Bill's Book Nook: The Mad Art of Caricature by Tom Richmond

If you are a wanna-be cartoonist, a fan of cartoons and caricature,  a fan of MAD Magazine, or all of the  above, you are no doubt already aware of the career and website of cartoonist and caricaturist extraordinaire Tom Richmond. Tom's blog is full of his wonderful artwork,  as well as his stories and observations on the world of freelance illustration. His drawing tutorials offer tips and pointers to both newbie cartoonists and established pros alike.

His tutorials  are so well done, many wished Tom would one day publish a "how-to" book on the "art" of caricature.

Well, that day has come at last. I just received my copy of Tom's "The Mad Art of Caricature", and believe me, it was worth the wait.

Over the course of  170 beautifully illustrated pages, Tom explains in painstaking detail the ins and outs of how to develop your skills as a caricaturist. This is not one of those simplistic, "Hey! ANYONE can draw caricatures!", books. This book is meant for serious students who really want to learn how to draw funny portraits of people.

I read the book cover-to-cover last night, but I know I will be reading it over and over again to be able to absorb all the instruction and information that this book offers. I have been doing "live" caricatures at parties and functions for the last 20 years of so, and I consider myself a pretty good  caricaturist. This book has shown me that I still have a long way to go. In just the first read,  I had many moments where  "the penny dropped", and I discovered a new way of approaching a caricature.

One of my favorite chapters, right off the bat, is the chapter on doing "live" caricatures. As I said, I've been doing this for many years, but last Summer, I was placed in the position of having to teach a bunch of greenhorns the techniques of  drawing in front of a crowd. I couldn't have been a bigger failure. If I had had Tom's book, my life would have been SO much easier. His explanation of the demands placed on the live artist and his demonstration of his approach, are spot on. When I get my time machine working, I'm grabbing a copy of this book, and traveling back to May of 2011!

In case you can't  tell, I think this book is fantastic, and you should go here and order a copy right now. For no extra charge, Tom will even add a personalized signature for you so you can brag to your pals about what close chums you and Tom Richmond are! 

BTW, while  speaking of books about caricature, there are a couple  of other good ones I should mention. Lenn Redman's "How to Draw Caricatures" was the book I used when I was starting out. It's a bit dated now, but I still use a few of the techniques Redman demonstrated in this book. In fact, Richmond himself refers to Redman in his book.

Another how-to book that I think would be helpful is Keelan Parham's "Let's  Toon Caricatures". Despite its unfortunate title, this  book has a lot of good  advice for the live caricaturist.

If you can only afford one book on caricaturing though,  get Richmond's book. He has written the definitive title on the subject.

Of  course, if you can't afford any of these books, it IS possible to teach yourself the art of caricature. It's  just really painful. My friend, the multi-talented John Forcucci taught himself. That's his  caricature of me you see here. It is the best caricature of me anyone has  ever done, and believe me, I've seen plenty!

"Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall, Who's the HARDEST One of All?"

When I was a lad, I spent a lot of time trying to draw my favorite cartoon characters. I would spend hours copying the drawings from newspaper strips, comic books and cartoons on television. I wanted my drawings to be perfect. I didn't just want to  draw something that looked somewhat like Bugs Bunny, I wanted to do a drawing that looked like the real Bugs, the one from TV. 

Some characters were easy to draw. Others were a bit more difficult. Often it wasn't the complexity of the character, it was that the artist's style was such an important factor in the character's "look". For example, Charlie Brown is a very simple design, and just about anyone can draw something that would be instantly identifiable as Charlie Brown. It wouldn't, however, look like THE Charlie Brown. Charles Schultz's unique drawing style was difficult, if not impossible to duplicate. Without his style any drawing of Charlie Brown just ain't Charlie Brown.

Characters designed for animation, that is, characters designed to be drawn exactly the same way by a number of different artists, should be easier, but that isn't always so. Take The Simpsons, for instance. They are very simple character designs, but it takes a lot of work to get them looking "right".

Getting things to look right, of course, is really just a matter of careful observation and keeping the principles of solid drawing in mind while you work. Even so, no matter how much training you have, there are certain characters that are a challenge to draw. For example, MAD Magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, is notoriously difficult. Even a lot of the longtime pros at the magazine cannot do a satisfying likeness.

I cannot be the only kid who had the frustrating experience of trying to capture the elusive likeness of some character. I wonder, is there  one character in particular that everyone finds difficult to draw? So, I am throwing this question out to all you cartoonists out there, professional or not:

WHO IS THE HARDEST CARTOON CHARACTER TO DRAW, AND WHY?

I'm really curious to know what people think, so please leave your humble opines in the comments section. Tell your cartoonist friends (who normally wouldn't be caught dead reading this blog) to chime in too.  When I've tabulated the results, I'll let you know in a future post.

