I really should be focusing on my jobs when I draw, but here I am again ~ just making lines

Hmmmm...... I like the way it felt to draw them. Just relaxing. With the pen making curly lines. And fast fly lines. It's what I do

Keeping things simple today. I just drew this picture of a man ~ directly ~ not much in the way of Exaggeration, as I usually would for a Caricature.

It was based on an arbitrary reference photo that I found online. I drew it digitally on my IPad.

Here I am ~ in the Studio ~ what to do ~

Once again, I felt curious about Cheap-Portraits versus Exaggerated Caricatures. (People usually prefer if I call them Tame versus Wild, but that's not really My opinion. I feel like I can either Exaggerate what I see ~ which is what Caricature actually means ~ ~ Or I can dummy-down fill-in-the-blanks to make something like a Portrait but without the time and detail needed for a Real-Portrait.)

I randomly chose this one of my Exaggerated Caricatures that was quite Enjoyed at a previous Event ~ I imagine the recipients display it in their home and they feel happy and inspired when they see it. But for my own Study, I decided to draw them again by looking Only at the reference photos. I decided to draw them Tamely. In my mind, that meant to draw it Boringly ~ just simplify the outer-shape and fill in things called eyes, nose, mouth. I did that twice. I can't imagine why anyone would want that.

Aghk ~ Getting back to myself ~ I redrew it again ~ with a Quick Exaggeration. Ooooh. So cute. Avante-guarde. Yes ~ this would look fresh and upbeat to hang in a person's home. But because I believe it should be easier to draw a Tame Caricature than a Skilled Exaggerated Caricature, it bothered me to feel like only my Exaggerated Caricatures are good.

So I got hold of myself. I chose to Approach the Tame Caricature more the Way I would approach a Real Portrait, but Much Quicker. And.... Success! I don't know if I would be able to do This tame style so well in person At a party, but I can use this Semi-Portrait Style of Caricature when drawing from Photos. If desired.

So it now feels easy for me to draw Gift Caricatures in either style.

Had a few minutes before going in to the Bat Mitzvah yesterday, so I went back to practicing Tame Caricatures. Each of my approaches feels different than another approach. I finally discovered how to switch easily from Tame Caricatures to Cartoony Caricatures. And I realized that my best choice for Speed and Quality would be to:

Draw Individual Females as Tame Caricatures,

Draw Couples and Groups as Cartoony Caricatures,

and Draw Males as Cartoony

Using very little, if any, predraw (perhaps just size or placement), I approached the Tame Caricatures with Outside-In in my mind even though I frequently drew the Inside before the Outside. And using very little, if any, predraw (perhaps just size or placement), I approached the Cartoony Caricatures however it hit me ~ usually like yes yay also Outside-In.