A caricature is a portrait, painting or cartoon that exaggerates or distorts certain features of a person or item to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.
Caricatures can be discourteous or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn simply for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, whilst caricatures of movie stars are frequently seen in entertainment magazines.
The word is derived from the Italian caricare- to charge or load. So, the word "caricature" essentially means a "loaded portrait". Strictly speaking, the term refers merely to depictions of real-life people, and not to cartoon fabrications of fictional characters.
However the world-renowned animator Walt Disney claimed that his animation work could be likened to caricature, saying the most difficult thing to do was find the caricature of an animal that worked best as a human-like character.
One of the earliest instances of a caricature has been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii where a graffiti caricature of a politician had been etched into a wall.
Moving forward nearly 1500 years but remaining in Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was an active exponent of the art. He actually sought out people with some kind of deformity to use as models.
Video for Graffiti Cartoon :
