You look awful. And that means you are awful. And anyone who admits to what s/he sees is awful. That's what I feel like people are saying when I receive special requests like the one I received this morning.

My new client said that the pictures should not necessarily enlarge insecurities of people.

I feel very concerned when I hear things like that. Other requests that might go along those same lines has been: 'Don't draw my big nose huge. Don't draw my big lips massive. Don't draw my little lips tiny. Don't draw my skin that color. Don't draw my teeth.......

I feel very concerned about such requests. I feel like people are saying that I am supposed to subscribe to some universal agreement about what features are desirable?

I do not want to encourage anyone to hide or camouflage anything about themselves because of shame. That would just strengthen their internally experienced low self esteem. I feel sad to think that some people go through their whole lives like that, some people go through their whole lives trying to hide some unimportant thing about themselves. I hope that my Caricatures can let them know that they are fine. Just the way they are.

If they know they have 'the' feature, and they feel thrilled to see how they might look if I (and supposedly Everyone knows) agree that the feature is 'bad', that just tells them that they're not good enough the way they really are. I don't want to do that. I want to be part of the Solution, and not part of the problem. I want to help people loosen up, not take superficial features so seriously. I want to help them laugh at themselves.

When they see 'the' feature Exaggerated (that's what Caricature means), I hope they will realize that their real countenance is 'not so bad' as they might have been fearing. Aaaand I hope they will be able to see themselves looking beautiful in the exaggerated picture that I draw ~ even if it exaggerated 'the supposedly terrible' feature.

Caricature means Exaggeration. I exaggerate Any shapes I see. No judgement about it.

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.