I think I know whose name will come out on top...

Caricature Capers Part 2: In the Trenches!

In our last thrilling installment, I detailed how a young, inexperienced cartoonist (me) had figured out a way to earn money "drawin' pitchures". I had hooked up with a local caricature firm, and was going to be doing cartoon portraits of tourists and the like at a popular tourist trap in downtown Boston, MA.

Now remember, I had precious little experience drawing caricatures at the time, but I figured, the owners of this firm must have had an "eye for talent", and wouldn't have hired me if they thought I couldn't do the job.

I was sorta right.

Before I began, the owner of the business gave me a brief "tutorial" on the methods and materials the caricaturists in his firm used. The tools of the day were a Sharpie Rub-a-Dub® marker for black line work, and Chartpack® markers for colors. The drawings were done on 8 1/2" x 11" index card stock, pre-printed with the name of the company. I was also given my very own lap board to lean on as I drew. After showing me a few tips of the trade my boss assigned me to my first day of drawing caricatures for the general public, or as I came to know them, The Great Unwashed.

The caricature cart was located, as I mentioned, in a very popular tourist area filled with shops, restaurants, and street performers. As my first day approached, I felt extremely excited, and extremely nervous. I was excited to be getting paid for drawing cartoons, but nervous I wouldn't be good enough.

As it turned out, I needn't have felt either emotion. The "excitement" of being paid for drawing all day dissipated as soon as I realized how little me and my fellow artist were being paid compared to what the owners of the venue were raking in. True, we were making more than we would have been flipping burgers or cleaning toilets, but not much. I also realized that drawing cartoons for yourself was a lot more fun than drawing screaming kids and drunks all day and night. Having the above mentioned people arbitrarily judge your work based on how cranky/drunk they were was no fun either.

As for my fear of not being "good enough", I had nothing to worry about. While some of my co-workers were wonderful cartoonists and really enjoyed their jobs, the majority were hacks. Their drawings would have shamed a 7 year old, not that they cared. As long as the rubes paid for their crappy drawings they were content. In comparison to them, my stuff was ready for  the cover of MAD magazine.

As the Summer of my first caricature tour of duty wore on, I settled in and realized that while there were some good aspects to the job, there were downsides as well. Such as:

• It was HOT! Given my pale, Irish ancestry, I ideally should be kept in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and humidity. No such luck. By day we were seated outside with no shade, while the Sun baked down on us. Nights were cooler, but then we became a biting insect all-you-can-eat buffet.

• The food was awful! Sure, I could have packed a lunch for myself, but that would have required some forethought, so I dined from the food court at the location we were at. After a Summer of greasy fast food fare, my stomach and I were no longer on speaking terms. My wallet was a lot lighter too.

• The clientele left something to be desired. The ideal subject for a caricature is a secure person with a good sense of humor. Why vain, insecure people with self-image issues want a caricature of themselves is beyond mortal understanding. Time and again someone would sit down with a HUGE honker and say, "Don't give me a big nose". People with glasses didn't want them in the pictures, and of course, tubs of lard all wanted to be skinny.

In all seriousness, it was truly heartbreaking when someone with a true birth defect or some other physical problem was coerced into having a drawing done. It was awkward for the subject and the cartoonist. You can't insult them by exaggerating their problem, but to leave it out of the drawing or idealize them would make it seem like you were passing judgement on their disability. The worst? People who talked their BLIND friends or family members into getting a caricature! Why would someone who can't see want a cartoon of themselves?!

• There were other negatives to the job: Parking, maneuvering through crowds, not to mention roaming clowns. The  worst thing though, were the HECKLERS!

I suppose in any job where you are out there exposing your "talent" to the general public, you are opening yourself to the puckish wit of passerby. A day didn't go by where some yahoo would stumble up, look over my shoulder, and make a witty, derisive comment about my drawing. The problem wasn't with anyone making a witty comment (I've made one or two in my time), it was the complete lack of originality! Over and over again I heard, "Hey, SHE doesn't have a mustache!", and, "Wow, you're makin' them look ugly!" The subject of the drawing couldn't see their portrait till I was finished, so their heightened anxiety just added to the onlookers fun. Other winners included less pithy comments like, "She doesn't have 3 eyes!" Get the joke? Why would I draw someone with 3 eyes?! Jocularity at its finest! (I know I've forgotten some of the comments that retail caricaturists hear daily, so if any other caricaturists out there have any comments, please post 'em in the comments section.)

One of my favorite comments, that always left we scribblers scratching our head was, "It's not supposed to look like ya! It's a caricature!" That was always a puzzler to me.

