How to Draw a Caricature in Profile

Here's how to draw a caricature in step-by-step fashion. We'll cover drawing a caricature from a photo in future lesson but for right now we just want to focus on the basic structure that you will need to learn in order to draw caricatures easily.

By learning this basic system you'll have all the tools you need to draw great-looking caricatures. Depending on how much you practice this system will directly determine the quality of drawings that you're able to make.

The different pieces of the face are follows: the nose, mouth and lips, chin, eyes and eyebrows, forehead, hair and ears. Notice the different pieces and the order that they appear. When you learn how to draw a caricature you will draw the parts of the face in this order.

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The reason for drawing them in order is that you will get familiar with drawing the face in the same way each and every time. As with many learned skills repetition is essential and will help you learn more quickly and easily.

For simplicity sake will draw the head from the side for now. The side, more commonly called the profile view, is the easiest kind of caricature that you can draw.

The Nose

The first step when learning how to draw caricature is the nose. There are many different kinds of noses that you can draw and will cover those in another lesson later. For now just copy the nose that you see on the right.

Follow the arrows in the picture when you're doing your own drawing. This is the way your pencil should move over the page. You want to make a profile of the nose (1) then the nostril (2) and then finally the back of the nose (3).

The Mouth

Next we'll draw the lips and mouth. He'll be smiling because the smile will always make the person you're drawing look their best. Follow the 5 steps below to draw the mouth.

1. A Small curve will connect the nose to the top of the mouth.

2. Draw a curve for the top lip. Because we're drawing a man you don't have to worry so much about adding detail to the upper lip, but if you're drawing a woman this upper left definition is essential. Add a straight line to the end of this line to show the natural line that happens when someone smiles.

3. Draw a slightly curved line to show the teeth.

4. Draw another curved line for the bottom lip. Its shape is similar to the top lip. Notice that the bottom lip doesn't directly connect to the top lip. This is a style choice, but I think drawing the bottom lip like this looks better than when they're connected. Feel free to experiment on your own always.

5. To finish off the lower lip draw a "C" shaped curve.

The Eye

The next area to tackle is the eye and eyebrow. Because this is how to draw a caricature lesson is a profile view you won't have to worry about drawing both eyes which makes this kind of drawing much easier.

Start by defining the upper eyelid which should be a little thicker than lower lid because this part of the eye is naturally in shadow.

Next draw a circle for the pupil. One of the tricks to drawing great eyes is to include a highlight. This is nothing more than a simple white circle that looks like light is reflecting off of the eye.

You can then add a simple curved line along the bottom of the eye to indicate the lower eyelid. One of the important things to notice when learning how to draw a caricature is the simplicity of everything. Often less is more here, so resist the urge to over-complicate things.

Look closely at the eyebrows of your subject and draw the eyebrow top of the eye. Usually the eyebrow is slightly curved and follows the shape of the eyelid. When drawing females you should increase the curve of the eyebrow for a more glamorous effect.

Now that the majority of the facial details are completed its time to move on. We'll finish off the ear, forehead, hair and finally the neck to complete this lesson on how to draw a caricature.

The Ear

I like to draw the ear before getting into the hair to give myself a point of reference when drawing the hair. This is really personal preference and if you like you can draw the ear after the hair.

To draw the ear all you need to do is make a curve similar to a backwards "C" shape and then inside that shape draw something that resembles a "D." There are many different ways to draw the year so feel free to invent your own if this style of ear doesn't look too hot to you.

The Forehead

The forehead is a curve that connects the nose upward to the beginning of the hairline. Before I begin to draw the hair I like to put a single point where the back of the head should be.

This gives me a target to shoot for one drawing the hair that helps keep the shape of the head so that it does not appear to be too small on the back of the head.

When you're just starting out learning how to draw a caricature I strongly suggest using a reference point for the back of the head.

The Hair and Chin

This character has spiky hair so as you're drawing keep that in mind and use light strokes so the lines do not get too thick. I usually draw the outside first and then go into draw the hair line on the inside that frames the face and forms the hairline.

Once the hair is finished draw in the chin. Connect it to the bottom lip and follow the image to the left.

The necks on caricatures are usually quite thin and connect to a smaller funny looking cartoon body.

That's it for this lesson about how to draw a caricature. You've now learned the basic parts of the head and how to draw them. In the other lessons in the caricatures section you'll go into more detail on the various parts and learn how to exaggerate and mix and match the different parts to create all different types of heads.