please critque

[Robert Cahill]

This is from the brandant's tutorial and before I did any more I thought I would ask for a critque from anyone Including Lynn (please don't ask me to throw away my carving tools and start playing video games (grin)

[Buffalo Bif]

I'm not familiar with that tutorial, and I'm no expert- I think he looks great, love to see him when you are done. The facial expression really works, nice.

[Donsexton]

Hello Robert, I would narrow the bridge of his nose just a little and give more balance to the hat take more off the front brim. But as you know I am not a caricature carver you may like that big nosed Robin Hood. You did a great job on the shirt and arrow quiver.

[SlowMover]

Looking good to me, but If it were mine I might deepen the back of the jaw line a bit to give it more definition, and to seperate it from the hairline I also would consider rounding the lower jaw a little more to give him a look when viewed head on that is not quite so square You have really clean cuts, which is hard to do, and with your usual great paint job he will be a good carving. Congratulations

[Claude]

Good Start! I would suggest tapering the area below the ear in toward the neck a bit, along with tapering the jaw as SM suggests to reduce the appearance of a head sitting on a stick... BTW, if there is not enough wood to taper down, you could cut the stick part off, drill a bigger hole up into the head, and then glue in a dowel. The tapering could then be tapering down to the dowel and the dowel itself could be tapered to fit the hole in the torso.

Claude

[Dileon]

I am with Claude, sink that neck or next time make it as big as collar. Otherwise it is a really nice carving.

[Woody1961]

I really love him. I like the way the hat comes way out over his face, and I LOVE the crooked smile. The bridge of the nose (between the eyes) generally tapers from the widest part (nostrils) to the bridge of the nose which is pretty narrow (and in caricature, you can make the end of the nose - where the nostrils are - as wide as you would like).

The only other thing is the neck - when you carve in caricature you can bring the neck as thin as you want (and it can be as long as you want) because you can be trying to emphasize that someone has a thin long neck. If you have ever seen a caricature that is DRAWN (like at a fair or a party) often the head is much larger than the body and the neck comes down as a big taper. So, if you will taper the neck from the area under the ears and under the jaw, and bring it down in a steady taper into the neck of the shirt, I think you will be happier.

He is looking really good as he is though, and painting always brings a LOT more life to any carving.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Like the others have already commented on, those growths under his ears need to be removed. Use a small curved gouge and carve down toward the neck and they'll come out real easy. Another thing to improve on is to not dig so deeply when carving details. Most important of all make sure you lay the foundation for any details before trying to carve them. That is the thing that every carver, including me, seems to have the most trouble with. I read on another post just recently where someone wrote that you should carve the eyes first in case you mess up then you can toss the block and start over. Don't do that!! The eyes are the last thing you should carve for therein lies the soul of the character. The pits of the eyes and the eyes themselves are the deepest part of the head so a lot of wood has to be removed before you get down to that level.

Another thing I would recommend is to get a good sized mirror and stand it next to your carving station. When you have a question about a certain area of the body don't look for the answer in the book or on the monitor screen .... look in the mirror. Thats a much better teaching aide and besides, that fella in there is better looking than the photo in the book or the image on the monitor. He'll even talk to you! (but don't talk to him too often or people will be talking about you!)

Keep up the good work!

[Robert Cahill]

A big THANK YOU for all the good advice I really do appreciate it.
I will be working on the nose ears and neck more now as I really did not see what you did. You have been a big help now and in future carvings

[cgm]

If I was doing it I wod shorten the bill a little and take some more wood off the front of hat.
In the pic it looks like it is bigger than the head.
Ur off too a good start on the carving.
Carl