Sunday Mailbag- Faces Change?

Q: My question is that does a caricature change as the person ages? I ask because I am doing a caricature of William Shatner in three eras. One will be young Captain Kirk from the 60’s, the second one will be T.J. Hooker from the 80’s and the third is the more recent Denny Crane version from the last 10 years. As I study the faces, the nose changes, the eyes get slimmer and the ruggedness goes gooey and rounder. I think I have a pretty good likeness of all three, but it sure is taking some refining to do. I work on one and then when I move to another there seems to be more to do on the original and back and forth. Is this normal? Or is William Shatner a face that is very chameleon-like?

A: William Shatner does have an infamously tough face to caricature, at least the younger version, but the answer to your general question is yes, faces change as they get older. But that is just cosmetic changes. PEOPLE change as they get older and their “presence” changes. Since your goal is to exaggerate the subject’s personality as much as their features, both elements change with age.

Of course cosmetically faces change over time. Skin begins to loosen and sag, especially the skin above the upper eyelids. That leads to that “slimmer” eye look you cite above. Often in older people you do not see their upper eyelids much or at all because of that sagging skin above. Noses and ears continue to grown through your life, being made of cartilage. Gravity can pull at these over time, which is why old men often have very long ears and longer noses. Some people’s noses become more bulbous and have more mass. The skin under the chin also gets saggy and loose with many people, which can make their chins and jawlines more hidden. Hairlines receed, and hair become thinner and more whispy. And of course you get wrinkles, especially in the corners of the eyes and around the outside corners of the mouth. In Shatner’s case, he got pretty fat, and looks bloated and puffy.

I don’t have any younger caricatures of Shatner laying about, but here’s a couple of older ones:

Shatner’s “presence” has also changed. In his younger days he was a macho tough guy, very masculine and an action guy. These days he plays a parody of that personality, or is a comedic presence. That’s important. It changes how we perceive him as a person, and to exaggerate that “presence” would mean exaggerating those elements that project that presence, especially expression. A caricature of a young Harrison Ford would be different that an older one, not just the added wrinkles and orther cosmetic elements, but his world-weary presence as opposed to his devil-may-care young hot-shot attitude

Thanks to Dean Konop for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!