Question of scale

[oldmountainman]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. I searched the forum and didn't find much. Is there a standard scale for character carving a person? I noticed on the project for hillbilliy reunion the size was 4" for male figure. Curious because of the detail in the face being a little more difficult in small heads. Thanks for the response and sorry if it is redundant...point me in the right direction. thanks

[Mitchell]

Try searching on "proportions" or "caricature proportions".

I'm leaving town in a few minutes, so I can't help much right now. Seems like this was asked just a couple of weeks ago.

I really don't understand your question either. What size figure do you want to carve?

I can help as I have had a number of discussions on proportions but it'll take a little time. Someone else may help before I get back to the computer.

[Claude]

You can make a caricature carving any size you want. The Hillbilly Reunion settled on a 5 inch tall caricature = 6 foot tall man. This was so we'd all be able to carve something to the same scale. You wouldn't want a 12 inch tall dog in the same scene as a 5 inch tall hillbilly. Some caricatures are 14 or more inches tall, some are 1 inch tall; just depends on what the carver wants to do.

Claude

[tnartist05]

All wood carvers shows,have different measurements in all of thier catories.One thing all of them have is all mini carvings have to be under 2 inches. Some carvings are 6 ft or better where others are 3-10 inches. In catories they also have painted or natural finish carvings.

Hope this helps some.

Forrest

[Goody]

Try This:
Jim's Dollhouse Pages: Hobby Calculators

A bit technical bot works if you understand whats presented.
Leave the top entry 1 to 1
then type in measurments of real item
then tell it what scale you are looking for and it will scale the real dimensions to scaled.
Goody

[oldmountainman]

Thanks to all for the response. Nice to know there is a little freedom but wasn't sure about the competition angle. Good information and thanks again.

[gtech]

Well, for the group carving, there is not much freedom, because as Claude mentioned all Hillbillies will be side by side, and the relief background will also be at the same scale.

But for your other carvings, you can do what you want.

I noticed once that when some tutorials are made for the head, the scale used corresponded to a figure of 12" for the size of the template of the head. And a standard is that a figure is 8 heads tall. So for a 12" figure, 12" divided by 8 gives a head of 2/3" ...

The standard I began to use for my carvings is to use a piece of 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 6" and that is becoming my normal size for what I carve.

Some people prefer to use a 1" x 1" x 4" or 5" piece of wood. And some others 3" x 3" x 12". In the mags and some carving books, you can see 7", 8" and 9" figures.

The scales used are kind of related to what you will do with your carvings. Some scales are called railroad scale, doll scale etc... But for a carving that will be installed on a desk, it will be a world by itself and doesn't need to fit a scale.

Check this thread for fun human figure dimensions

I just re-checked in the book I use for some references, and it reminded me of a detail. The standard I use is for a scale of 1:6 which means a full "realistic" figure of 6' will be 12". But as I mentioned, it is for a realistic carving, but for caricatures, the head is normally bigger than for realistic heads and does not fit the same standard. So as I already said, it depends on what you want to do.

Gilles

[Mitchell]

Check out Don Mertz's web site and his discussion of "threes" for body proportions. He uses a different method than I do, but the results are similar. Edit to add that Don's site is woodbeecarver.com (I think).

I use a system of "heads" based on the realistic proportions mentioned by others above. A good "basic" rule is about 4-5 "heads" for caricature. Gilles ("Gtech) hit on why by mentioning that the heads are larger in caricatures. Again, there are versions that depend on the overall size of carving that you want to do and what effect you're trying to achieve.

Keys to the body are to have the midpoint between the naval and crotch and to have the wrists near the hip joints. This gives the overall appearance more normal and not too cartoonish.

[oldmountainman]

Great information once again !! Thanks. I wanted to practice on heads, separate from the body so I don't have to trash a large piece of wood in case of a foul up. I'll test different sizes until I feel comfortable with one and then work to smaller figures ( I guess). Good information on body proportions too. All good to know info Thanks again

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Scale in caricatures is a rule that really has no meaning as the word caricature is defined as being "exaggerated". My little pocket Webster's New Dictionary defines the word as "distorted representation for humor or ridicule." Doesn't sound like any kind of scale would apply with that meaning. Some of the best caricatures, ones which are easily recognizable as coming from individual artists have features which follow no given scale which is why they're so appealing. . I would hate to think that there is a "Standard" scale for caricature carving as that would defeat the very purpose of it. My suggestion would be to find a carved caricature figure you like then get out a ruler and do a little division.