Thread: XMAS present for MIL - Critique please

Hi Seb


Both have a strong sense of character and personality.


Just a few little things that I can see:


For the younger, upper lip could be a bit more pronounced,and the lower lid on the eye a bit reduced or worked back a bit. The inner part of the ear looks as though it could be taken down a bit to sit within the ear.


The elder, they eyeball needs to be taken behind the eyelid, and lower lid just taken under the upper eyelid a fraction in the corner. Ear, again the inner ear area is a bit proud.


Hair....overlapping secondary cuts???


Nice job. Is QLD walnut similar to US?

Good toadying indeed!

I'm no sculptor but I can see what raav is talking about.

Thanks Raav,

I see what you mean, I'll get to and post the results. What do you mean by overlapping secondary cuts? Do you mean the same chisel but putting another couple of cuts next to the ones that are there? Queensland Walnut is similar in colour to the American stuff and can exhibit some of the most wonderful grain. The scent puts some people off but I love the stuff.

Artme, thank you, toadying is never out of place with the outlaws

this is just a hunch, a guess, a riff, a response to get you through until someone who actually knows stuff chimes in - but if general hair is done with ever diminishing gouges in a similar (but wavy) direction, unkempt hair might be achieved through overlapping the cuts with a few that go against the flow. This could of course really fail, so best practice on some scrap.

I'm sure you thought of it already, but if you actually draw on what the general hair is doing then decide what has to kept higher and what has to be lower, then you may see that you need a series of interrupted cuts to give that illusion of overlapping. It sounds tedious, but you know the love will flow back to you. Preferably in edible parcels.

Hi Sebastiaan, What a great idea for a present and It's looking good so far, I agree with everything Raav has pointed out, I don't think the hair on the younger child is too bad at all maybe a touch finer would be better, the older lad's hair looks too even and and needs to be a lot finer, Being Jelutong you could probably use a sharp pointed detailing knife or pointed small file and just stroke over the surface of what you have already done to get more of a natural hair look, I'm certainly no expert so as Raav said try it on some scrap first. It could take a while but hey, still a couple of months till christmas. Look forward to seeing the finished piece.

Hi Seb,
I think you have done a great job, very close to the money.
Only acouple of points I would pick up on ,if you do not mind.
1. The bottom lip needs to be back a fraction from the top lip.
2. As mentioned by Raav, the inner ear to be recessed down from the outter rim and the leading inner rdge sloping down into the hole.
3. The hair,I like the guy on the left, he is close to what you are looking for. Start with a large gouge to create some humps and hollows and then go over it all again with small gouges, but try not to make tram tracks.Roll the smaller gouges from the top of a hump down over the edge into the bottom of the hollow as you move along.

Seb, I hope you do not mind my comments, no offence is ment. Gee, I feel that I am the last person who should be offering others advice
I think you have done a great piece , please keep up the good work and show us more as you go.

Regards
Schaf

Thanks guys, I had another crack at the older bloke last night following the advice Ive received. I havent had a chance to take a photo but I will tonight. I think he is much better now.

Hey Schaf, your cricketer carving thread has inspired me to ask for help. I think this is the place for learners like me to tap into the brains trust.

A nice idea, well executed on the whole. Agree with other comments mostly. For some reason ears are daunting to carve and draw, but really fun to do once you've become practised at them. Study ears thoroughly - doesn't have to be of the people you are carving. A mistake I still find trapped by now and then is that I tend to have the hair raised where it meets the face, like an Amish bowl cut, when actually it often just comes in flat against the skin - the only thing in a carving that distinguishes it from the skin (as colour is all one) will be the individual hair lines, which can be suggested in a few places only to better effect than going for individual lines. These will stand out more usually once you've added a finish. Sometimes even the wood grain can do this for you.

Riflers?

They might be suitably messy.

nice work