Caricature drawing is a playful way to exaggerate features of yourself, a friend, or even a critter. The trick is to highlight distinctive traits without slipping into grotesque exaggeration, unless, of course, that’s your intent.

 

For my first caricature, I used a fuzzy snapshot from a Zoom meeting. As an older adult, I wanted to avoid emphasizing age, so I looked instead at features like hair and glasses. I uploaded the picture into Midjourney, which quickly generated videos that revealed details I hadn’t considered. Although Midjourney leaned toward emphasizing my age, I redirected its focus to my hair, and glasses.

 

The real advantage of Midjourney is how it expands reference material. Still photos are useful, but Midjourney’s short video clips provide multiple frames that capture subtle variations in expression.

 

By importing these clips into a video editor such as PowerDirector, I could scroll frame by frame, selecting ideas that enriched my drawing. After saving the selected frames to my hard drive, I had a ready-made library of expressions to reference at any time.

 

From there, I updated my original drawing, testing the new image, in this case, different mouth shapes, to see which ones best fit the personality I wanted to bring out. This trial-and-error approach allowed me to experiment freely, combining AI-generated nuances with my own artistic judgment to create a caricature that felt more lively and authentic than what I could have achieved from a single photo.

 

Once you’ve gathered reference frames, you can update your caricature in Photoshop, use a light tablet, or work directly with traditional media. Seeing how Midjourney added lipstick to my mouth was a revelation and sparked ideas for future drawings, like the Halloween themes I also explored.

 

This method isn’t limited to self-portraits. You can apply it to caricatures of friends, pets, or imagined characters. By combining your own drawing skills with AI’s ability to generate variations, you open a new world of inspiration.

 

The art shown here is mine, but the process can be yours. Use Midjourney to expand your visual vocabulary and breathe fresh life into your hand-drawn creations.