting across the bar). I call this "Sniper Sketching". You don't necessarily have to let the subject see you sketching them, but you can if you like the end result. Some artists I know give their final sketch to the "victim". Some artists get together and do this on a regular basis, even giving themselves challenges to draw a particular person or theme. Mix it up.
2. Study artists you like. Facebook and Twitter make it easy to connect with other artists. I highly recommend enlarging a drawing you love and copying it freehand. Try to emulate the lines, the strokes, the color - whatever you feel you need to work on. Post it on the ISCA forum (more on this in another post) and ask for feedback. This is the way artists in the past have learned to improve - by copying the masters. DO NOT, however, repost it and claim it as your own! That's plaigarism and could result in legal action. Instead, use it for exercises for yourself. Keep your old exercises- its great to look back over time and see how you've improved.
3. Try different materials. Go to your local artstore and grab a bunch of different pens. SOme people swear by the Markette (Available online at cartoonpens.com), but there are many others that are excellent. I myself love a brush pen sold at Michaels. Its called LePlume, and its a bit stiffer than other pens of the same kind. But you can also experiment with color - try painting, pastels, even sculpy. The results may surprise you.
4. Start out your drawing with the intent of exaggerating as much as possible. STRETCH yourself! Trying to retain a likeness at the same time is the delicate balancing act that sets caricaturists apart from other artists, and it's what makes our art so difficult. But thats what we love about it! The challenge :)
5. Switch it up. Try a different view, such as 3/4 (this has helped me improve my work IMMENSELY) to break yourself out of a rut. Start drawing at a different place than you are used to (its fun to start with the feature you wish to exaggerate the most and then work from there.) Keep in mind the 100% rule - a face can be broken into 100 squares. If you use 90% for the nose, for example, that leaves 10% for the rest of the face and therefore the rest of the face must be smaller in proportion. Otherwise all you get is a "big" drawing.
6. Talk to other artists. Find out what they do. Watch them work. A great place to do this is at the International Society of Caricature Artists' convention. Its coming up soon, early November, so check out their website now! http://www.isca.org/
Hope these techniques help. More to come... and most importantly, have fun!!!
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