How to draw a caricature of Obama

You'll need paper, pencil, eraser, pen and a ruler.

Step 1 – Draw an ice cream cone, with a rounded bottom.

Step 2 – Use a ruler to draw a vertical line down the center, and a horizontal line which meets the bottom of the circle/ice cream scoop.

Step 3 – Draw big ears. Notice where they connect with the center-line. His ears are one of his most prominent features, so feel free to make them as big as you want, fill up the whole page!

Step 4 – Draw the eyes and the pupils. Notice how they fall on the center-line.

Step 5 – About 1/3 of the distance between the eyes and the chin you will draw the nostrils. Make them wide, think of them as sideways teardrops. Then between the nostrils draw a U-shape for the middle-point of the nose.

Step 6 – Then draw the mouth. Obama has a million-dollar smile, if you want to draw him smiling think of the mouth as a miniature version of the cone you drew for the face.

Step 7 – Draw his hair line. Use another U-shape for this.

Step 8 – Then his eyebrows. Make them narrow on the outer sides and thick & round on the inner sides.

Step 9 – Add the details.

*For his ear details, you can draw what looks like a 6 and a backwards 6.


*Fill in his teeth

*Crows feet


*Neck, Adams apple, Collar

*His top lip can be drawn with an M-shape and a wide V-shape underneath. And draw U-shape for his bottom lip.


*Forehead vein

*Gum line

*And finally, the mole near his left nostril! 99% of the Obama caricatures I’ve seen leave out this vital component. I think of it as the big bow on top of the whole present, and it really gives him a lot of his uniqueness.

Step 10 – Trace your work for a cleaned-up version. You can either use a new sheet of paper, or trace over your sketch with a pen and erase the pencil marks.

*Be sure to “push” the contours more to your preference. For example; I made his temples narrower, his cheeks puffier, his jaws bulge, and his chin more square. And I gave his ears more specific shapes.

*Notice I also used the extra free space I created for his very prominent cheek-lines and dimple/smile-lines.

*I also changed the shape of his eyes to accommodate his big smile. If you want to do that too, think of them as upside-down bowls.
And finally, I colored mine. I used Photoshop, but feel free to use crayons or markers or whatever you want. Most importantly, have fun!

It may not end up in a museum, but it would definitely end up on my mom's fridge, and that's what it's all about isn't it?