Caricaturist

Have you ever looked at your reflection in a funhouse mirror, where what you see is you, only stretched and squished into something that looks more like a balloon animal than an actual human being? Well, when you’re a Caricaturist, or Caricature Artist, that’s kind of how you see the world: When Caricaturists look at people, they see unreal versions of their real-live selves — and then they draw them!

Although you might be employed as a Caricaturist full-time by a theme park, entertainment venue, or similar outfit, you’re most likely an independent contractor who works for hire at parties, special events, and fairs. Maybe you’re even a Sidewalk Artist who sets up shop on your favorite street corner.

Wherever you work, you typically set up a station from which you draw caricatures of paying customers, a “caricature” being an exaggerated portrait of an individual or group that overemphasizes the subject’s distinguishing features, such as his or her ears, lips, teeth, or hair. (Think of the editorial cartoons in your local newspaper: The drawings of Politicians with giant heads and cartoonish faces are caricatures.)

Because the best caricatures are both realistic and comedic, your work requires you to be both an Artist and a pseudo- Psychologist, capable of not only drawing a true-to-life likeness of your subjects, but also of interpreting their personality, attitude, and anatomy in order to identify the traits that will make their portrait both funny and factual.

A connoisseur of quirks, you create more than portraits of people. You create visual commentaries that capture personalities and personas.