One of the typical things you will find in any how-to book is a definition of the book’s subject. It is cliche but a good jumping-off point. On page 2 of my book The Mad Art of Caricature, I wanted to play the definition card. The problem was that the best definition I ever heard was one I could not for the life of me remember where I had heard it. That definition was:

“A caricature is a portrait with the volume turned up.”

I spent a fair amount of time trying to find out where I had heard that quote. At the time I wrote the book (late last spring) I did several Google searches for variations on the quote, and came up empty (actually just my own blog and that of a fellow caricaturist who I knew did NOT originate that quote came up). I paged through several caricature books I had including Bob Staake‘s The Complete Book of Caricature, Stephen Heller and Gail Anderson‘s The Savage Mirror and Wendy Wick Reaves‘ Celebrity Caricature in America… nada. I even asked a few other caricaturists I knew if they had any idea who said that. Again, no dice. I finally gave up and went with the following for the book:

From the Mad Art of Caricature, Chapter 1, Page 2:

The best definition I’ve ever heard—and sadly I cannot recall the source—is:

“A caricature is a portrait with the volume turned up.”

Some time after the book’s release I got an email from caricature illustrator extraordinaire John Kascht, letting me know that the quote was his. Hearing that, I am now sure I must have heard that quote during John’s presentation at the National Caricaturist Network’s annual convention in 2000 In San Diego, when he was the special guest speaker. That definition really stuck in my head, although my recollection of where I had heard it did not. That was 11 years ago…

John was mentioned two other times in the book as an example of excellence in caricature illustration, and is an artist I greatly admire. I feel badly that he did not get proper credit for the quote in my book, but I feel I did as much due-diligence as I reasonably could to find out who to attribute it to. Failing that, I made certain that anyone reading the book would not mistake that the definition was mine or think I was claiming it to be.

If the book ever goes to a second printing, this mistake will be corrected. In the meantime I wanted at least the readers of my blog to know who that terrific definition should be attributed to, with my apologies to John.

Anyone who got a copy my book The Mad Art of Caricature found a little insert asking that, if they liked it, to spread the work by mentioning it on Facebook, on their blog or on an appropriate message board forum. Some people really went above and beyond, and posted glowing reviews of the book on their blogs. Here’s a sampling (click on the name to go to the full review):

Krishna Sadasivam (cartoonist- PC Weenies)
“…I have read a LOT of drawing / cartooning / illustration books over the years, and I must say that Tom’s book is right up there with the best of them…  This book is a goldmine for cartoonists and illustrators.”

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Howard Tayler- (cartoonist- Shylock Mercenary)
“…One 30-minute pass through the book tells me that this is going to be my go-to reference work for cartoon faces for years to come… I haven’t learned as much in a speed-read since I skimmed Andrew Loomis’ Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth. That book and this one will now share a shelf next to my drawing table.”

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Terry Dunnett- (caricaturist and illustrator)
“…This is not one of those coffee table ‘look what I can do’ books. It is a 170 page comprehensive guide to the art of caricature that is destined to become a ‘must have’ for caricaturists world wide… If you only ever buy one caricature book – make this the one.”

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Don Mertz- (caricature wood carver)
“…The book is well illustrated with Tom’s original art work as well as his scholarly written descriptions and how to illustrations.  Whether one draws caricatures or carves caricatures this is a most valuable book to study and be inspired into the MAD world of caricature…”

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Kenny Durkin (caricaturist)
“This is not only the most informative book of caricature I’ve ever seen, but the best instructional art book PERIOD.”

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Anton Emdin (Cartoonist and illustrator)
“…I would take a punt that The Mad Art of Caricature will become the modern caricaturists’ bible; a valuable asset to amateurs and pros alike.”

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Keelan Parham (Cartoonist, illustrator and caricaturist)
“…It (the book) is truly amazing, in the quality of artwork, the quality of writing, and the sheer amount of knowledge of it’s subject imparted in it’s pages. Without a doubt, it’s THE definitive guide to drawing caricatures.”

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Ed Steckley (Cartoonist, Illustrator and caricaturist)
“…it’s amazing how much knowledge and experience is packed into those pages.  I know for a fact it’ll get multiple reads around my house, not just as a refresher on caricature, but for inspiration.”

Full disclosure, those last two are good friends of mine. I’ve gotten dozens of emails also praising the book. My thanks to everyone who has ordered a copy… I am glad you are pleased with your purchase.

For those who have not ordered one yet… what are you waiting for???

It took a solid week, but all orders for my book, The Mad Art of Caricature! (at least those placed through today at about 3:00 pm), have shipped. If you pre-ordered or ordered a copy, it is either already delivered or on the way!

For those who ordered the book with the “original sketch from the book” option, a handful will find a note in the package saying to expect their original art to come separately. This is because a handful of the sketches were too big to fit in the package with the book without being folded. Those are being shipped in a separate tube, and all those will be going out tomorrow.

Thanks again to all those who have ordered a copy. I’ve been getting quite a few emails from people who have gotten their books delivered, and everybody seems happy with their purchase. I am going to be adding a “testimonial” section to the order page shortly, so if you have praise for the book send it my way and I will include it on the order page.

Yesterday the shipment of printed copies of The Mad Art of Caricature! finally arrived. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the book and who have patiently waited for them to arrive and for shipping to begin. Well… it’s begun. Last night we printed labels, I signed and sketched in books, then got placed into shipping envelopes and stacked up. Today the first batch of pre-orders get shipped, and we should have all pre-orders shipped by next Monday. It will take that long to get caught up as we have about 500 pre-orders to get out.

