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Review: Proko Art of Caricature Course Taught By Court Jones

whoopie goldberg - art of caricature

Whoopi Goldberg by Court Jones

Review: Proko Fine art of Caricature Course Taught By Court Jones

Reviewsillustration Disclosure: This mail may contain chapter links. That ways if y'all buy something nosotros get a minor commission at no extra price to y'all(learn more than)

Proko's videos take taken the art world by storm. He'south published some astonishing courses on figure & anatomy past focusing primarily on the fundamentals of drawing.

Recently another artist joined with Proko to publish his ain video class under the same make. Caricaturist Courtroom Jones launched his class in 2022 and it'south quickly get a popular resource for anyone studying analogy, exaggeration, or the detailed process of capturing likeness in drawing.

I nabbed a copy of The Art of Extravaganza but for this review. And if you're thinking of getting a re-create yourself so y'all'll probably be quite happy with the quality.

But this course is not for everyone so let'due south accept a peek and see what it offers.

Who Is Court Jones?

Permit's talk a footling nigh the guy behind the form: the very talented Courtroom Jones.

He's a skilled extravaganza creative person with decades of professional experience including many works published in The Washington Post & Wired Magazine(amid many others).

We published a detailed interview with Courtroom and then if you wanna larn more about his journey be sure to bank check that out.

But you tin trust that Courtroom'southward knowledge shines through in this series. Information technology follows a similar format to the other Proko videos where you'll take shots of Court explaining topics(with visual FX) along with meridian-down views of Courtroom cartoon.

court jones caricature artist
Court Jones in activity

If you're familiar with Stan's teaching style from his other videos and then you lot'll detect Courtroom follows a similar cadence & method of didactics.

It still feels very unique, but it blends nicely into the overall Proko brand—including the usual humorous $.25 that always get me smiling.

You can really get a taste of Court'southward teaching mode from the promo video on the Proko YouTube channel.

In fact many of the caricature videos take been released in smaller snippets on YouTube. All freemium videos are listed in this playlist if you lot wanna go through and preview them for yourself.

Continue in listen these videos are just a taste of the premium course and so they're merely a sample of what you'll become.

Art of Caricature Grade Overview

The Art of Caricature breaks downwards into two parts. This spaces out the types of lessons you'll learn and so they're more than focused and linear.

Office 1 teaches the concepts of caricaturing from the ground-upwardly. These ideas have you through the unabridged process from thumbnail sketching to finishing a completed cartoon.

Part ii is more almost practicing those techniques with live examples while building on top of that foundational knowledge. Yous might consider this course like a "novice to expert" video guide on caricaturing.

Equally of writing this mail only the get-go part has been fully completed. Function two is at least halfway done too, but Court'south still releasing some lessons for that. Hither's a full general breakup of the capacity in the beginning section:

  1. Exaggeration
  2. Thumbnail Sketch
  3. Crude Sketch
  4. Abstraction
  5. Last Sketch
  6. The Effigy
  7. Let's Review(wrapping up everything)

Each chapter includes many sub-topics with relevant videos.

For example the starting time affiliate "Exaggeration" talks about the history of extravaganza, how to exaggerate properly, and includes a narrated caricature drawing from start to finish.

neil degrasse tyson caricature courtjones
Neil deGrasse Tyson instance

The 2nd function of this course is primarily examples & practise exercises. Each chapter in the 2nd office teaches a dissimilar technique like crafting a checklist of features for your caricature, or how to assemble ideas from other caricature artists.

Virtually of these chapters include 7-10+ video lessons each featuring a different exercise. And these lessons characteristic well-known figures equally exercise subjects ranging from James Franco to Bill Clinton and Abe Lincoln.

Each office sells for $89 separately. But you lot can buy both parts together and get the full course for $153, saving you about $25 overall.

This cost feels close enough to other Proko premium courses and information technology's reasonable because y'all won't find many other in-depth caricature courses online.

However the $25 savings isn't actually a huge deal.

So you might try the 1st function to run across if you lot like it, then take hold of the 2nd function if you want more.

Account Dashboard & Course Assets

Once y'all sign upward to the grade you can log into the Proko site and become total access to all your new videos.

From the backend yous can browse through all capacity, all exercises, and all the course avails including downloadable premium study guides & photo references.

proko premium backend
Proko premium video dashboard

All the videos come as streamable embedded players that you tin view in your browser. You can also download the videos directly to your computer as 1080p HD MP4 files.

I'yard always stunned by the quality of Proko's videos and this extravaganza serial is no different.

The audio & video quality is superb and Court'southward teaching style really shines through all of information technology.

Note you lot tin can stream these vids from your phone or tablet but it may be easier to download the videos and move them over to your device instead. This mode you don't need Internet admission to lookout.

art of caricature course facebook
Caricature FB grouping page

But along with the video pages & all the downloadable assets you'll besides become access to a Facebook group simply for this caricature course.

You tin can share your piece of work for critiques, comment on other's work, and pick upwardly tips from all the other discussions.

Proko's FB groups always experience like a small support community and they're worth joining if you need help along the manner. Granted the FB group isn't going to make or suspension this grade. But it's certainly a nice addition!

I should too mention all of this course'south reference photos come up in Hard disk sizes from 2000px to 4000px or larger. Then when you get the premium course you have access to all the raw photos that Courtroom uses in his lessons.

