[captgrant88]

1. do you rough out the side view or the front view first??

i started with the side view, but for some reason seems like i should have started with the front view. any advicee is appreciated.

2. which is the best book out there for beginner caricture carving??? looking to do some simple fun ones.

thanks guys.

[mikeg]

Being a relative newbie myself, I haven't cut out too many blanks so I won't try to answer that one.

But as far as a begining book for caricature carving, there are two that I like. The first is the one that gave me quick results and that was Jack Price's "Carving Small Characters". You carve figures from 1x1x2 pieces of wood. If you go to my website, you can see some of my results, plus I carved my avatar using his techniques. He also shows you how to make a practice stick to practice faces. I liked that idea. You can also see some of Jacks work at the CCA website at http://www.cca-carvers.org/.

The other book that I really like is Pete LeClair's "Carving Caricature Figures From Scratch". In this book you carve the figure from a block of wood, no pattern to rough out on the bandsaw. The figures carved with his book are a lot more detailed than Jack's book but they are both great books in my opinion. You can also see some of Pete's work at the CCA website. Both of these books has an advantage of not cutting out a blank first.

I hope you enjoy!
mikeg

[Ron Davidson]

I always start with the front view. Mainly the eyes and nose. The nose is to me the center point of the cariture, it defines the personality right from the start and next are the eyes the way to the soul. That's how I figure it anyway! Ron

[AlArchie]

Neither the front NOR the side are necessarilly the first to be cut. I'm assuming you are going to use either a scroll or bandsaw to do the roughing, or a coping saw, if doing it by hand.

Try doing the side with the fewest curved cuts to be made. That makes it easier to replace the cut-offs to do the other profile. Fer instance....if the side view is less complicated, cut away both front and back of that particular view, keeping as much of the scrap in one piece as possible. When I'm done with this stage, I hot-glue (lust a dab) the pieces back onto the profile. Now turn the blank on it's side and cut out either the front or back profile, depending on which one you have chosen.

If you do the more complicated profile first, it may be really difficult to piece the scrap back on.

If doing a fish carving, I do the top profile first, as I usually incorporate a curved body to give some sense of motion to the carving. Then it's on to draw (or trace) the side profile on to the INSIDE of the curve. DO NOT try to
put the scrap back on and cut a curved fish body, as the end blank will be distorted. Instead, after the side profile is traced onto the inside of the curved blank, feed the blank into the band/scroll saw keeping the part of the blank being cut flat at the point where the blade meets the table. This willgive youa proportioned blank that is easyto work with.

Hope that makes sense, and helps.

Al

[Ron Davidson]

My mistake I thought it was already roughed out

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Al covered it all....except I use two sided tape instead of the hot glue, as I find the hot glue hard to get off, at least the brand I have.......

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

GOTTA HAVE BOOK

Creating Caricature Heads in Wood and on Paper A step-by-step guide for Designing & Carving heads and faces

by

someguy named Marv Kaisersatt

Available at Little Shavers (along with more books than you can read and more tools than you can wear out, not to mention great service).

don't know how he thinks he should be able to write a caricature carving book, but somehow he managed to pull if off. Think he must of had a ghost carver or something.

Ed

[captgrant88]

thnaks for all the adive its highly appreciated. BUT, I actually do all my roughing out with my tools (gouges, knives, etc...) very occasionally i will use my dremel for large areas. I just find that the coping saw doesnt work very efficiently but than again i have no expereince with saws. i dunno, i guess my way works for me. still unsure which side to start with using more traditionla methods. thanks again.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

O.K. big secret, I own all the saws mentioned and a few more, but prefer to do most of my roughing out with hand tools. Now, which side do I do first? Had never really thought about it, but now that I have, I just kind of go round and round, carve a litte here, carve a little there, take some off the top, some off the bottom, just whatever feels right at the time. I don't think there is a proper side to do first. Just hack away.

Ed

[captgrant88]

that makes sense.....thanks plain....