Trying to replicate my own relief background

[Deraj828]

Hey folks! After a whole mess of woodspirits and a wait for last weekend's woodcarving show in my town where I bought some decent basswood, I'm back in business, and toying around with relief carving. I'm not sure how much my tools are cut out for relief, so I kept this first one pretty shallow.

After taking it as far as I could figure how, the issue that's most obvious to me is the background. I had just used a small chisel to drop the whole background a bit, and it looked kind of good, but not as good as I'd hoped. So I messed around pretty randomly with a V-scorp and a U-gouge, looked awful, so I chiseled it all flat again. But while I chiseled, I used a bunch of fast, uncontrolled strokes on the left, and slower, controlled strokes on the right. Turns out that produces different results, who knew! So I liked the right side a lot better, tried to reproduce it on the left, had no luck. I can't figure out how I made it look that way.

So here's my strange request: can you look at the picture, see the background on the right, and advise me how I might reproduce it? As I type this, I realize how ridiculous it sounds, but then, any art I've ever created has been more luck than deliberate application of skill, I never know how I did any of it. If you can see what's there, think how you'd do it and let me know, that'd be super. On the other hand, if you can imagine a better background, I'm up for that too, 'cause I'm not even sure this one is really what I'm looking for. The scene is from a video game, which I imagine most of you aren't much into, but it's basically the same feeling as King Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone, if that helps. Thanks!

P.S. My tools consist of a Carvin' Jack (detail, v-scorp, u-scorp (not actually u-shaped, turns out) u-gouge, chisel, hook) and a $10 rotary tool from harbor freight that I hope will be delivered this week.

[AlArchie]

I almost hate to suggest buying more tools, but for backround removal on reliefs, I would suggest you get hold of either a 3/4" or 1" #3 sweep gouge. You can work the background up real well with just that. The corners of the gouge can get into almost all the tight corners. Make sure the gouge is razor sharp and work across the grain for the most consistant results.

One thing about using that flat straight chisle.....you can never get rid of the lines where the edges of the chisle cut in. A #3 0r even a #2 sweep will eliminate them and still give you a "carved" look.

Your carving looks pretty durn good for a first! And you'll only get better!

Al

[pallin]

Al is "right on" with his recommendation of slightly curved gouges. You can buy them in several forms: straight, long bent, fishtail, macaroni, etc. I prefer the straight gouges, but you may find the others work well for you. You will also discover that you'll be more confident with deeper reliefs.

[mpounders]

I am guessing that you were using you were cutting towards the figure in the center both from the right and left sides. So on the right side it looks like you were cutting with the grain (toward the center) and it produced smoother cuts? On the left side, it looks like you were also cutting towards the center, but that means you were cutting in the opposite direction and against the grain of the wood. The grain appears to be running from right to left across the piece. Cutting against the grain can be necessary, but the wood will be more prone to splintering and chipping out in unexpected ways. So you may need to take shallower cuts or cut away from the figure on that side.

[voluminous-viking]

Link pulling the Master Sword out of the altar in the Hyrule Temple. Nice!

I think it looks good the way it is. (Though I'm nowhere near an expert. I've only been doing this for a year or so.) Not very helpful, I know, but that's just my opinion.

[luscher]

personally, i think that the interior walls of the Temple of Time itself (which was specially built around the Master Sword's enchanted pedestal) would be great

below is an image which has been resized and cropped, desaturated, and the edges strengthened for ease of consideration

please keep us updated on your work and its progress

your Link relief carving looks good to me (and answers a fundamental question i've had for some time now !)

[rare yellow zebra]

My daughter believes that all carvers are relics, who only carve animals & bowls (am such a great role model for her). If she ever found out that were carvers out there that were so cool, that they carve Link, she would be pestering me hourly for one. Am looking forward to seeing your final piece, but will do my best to make sure she never sees this thread.
Jay

[Deraj828]

Ha! I didn't think that many people would recognize it. Go team.

