I found this old sketch of this dude I did an outdoor caricature of last summer. This person was memorable because he was VVVVEEERRRRY drunk and threatened to hit me if it came out wrong. He liked it.
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4 comments:
looks like my friends manny hernandez
the funny thing about this guy was that he was about five feet tall in his stocking feet and i was looking down on him and I aint a tall guy to begin with myself,yet he was up in my face intimidating me! LOL! He kept sayin, " I dont care about da rest of those samples, homie, just draw me right, hook me up dude, or im gonna hit ya...:" He kept repeating it, and then in mid sketch paid me , walked away and said, "i'll be bakk". He came back about twenty minutes later, looked at the sketch, slapped me five and said, " I payed you right?"
Hey Elgin, I'm a white guy, and if I ever drew a brother like this, he would surely kick my ass up broadway! Not to mention the angered screams of racism raining down upon me! As a result, I shy away from drawing black likenesses! Do you think I'm being a little unreasonable? or unrealistic?
My buddy in High School was a black fella Kevin Brown, I always drew him as a very cool jazz kinda dude with his saxophone and he embraced it! Yet I always felt bad about drawing his features slightly exaggerated! He was my pal and I never wanted to offend him.
Do you think I'm over reacting?
Patrick, all jokes aside, what you're asking is a very GOOD question, so I really hope you come back to read the answer. I've noticed that a lotta "white caricature artists" are under the assumption that if they draw a caricature of a black person with pronounced features like Big Lips Flaring nostrils etc. that they are going to offend and risk going into the area of racial stereotyping, so they keep things "safe" by doing very pleasing caricattures to avoid any friction. My theory is that unless you draw what you see, you simply will NOT be getting the likeness and defeating the whole purpose of what a caricature is. First and foremost, whether you're using an exaggerated or minimilistic technique, the drawing MUST LOOK LIKE THE PERSON. It would be laughable to draw the rapper, Jay Z with lips like Russel Crow, for fear of offending him. Not ALL white artists do this, Ive worked jobs with Joe Bulum and Ed Steckley whete they're drawing people EXACTLY the way they appear AND exaggerating to boot! I know this is a general statement, but being a person of color, a "brotha" I KNOW that BROTHAS LOVE TO LAUGH! we're crazy about jokes and most laugh at themselves. If he's got big lips he KNOWS he does, trust me. To take the "edge " off things, you might draw him doing something"cool" like holding a girl, or saying something so that he can "save face" or you can do what I do when i know I have the potential to "slam " someone. I simply ask them this; "YOU DO KNOW WHAT A CARICATURE IS, DONT YOU??" Once they answe "yes," they're fair game.
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