Another Obama

[Lightningbolt]

I didn't vote for the man but I will stand up and be counted when it comes to carving him as I've found his likeness a delightful challenge. Back in January BobT posted a caricature drawing of Obama that really captured my eye and I reposted it as the last picture to this thread so that you can see what was my main inspiration on this project. Thanks Mr. Bob.

To my recollection I've never attempted to carve the actual likeness of another person before so this was quite the challenge. I also studied several other pictures but what lies below is what I finally came up with. Getting the skin tone as correct as possible was a new challenge so I posted pictures with several different background colors which seem to show it in a different way. My ears ended up too "Spock-like" so I got that from studying other drawings and pictures. The main features for exaggeration in Obama are his magnificent smile, pointed chin, and his ears stand out beyond his head. For his afro I first chicken-pecked the hair surface over and over with my tiny woodburning tip which gave me a texture that I liked, then I pained over it with a black acrylic wash. In the end I was most satisfied with his afro... now that was certainly a new experience for me after carving a million woodspirits!! I carved him from a 6" piece of basswood cut down the middle leaving a triangular piece.

Now it is my new challenge to carve all of the presidents during my lifetime so it looks like Bush-43 is next and I'll have to go all the way back to Eisenhower. I think that the big smile of JFK and Jimmy Carter are going to be a lot of fun to carve. It's amazing how differently that you begin to look at the "real" person on TV and in pictures after you have spent so much time studying their facial features and carving them.

[therandallknight]

really good

[chuckbolton]

dave, very nice job.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Dave, great job.

Dave

[Mark N. Akers]

Dave:
Great carving of Brock.

[Kenny_S]

Nicely done on the quick change man

[Iowa Carver]

I think you got a nice likeness Dave. Good job!

Corey

[Sharon of the Dell]

You did a good job of a decent man with a hard job ahead of him!!!

[toycarver]

Pretty darn good! I think Nixon will be an interesting caricature too. Good luck with your series of Presidents.

[Tom-H]

It is a very likeness. I am assuming that the last photo is your "model" from which you did the piece. In any case, well done...

Good luck on your project.

Tom H