I don't even know what I'm really picturing, but I think I'd go for something between flat and smooth like Al said, and detailed castle walls like luscher said. I fear lest the smooth background would be too quiet and, if I may be vain, unimpressive, making the piece seem less worthwhile, since I basically just traced the drawing with my knife. The castle walls, while indeed awesome, seem like they'd distract too much, make the carving too busy I guess. I will probably do this piece again in the future, on a taller piece of wood (I've seen the image cropped so many times, I forgot it even went up that high, I love the walls and the window!) and deeper, so as to allow some room between the detailed walls and the actual subject. And mpounders, your deductions are partly correct, I carved toward the piece in the half inch or so around it. I thought about doing it the whole way, but was nervous about making long cuts towards the subject, lest I slip and ruin it. So the outer couple inches on either side are chiseled toward the edge. I'll keep your advice in mind, though.

My vague hope for this is something that will capture the fire, the light, the glory, whatever you want to call it, coming from the pedestal and the moment. Basically, the blue in the picture below (by the way, luscher, what did you use to edit that?). My best results so far were chiseling in a general outward direction as you saw, but while the chisel lines are somewhat excited, I don't know that I'd call them glorious.

Yep. I'm a gamer. I saw a bunch of game crafts online, and one day it occured to me that somebody should start woodcarving game characters and scenes. So I decided to! This won't be the last game carving I bring to the table. Hope y'all don't mind. My first big deal will probably be a frame for a Hylian Crest rug I made last year, so if there's anything I should know before I start carving a 3" wide 36x24 frame, tell me soon!

[luscher]

Originally Posted by Deraj828

[...] I think I'd go for something between flat and smooth, and detailed castle walls

i completely agree that the lines would easily be overwhelming. in the image i posted, the focus remains on Link with the background being far less pronounced, but still identifiable. i think the lightest touch, just a suggestion of lines, would be sufficient (or none - whatever you do will be awesome). any shadow the otherwise flat surface throws will likely infuse the work with a new dimension of interest, as when the lighting conditions change

details attract attention, which is why a painter needs to either leave a mistake, or completely wipe it out. the more work applied away from the center of focus will draw the observers eye to it. you can do as little as possible, and take your time assessing the effect it has. you can always remove more material later, if you choose

the first thing you need to do with your frame project is show us a picture of your Hylian Crest rug ! after that someone else might be able to help you ... yeah, that's right - i just want to see it

glad to see your project. sadly, there are few - very few - people doing much outside cosplay outfits and pre-teen quality fan art, so i'm excited to see someone doing a bit of Zelda *anything* in 3d

for workaday photo editing i use $600 worth of Photoshop from years gone by, forged in a land far, far away, and handed down from father to son for generations. a few days ago i finally put a sign above the garage door, something i've wanted to do for a long time. wanted to give it the feel of an old tavern sign (see below)

please keep us posted !

Originally Posted by rare yellow zebra

My daughter [...] make sure she never sees this thread

LOL (for so many reasons)

[Deraj828]

Haha I really didn't think I'd ever see the word 'cosplay' on this forum. So you are a Zelda nut, then! Glad to hear it. I'm always happy to see another zelda craft, especially proudly displayed outside for everyone to see. (Which reminds me, I'm used to general craft sites, where everything is a craft. What term do woodcarvers generally use? Is this a craft? An art? A hobby?)

So I played around some more today, it occurred to me that I might be able to carve in the bricks to the background, then chisel it down for a quieter effect. I tried it on the back of the piece, but the clean squares chiseled right off without leaving any marks. Oh well. I ended up extending some lines, drawing in most of the bricks, and leaving all the area around the subject blank. I also doubled or tripled the relief around him and the sword. It looks alright, but it's still pretty distracting, so I'm hoping I can sand the bricks down or something to quiet them. I'm also waiting on my rotary tool to get here in the next day or two, which will hopefully help me get some tight spaces, detail the face, and smooth the central background. If it doesn't, I really have no idea what I'll do instead.

I know this sounds like it belongs in the WIP board, but I'm saying everything with a tone of, "This is what I think I'm doing, but I really have no idea and I'm basically winging it, so if you have any suggestions, let me know."

So here's a picture of the whole thing (the walls don't look quite so 3D-perspectiveless in person, but the straight lines are indeed pretty not straight), one angled close up to show the relative depths of the three levels, and, for research purposes, the rug I plan on framing. The rug is shown from the front as it will be seen, and the back since it's less fluffy/ more precise. It's about an inch thick, 24x18, and I'm figuring a 3" frame, just because that's how far the canvas extends beyond the rug, and it seems like a good number. Any advice, recommendations, suggestions, warnings, etc for the carving or the eventual rug frame are very welcome.