Celebrity Caricatures.2

Author: Wang Yongliang et al
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Discovered Wu Jianjun's comic portraits in Henan's Comic Monthly, captivated by the accurate yet exaggerated portrayals and brushwork. Comic portraits are a weak point in Chinese comics. Most comic artists are not professionally trained, so even if they want to draw them, they can't. Some may have undergone basic art training from art schools, but still struggle with comic portraits. This is a complex issue, so current art schools can be specialized, but none have established a comic department. Judging from Wu Jianjun's comics, it seems he has received some training in sketching and anatomy, but he is not constrained by this training, showing exceptional skill—this is his outstanding quality.
The more important point about Wu Jianjun's comic portraits is that they are not only lifelike but also expressive, capturing the essence of the characters. Figures like Ma Sanli and Liang Tian are well-known, and these portraits are truly masterful. Just by looking at their eyes, one can see Liang Tian's small squinty eyes and Ma Sanli's unpredictable small eyes—all the characters' personalities shine through. This is extremely difficult to achieve. The Chinese idiom "drawing the dragon and dotting the eyes" comes from a legend: Emperor Liang of the Liang Dynasty ordered the painter Liang Sengyao to paint a dragon in a temple. After finishing the painting, he left out the dragon's eyes. When he finally added them, the dragon flew away. In a way, this was like dotting the eyes, bringing the character to life.
These comic portraits are all adorable and exaggerated. In the past, there was a misconception that exaggeration always made something look ugly. In reality, exaggeration can also highlight humor, beauty, and charm. Of course, if an enemy is made to look beautiful, it raises questions about perspective.