Thread: One year on.

Hey Rob - nice work!
It's about a year ago for me as well. Got the lovely chisels home and hacked away and got to thinking that this carving caper was a lot harder than it looked. A few weeks later discovered that wood carvers use something called 'gouges'. Still got a lovely shine on them those chisels. Anyhoo...

My 2 cents - if you want to do figurative work (including caricature) is get thyself to a life drawing class. At the very least draw the picture you want to copy so that you are at least training yourself to look fully at the object/photo. Try and get 4 views in the drawing as rubbing out pencil is a bit easier than lopping off wood. Clay modeling also gets your mind around the shape before you start carving*. Basically, anatomy/figurative is hard. Perhaps harder than than hard. Unless your are really gifted. Or did life drawing.

What was the peppermint like? I would have assumed it was whiter than that.

(*all of which makes me a hypocrite, but what are you gonna do???)

Thanks Raav, I made the mistake of buying a set of chisels from Ebay when I started, absolute crap, so I went out and bought a decent set and a set of Flexcut knives.
Raav, I'm terrible at drawing, I can copy not bad but when it comes to sketching whats in my mind onto paper I'm hopeless. I had trouble seeing things in 3D at the beginning but its getting easier. I must get my act together and get some clay or plasticine, I can see how that making a rough model would make a difference getting your head around the shapes.
I bought the Peppermint at the WA wood show, did you go?. Got it from the timber bloke, (thetimberbloke.com.au) he's in Navel base. It's a hard wood but fairly easy to work, has nice fine grain. He also had some Advocado that was fairly soft but he only had a large pieces left and over my meager budget. I've got some silky oak to have a go at but haven't decided what to do with it yet. Thanks for advice anyway.

Originally Posted by Robthechisel

Raav, I'm terrible at drawing, I can copy not bad but when it comes to sketching whats in my mind onto paper I'm hopeless. I had trouble seeing things in 3D at the beginning but its getting easier. I must get my act together and get some clay or plasticine, I can see how that making a rough model would make a difference getting your head around the shapes.

Very few of us start as good at drawing (Michelangelo excepted) its all about practice (I'm an art teacher who struggles with drawing), but I have to say that sketching in 3D with clay or plasticine is in my opinion a much better way to go as it gets your head around the shape in space not on a 2D surface.

I think maybe you were copying too directly because the perspective in the photo makes the shoulders look wide, which you've translated into the piece - female shoulders are usually not wider than the hips. You may be better off attempting a carving from the diagram below then a photo like that - which would give the best of carvers headaches. That said, I quite like the feeling in the piece.
how-to-draw-proportion-18.jpg

There are definite signs of challenge in Michelangelo's drawings. I prefer the draughtsmanship of Titian, though few of his drawings survive:

Detail-Titian-Child.jpg

Originally Posted by Iggy

Very few of us start as good at drawing (Michelangelo excepted) its all about practice (I'm an art teacher who struggles with drawing), but I have to say that sketching in 3D with clay or plasticine is in my opinion a much better way to go as it gets your head around the shape in space not on a 2D surface.

I don't think that I'll even have the nerve and confidence to attempt to carve human form. Certainly not literally!
Good for you. Possibly some heads, some torsos and some legs = mix-and-match?

Movay & Iggy, Thanks for the comments and advice, Movay that sketch with the measurements will be most helpful if I attempt another Figure. Thanks for posting.

Robson, I'm sure if you had a go at carving the human form you would probably surprise yourself, your knowledge of the art is certainly several levels above mine.
I think maybe a torso next for me.

This is a good resource, download and print the pages you like.

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth : Loomis, Andrew : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

I have met few people who can draw what's in their head. For those that can, drawing is as essential as breathing so it's not a skill that comes lightly or easily. And when people say they can't draw, it's a half finished sentence. They probably mean "I can't draw like Michelangelo...or Davinci...or that Titian chap". But as Iggy says, modeling gives you the 3D information.

I only suggest it as advice because in my limited experience, knowing what you want to arrive at is 90% of the journey. The actual removal of the wood, based on all the information I have squeezed out of people, is little more than that; removing what isn't required. I don't imagine it has been said of anyone that 'they can't carve very well, but gee, the make nice work'.
You aren't judged on how you remove wood but the form you arrive at. Hence for me knowing where I want to go is more important than how I'm going to get there.

Ooh - I think I just had an epiphany.

Therein lies a puzzle for me:
I don't understand carving well enough yet to figure out how to put a frog
on the top of a "story pole" that I have been chewing on for several years.
I know what the frog needs to look like.
I have a solid green, bottle-glass frog as a model and of the size that I need.
I can't get my head into that space just yet.

Human female sculptures are far more interesting than frogs, kissable or not.

You could take that model of a frog and put it in a jug of opaque water with a tap on the bottom. Cover the frog completely and release a little water a time, slowly revealing the frog from head down - just copy it as you go down. Rennaissance sculptors did it like that.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Therein lies a puzzle for me:
I don't understand carving well enough yet to figure out how to put a frog
on the top of a "story pole" that I have been chewing on for several years.
I know what the frog needs to look like.
I have a solid green, bottle-glass frog as a model and of the size that I need.
I can't get my head into that space just yet.

Human female sculptures are far more interesting than frogs, kissable or not.

Nice piece Rob ..pretty dang good for only a year of carving.
..Like the others said, figuration is a challenging subject matter.
and, as the others said, a plasticene or clay maquette (model) will prove invaluable,


..not sure how to link to an old post ..but if you type 'figurative carving wip 2'..into search..
..and about 15 down the list....may help a bit with your next torso..

Raav, The link to that book is great thank you, so detailed. Your explanation of the mindset needed to improve as a carver/ sculptor has cleared a misty window in front of my eyes, I know "get it" a lot better.

Thanks also underfoot, I looked at that WIP for your torso and that will be a great reference when I find the right piece of wood to attempt one.
Beautiful piece by the way.

Robson, you need to attempt that frog before you croak.

Not something I'd attempt first up Rob but your bravery is paying dividends.

Among Australian artists Norman Lindsay was a great draughtsman.