The Caricature known as an art of humor is characterized by exaggeration and distortion. Nowadays people usually make caricatures as a fun way to express their internal feelings and show their attitude towards real life. With the popularity of social media, portrait caricatures have become a trend.

What do you know about Caricature? Do you know how to make a caricature of yourself? If you have no idea about the question, you will find the answers from this article. Read on!

how to make caricature

What is Caricature?

A caricature is an image rendered displaying the attributes of the image in an exaggerated and simplified form using pencil strokes, sketching, or using other different artistic drawings. Essentially, a caricature can be complimentary or insulting.

A caricature is a great way to enhance the basic elements of a figure face in a picture: wider the mouth, enlarge the eyes, slim the chin... This type of art can grab your attention via multiple points: exaggerated action, sharpened face frame, enhanced color mode.

It takes more happiness to you and your friends via the engaging experience. If you have the idea to turn a photo into a caricature with the fast and free way, read the complete guide we show you below.

What is Caricaturer.io

Overview of the Tool

Caricaturer.io is a newly-released online caricatures maker, supporting both Windows and Mac platforms. The tool features AI technology, several caricature effects, and dramatic and realistic filters.

Based on the advanced face recognition technology, it can scan the face in a photo and analyze the facial features in several seconds. It takes only 2-3 minutes to convert your portrait to cartoon effects with over 60 variations, guaranteeing the resulting photos to be highly similar to your own. Want to look like an anime character? Head to our website to get a fast solution.

How to Turn Photo to Caricature Effect on Caricaturer.io?

  • Head to Caricaturer.io on your browser
  • Upload a picture with a face in it by dropping or dragging
  • Wait for AI scanning the facial features and transforming them into caricatures
  • Get 64 pictures with cartoon effects.
  • Create a personal account and download a batch with HD quality

PS: If you only want to save some caricatures instead of all, you can get a single image by:

  • Put the mouse on the photo that you want
  • Right-click the photo, then click “Save image as” to save it on your computer.

Benefits of Making Caricature By Caricaturer.io

  • Easy to convert the photo into a caricature, friendly to both newcomers and experts.
  • There is an option to share your caricature on various social media platforms.
  • Free for use: no fee or extra money for caricature processing.
  • It creates over 60 caricatures with exaggerated and distorted effects.
  • It doesn’t collect users information and images for any other intention.
  • Support download bulk caricatures with HD quality.
  • Offers warm notification service: As long as you register an account, you will get notification messages once the portrait has been successfully generated caricatures.

See Before and After Effect:

use caricaturer.io to make caricautre

Similar Websites to Make Caricature Online:

Cartoon Yourself:

Cartoon Yourself is a popular Chrome extension, offering an online service for creating cartoon portraits directly without any software installation.

This website has more than 300 graphic parts to help users customize their avatars as especially as possible. To convert your photo to a cartoon, you only need to choose between face, eyes, hair, clothes, and background. You can try more times to get the most satisfying combination.

Cartoon Yourself Using Steps:

  • Open the browser and visit the website: https://www.cartoonify.de/
  • Click the “Cartoon Me Now” button and choose the gender
  • Choose the shapes for eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and hair
  • Pick the color for all face, lips, eyeballs, and hair
  • Select the clothes from the given choices
  • Set the background and pick the proper color for the background
  • Produce the final effect and download the picture as png or SVG

See Before and After Effects:

Cartoon Yourself

Cartoonize.net

Cartoonize allows you to create a unique picture for fun and turn a general face avatar into personalized artwork. The developers make it simple and easy to use with the help of artificial technology.

A variety of graphics and icons make sure that you can enhance and transform freely. In several clicks, the powerful filters and layers show quirky and hilarious effects on your photo.

Make Caricature By Cartoonize

  • 1. Go to the Cartoonize website cartoonize.net
  • 2. Select a photo to get started, or upload your own
  • 3. Click the Effect tool in the function menu on the lest
  • 4. You will see four effects: Cartoonizer, Digital Art, Sketcher, Painting
  • 5. Choose Cartoonizer and the site shows you multiple caricature effects
  • 6. Try different effects and find the most wanted one to apply
  • 7. Save the picture and share it with your friend

See Before and After Effect:

Cartoonize

Befunky

Befunky is a famous online caricature maker that originated in 2007. It is renowned for its "Cartoonizer" effect that transforms your image into a cartoon. This cartoon maker comes with features like the Photo Editor and Graphic Designer. It has free and paid plans for users. If you don’t need to unlock all features and functions, a free plan is enough. Besides, Befunky also allows users to edit and customize caricature photos.

