Alex Hughes Learn to draw caricatures

I have purchased a number of books over the years, all claiming to have the ability to teach you how to draw, and this one was no different. When I first bought the book, I was sceptical, thinking that it could not possibly hope to teach people with no previous experience in this medium how to create what is a very personal and skillful form of art. Upon reading the book, however, my preconceptions were lost to the beautiful illustrations and insightful, extremely helpful text. Instead of offering up step-by-step lessons on creating prefabricated caricatures, the author cleverly teaches you how to firstly develop an approach to "reading" a face and then moves on to instruct you on how to create all aspects of the facial anatomy- noses, eyes, lips etc, as well as the shape of the face(Jaw, chin, cheeckbones) and all in relation to a proportional layout. As well as this, the book shows you how to go about converting a normal face to a caricature- playing on some parts, exagerrating features and masking others. Throughout all this are the authors own works - along with extremely helpful footnotes, observations and inside tips - displayed to add emphasis to whichever lesson you are currently undertaking. All in all a fantastic book for anyone with some level of artistic skill who is looking to branch out to a new medium or simply further their understanding of the human face and its portrayal.