Tom’s Daily Coronacature- Denzel Washington!

Here’s my caricature of today’s subject, Denzel Washington.

It took me a few tries to “get” Denzel. I didn’t have any single reference pic that really gave me the expression and look I wanted to draw, so I had to study several pics. Here’s the main one I used for the basic head shape (rectangular, with a small forehead) and angle of the face:

However, I wanted to capture the difference in his eye shapes, as the one on our right is more squinty with the top of the upper eyelid more obscured. He also has a bit of a “walleyed” look, with one “lazy” eye looking off a bit in the wrong direction. I also wanted to draw this mouth expression he often does… a sort of pursed, half scowl where his upper ip extrudes int he center and the lower one pinches up in the center. So, I used other pics of him, even from very different angles, to get a feel for those elements.

Frankly I ALWAYS have other pics of a subject besides the main one I use when I do a caricature. It makes a big difference, because a single photo will not tell the whole story.