Make Caricature By Befunky:

  • Go to the official website of Befunky and click the Try It Now button
  • 2. Upload a figure portrait to the Photo Editor menu
  • 3. Hit the Artsy logo to reveal the number of featured image effects
  • 4. Press the Cartoonizer bar and Befunky shows 6 different cartoon filters
  • 5. Try adding all of these filters one by one to see which works best
  • 6. Save the generated caricatures to multiple platforms: computer, Google Drive, Google Photos. You can also share these funny photos on social media directly.

Apart from Caricaturer.io and the similar websites to transform pictures to caricatures online, we’d like to introduce some other ways to finish such a task without money spent.

See Before and After Effects:

Befunky

Other offline software to make caricature

Make Caricature by GIMP:

GIMP is a free and open-source image editing program that can be available on Win, Mac, and Linux. The sophisticated functions of this editor allow image editing, retouching, and drawing. Besides, it also supports photo converting from general format to cartoon effects.

  • Download and Install GIMP before your fire up.
  • Pick a face picture that you want to cartoony.
  • Open the image by clicking File >Open in GIMP software.
  • Create a New Transparent by going to Layer - New Layer.
  • Right-click on the layer to make sure you add Alpha Channel.
  • Press B on your keyboard to open the Path tool bar.
  • Create points going around the edge of the subject.
  • If you misplace a point, use Ctrl+Z to cancel the latest action.
  • Press Enter on the keyboard to create a selection.
  • Invert the selection to have the background selected.
  • Press the Delete shortcut to make the object separated from the background.
  • Select Bucket Fill Tool to fill the facial features with proper skin colors.
  • Move the source layer to the top, and add Alpha Channel to it.
  • Add an effect to make it look like it was drawn in manually.
  • Make the filter effect smooth by adjusting the value of Opacity carefully.
  • Create a new background for the cartoon image.
  • Click Ok to save the final caricature portrait if you satisfied with the results.

See the Before and After Effects:

Befunky

Make Caricature By Photoshop:

Photoshop is another good photo editing program, famous among designers and developers. It enables to creation, editing, transform multiple images. With the help of a variety of graphics and layers, it can be used to create face caricature as well. See how to do that below:

  • 1. Prepare a photograph coining elements naturally pronounced.
  • 2. Click Ctrl+O on a keyboard to open your picture in Photoshop.
  • 3. Pick the Magic Wand Tool, then click the Select Subject tool.
  • 4. Hit Ctrl+J on the keyboard to duplicate a new layer of the current picture.
  • 5. Draw a path around the subject by using the Curvature Pen Tool.
  • 6. Press Enter on the keyboard to create a selection for the drawn path.
  • 7. Click Shift Ctrl X to open the Liquify tool to zoom the eyes or mouth.
  • 8. Adjust the Brush smaller or bigger to change the shape and build the effect.
  • 9. Right-click to open the Convert to Smart Object bar for layer transformation.
  • 10. Shrink the head layer and use the shortcut Ctrl+T to shape the elements.
  • 11. Distort the part that you want to exaggerate and sharpen it slightly.
  • 12. Expand elements like nose, slim the face or chin, or enlarge the eyes.
  • 13. Press Control-Alt-Shift-E to create a merged layer.
  • 14. Go to Filter to add colors and painting effects for the person in an image.
  • 15. Press Ctrl+S to save the generated caricature work on your computer.

See the Before and After Effects:

Befunky

Make Caricature By Corel Draw

Released by Corel Corporation, Corel Draw is widely used to edit vector graphics. By using this software, users can accomplish many designing tasks like digital ads or architectural layouts. Additionally, it is a powerful tool to make your portrait a caricature. See how to do that below:

  • 1. Download and install the latest version of Corel Draw on your device.
  • 2. Drag or drop the image to the options area of the software.
  • 3. Open the Transparency tool and select the uniform type to transfigure the photo.
  • 4. Right-click and choose Lock Object action on the menu.
  • 5. Use the pen tool to trace the facial contours of the figure.
  • 6. Adjust the color of the eyes and the outside. Lighting for under eye circles.
  • 7. Click the menu Effects > Powerclip - Place Inside Container.
  • 8. Decide which element to transform. Right lick the elements to edit the shape.
  • 9. Use the artistic media to deal with the nose.
  • 10. Create lines to the mouth and apply the artistic media to the edge of the mouth.
  • 11. Colorize the face and make the new shape cover the previous one.
  • 12. Make a shadow for the face and make jam bang.
  • 13. Press Ctrl+F9 on the keyboard to activate the activate box in the software.
  • 14. Do the same thing with other parts including ears, hair, or chin.
  • 15. Choose File >Save to save the final caricature work.

