Hello folks. In the spirit of collaboration, Robbi is going to start this post off and then Matthew is going to bring it home.

Robbi: It’s been a long time coming (the last Matthew Draws was the announcement of Billie Jean, way back in May) but lately Matthew has been itching to do some more drawing. Our next Idiots’Book, which I am furiously trying to finish so we can debut it at our 5-year anniversary reading tonight at Bookplate, involves a whole bunch of caricature. Caricature is not my strength. In fact, capturing likenesses has always been quite a hit-or-miss affair with me (and therefore I try to avoid it altogether) (see Robbi Draws). And so, as is my usual wont, I went online late one night a couple weeks ago thinking that I could just read a bunch of stuff on Wikipedia in the wee hours and learn what it was I needed to know.

I actually found a fantastic blog by Tom Richmond, a caricaturist for Mad Magazine. In it he outlines the basic ideas behind caricature – looking at how shapes on the face relate to one another and emphasizing those relationships. It was incredibly helpful. And since I like paper, I decided to order his book, The Mad Art of Caricature!. The instructions are clear and the examples are plenty. There’s an interesting section in the back doing a step-by-step of creating a long-form multiple-panel job for Mad Magazine. Anyway, it was all very interesting and really helped me get a grasp of how to look at a face and pull out the things that make it recognizable.

That being said, while I’ve been working on these caricatures, Matthew and I have spent a lot of time comparing reference photos to my sketches going, “Maybe there needs to be a line next to the chin…?” or “Maybe the angle on the forehead is off…?” or “Is that speck next to her eye making her look too squinty, or too crazy…?” We discovered how a seemingly miniscule change can totally alter someone’s appearance. So far, the likenesses are good (if I do say so myself) but still very far from perfect.

But the whole point here is that, in the process, Matthew learned a bit about caricature as well. Or, at least just enough to help me figure out what I was doing wrong in certain cases. We thought this might influence his drawing in a positive way, so we figured it was time for another Matthew Draws. Robbi signing off.

Ok. It’s Matthew now, ready to lead you through the big reveal, at which point you will surely come to the conclusion that, in spite of Robbi’s encouraging words above, I learned absolutely nothing about caricature.

I gave you:

Here’s Robbi’s version:

And the original:

Other than an a few “creative” responses (ie, Franklin Roosevelt with a mustache), basically everyone got this one right (this is Herman Cain, for those of you who live in caves), which gratifies me in spite of the fact that Robbi’s version makes me feel like Tiny Tim to her Lebron James.

Moving on, though, next we gave you:

Robbi’s take:

And the source photo:

Most of you got this one right as well, though I wonder how much that had to do with the themed nature of this Matthew Draws and the fact that Herman was relatively recognizable. If I were voting, I’d give my Newt a solid FAIL.

Moving on then, we gave you this tasty number:

Robbi’s version:

And our inspiration (in so many ways):

Again, the march of correct answers continued, though two of you clever people answered “Michelle Bachmann Turner Overdrive.” I do love our readers.

The final insult was:

Robbi’s response:

And the original:

Again, almost all of you guessed Ron Paul correctly, making this the very first Matthew Draws in which ANY person got all four right. And so many of you did! Clearly, I need to up the degree of difficulty next time around.

As for the bonus question, “If anything, what do all these folks have in common?”, you folks submitted some wonderful answers. Here are a few of my favorites:

They cray-cray
Clown College graduates
Imminent loss
None of them will be president in a million years. Also, they all may be aliens.
Um, I don’t think I should use impolite words here
They aren’t influenced by reality
They will be able to do Bar Mitzvahs next December
They’re all delusional. Oops, I mean GOP candidates…

Indeed.

So what is the point of all this? Why is Robbi spending so much time drawing republicans?

Because, friends, Idiots’Books Volume 33 takes a stab at addressing the lack of inspiring options in the current field of presidential hopefuls by allowing the voter/reader/dreamer to take matters into his/her/its own hands!

Build Your Own President: 2012, to debut tonight at Bookplate, is a mix-and-match book in the exquisite corpse tradition (like our books Ten Thousand Stories and After Everafter) that allows you to flip interchangeable panels to combine the least objectionable aspects of ten candidates.

The book’s cover (above) gives you a sense of how it works by combining Barack’s head, Sarah Palin’s fetching midriff, and Rick Perry’s legs, horse, and oil well. Each candidate (and matching stump speech) splits into three panels, so the total number of permutations is 1,000. Surely one of them is fit to lead the country?

Subscribers will be getting a copy of this book in January, and we’ll post it in the store soon for any of you who want to get a copy as a holiday president. But for tonight, to get a first glimpse (and a signed, hot-off-the-presses copy), come see us at Bookplate.

That’s 6:30 tonight, December 2. 112 South Cross Street in Chestertown.

In addition to unveiling Build Your Own President, We will be sharing our first commercial title, The Super Hero Squad Flips Out!

We will be giving our presentation from the Essay Symposium.

There will be cake provided by Doug the Baker from Against the Grain.

Furthermore, there will be levity. There will be mirth. There will be warm holiday cheer.

What we’re saying is that it’s almost impossible that you have a more compelling option.

Unless you have some surgery planned. If so, you’re off the hook. And good luck.