How to paint a Chris Rock caricature

 Chris Rock... I laugh just looking at him. I wanted to create a humorous portrait to go with his personality.

So here is the process of how I painted Chris Rock, from sketch to finished illustration in Photoshop.

Hope you enjoy and find this useful when painting your next caricature portrait.

 1. Quick sketch, laying out his features and trying to nail that likeness. I wanted to exaggerate his teeth, I also like the way his nose whips upward.

2. Here I'm doing a quick tonal study under the sketch to get a feel for the shapes. Really trying to push his cheeks as much as possible. Keeping his teeth fairly white to contrast with his skin and create a focal point.

3. I used a 'colour' layer over the tonal sketch to block in the basic colours.

 4. Starting to render. Fleshing out the basic shapes. This is done on a separate layer on top of the other layers. I'm using a textured brush with pen pressure and flow set to 30-50%

 5. I flipped my canvas horizontally and realised a few issues on the features. I fixed the right eye (his left) and exaggerated his nose further by making it shorter and rounder.

6. Adding the background. I usually try to add in the background in the beginning. Originally I wanted to keep the background white, but decided to go with this desaturated blue colour instead. I think it compliments the orange tone in his skin well

7. Adding some more details and finishing touches like the texture in his facial hair.

8. Sign my name and call it done!

Hope you enjoyed this quick step by step process. Watch my video below to see how this portrait evolved from sketch to finished illustration.

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