See the Before and After Effects:

Befunky

Make Caricature By Photoshop Plugin

If you seek for offline tools to make the free caricature of yourself in one click, you can also consider Photoshop plugins, such as Avatar-vector Sketch. Here are the details about the use of this plugin.

  • 1. Download the Avatar Vector Sketch plugin file on your computer.
  • 2. Find the downloaded file and place it in the plug-in folder of your Photoshop.
  • 3. Run Photoshop software and click File > Script > Browser to add plugin file to PS.
  • 4. Close the Photoshop and re-start it.
  • 5. Open the Window menu, put the mouse on Extensions, click Avatar Vector Sketch.
  • 6. Press Ctrl+O to add a picture that you want to turn into a caricature.
  • 7. Click the Subject Area button under the menu of Avatar Vector Sketch.
  • 8. Wait for the plugin to run. It takes about 1-2 minutes to apple the caricature effect.
  • 9. Once the process is done, hit Ctrl + S to save the resulting image quickly.

See the Before and After Effects:

Befunky

Here is the tutorial video to tell you how to install this plugin and use it for caricature creating:

1. Photo to vector - Cartoon portrait - Avatar tutorial

Assuming all of the above doesn't work for you, you can also try Photoshop Actions to create cartoon avatars with simple steps. Due to space constraints, we won't go into the steps on how to use Photoshop Actions to turn the picture to caricature. But we find the most effective Actions and list them here for you to explore.

  • Pop Art Photoshop Action
  • Vintage Comic Creator
  • GTA Photoshop Action
  • Vector Paint Photoshop Action
  • Ultra Realistic 3D Space Effect
  • Animated Zombie Grime Art Photoshop Action
  • Cartoon Art Photoshop Action
  • Cartoonize Photoshop Action
  • Soft Cartoon Photoshop Action
  • Cartoon Melted Drips Action
  • Cartoon Vector Photoshop Action
  • Vector Cartoon Photoshop Action
  • Comic Book Creator
  • Geometric Style Text Effects

You can read more details or a full tutorial about the application of Photoshop Actions on this page: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/20-best-cartoon-photo-effects-comic-text-photoshop-actions--cms-31085

What Picture Would Be Fine to Make Caricature?

1. Has a Brief and Clear Background in the Picture

If you want to make a great caricature, you need prepare a suitable photo for the first. As most of programs deal with the image depending on the AI technology, the clear and simple background will make the process stable and successful. AI will not be disturbed when scanning the facial features.

2. Make Sure the Clear Human Face in the Photograph

The object of caricature must be human face instead of animal portraits. You can’t expect that a caricature application can scan your dogs or cats’ faces and analyze the feature so as to generate interesting results.

3. Choose High-Quality Image Before Your Start

Mae sure the human face in picture is just step 1. To a large extent, the clarity of the photos uploaded has a direct impact on the final result. If you have a high expectation of cartoon effect, choose high-quality pictures as materials whenever possible.

4. Select the Picture Capable of Expressing Comic Effect

The facial expressions of the characters will also affect the final outcome. You can select the pictures with “Dynamic effect”, for example, you are laughing with your mouse open. People prefer a light-hearted and witty demeanor to a serious expression. If your give a funny picture to make caricature of yourself, you can amplify the comedic effect via advanced caricature making tools.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have discussed the basic information and key features of caricature, and hope that may help you to know this form of art. Meanwhile, we show the easy-to-follow ways to turn the picture to caricature online and offline. Online tools like Caricaturer.io or Befunky save your time without installation and skills learning. While you can still make use of some offline methods to achieve the goal without internet connection limitations, such as GIMP and Photoshop Plugin.

IFor each way of caricature generating, we have released the detailed steps for your following up. If you are interested in enjoying the fun of this art, feel free to try these tools.

IIt is worth noting that the automatic software can’t replace the hand-drawn caricature artists. You can use tools to make caricatures in an effective and money-saving way. But if you want to get more inspiration about how to customize caricatures for your friends or families, it is still important to hire a caricature artist to do finer work.