TOP 10 TYPES OF CARICATURE - ART - 2025

The types of cartoons refer to the different styles in which this form of graphic expression has developed. The cartoon is a graphic piece that illustrates reality distortedly, in order to ridicule a person or a real event.

Usually this is used as a form of criticism or ridicule directed towards society or towards a particular political actor.

The purpose of cartoons is to convey a concrete message; therefore, they use different graphic and textual tools that enrich their message. This is why they occupy a diffuse place between the field of art and the field of journalism.

For this reason, cartoons have different classifications according to different criteria. These may vary according to their content, their format or their style.

Classification according to content

Journalistic cartoon

The journalistic cartoon is a journalistic genre that interprets news in a graphic and synthesized way, with a critical point of view.

Its objective is to communicate with humor, irony or sarcasm a fact or event of a political, economic or social nature, disseminating it in printed media, whether in newspapers, weeklies, etc.

Reality cartoons

They are cartoons that address topics related to real events or everyday situations that are common to readers. These cartoons can cover everything from simple facts, like the habits of a family, to complex facts like religion or politics.

When referring to the caricature of reality, it is not necessarily a critical caricature. Sometimes the only purpose of the cartoonist is to make his readers laugh by ridiculing common situations without giving it a greater significance.

Fantasy cartoons

They are cartoons that address topics in which there is no relationship with the facts of reality. Their landscapes are usually unusual and can be located in real but strange places (the moon, for example), or in completely unreal places like a parallel dimension.

However, this type of cartoon is not completely disconnected from reality. If it were, it would not be possible for the reader to establish a connection and complicity with the author's message.

What this type of cartoon does is put the characters in absurd situations but with feelings, emotions or thoughts of everyday life. In this way, common ways of feeling or thinking in society are ridiculed or questioned.

Political cartoon

The political cartoon is a type of cartoon that addresses political issues or important events in real life.

In this, the purpose is to exaggerate some features of people or situations to communicate criticism or discontent with the social and political reality.

Throughout history, political caricature has shown its importance in the construction of public opinion.

Being a simple and eye-catching communication tool, it is useful to address complex concepts and generate concern among citizens.

For this reason, this type of caricature is highly respected today and is even equated with opinion columns.

Classification according to format

Caricature with focus on the image

The cartoon with a focus on the image is one in which the illustration suffices itself for the transmission of the message. In these cases, it is common to see that the use of any text is dispensed with or that it is used only in the form of onomatopoeia.

This form of caricature is the most basic, and in fact it is the primary form in which the first caricatures appeared in the Roman Empire.

Cartoon with focus on text

The cartoon with a focus on the text is one in which the content of the image does not play a central role in the message to be conveyed.

In these cases, even if the image is simple or common, the text is what really gives weight to the content that is transmitted.

Despite the fact that the cartoon is essentially an image, over the centuries these images have been transformed and even simplified.

This is due to the fact that, on many occasions, the image only serves as a resource to accompany a sufficiently forceful text.

Comic strips

Comic strips are a cartoon that represents reality through a series of images, like a story. These types of cartoons began to appear in newspapers in the 1950s and were usually pieces of fantasy caricature.

Later, the comic strips became longer and jumped into the books where they could tell much longer, more complex stories with different characters.

This led to the creation of a whole new literary genre known as the graphic novel.

Classification according to style

Satirical cartoons

Satirical-type cartoons are especially common within political cartoons. They are often used in print media, posters, flyers and pamphlets that aim to mock or ridicule the opposite point of view using satire as a tool.

They usually exaggerate the strongest or weakest characteristics of political figures. This includes both their physical and personal traits, as well as any public statements they have made on a particular topic.

Grotesque cartoons

Grotesque-type cartoons are more common within realistic cartoons. They focus on addressing real situations taking them to a totally grotesque language and approach, to generate controversy among the public or simply for humorous purposes.

His images tend to refer in an ironic way to situations, objects or customs that are perceived as positive within a social reality.

They take icons that are standards of well-being or comfort and twist them to ridicule those beliefs and ways of thinking.

Modern caricature

Modern caricature refers to a cartoon style that underwent its greatest season of development starting in the 1940s. This type of graphic expression was characterized by the fact that it transcended the interest in transmitting a humorous or social message.

In addition to this, his cartoonists had the purpose of developing a fairly elaborate aesthetic proposal. For this reason, this type of caricature in itself was constituted as an artistic movement of its time.

References

1. Ames, W. (2017). Caricature and cartoon. Recovered from: britannica.com
2. Candea, M. (SF). Caricature Types. Recovered from: ourpastimes.com
3. Gilsdorf, E. (2014). Types of cartoons. Recovered from: bostonglobe.com
4. The cartoon museum. (SF). History of Cartoons & Comics. Recovered from: cartoonmuseum.org