Cartoon Journaling Guide: Trying a Collage of Faces

Caricature squishing can be fun.

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To maintain a regular creative habit and inspire you to do the same, thanks for joining me as I share what I illustrated this week. Through drawings in not just a sketchbook but a “Cartoon Journal,” we’re filling it with writing, comics, and caricatures.

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Squish Many Caricatures Onto One Page

Drawing on paper should get more attention. Don’t you think?

One way to make it fun is to practice drawing faces in your sketchbook or journal based on photos you find on Pinterest or earthsworld.com. By overlapping them next to each other, you can turn it into an exercise in design and composition.

I love to do this. Drawing with a pen on paper is challenging (there’s no undo button), but it feels good.

Like you’re alive!

Using faces from photo references with various sizes, shapes, genders, and even facial hair can create a visually dynamic page of caricature art.

This page was not finished in one sitting. It took four days. You can spread art out.

I drew a few faces each morning and figured out how to fit them together as I went along. The last step was using a grey brush pen for shadows.

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A Collage of Small Cartoon Faces

Caricaturing from photo references uploads a ton of possible ideas for facial features and characters into your brain.

Try drawing many different small faces you come up with from your imagination (without looking at photo references this time), and see if you can squish them together to make each look unique.

I normally begin with a face on the far left side of the page and then draw towards the right and then go down. Thinking about different face shapes and sizes helps in this exercise as well.

I didn’t use a pencil on this page and decided to go straight for it in pen, but you can use whatever you like. If you’re drawing for fun and practice, don’t think you have to share it online. Knowing that you could share it gives you enough pressure to focus on making you try harder to create decent-looking images.

I thought the above was good enough, so I’m sharing it with you.

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Large Caricatures in The Round

Drawing big helps you improve as an artist.

Turn back to looking at photo references, but only try 3-4 people this time and create a nice circle of larger faces. An accent color behind them can bring it together and catch the eye. Adding shading for shadows around the eyes and under the nose will help give shape to your faces.

Even drawing your first face on a diagonal can create an interesting start so your other faces, like the ones below, can fit in slanted. The eyes can look in different directions to give more character.

Here’s a quick video of me drawing the first face from this sketchbook page I also shared on Notes.

It’s time to open your Cartoon Journal and start drawing a face. Maybe begin with an eye or a nose and add more from there. If you have something bugging you, write it in a word or a sentence and then draw a face reflecting your feelings.

Putting one little drawing down can lead to others.

You just have to start.

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