Carving an elephant

[slivers&dust]

I Have Norman Adams book "Drawing Animals" it has a section on elephants that includes skeleton, musculature and surface anatomy. Its a great resource book with a dozen or so drawings from front, side (R & L) and 3/4 views. It also has head only drawings as well as a few on the calf elephant.

Hope that helps

btw,
very nice drawing of your twins, they are adorable and I think that will make a great relief carving that they will surely fight over as they get older. You better carve two Wink

[knightflight]

Originally Posted by slivers&dust

I Have Norman Adams book "Drawing Animals" it has a section on elephants that includes skeleton, musculature and surface anatomy. Its a great resource book with a dozen or so drawings from front, side (R & L) and 3/4 views. It also has head only drawings as well as a few on the calf elephant.

Hope that helps

btw,
very nice drawing of your twins, they are adorable and I think that will make a great relief carving that they will surely fight over as they get older. You better carve two Wink

Your timing is quite uncanny!! Although I have been sketching elephants for quite some time now, I started a serious visual study and a smidgen of behavioral research on elephants over the weekend. I am now very much wanting to start my pattern even though I am still working on my art show drawings. Anyway, before I talked myself out of it, I was all geared up to drive 45 miles to the nearest B&N bookstore on Sunday to pick up an animal anatomy book! But now I know what to look for! So thank you a thousand times for this post. Must be fate to carve this elephant!

I am getting so pysched about it (can ya feel the excitement?!) because I want to capture the spirit of the creature, they are such amazing animals. I am hoping to post a pattern soon to get everyone's feedback.

Thanks for the compliment on the drawing. Far from being done, but I am pretty pleased with its progress and even more pleased that I have enough time to make it a lot better. Talking And I will tell the girls what 'ya said, they'll get such a huge kick out of that. Will probably blush. They take such cheeky pics, usually Jessy kissing Emily's chubby cheek and Emily scrunching her face. LOL.

[sculptorcarver]

Originally Posted by knightflight

Wow, a life-sized dolphin! Do you mind me asking where this piece will be going? I enjoyed the submerged otter piece, so I am curious if the dolphin will have any real water incorporated into the final presentation.

Seems you've done/are doing many of my favorites, so I am especially excited to learn more about how you do these pieces. I am looking forward to following your thread! Thanks again for sharing!

The carvings are being made as master patterns for a seires of fibre glas scukptures will be made for a wild life festival here in Scotland next may.
The idea is to place the dolphins, seals, etc in the tree tops. so that people can imagine they are walking on the sea bed watching them fly through the water. i.e. turning the world inside out to give people a different perspective of nature.

P.s thank you for a very interesting thread. Ive gain a lot of information from people contributing.

[knightflight]

Originally Posted by sculptorcarver

The carvings are being made as master patterns for a seires of fibre glas scukptures will be made for a wild life festival here in Scotland next may.
The idea is to place the dolphins, seals, etc in the tree tops. so that people can imagine they are walking on the sea bed watching them fly through the water. i.e. turning the world inside out to give people a different perspective of nature.

Sounds quite imaginitive. Wish I could see it. Never get to that side of the pond. Sigh. Perhaps you will share pics some day?

Originally Posted by sculptorcarver

P.s thank you for a very interesting thread. Ive gain a lot of information from people contributing.

This is a great board; lots of talented folks who are generous with their knowledge and kind-heartedness!

[whitecree]

Carving in plywood ---

My initial reaction was 'why bother?' Carving a large, solid chunk of wood - IMO - would be much more satisfying.

Then I got a look at the baby elephant, among others. Fantastic grain lines!!

All I can say is "WOW!" Thumbs UpThumbs Up

[sculptorcarver]

The reason for using plywood was the carvings was made as a pattern to take a mould off, the exterior look was not a factor. plywood as the advantage of being easy to enlarge from drawing to finished peice, this is because of the uniformity of the laminates allows acurate enlargements. it also enables very large scale carvings to be made, there is very little wastage of materials If properly planned the subject can be roughed out just using a jigsaw. Rounding it off with large chisels.
Birch plywood is not prone to spintering when cutting across the laminates.
This is and can never be as satisfying as carving a solid piece of choice timber. but the finished look can be very exciting and can be used to create movement in certain subjects.

So I use this method when creating sculptures for casting in bronze, ceramic and resins. The plywoods can be made in sections so that complicated moulds can be taken from them.

The picture attached is a lifesized figure carved from waste plywood from a contstruction site.

[MiniGuitarMan]

Originally Posted by knightflight

I guess what I am looking more for would be comments on other folk's experience with carving elephants.

Anita,
I carve elephants from various types of wood.

Would be happy to discuss the process with you if you'd
care to email me.
I have photos of elephants on my profile.

I'm new to the site and hope to learn a whole lot more.

And, because this post of yours is kind of old, did you do that elephant?

Regards,
-Bill

You can email me directly at miniguitarman@xecu.net

[knightflight]

Hi Bill,
I saw the mastodon (?) on your profile, very nice work! I collect elephants as well. Kind of gave up carving though to focus on drawing portraits, which I can actually earn money doing. ;-) But would still be very interested in seeing your work. Thanks so much for sharing and welcome.
Anita

[MiniGuitarMan]

There are PHOTOS up on my profile ... take a look and tell me what you think.
-Bill

[MiniGuitarMan]

Thanks Anita,
Yeah it's a tough market out there, but you've got some great talent there. My son does oils, water, and lots of stuff, but mainly draws on people. Yeah, you guessed it, a tattooist. Has his own biz in Bellinham, Wa.
I just finished an ellie from holly wood and now I doing a large one from curly redwood. I'm giving him toenails and eyes, and will soon have him ready for inspection....lol. I also have one from red elm on the bench in early stages. I will be posting more as time goes by, but if you'd like I'll send some photos direct if you send an email address.
Thanks, Bill
dirtyharry@xecu.net