Butch Cassidy and the

Gap-Toothed Kid.
The classically
handsome Paul Newman
is no less "caricature-
able" than the
gooflygrinning David
Letterman.
Dogg-
gone
funny.
The slit-
eyed and
menacing
expres. of
rapper
Snoop
helps
capture his
persona.
artist's personal observations and decisions about what makes a
particular face unique, there are multiple "correct" decisions for
any subject. Not just any random decision is "right," however.
Each face may have multiple elements worthy of eaggeration,
but those elements depend on the subject, and it's the
caricaturist's job to perceive which are appropriate and which are
not. !here are wrong decisions with respect to eaggeration, and
it becomes obvious when a decision is wrong" an eaggeration in
the wrong direction will cause the recogni#ability to su$er or to
be lost. %iving a little girl with a cute, button nose a giant,
potato&si#ed nose is not going to work.
't all comes back to likeness and recogni#ability as the
measuring stick for the success of a caricature. !he best
caricatures are those that strike the viewer immediately with a
sense of instant recognition of the subject, even amid (or perhaps
because of) all the eaggerations applied by the caricaturist.
Statement
' use this term to encompass many different factors that add to
the impact of the caricature. Personality might be a di$erent word to
use* editorialization might be another. +hat ' mean by this is reaching
past the surface features of the subject and capturing some of the
intangibles that make that subject a living, breathing person. 't is
the way that a good caricature goes beyond capturing the look
and enters the realm of describing the subject's personality and
essence. ,aricatures that capture these intangibles hit their mark
so accurately that viewers are almost caught o$ guard as they
eclaim "!-.!'/ -'01" or "!-.!'/ -E21"3a reaction that
mere portraiture would not elicit. !here are many di$erent ways
an artist can accomplish this.
4ne of the key tools that can help a caricaturist make a
statement is epression. /ir .rthur ,onan 5oyle once wrote, "!he
features are given to man as the means by which he shall epress
his emotions, and yours are faithful servants." /herlock -olmes
was