Hillbilly head tips

[Curtis The Carver]

Hi everyone, I attempted the hillbilly head pattern on a hairy old block of basswood and I plan on doing it a few more times until I get some of these problems I have squashed. I know a lot of you have this guy mastered. Advice from you all would be great as I have always struggled with faces. Problems with this (and all my other faces for that matter):

1. No upper eyelid. That first stopcut at the bottom of the forehead is just too prominent. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

2. Sides of the nose. I always have a hard time blending noses into the sides of the face and I ended up having to v-tool the edge of the nose to clean up the hairies.

Anything else you see wong, feel free to give advice. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

[Frank D]

Hi Curtis,
I think it came out good. I am certainly not qualified to give carving instructions but when I have that prominent forehead issue I just cut it back a little. Check out Lynn Doughty’s site at outwestwoodcarving.blogspot.com he has some very good videos.

Frank D

[Merle Rice]

Hi Curtis, you have got the right idea so , a few things I see would be make your Nose between the Eyes narrower and blend it down to the end of the Nose. The sharp cut at the Eye brow can be fixed by taking your V tool and taper it up to the hairline, this seperates the Eye brows . On your Eye Lids take your V Tool and go up under your Eye Brows and follow the shape of the Eye. You make some very good neat cuts on the Beard but if you would make shorter cuts instead of Long stright cuts I think it would give you the look that you are looking for. I hope this helps you and stay with it it will come. Merle

[Curtis The Carver]

Thanks for the replies. I did everything you guys said and it looks way better. I'll try to tone down the shnoz next time...got a little carried away. I'll break up the beard more next time as well. Thanks again.

[Dileon]

The only thing I think may help you, I know for myself that I was scared to cut deeper, in that I might ruin it.....take risk. Remember you are learning, not trying win a prize. Your learning a lot right now, give your self a big pat on the back!
If you can get side views of wizards....then carve your wizard from the side view also.

[Jeff Bailey]

Curtis,
Another really great resource for you is a dvd for santa ornaments by Mark Gargac. This was the first dvd I ever bought and it simplifies the face tremendously and can be used for any type of face. If you try his technique I think you will like it.

[Robert Cahill]

I like the way it looks kind of has a flat plane style

[Steve Reed]

Curtis, for the transition from nose to cheek, try a gouge instead of the v-tool. Something on the order of a #9 or 11. Your v-tool should be for "hard"lines. Softer ones are made with a gouge. Nice, work by the way, keep at it!
Steve

[studioscoops]

Hi Curtis, I think this is a good effort i will rate it a 6 out of 10. Best of luck, keep practicing you will attain finishing soon.

[kdispoto]

If you are going for more realism, you might want to try get the nose to protrude out a bit more. Study some of the work of others - especially their profiles.