Post by Frank Zieglar on Aug 24, 2006 13:43:42 GMT -5
I've been asked about Kamans Training and thought I would share with everybody my thoughts about it.
----------------------------------------------------
The training with Kamans is less than 20 hours total. It was for about 3 hours a night for 6 nights total - so it came to about 18 hours in reality.
The reason I mention the hours is to help you realize what the training consists of. The first being that it was very short. The second being that NOBODY can learn to draw caricatures in 18-20 hours.
After all the lessons you barely drew drew good enough to work in the theme park IMO. Your 'real' training was On The Job. Drawing caricatures in a theme park for 6+ hours a day; 5+ days a week alongside a bunch of other caricaturists forces you to grow a bit. But back to the training classes.
Most people think the majority of the training is about how to draw a caricature. It's not. Most of it is about using the marker "LINE QUALITY".
There are a lot of line exercises to learn to control the marker. To make it do what we wanted it to do. It might sound kinda dumb, but I believe it was very important. These are the ones I remember, but it feels like I'm forgeting some...
We would do pages of each for 'homework' - both vertical and horizontal.
1) The 'arch' (this was always my weakest) : #1 thin in the middle and thick at the arch - #2 opposite Thick in the middle and thin at the arch.
2) Line Quality: from thick to thin to thick to thin...
I drew both of these very short in my example. In class the arch was bigger; and the line quality had longer strokes.
3) Skid Marks: very short thick to thin. Goal was to have them all the same size.
4) Itty Bittys: small tiny circles. Goal was to have a perfect circle and you cannot see the start and/or finish points.
5) Circles: all about the size of a nickle. Goal was to have a perfect circle and you cannot see the start and/or finish points. And thin on top and thick on the bottom (line quality).
All my examples in the pic are poor quality.
As we drew caricatures, we were more often corrected on line work then we were on the drawing itself. Suggestions were made as to what to change on each pic to get a better likeness, make it more humorous, or just an easier way to draw something.
Speed was always preached. At the theme park you get paid commision. The more you draw the more $$ you make (and the companies also). The faster you draw - the faster you get to the next customer.
A quick confident line! Not a timid little scratch. "Draw what you see!" was the motto.
Nobody finished training drawing great caricatures. Everyone was still struggling to get good likeness. Nobody was doing much exaggerating. But it was enough to get started in the park. Most everyone had confidence to draw a caricature. The few that didn't were easy to spot and they didn't even stay for one whole summer.
For you viewing pleasure...
The girl on the left was the first 3 min sketch I did in training class. Pretty good, huh? Notice how one eye is colored and the other has a pupil.
The man on the right was the first 'good' one I did on my own. It was right before or after we finished training. Notice there is NO line quality in it, NO exaggeration. I struggled to get the likeness.
----------------------------------------------------
The training with Kamans is less than 20 hours total. It was for about 3 hours a night for 6 nights total - so it came to about 18 hours in reality.
The reason I mention the hours is to help you realize what the training consists of. The first being that it was very short. The second being that NOBODY can learn to draw caricatures in 18-20 hours.
After all the lessons you barely drew drew good enough to work in the theme park IMO. Your 'real' training was On The Job. Drawing caricatures in a theme park for 6+ hours a day; 5+ days a week alongside a bunch of other caricaturists forces you to grow a bit. But back to the training classes.
Most people think the majority of the training is about how to draw a caricature. It's not. Most of it is about using the marker "LINE QUALITY".
There are a lot of line exercises to learn to control the marker. To make it do what we wanted it to do. It might sound kinda dumb, but I believe it was very important. These are the ones I remember, but it feels like I'm forgeting some...
We would do pages of each for 'homework' - both vertical and horizontal.
1) The 'arch' (this was always my weakest) : #1 thin in the middle and thick at the arch - #2 opposite Thick in the middle and thin at the arch.
2) Line Quality: from thick to thin to thick to thin...
I drew both of these very short in my example. In class the arch was bigger; and the line quality had longer strokes.
3) Skid Marks: very short thick to thin. Goal was to have them all the same size.
4) Itty Bittys: small tiny circles. Goal was to have a perfect circle and you cannot see the start and/or finish points.
5) Circles: all about the size of a nickle. Goal was to have a perfect circle and you cannot see the start and/or finish points. And thin on top and thick on the bottom (line quality).
All my examples in the pic are poor quality.
As we drew caricatures, we were more often corrected on line work then we were on the drawing itself. Suggestions were made as to what to change on each pic to get a better likeness, make it more humorous, or just an easier way to draw something.
Speed was always preached. At the theme park you get paid commision. The more you draw the more $$ you make (and the companies also). The faster you draw - the faster you get to the next customer.
A quick confident line! Not a timid little scratch. "Draw what you see!" was the motto.
Nobody finished training drawing great caricatures. Everyone was still struggling to get good likeness. Nobody was doing much exaggerating. But it was enough to get started in the park. Most everyone had confidence to draw a caricature. The few that didn't were easy to spot and they didn't even stay for one whole summer.
For you viewing pleasure...
The girl on the left was the first 3 min sketch I did in training class. Pretty good, huh? Notice how one eye is colored and the other has a pupil.
The man on the right was the first 'good' one I did on my own. It was right before or after we finished training. Notice there is NO line quality in it, NO exaggeration. I struggled to get the likeness.