To ambitious?

[Joedeeni]

I want to carve a drgon, but wouldn't have a pattern to work off of and would be doing this completely from my own imagination. Is such a project too ambitious for a begininner? My only "in the round" project is the hound dog I am currently working on, should I hold off and work on smaller projects for practice or just dive in and hope for the best?

[TreeWizard]

My first piece that I carved on my own was a dragon. I used a picture off the internet from google images. It took a bit of figuring but it can be done.

[Mark Dellinger]

Joe,
When I started I tried to carve everything that I saw or could imagine. I'm sure some of the more experienced guys may have a better answer for you on this but here is my answer. "Go For It"
Even though I didn't have a clue I jumped into it. I wasn't trying to compete or sale my projects so I was not really under any pressure, other than the self inflicted kind from wanting to do good. The way I saw it what was the worst that I could do. Worst case I created a piece of fire wood, best case I either was successful or learned something from it which is just another form of success. The main thing is to remember that starting out you can get discouraged easy if you let yourself, so just have fun and experiment. Since you arer going to be working from imagination what you end up with is the way it should turn out, you will not have the pressure of making it look like something else. Since it will be your own design, make it small. This will tell you how good your imagination is and if you like what you get you can always make a larger one later and maybe improve it in areas that you are not happy. Remember it is all about learning and having fun.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark

[Claude]

Joe:
Welcome to the forum!

Fox Chapel Publishing sells several books that have dragon patterns:
Fox Chapel Publishing - Woodworking books and magazines for the inspired woodworker

Claude

[doris]

hi joe, its perfect plan, just go for it, as was suggested try get an idea what you want carve clearly before you begin, by collecting many refrence images, draw, and maybe even do s quick clay maquette... and then start carving your dream. its not too ambituous, its perfect project ! i do this way al them time...

[DManning]

Carving a dragon from imagination is perfect. Since no one has actually seen one, no one can truthfully point out any mistakes.
Too many beginning fish carvers have to put up with "too many rays in the dorsal fin" comments and get discouraged.
Just do it, learn from it, and enjoy it.

[doris]

sure, noone has seen a dragon, but we have many animals on our planet which yield good parts for a dragon, and the classical dragons are built this way, thats why they look so great, since their creators used nature as a source for inspiration. say, if you struggle with carving a claw for a dragon (if you wish that i mean) then you could look how lizards have them, just to get a better picture in your mind for what you really wish to carve. i am not speaking of copying these reference pictures, but only to use them to see basic shapes that make the dragon in your mind. have fun, and enjoy the exploring.

[jmischel]

Joe

I'd say to go for it. I learned a lot by just carving from imagination.

You might also be interested in the little dragon shelf peeker that's in the latest issue of Woodcarving Illustrated magazine.