Old Man of the Sea

[rbourque77]

Well after doing a couple of snowmen, I decided to try something a little more challenging. I picked up a copy of Mike Shipley's "Whittling the Sea Captain" book. A great book, I picked up a couple more of Mike's and find them motivating and helpful.

My friend, who took the photo, placed the Old Man with some carvings his dad gave him.

Anyway, here is my carving. Comments, good/bad/indifferent are appreciated

[suzy]

Great job!!!!

[SlowMover]

Good job on an early carving. There are a few things to work on, things that we all have to struggle with a bit when we start out. All new carvers are afraid to take wood off, after all, you can't put it back. This results in a carving that is square and blocky in appearance. It has a square appearance resembling the block it was carved from. People are round (or oval) and don't have corners, so work on making your people round by taking more off the corners of the block. In your carving, you see that the arms are very shallow....in real life the arms are about 1/3 to 1/2 of the depth of the torso, so they need to be thicker than in this carving to be proportional. Keeping a cavring somewhat in proportion to the real thing makes it look better and more "balanced" to the eye. Obviously in caricature, we don't follow proportions exactly, but the closer you get to the real thing the better. I see clean cuts on your captain, and a lot of really good aspects..so with practice you will see a great deal of improvement. Keep up the good work and enjoy carving.

[carvingbarn]

Nice work. You did a good job on the paint. You got some good pointers from SlowMover. Looks like you have a great start.

[uvawyo]

Nice Job, Bob

[Lazy Carver]

Excellent job! Is that the music group called Ole'man-o'da-sea, and the shipping mates!?....??? Wonderful carvings!
Sincerely, Robert Vega (Lazy Carver)

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Nice job Bob!

Dave

[JimmyJig]

Hi Bob, Slowmover is right and I also have the same problem. I've been carving for about 2 and a half years and still can't take enough wood off. However, I am at least recognizing it now and am making adjustments. I still go directly to the detail and don't concentrate on getting the basic shape first. Still I really like your Capt and will look into the book you recommended, I like that type of carving. Good Luck!!!, jim

[rbourque77]

Thanks for the comments and the humor (Robert)! It is great advice and something to think about on my next project. I want my carvings to come out the way I see them in the books and magazines. I have got to remember that it's the journey and not the destination!

[Robson Valley]

Lookin' very good.
SlowMover would have the same critique of many of my carvings = shallow. Need much more dramatic relief.
Solution = do what I think needs to be done. Dig in again and double or triple the depth.
You know? they look "right" after that.