caricatures

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author: Xtro
introduction:
The new collins concise English dictionary: "Caricature n. 1. a pictorial, written or acted representation of a person, which exaggerates his or her characteristic traits for comic effect."
I like the sound of that. Caricatures these days are normally of famous political leaders, sportsmen and stupid actors, usually after you've done something, well, stupid. Someone once said that they were the common man's way of getting their own back. In this tutorial we're going to learn how to create a caricature.
requirements:
Adobe Photoshop 6 or higher
target result:

step 1
Who to use for a caricature? It's not really any good using someone only I know, so it has to be someone famous. Someone not many people really like. Someone that you couldn't insult to his face for fear of being taken away by the FBI, Hmm....


step 2
Perfect! Before we start caricaturing, let's have a look at those 'characteristic traits' we can use to 'exaggerate' for 'comic effect'. Well for a start there are those beady little eyes - we'll have to make them beadier, that pointy nose needs making pointier (and the ears, too), oh, and smug, self-satisfied grin needs making smugger and more, you get the picture. Go to Filters->Liquify.


step 3
Let's start with that hooter. Zoom in on his nose. Choose the top most tool on the left (the foreward warp tool (W)). We're going to use it to 'melt' his nose down a bit. On the right are the brush settings we can change. Important here is the brush density setting. Make it 71 then drag the brush from the top of his nose to just above his teeth:


step 4
Right, now press CRTL+Z to undo, change the setting to something low like 20, and do it again:


step 5
See the difference? A high density uses more of the brush, whereas a low density uses less. A small density is usually better for fine details. Like, let's see what we can do:


step 6
Lovely. Do the same with the rest of his face:


step 7
I was going to make his head bigger, but then I realized this wasn't part of his 'characteristic traits', so it got smaller. Now the eyes. We're going to use the 'pucker tool' (S), and very handy it is, too.


step 8
The brush size just covers the eye and we have a low density. The brush rate controls how fast the effect works. Also, try clicking and moving the mouse at the same time with the pucker tool. Press (W) to go back to the foreward warp tool, and more the eyes closer together:


step 9
You'll notice i have made the eyebrows erm, 'bushier'. I think that'll do for now, any more and they'll send me to Guantanamo. Click OK, then SHIFT+CRTL+U to desaturate:


step 10
Woo! big change! You can see here that we have made a copy of our layer and gone Filters->Stylize->Glowing Edges and given the image these values:


step 11
Then we went back to the top layer and changed its blending mode to 'Difference'. Now, color or no color? COLOR! Make a new layer at the top. Select the brush tool and change its settings to small and soft. Now double-click the black square in the tool bar. Choose a skin(ish) color.


step 12
Color his face alittle bit. Now change the layer blending mode.


step 13
I Chose 'Color Burn'. It's a weird effect. We can always press CRTL+U to change colors:


final result
Now make a new layer for every color and have fun!


One final point: This isn't THE way of doing it, it's A way. The beauty of photoshop is that there is an infinity of possibilities you can use. The best way is to get in there and try them out.


practice this tutorial:
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