Artist of the Week: Amazing Caricatures by Jason Seiler
Taking humor and constructive criticism, and molding them into one, satire is an amazing way for artists to express disapproval for the shortcomings, vices, follies etc. of a person, or even a society. It can take any form the artist wishes, be it literature, performing art, or graphic art. We, of course, will be exploring satire as a graphic art.
Caricature is the face satire takes when it is a graphic art. The word comes from the Italian “caricare”, which means “to charge” or “to load”, and it is easy to see why that it derives from that word.
Caricatures are drawings where a subject’s features are exaggerated or simplified for comic effect. We will admit, though, that there are lots of times where the results are more creepy than comical.
As an art form, it might date back all the way to ancient times, but it really began being popular during the 15th and 16th centuries. During this time, aristocrats would commission artists to make caricatures of other aristocrats. These portraits would then be passed around as gags and, to quote Wikipedia, “mutual enjoyment”.
The 18th century saw caricature claim its place in politics, as it began to be used more and more to poke fun at political leaders and figures. For example, 1805’s The Plumb-Pudding in Danger, done by James Gillray shows William Pitt –then Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Napoleon Bonaparte, who needs no introduction, carving up the world. This is widely considered the most famous UK political cartoon, and it played an important role in spreading the rumor that Napoleon was short.
Now that you know a bit of backstory regarding caricature, it is time we tell you a little bit about this week’s featured artist Jason Seiler.
Jason started his career as a caricaturist in a very weird way: he drew parodies of his history teacher when he was in high school, which got him into a bit of trouble. Thankfully, his principle came up with the idea that he -Jason- should do more drawings, this time depicting different teachers.
This move got him out of trouble, and after finishing high school, he went on to study fine art illustration at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. Two years after starting his courses, he began his professional career, which lead to his works being published as covers and interior pieces in such magazines as Rolling Stone, Billboard, TIME, Der Spiegel, The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, and Guitar Player, to name just a few.
His biggest success to date has to be his work for Tim Burton’s movie Alice in Wonderland. He served as a character designer for the production, helping create such characters as the Red Queen, the Tweedles, the Bandersnatch and more.
So far, Jason has released two art books containing his works. The first one is called Caricature Art of Jason Seiler, and it contains a collection of his favorite caricatures. The second book, called SEILER 2008-2009, features both humorous paintings and illustrations he has done from 2008 to 2009.
To spread the love, the artist also produced an instructional DVD called Sketching with Jason Seiler, where he shows a few tips and tricks, and gives us a glimpse into his work process.
Aside from doing commissioned work for magazines, his art has also been showcased in several well-known publications like Taschen’s Illustration Now!, Communication Arts Magazine, and the book Digital Masters. He has also held exhibitions at the Society of Illustrators New York (of which he is a member), and the Society of Illustrators West.
But enough background, time for you to see with your own eyes why Jason is such a terrific artist.
PORTRAITS & CARICATURES
1. Kim Jong-il
“Best” Korea is a weird place, and that’s because of its leaders. You are never really sure if you should fear them, or be amused by them, and this illustration captures that perfectly.
Done in an almost realistic style, this caricature is unnerving and funny, all in the same time. Just like the subject it is satirizing was.
2. Chris Christie
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made headlines at the start of this year, after a series of emails were released that suggest that he might have been involved in an act of political retribution against the newly elected Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey. This was an especially hard blow, as Christie was one of the Republican Party’s top candidates for the presidential elections in 2016.
The scandal involves massive traffic problems in Fort Lee because of the closing of two access lanes on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge, and this caricature captures the essence of the scandal perfectly.
3. The White Stripes
Jason is really good at picking his characters. Here we have the now defunct band The White Stripes, who struck many people as being a rather odd couple… or brother and sister, no one really knows.
4. Donald Trump
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is one of the most instantly recognizable figures of our time. Everything from his outrageous and often-times offensive remarks, to his insane comb-over make him a completely drawable figure.
Once again done in a realistic manor, the artist manages to make Donald Trump both menacing and laughable.
5. Elvis Costello
This illustration of Elvis Costello won Jason the silver medal at the Society of Illustrators West.
6. Leonardo DiCaprio
After a slew of successful roles, culminating with the lead role in The Wolf on Wall Street, DiCaprio is now the poster-man of success. If before you couldn’t see him in any other way other than Jack Dawson, then now you probably can’t unsee him as Jordan Belfort.
7. Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock had a calm-yet-unsettling demeanor, but you would expect that from the master of suspense. The artist chose to depict him in black and white, and that was a brilliant choice, as all the iconic photos of him are without color.
8. Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman
This caricature not only satirizes its two subjects, but also the movie the two starred in, namely Casablanca, in the unlikely case you didn’t know. Bogart is drawn pretty much as you would expect him to be in a caricature. What makes us curious, though, is why Bergman is caricatured as being petrified with fear.
9. George Lucas
The most famous turkey neck in showbusiness. We all know who George Lucas is, and what he has given to the world. And we thank him for it. Now that the niceties are out of the way, go ahead laugh for a couple of minutes at this fantastic caricature of him.
10. Quentin Tarantino
Yes, it is the chin. It is all in the chin, baby. That fantastic, outstreched chin.
SKETCHES
The previous works are all complete, these however are just sketches, and we love them. Although they kind of loose the impact that color gives to the previous works, we think that sketches, somehow, have a certain personality that color kind of takes away.
11. Ron Pearlman
12. Johnny Cash
13. Lou Reed
14. Danny Trejo
15. Charles Darwin
That wraps up this week’s Artist of the Week. If want to see more of Jason Seiler, check out his website and his Behance profile. Also, don’t forget to tell us what you think about our article, in the comment section below.
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