Practice Female Face

[Claude]

I don't know why it is, but carving a female face is so much more difficult for me than carving a male face. Caricature male faces are even "easy" (Thanks Gene M!); but not the female ones. Anyone else have this problem with female faces?

This is just a scrap I had laying on the workbench - no pattern, just picked it up and started carving. My first try at it looked strange to me - so I took it upstairs to my favorite critic and asked her what was wrong. She immediately pointed out: eyes too deep set, cheeks too prominent, nose too large,,,hmmmm, sounds a lot like most of my male caricatures... So I carved back the forehead, carved back the cheeks, nose and mouth, and gave it another try. This time I received very high praise: "hmmm, not bad..."

Anyway - here it is. Next time, I think I'll practice on a piece of 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch...

Claude

[Ron T]

Hi Claude,

That's pretty darn good for a "little" lady. I'm in agreemnt with the art critic, a smaller nose and if you can bring the eyes up a little, oh well, I'm sure your next one will be good. It's difficult enough carving a woman's face but they're that small, every extra piece of wood is magnified.

[Cottonwood]

Nice work on the female face! Believe me, I know how difficult it is. Still can't quite get the hang of it even though I have read several how-to explanations and watched others do it!

[doris]

its always nice to see someone try female carvings,,,they are no more difficult, but only are perceived a that... my advise would be, take a reference foto of a lady you like, and use that to carve your female...you don´t need copy the foto, but it guides you... and, carving that small makes it naturally more difficult, as for example : if you cut on such a small carving the nose only 1mm too long, it looks abnormally long, not female at all, however in a carving much bigger 1mm is no big deal and you can go off with such a mistake... just for to consider...

[Iowa Carver]

Nice work Claude I have not tried a female yet, no doubt it will end up with a beard

Corey

[Tom-H]

Nice Claude! One of these days we need a thread where we can post photos of our ugliest female carvings. But your wouldn't qualify. Mine are a different story...Mine are so bad, I don't even try anymore.

Tom H

[mateo]

Its good to practice new things Claude. Breaks you out of the rut. Try again and again, pretty soon you'll be the man....The woman carving man that is...

[urbansheepdog]

I think just about everyone feels the same about female faces Claude! I carved a 'Martha' for my 'Jethro Hillbilly' and he immediately asked for a transfer to another shelf! LOL!
When I sent away to Smoky Mountain for the Pete LeClair study stick, I got this one at the same time. Female Face Study Casting by Helen Gibson* from Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers Supply
Gonna have a go at it this week hopefully! Should be good for a laugh! LOL!

[Sharon of the Dell]

Claude, she's looking pretty good.Maybe a little less eyebrows and jaw, not that I have a right to judge, because I've never completed a female face and haven't carved for a few months. Keep trying cause you're getting close to having it down. Back to my dark ale now!

[susieq]

Good grief, Claude, she is tiny!!! Never mind carving the female face...how do you see to carve any face so tiny???? I think she is very nice. Female faces are hard....because they don't have any harsh lines we can sink our teeth into....everything has to remain soft looking.... keep up the good work.