Woodcarving Ethics......Copying!

[Robson Valley]

I like to remember that carvers are expected to color outside the lines.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Harley: I don't agree at all with your comment about someone giving up because they can't develop their own carvings. There is nothing wrong with carving roughouts or from patterns. I have countless patterns, almost 200 videos on my site that are available for others to use. The original purpose of this thread to just to ask that when I or others do something new and unique to us to give us a little respect by letting it continue to be ours and ours alone. That's all we ask.

As for teaching originality at the many seminars that are given around the country that is an excellent idea that will unfortunately probably never be put into affect. You can't teach such things when you're hawking roughouts and while you're walking around with an egg timer so everyone gets an equal amount of your time. I'm honored to be working with a fella up in Montana at the moment who admires my work and wants to come down and spend a couple days with me to learn how I go about developing a figure. I've pretty well indicated to him that before he starts his trip south that the purpose of the exercise will be to learn and not to socialize and to be open to some pretty harsh criticism should it be needed. I'll help him as much as I can while he's here but after he leaves it's up to him how far he wants to take any knowledge he's learned. But I know one thing....he'll experience something he'll never be able to learn in a seminar. And you never know.....it might be something he'll never want to experience again anywhere!

[tcgrumpy]

Not that I really know what I'm talking about being a newbie, I do want to develop my own carvings but I can't draw very well. I see Lynn's horse pattern and long horn steer and and they are perfect. I can't figure how to improve or change so that I have something that I developed. I want to duplicate so carvings so that I can learn to carve what I see and in doing so I hope that this will one day allow me to be able to carve an ideas that I have rolling around in my head. I want to do my own things but all of you have already carved them I don't know how to carve things my way that doesn't reflect something some else's ideas.

[Robson Valley]

tcgrumpy:
I disagree = copying designs teaches process. You are on the right track. Suppose it were golf? Until you learn the shots in the sand traps, on the fairways and putting, you can't play your own game. You can't be versatile.
Do Lynn's horse, do the steer. At the very least, you have a marvelous set of excellent illustrations. Along the way, you figure out how to "make the moves". Then you have your own ideas. All of a sudden, you realize: "I know how to carve that."

I want to carve some hummingbirds in flight. Everything I have seen has the body posture all wrong. Correct for open flight but all wrong for feeding. They won't be back to my house for another 3-4 months but I may just do some doodles one of these cold winter days to see if I can recall the posture.
I'm sure that we can always see a little of other peoples' technique in what we do. So be it. Nice tell-tale of adequate teaching, no?

[cgm]

Hey Rob, there are youtube videos of the Hummingbirds if you are interested
The one I watched was Humming bird feeding frenzy
Carl

[Robson Valley]

Thanks, I'm not so internet savvy that I remember that there might be stuff on Youtube to use for ideas on the birds. I'm so old, I reach for a bird ID book!
I confess that I was "playing" with my froe and the Alley-Oop mallet, just to see if I could split a bunch of 1/4" slabs from a WRC block. Half a dozen 4" x 1/4" or so x 24" slabs popped off just fine. Now what? Humming bird wings came to mind.
I've seen plenty of carved hummingbirds in various websites. . . . . very nice but sky-blue? Pink? As I said, I didn't like the posture anyway so one more reason to go my own way with the design. Think I'll do a few birds this winter and try my hand at some sort of simple flowers.
I hope that somebody beats me to it and posts them. Maybe lash out and go so far as rainbow cedar bodies and/or wings)

[gouge]

I sure do hope Lynn reads this response becasue I think it may help try to explain what he has been trying to get across to everyone. I agree whole heartedly with his thread. I watch his videos so much I pretty much have them memorized. BUT it is to learn HOW to do a certain technique. Before his videos I could not at all carve an ear, nose, etc. So I watched them to learn HOW to carve these features. I then tried a cowboy and completely ruined it. I did not let that stop me. So I practiced and then used a photograph of my best friend who lives in Oklahoma (my wife shot the photo) and used the TECHNIQUES that Lynn offered in his videos, to carve my best friend's caricature by looking at his photo. It was a photo that my wife and I had. That is the key here. I used the techniques that Lynn gave, BUT put my own idea into the wood. I have a thread with a photo of it if anyone would like to see it. I did learn the techniques from the videos, but it is from OUR photo and it is a one of a kind. We can use the techniques that he demonstrates, BUT let us all use the creative mind that the Good Lord gave us to create our own works. If we think about it we will see that if we use our creativity, they will be as special to us as Lynn's creations are to him.
Think about a wood lathe. Where are the LIMITS of a wood lathe? The limits of a wood lathe are in our MIND. The CREATIVITY is endless !!! The same with music. painting, etc. It is in our mind and the Lord wants us to release that creativity.
I have a bucket full of ruined pieces in my home, but so what? I learned from everyone of them. I do not have a good artistic ability, but I am trying to create my own style.
If Lynn would not have posted his tutorials, I would not have ever done the caricature of Puncher, my best friend. It IS my own work, but Lynn showed me how to do certain techniques. I mailed it to Tom, my friend, and he was on the phone with me when he opened it....He said it looks just like me!!! Do yall know what that meant to me to hear him say that !!!!!!
EVERYONE on this forum and in the world has CREATIVITY. No one can tell me any different. We just have to give ourselves permission to release it. You can do it. We just need to try. And if we fail, do it again. Martial artists teach... If you get knocked down 7 times. get up 8. DONT QUIT!!!
If we use the BASIC techniques (how to carve an eye, etc.) and create our own figures, etc. then we will develop our own style. I look at Lynn's site EVERYDAY, and I look at his new and old pieces, and I admire them. And what I see in each piece is Lynn, getting an idea, thinking about it and finally making a beautiful piece from his IDEA. WE ALL CAN DO THE SAME. Will the pieces be as good as Lynns, who knows... But it will be ours, and the best that we can do. That is why we should carve, to have fun, relax and enjoy our creations.
If we build confidence in ourselves, then we will be leaders and not followers. I think Lynn is giving us the basics (out of his own graciousness and generosity), BUT he wants us to take our own avenues and create what we want to create within our own minds. He gives us the LETTERS, now let us ALL go and make the SENTENCES!!! Remember the wood lathe, the ears, the eyes. The types of ears, eyes, noses, expressions are ENDLESS, because they are in our minds. All we have to do if find them and release them for others to enjoy. I sure hope this did not offend anyone and I certainly hope it helps.
raby