first "wood" spirit. pointers please

[kev.b]

Bored this afternoon, so heres my first attempt at a wood spirit. OK... OK i'd better confess, firstly it's carved from a carrot and is 2.5" tall. but would like some pointers/tips where im going wrong.....and please don't say "use wood next time" haven't been able to get into my shed for 2 weeks due to weather and im getting "house fever".
any suggestions would be very welcome
kev

[LBlake]

What makes you think you're going wrong? Looks good to me, especially for a first try! Carrot - very clever.

[brianrickman]

Looks to me like you are off to a good start.

[mpounders]

Probably less messy than clay modeling! I like the shape and over-all design but you might try something a little different with the eyes......if you have more carrots? The eyes look kinda flat to me. Before you carve out the area up at the top of the nose/eyes, draw/imagine really big circles, almost like sunglasses on the figure. Carve those circles into shapes like you cut an orange in half (figured you would appreciate the food analogy!). This will give you two bug-eyed kinda shapes that will become the upper and lower eyelids, with the eyeball shape carved into the middle between the upper and lower lids. Hope my picture explains it a little better, but it's kinda hard to draw with a mouse! You can adjust the size and shape to give more realistic effects, or carve slits across them to give a squinting effect. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but it really gives the eyes more of a realistic shape.

[kev.b]

Mike agree the eyes are all wrong. took too much material away first. thanks very much for the advice i'll practice that area a bit more. to be honest i find the eyes are the most important feature, get them wrong and everything else looks wrong. the woodspirits i have seen on here seem to come alive through the eyes so more practice required. never mind my wif says raw carrots are good for you, personally i'd rather try donut carving........
tried using clay and it was a lot messier.
thanks for the advice always welcome.
kev

[Lonewolfcarver]

Wow! That looks great and carved in a carrot. I can't wait to see what you can do with wood.

[jimmy joe]

Nice job and good imagination with materials . I would have never thought of that !

[bigEd_H]

Nice one, Kev, a carrot spirit. I would have never thought of carving a carrot... mostly because raw carrots don't come into this house. You're doing great and with some practice in the eye area, you'll be doing fantastic.

[tbox61]

Awesome!!! Turn me loose with some ranch dressing!

[Mark Dellinger]

Kev,
Very cool. The eyes are something that a lot of us struggle with. The carrots now that's cool, if you mess up you just eat it.

Safe carving and God Bless,

Mark