Celebrity Caricatures.4

Author: Dai Peicheng et al
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: While browsing the monthly magazine Manhua in Henan, I came across the cartoon portrait of Comrade Wu Jianjun, which captivated me with its accurate yet exaggerated portrayal and expressive brushwork. Cartoon portraits are a weak point in Chinese cartooning. Most cartoonists 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 they still struggle with cartoon portraits. This is a complex issue, so current art schools can be specialized, but none have established a dedicated cartooning department. From Wu Jianjun's cartoon portraits, it seems he has received some training in sketching and anatomy, but he is not bound by these techniques—his approach is exceptional.
The more important aspect of Wu Jianjun's cartoon portraits is that they are not only lifelike but also expressive, capturing the essence of each person. Figures like Ma Sanli and Liang Tian are well-known to everyone, and these portraits are simply brilliant. Just by looking at their eyes, you can see Liang Tian's small squinty eyes and Ma Sanli's unpredictable small eyes—all the character's unique traits are vividly brought to life. This is extremely difficult to achieve. The Chinese idiom "adding the dot of an eye to a dragon" comes from a legend: Emperor Liang of the Liang Dynasty ordered the painter Liang Sengyao to paint a dragon in a temple. After completing the painting, Liang Sengyao left out the dragon's eyes. Once he added them, the dragon flew away, as if its eyes had been "dotted," bringing the character to life.
These cartoon portraits are all charming and exaggerated. In the past, there was a misconception that exaggeration only highlighted ugliness, but in fact, it can also reveal humor and beauty. Of course, if you make an enemy look beautiful, that raises questions about perspective.