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The art of drawing cartoon portraits for newspapers has existed for a long time in Vietnam and has involved the participation of many artists. However, most of their drawings are illustrative or enlarge a feature, such as the eyes, nose or mouth of the character. For portraits drawn by cartoonist Nguyen Huu Khoa, well-known for his pen-names, “Com” and “Khoai”, they show a new and unique expression of the artist that fascinates those who see them.
The characters, such as famous painter Bui Xuan Phai, musician Van Cao, musician Tran Tien and people’s artist Dang Thai Son, are reflected in his cartoons with deformed and slovenly appearances and both strange and familiar but keep their distinctive features and appearance.
According to the cartoonist, to make people recognize the deformed characters is the most difficult. He often bases his drawings on the salient features of the characters’ looks and personality to create his own views. Thanks to years of sculpting, Nguyen Huu Khoa has a thorough awareness of the structure of the face that helps him in drawing the cartoons.
When first seeing his cartoons, people are still rather doubtful about who the characters are. However, after scrutinizing the details of the cartoons, the characters become recognizable.
Among his many cartoons, Khoa remembers the portrait of music composer Van Cao the most. It was difficult to draw the cartoon because he had never met Van Cao before and there were not many photos and the colour photos he did find were too small. He used his imagination, perception and impromptu feelings to draw. Yet, this cartoon has been said to be his most successful one.
Over the years, the artist has created many unique cartoons, helping newspapers look more alive and creating a new style in the art of drawing cartoon portraits in Vietnam
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