Caricature Masterclass: Suspicion in Your Eyes

Capturing Elvis

When I was about six years old, I had a ‘commemorative’ Elvis Presley AM radio, of which I was very fond. It was a figurine of Presley standing on a black plinth, which carried the dials and also served as the speaker. Looking back on it, the plastic rendering of the King was terrible, but it had a black quiff, a sparkly jumpsuit, and a microphone…so it must have been Elvis, right?

This item has always popped into my mind whenever I’ve had occasion to caricature Elvis Presley, and for a very simple reason: it’s the embodiment of everything I try not to do when I caricature a cultural icon. Instead of reducing the subject down to a handful of visual cues or clichés, I try to see the human being behind the public image…