A lot of you reading this will think I am a spoiled brat, whining about some petty annoyances on what appears to be a pretty easy job. You may be right. There are a lot worse gigs out there, and I've had a bunch of 'em (Gas station on a freezing Christmas Eve, anyone?). If you do think I am being a whiner, pick up a pen and start drawing funny pictures of your friends and loved ones.

Then get back to me.

Caricature Capers Part 1

When I graduated from "Cartooning School", I really didn't  have a plan as to where I would find employment in my chosen field. I naively assumed there were a boat-load of opportunities out there for the extremely talented cartoonist I thought I was at the time. A few visits to various art directors disabused me of this idea. My work just wasn't "good enough", and I didn't have any "experience" or a "reputation". No one would hire me to ply my trade. 

Most creative types would use this kind of situation to re-double their efforts to try to crack into the field. Not me. I curled up and began to envision a career in the fast food industry.

Then one day, I was strolling thru a local tourist trap. when I saw a caricature booth. Here was a group of "artists" doing humorous drawings of eager tourists for what appeared to be pretty good money. After watching the "caricaturists" for a few minutes, I thought, "hey, maybe I can do this, FOR MONEY!" The address for the owners of the booth was posted on the cart, so I contacted them and made an appointment to show off my "portfolio".

Not unsurprisingly, they wanted to  see some examples of my caricatures. This threw me for a bit of a loop, as I had never really done any caricatures before, outside of offensive cartoons of my teachers in high school (Miss Chang, if you're reading this, I DO apologize for that drawing!).

To prepare for my interview, I looked at as many examples of excellent caricaturists as I could find in those pre-internet days. Mainly, I looked at MAD magazine's Mort Drucker and Al Hirschfeld. I quickly realized those guys were waaaaaay too good for me to try to emulate. I ended up just drawing a few caricatures of celebrities from a copy of PEOPLE magazine. 

As it turned out, when I went for my interview, qualities such as "talent", "drawing ability", and, "getting a likeness", were not necessary. All they needed was a monkey who could hold a pen, and do somewhat acceptable drawings. After a quick "in house" test, that involved drawing the owner of the business (who had a big mustache and giant glasses, making him a no-brainer to draw), I was hired.

I was now a professional (meaning I got paid for drawing) CARTOONIST!

Next time: My First Day on the Job.

I Went MAD!

 Any day now, everyone's favorite humor magazine, MAD, will publish their 500th issue!

Back when I was growing up, Mad magazine's cartoonists were a major influence on me. This, of course, is something just about every cartoonist can say. The cartoons of Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Paul Coker Jr., Al Jaffe, Don Martin, et all, were a big inspiration to a legion of young, wanna-be cartoonists. (Especially Jack Rickard! A big influence on my drawing. Anytime you see me draw a figure with their pinky finger extended, I am channeling Jack!)  Not only were the cartoons drawn so freakin' well, they were really funny too! Every young cartoonist dreamed of someday working for MAD, of one day joining the ranks of the "Usual Gang of Idiots".

Except me. The artists at MAD were just too damn good. Why would they ever need to replace one of them? Not that I didn't have lofty hopes and dreams, but even as a young lad, I could never conceive of the idea that the editors of MAD would ever think enough of my work to say to one of their artists, "Hey, Bob Clarke, thanks for all your good work, but we think this Bill kid is much better than you, goodbye". 

So I never, ever, considered submitting material to MAD, even at the start of my incredibly naive freelance career, when I thought all you did was send in some samples, and art editors would give you all the work you wanted and/or needed. (Note to young cartoonists: It's a little harder than that.)

I did write a lot of fan mail to MAD however, usually questions to the cartoonists, asking about the materials they used in their work, etc. Once in a while, I would illustrate the envelope, perhaps hoping someone would write back  and  tell me how good I was. Sometimes they wrote back and answered my questions, sometimes they didn't. When they wrote back, they were always very gracious and very kind, and even when they didn't, I didn't take it personally. After all, they worked for MAD! They were busy!

One Summer, in 1985, I sent one last letter to MAD. I have no idea what the topic of the letter was, but I do remember that as an afterthought, I doodled a cartoon of publisher William Gaines as a caveman with a dinosaur on the front of the envelope. My letter was never answered, and I went on about my life.

Imagine my surprise, when, 4 years later, I opened an issue of MAD (#291, 12/89) and saw  that my envelope was on their letters page as the envelope of the month! Many thoughts raced through my mind as I looked at my cartoon, among them: "I'm in MAD!", "What took them so long?!", and, "If I had known they  were going to publish this, I would have done a much better drawing!" (The drawing really makes me cringe now. A lot.)

I would love to know the story behind how it took 4 years for my drawing to get published. Knowing the magazine industry as I do now, I'm sure it had to do with some space to fill and my drawing lying around  somewhere.

I don't really care. I was  published in MAD!