Why are caricatures so ugly?

So caricatures weren’t always as ugly as the ones you see nowadays.

You would think by watching TikTok that there's only one type of caricature:

The extreme exaggeration. You know. The ugly ones that make you wonder why anyone would ever get one of those drawn.

But in reality, there are at least three types:

1. The extreme exaggeration (aka "ugly" or "mean" caricatures)

2. Cartoon Caricatures (think the Simpsons or Beavis and Butthead)

3. Portrait style caricatures (seen at Sardi's restaurant in NYC)

   

   A cartoon caricature. Bet you didn't know Beavis and Butthead were based on real people!

   
   

Those "extreme exaggerations" were made popular about 15 years ago by a group of artists out of San Diego who dubbed themselves "the beastheads."

I think they were going for an avant-garde art atelier type of vibe, but they wound up breaking up, as always seems to happen with all-boy groups. They get married and move apart, and then everyone blames the women (yes, I'm referring to Yoko Ono. Not her fault John Lennon preferred her to the other Fab 3).

Some of the beastheads remained in San Diego. Some moved away.

One of the main "characters" of the Beastheads moved to Hawaii with his girl

(also a caricature artist) and started a small caricature business there.

He soon realized that he wasn't selling much of his ugly caricatures.

Then he had a brilliant idea: Free Publicity.

So he began putting reactions to his ugly caricatures up on TikTok and YouTube.

I was busy raising my kids at that point, and I kick myself all the time for not learning to promote myself until so late in the game. (Really, this is why most famous artists are men. Generally speaking, throughout history, women had to raise children and see to the house. They don't have TIME to do things like paint or draw).

I'm a caricaturist myself. Many of the people I draw seem to have seen the ugly caricature reveals on TikTok and find them fun to WATCH.

But when it comes down to it, few actually WANT one.

In fact, people are starting to get gunshy about getting drawn, particularly Gen Z. I have to reassure them that I won't "do them dirty" to get people to get drawn much of the time. It wasn't always this way.

I read that the same artist I mentioned above said in a post once that only about 5% of people at events want one of his extreme exaggerations.

By contrast, with my "Cuticatures," I often draw 100% of the people at my events. I get invited to do corporate events that are a dream to most freelancers. For example, I was recently hand-picked to represent a major cruise line. All because I dont do "UGLY" caricatures.

I feel like the world is ugly enough. And frankly, the ugly caricature trend was not always what everyone was trying to emulate.

Not many people know this, but caricatures have a very long history.

Leonardo da Vinci drew caricatures. And HE was influenced by the ancient Romans, who also drew caricatures - and we actually have some of them.

The story is that Nero built the Domus Aurea, or golden palace, that was so over-the-top opulent that after his death, the Romans had it buried. The Renaissance Italians happened onto it and soon, artists were copying the style of the drawings they saw there. They didn't call them caricatures - not yet. They called them "grotesques" because they thought the palace was a cave (because it was buried), and the word for cave in Italian is Grotto. And that's where we get the words "grotesque" and "gross".

Bet they didn't teach you THAT in grade school.

More recently, we have had several "Cuticaturists" whom the majority of people adore.

There's Norman Rockwell, who carefully composed his paintings with real people, photographed them, and then created caricatured paintings for the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines for decades.

Then there's Al Hirschfeld, who is regarded as the best caricaturist in the world (just ask Google). His caricatures were mostly line drawings and were the perfect blend of exaggeration and likeness. Celebrities were often not considered to have "made it" until they were caricatured by Hirschfeld. He drew caricatures for the New York Times for over half of the 20th century, and he was a household name during his lifetime. But his caricatures were definitely not ugly and in fact many of them are borderline "cute."

And we can't forget to mention the caricatures at Sardis, the famous restaurant that houses a huge collection of caricatures on its walls. The caricatures at Sardis are much more cartoon-like and portrait-like. Yet these are the style of drawings that the most famous NYC restaurant that sports caricatures on its walls chooses to use.

a wall at sardis with portrait style caricatures

Why?

Because PEOPLE LIKE THEM.

That said, you can definitely still find caricaturists that aren't mean and dont do ugly caricatures.

In fact, you just found one.

Hi my name is Kathy Buskett, and I've been a professional caricature artist for the past 26 years. During that time, I have been chosen to work for companies such as Samsung, Coca-Cola, CAT, Yelp, Zappos, Hyundai, and even Cirque du Soleil.

Why did they choose my drawing style? Because they're NOT ugly and/or mean.

One of my caricatures - cutie-cature meets cartoon style.

I could put up some pictures of the ugly ones as examples, but why encourage it?

In conclusion, ugly caricatures may be a fad that fades over time. They may not. But there will always be people like me who prefer to make a living making art and enjoy making people happy rather than ticking them off or hurting their feelings on purpose. Something that I have seen many modern caricature artists do.

Come to think of it, most of those caricature artists who make us ask, "Why are caricatures so ugly?" actually seem to enjoy torturing people.

I literally asked one of the extreme exaggerators once if he hated people. He ducked his head and said, "I thought I had worked on that.' I was like, nope.

So here's a tip if you want cute, fun caricatures for your guests - say you're having a wedding or a corporate event where you want your brand to look GOOD -

Try hiring a female caricaturist.

Like me!

.

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Have you ever wanted to have your caricature drawn but were afraid of what they might do to you? With my caricatures, you don’t have to be afraid. I don’t draw ugly caricatures - unless you ask for it!

I live and draw caricatures on the gulf coast of the USA but i will travel anywhere and often do.

Click the link below now to check and see if your date is available. There's opnly one of me and dates on my calendar book up quickly!

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