That’s what 3,000 copies of a book looks like. I had to pick these up from the dock, load them into a truck by hand, then unload them into my garage by hand again. Lastly I’ll be moving them into the basement for controlled-temperature storage. That’s 4,791 lbs of books I moved yesterday… TWICE. No need to go to the gym this week. The Lovely Anna (who now goes by a new nickname: “Shipping and Handling“) helped unload them into the garage.

That’s me doing the first of about a billion Alfred drawings for those who ordered the book with that option. The original art is also ready to go for those who ordered that.

Thanks again for everyone’s patience. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think of the book once they get their copies!

This is the final Friday sneak peek from my book, The Mad Art of Caricature! Here is the table of contents and a few other pages (click them for a closer look):

Final Book Delivery Update: According to the shippers, the books will be arriving here on Tuesday, Oct. 11th. That’s this Tuesday! Shipping will begin immediately. The books will ship in the order in which they were placed, including those that were ordered in person at the San Diego Comic Con. We have almost 500 pre-orders, so it will take a few days to get them all out the door. I expect all pre-orders to have shipped by the end of next week.

Thank you to all who have placed a pre-order and have waited so patiently. The wait is almost over!

Original Art Sold Out!

This is just a quick announcement to say that the option to buy a piece of the original artwork used to illustrate my book The Mad Art of Caricature! is officially sold out. You can still order the option for me to do an original sketch of Alfred E. Neuman in the book for an extra $15 (cheap!), and of course all copies are signed for no extra cost. Just a warning, though… once the book starts shipping I will probably raise the price of an Alfred sketch to $20 extra.

This Friday will also be the last “sneak peek” of the book. I was notified by the shipping company that delivery of the print run is scheduled for sometime next week. FINALLY. I should have a more exact update on the delivery to share with the Friday post.

Click for a closer look…

This week’s sneak peek is the opening splash of Chapter Eight: Caricature in Illustration. In this chapter, I discuss doing caricatures for illustration jobs for publications and other kinds of clients. I go over how “narrative” is a crucial part of successful illustration work, the differences between doing caricature for caricature’s sake and doing it for illustration work, the influence of style and some of the challenges live caricaturists face in taking what they do in a live setting and applying it to publication work. This chapter is 10 pages long and contains 17 illustrations, all of which are examples of some of my illustration work.

Book delivery update: The main book shipment arrived in the U.S. last week on the 21st at the docks in Long Beach, California. Bizarrely, the shippers are estimating a delivery to me here in Minnesota on Oct. 11th. That means it took 10 days to travel all the way across the Pacific ocean from Korea to California, and it will take 20 days to get from California to Minnesota??!? Wow. Frustrating. Hopefully it will come in earlier.

As always you can place a Pre-Order here.

See other chapter sneak peeks here.

This week’s sneak peek is the opening splash of Chapter Seven: Drawing Live Caricatures. In this chapter, I go over the challenges of doing quick-draw style caricatures from a live model(s), discussing techniques on approaching and executing the drawings, a complete step-by-step of the process, plenty of tips and things to consider like line weights, common problems and pitfalls to avoid, and finally ending with several sample drawings from photos. This chapter is 20 pages long and contains over 55 illustrations.

Book delivery update: As I wrote earlier in the week, I have received a couple of advanced copied of the actual bound book off the presses, and the rest of the books are currently somewhere on the Pacific steaming their way to Long Beach, California. Once they arrive in the US and go through customs they will begin the overland trek to me here in Minnesota. We are still on track for arrival and the subsequent shipping of pre-ordered copies sometime the second week of October. As always you can place a Pre-Order here.

See other chapter sneak peeks here.

Late last week I received three advance copies of my book, The Mad Art of Caricature! from the printer via Fed Ex. These are not proofs but actual, bound press copies from the full print run, and are exactly the same as the rest of the books. The printer sends these out in advance of the shipment of the rest of the books, so the publisher can get a look at the final product. The above is a short video of me paging through one of these copies.

I am quite pleased with the printing, especially given the trouble we had with the first set of proofs and the values/color of the illustrations within. The color is great, particularly on the glossy stock. The book is heavy, weighing in at 1lb 9 oz. I would be hard pressed to ask for a better end result as far as the printing goes.

Enjoy the quick look above, and as always you can place an order at www.deadlinedemon.com.

Click for a closer look…

This week’s sneak peek is the opening splash of Chapter Six: Beyond the Face. In this chapter, I discuss how other aspects of a person’s figure, physicality, and “presence”, contribute to their caricature. I go over drawing and caricaturing the shoulders and neck in detail, talk about posture, have an expanded “drawing hands” section, and examine the differences in how you treat men and women in caricature, complete with drawing tips and examples. This chapter is 20 pages long and contains over 60 illustrations.

Book delivery update: The book printing is complete and finished copies are now in the shipping process from Korea to the U.S., scheduled to leave port from Pusan on Monday. It’s just a matter of time now! We are still on track for arrival and the subsequent shipping of pre-ordered copies sometime the first week of October. As always you can place a Pre-Order here.

See other chapter sneak peeks here.

One other thing: Of the 106 pieces of original caricature art sketches from the book that are part of the “Original Art” option on the order page, I now have exactly 20 left. So, If that is something you are thinking about ordering, it might be wise to do so soon.