Sal, can you tell me how you ended up as a caricaturist?

I was born in 1966 in a small village in Mexico and drawing has always been my passion. I remember when I was around 10 or 11, I used to draw caricatures of my father’s coworkers , and I still can see the smile on his face. Back then it was all natural to me, I didn’t know what a caricature was.
For some reason or another I did not pursue a career in the art field, I never took an art class, but I developed a strong passion for caricature. So I can tell you that I am a self-taught artist who deeply enjoys altering and deforming other people features.

Most of your caricatures pencil drawings, if I’m not mistaken. Is there something special for you about pencils, something that makes them better than, say, pens, brushes etc.?

The main reason I started drawing with pencils is out of convenience. I can do it anywhere, anytime…there is something so basic about it. I have tried other mediums but I always go back : Pencil drawing is where I really feel comfortable.
Something else that I like about working with pencil is that I can always erase a mistake, while when working with other mediums, trying to undo your wrongdoings can become a nightmare.

What kind of pencils do you use?

I have been using a mechanical pencil with a 0.5 mm 2B lead. I tried different thickness of lead but this is the one I stick with. Sometimes it becomes very frustrating and tiresome to develop the blackest areas in a drawing since the lead is so thin, but I always enjoy the end result.

What would you say is the most important thing to look out for when working with a pencil?

To me the most important thing and what I enjoy most is the actual creation of the sketch. I find it very rewarding in itself, if you take time to work in your sketch before you start working on the final piece the chances of being satisfied with the end result are much greater. Sometimes I rework a sketch up to eight times until I feel I finally got it.

How long does it take you to draw a caricature, from choosing a reference picture to the final product?

I would have to estimate the total time to be an average 5 hours from conception to completion. I seldom can spare that much time on a single drawing, most of my pieces have been drawn over the course of several sessions.
Which is no good for many reasons, mainly because it usually takes me up to 30 minutes to get a flow going. If you were to analyze any of my caricatures you could possibly see the variation in strokes and the struggle that took place while trying to become consistent.

At what point of you career did you begin to concentrate on pencil art?

I could say that it just happened: the pencil was there, and so was the paper…then I stumbled across some excruciatingly pencil works of art by great masters, especially Jean Mulatier. I could not help it but to be inspired.

What is it that makes Mulatier’s drawings special to you?

Back in 2000 while I was trying to establish my caricature style, I was introduced to Jean Mulatier’s work by the late Ismael Roldan. I was awestruck by the precision and mastery of his technique. It seemed to me that every single line had a purpose and that there was only the exact number of lines to represent the different variations in texture and value. To this day I am still hypnotized by his work.

Did you ever try to emulate your pencil style digitally? If it wasn’t for the restrictions through hardware, could artificial pencils replace the real thing?

Actually I have tried, but working digitally is a completely different can of worms. Seriously, there is no way to emulate the look or the feeling of working with the real thing. Having said that, I must add that the boundaries set by the hardware are changing rapidly especially after the introduction of software designed for use with mobile devices like the iPhone. These programs allow the artist to bring art creation “on the go” to a whole new level My mechanical pencil has been collecting dust and fearing for his life for the last couple of weeks… Is this the end of an era ? Only time will tell.

Thanks for your time!

Paul Hellmich