Al Hirschfeld and Exaggeration

Hey! I was in a art store with my dad and he showed me a book about this artist named Al Hirschfeld. I was actually stunned to see this guy's caricature artwork because it was so different looking than most artists.
Out of most artist, this one is my favorite! Not just because of the way he composed his drawings, but the style! It's awesome! Al Hirschfeld really knew how to get those sweet smooth lines! I wish I could have that "loosy" control with my pencil to get a nice smooth finish instead of my usual "roughy" finishes. However, that's not the only thing he's best known for, it's really his caricature drawings!

You can tell that Hirschfeld had some way of seeing things just by looking at these drawings. It's amazing how the idea of actually drawing what you are seeing could do to one individual. The sad part is that most people don't do that. They don't draw what they are seeing, they draw what they are SUPPOSE to see. To me, that is a bad idea. We do art to express our take on reality instead of being some sort of duplicating copy machine.

I think exaggeration is something that happends naturally, not forcefully. We don't exaggerate because it's the rule. We exaggerate because that's how we see things. Al Hirschfeld was the perfect role model for that sort of thing. Apparently, that's his way of being an artist. It's HIS take on real life. Though, it's not just him and exaggerating that makes him an artist, there's other things. Some people are real to be real. I mean, i'm not saying exaggerate because it expresses personality,but to me, it's a good way to do so. You can be real or exaggerating whenever you want. I don't care if you are real, if that's your take on life, so be it. I'm not the art boss and neither are the guys who tell you how to do your artwork.

Here is a segment from Fantasia 2000 that shows Al Hirschfeld's take on New York. Now remember that Al Hirschfeld was the one responsible for the artwork in this segment. Hats off to George Gershwin for the music by the way. You really gave that New Yorky mood for this one.

I hope you enjoy the segment if you haven't seen it as well!