They allow users to capture a likeness (or a caricature) of themselves, others, or invented characters.

Self-taught, he was a brilliant draughtsman and known for his gift of capturing a likeness, as well as his virtuoso handling of paint.

And he was the portraitist whom everyone wanted, not simply because he could "capture a likeness," but also because his portraits in oils would almost always radiate a certain moral security.

Contemporary critic Henry T. Tuckerman acknowledged Carpenter's "facility in capturing a likeness" but "criticized the artist's lack of 'grace' and 'vitality'".

In these and his caricatures, the tenor had a real knack for capturing a likeness, although, Mr. Tuggle noted, he tended to take his beautiful colleagues down a notch or two, giving the image of the gorgeous soprano Geraldine Farrar, for instance, a cartoonish cast.