HD photos, Hard disk videos, downloadable assets and a very simple premium dashboard. Overall a great experience and the files are super easy to access from whatever device.

What Y'all'll Learn

The goal of this course is to teach the fundamentals of caricaturing with practical examples.

Yous won't be studying caricatures from afar, nor volition yous be left fawning over Court's work(well, maybe a little).

Instead y'all'll spend your time practicing caricaturing which is really the only mode to ameliorate.

Early on videos teach many "basic" concepts with examples and smaller exercises for getting your feet wet. Then every bit you progress frontward you'll piece of work through longer exercises based on very specific techniques.

thumbnail sketches of mark wahlberg
Marker Wahlberg thumbnails

Not all exercise videos are super long only they are narrated & educational.

For example the thumbnail sketching exercise videos average between ii-5 minutes each. But there are some videos that push towards ten+ minutes long.

Also at the end of each affiliate you'll get an 60 minutes-long critique video from Courtroom. These critique vids analyze submitted piece of work from Proko students who ask for critiques after each section. Courtroom shares his advice along with a few draw-overs for dozens of people.

This is wildly useful not only for the people whose piece of work gets critiqued, simply too for people watching at abode. By watching Court's many critiques you'll acquire what to avert and what you may exist doing incorrect(or right!) in your own practice work.

court jones critiques example
Court Jones critiques preview

Then what exactly will you lot acquire from this extravaganza course?

Probably more than I tin can write, but these are the skills y'all'll pick up the about:

  • Accurate exaggeration
  • Sketching ideas & fast iteration
  • Practicing portraits from reference
  • Observing proportions & relationships
  • Making your own characters from real people
  • Capturing a likeness of certain features(eyes, pilus, olfactory organ)

One of my favorite sections in Part 2 involves retention sketching. This builds upon the idea of cartoon from imagination which is crucial for anyone who wants to make cartoons or comics.

You'll find tips throughout this course that culminate into many "a-ha!" moments that assistance improve your centre, your paw, and your imagination.

The Fine art of Extravaganza course will help to push your non-realist drawing skills up quite a few levels if you follow these exercises and simply go on practicing.

Who Can Do good From This Course?

This caricaturing form is not for a consummate newbie. You really need to feel comfy holding a pencil and have some experience drawing.

Thankfully if you are a beginner there's tons of resources to help you get started.

There are two specific Proko courses that might work even meliorate for getting started: the figure course along with the portrait grade.

Since caricaturing is exaggerated portraiture you'll practice well past studying portrait drawing get-go.

Endeavour to get comfortable drawing from life first, even somewhat realistically, earlier trying to button forward with caricaturing.

court jones opposing caricatures
Opposing caricatures preview

So how do you know if you're at a level where you can comfortably piece of work through these extravaganza lessons?

Not an easy question to answer. But generally speaking, if y'all feel at least somewhat comfy drawing from life and/or from reference photos and so you should exist able to motion into caricature with relative ease.

You do not demand a professional person skillset to acquire from Courtroom'southward exercises.

Although information technology really helps if y'all understand your art fundamentals beginning so you're not worrying as much about form, perspective, or proportions. Caricaturing is generally about manipulating fundamentals to exaggerate them in a specific way.

Information technology'southward tough to do that if you haven't grasped the fundamentals yet.

Then to work through this course it helps if you already feel comfy drawing from references. No demand to exist amazing, just OK will do the trick.

Now with that said, what kinds of artists most benefit from studying caricature?

Court says about everyone, and I'm inclined to agree. But I specifically recommend this course for anyone that wants to create:

  • Cartoons
  • Illustrations
  • Storyboards
  • Comic books or webcomics
  • Caricatures(duh!)

Virtually cartoonists use exaggeration every day to create funny drawings that hold a hint of realism.

This remains true for all cartoons from the newspaper funnies to DC Comics and Disney Animation storyboards.

I can't say this course will brand you an good cartoonist. Just it'll teach yous the main concepts behind cartooning and assistance yous exaggerate your ideas in a more realistic yet entertaining manner.

Final Thoughts

When I showtime learned near this course I wasn't sure what to remember. I had no idea what to think. Most Proko courses focus on realist fine art & core fundamentals, so this was a large shift in a new direction.

Just Court handles the topic very well and his education style blends seamlessly into Proko'due south well-known fashion of narration.

Video quality is impeccable, the exercises are crystal clear, and you lot won't notice a better course on exaggeration anywhere else. Court takes the thought of caricaturing and breaks it downward from a type of art into a central technique that everyone should learn.

And the Proko Caricature Course is the all-time way for anyone to ingrain these concepts into their regular work.

My merely alarm is for complete newbies with little-to-no prior art experience.

This caricature form will experience overwhelming for a complete newbie so if y'all've barely fatigued anything in your life outset with Proko'southward figure course instead. It offers a smoother introduction to drawing and it'll pave the manner for you lot to switch into this caricature course later.

Although if you're pretty comfy with sketching and cartoon from reference and so Court's Caricature series will aid you lot build confidence and accuracy in your work, especially in your imaginative piece of work.

Check Out The Course


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Source: https://conceptartempire.com/proko-art-of-caricature-review/

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