howard mcwilliam 2. IMAGINE AN AVERAGE FACE
“For caricatures, I tend to imagine my subject’s face and at the same time picture a completely average face. I am trying to see anything that deviates from the norm really, to help my mind see what features could be exaggerated. Often you need a person to be pulling an expression that you’ve never seen them pull before, so a lot of my time is spent gurning into a mirror. I try to transpose my expression on to their face and yet still keep the likeness.”
3. THINK LIKE A SCULPTOR
“I draw in a sculptural way, building up a face as if I’m moulding shapes out of clay, rather than working with lines. I try to break things down as geometrically as possible, scribbling out a shape with a 2H pencil and then drilling down to the detail with an HB or 2B.”
4. LIMIT YOUR PALETTE
“Colour is one of the things I am most positive about in terms of working digitally. One of the things I hated most about working in acrylics was mixing the colours. With Corel Painter, it is so quick to select any colour you could possibly imagine. Having said that, you often have to keep your colour range down on the computer – sometimes I’ve put too many into a picture. Depending on the project, a more limited palette can be more effective.”
5. CONSIDER THE LIGHTING
“The trick is to imagine your subject as a series of shapes and work out how the light will land on them. I often have to light a face in a different way to how it is lit in my source photograph and that’s when you have to picture things three dimensionally and think, ‘How big will the shadow be cast off this guy’s nose?’ It is similar with the composition: I imagine that I am building it up as a little diorama in front of me. I’m never quite sure if I’ve got it right or not – I just aim for something that will look convincing and hope it comes together in the end.”
6. AVOID TOO MUCH DETAIL
“On the computer, it is tempting to ‘zoom in’ and get bogged down in detail. I try to keep using a brush that is slightly larger than the one I think I want, so I have a few more artistic decisions to make. For example, you could draw every individual strand of someone’s hair but I find it much better to build up the rough shape with quite big brushes and then add in a few loose strands as highlights.”
7. ADAPT TO YOUR CLIENT’S NEEDS
“I’m a reasonably gentle caricaturist. I illustrate for The Week in the US and they definitely prefer a much gentler form of caricature to the UK edition. The editor will often ask, ‘Can you make President Obama’s ears a bit smaller please?’ Different people have different tastes and I have to adjust accordingly.”
www.mcbill.plus.com
Artists & Illustrators 55
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