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BECOME A CARICATURIST : BEGINNING STEPS TO DRAWING CARICATURES
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Young man, before you start out on your wild and checkered career, permit me to spill a few valuable notions. into your head. In the first place, try to forget that you are a great artist: And lead a natural life. Don't be too eccentric. Be like other poor mortals who love to earn an honest living, and the world will love you the better for it.
CIRCUMSTANCES THE MAKER OF HEROES.
It is natural for a fond mother to ask : " What shall I do with my son to make him a caricaturist ? ". The
question is a hard one to answer, for no two boys follow the same course through life to attain the same ends. Therefore, it would be impossible for me to lay out a course for a beginner to pursue terminating in certain success. It would be too much like prescribing a course of treatment for a chronic disease—much depends upon circumstances. Events arising in politics may afford the young artist an immediate opportunity to come to the front—the making of war heroes cannot be foreseen. So it is with great artists. If the youth possess an artistic nature, love for fun, perseverance, and can withstand disappointments, then (perhaps) you can make a caricaturist of him.
Don't expect to become a celebrated caricaturist in a fortnight. Take it easy. If you have the germs of success in you, they will come to the surface sooner or later.
THE LIFE OF THE CARICATURIST.
The life of the caricaturist is much the same as the life of the proverbial plumber—both command large salaries.
The caricaturist must have a keen perception of right and wrong, but not so keen that he can detect the political faults of his own party. He represents the only party of purity and reform. In the opposition he must see nothing but corruption and mismanagement—for this he is paid a good round salary. The more fault he can find with his political rivals, the gooder and rounder his salary becomes. The caricaturist has opinions of his own, but they may easily be remoulded by an offer of a more lucrative position on a newspaper of opposite political faith, whereupon he immediately sees the unpardonable crimes and corruption of the party he has just deserted.
When caricature was in its infancy, the man known to the world as a caricaturist was looked upon as a wonder. He had no predecessors to inspire him; he worked alone and without any of the facilities which we enjoy the present day. Science has bestowed upon us new methods of engraving so simple that it requires only a few hours to produce results that would have occupied days or weeks in times of wood engraving.
Caricaturing is a pleasant vocation now-a-days, especially if there is a substantial salary attached to it. You may take your profession with you anywhere, and gather material wherever you happen to be.
VALUE OF EARLY EXPERIENCES.
Don't despise the hard knocks in early life ; they will prove an after-benefit to you. You are gaining an education which will be invaluable in your profession. The different trades and callings with which circumstances have brought you in contact have taught you how various utensils are made, and how they are used, and how the people feel and act who use them; and whenever you have occasion to make a picture embracing these utensils and people, your knowledge of them will save you considerable research.
I will enumerate a few of my most important shifts of profession before I reached the object of my ambition : Beginning with a baker's attendant, then office boy, newsboy, silk weaver, cotton spinner, farmer, fish monger, wine bottler, sign painter and stencil cutter, besides a series of short term engagements too numerous to mention. All this time, however, I had a desire to make a better man of myself, but owing to the enormous cost of engraving, there was little demand for artists upon newspapers.