Horse head

[gtech]

Here is my first try at a horse head using the techniques I learned at a wood carving class.




It is far from perfect, but my goal was to stick to what I learned instead of using the old techniques I learned all by myself. And I wanted it to be FUN...

I finished it with a stained wax and as the back is flat, I will make a wall key holder with it by fixing it on a kind of background and add hooks for the keys.

I like to carve horses, and my sister, who is my biggest fan, is crazy about horses. So I will keep working on this kind of carvings until I am completely satisfied with the result, while still having fun doing it of course...

Any comment welcome, good or bad. I am here to learn...

Cheers,

Gilles

[Merle Rice]

Gilles,you have the right attitude, have fun and the results will come. Stay with it you may surprise yourself.I don't think youwill surprise me . Merle

[RUssL.]

Very nice, and a remarkable firstattempt!
Really top notch. Like Merle said, just keep having fun and practicing. The results will come the way you want before you know it.
Very nice horse head.

RussL.

[Mark Dellinger]

Gilles,
Looks pretty good. I think it turned out very nice. You keep it up and your sister is going to be one happy lady.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark

[gtech]

Thanks for the positive comments guys, you made my day, and more...

I wasn't sure of the result because it didn't turned out exactly like what I had in my head because I made a few last minutes changes. One change was needed to get rid of some ....blood that felt at the wrong place.

But you made me feel better about it.

Thanks again

Btw, here it is before the last change and before the stained wax. I had to take out a bit of the mouth to get rid of the red.



Gilles

[carver33]

Gilles,

Very nice first attempt on your horse. I've had to make minor adjustments to "get the red out" more than once myself.

I would suggest that if your are going to be carving horses, Google pictures and study them from all angles so you can get a good feel for the subtleties of the animals. This will really help you to continue to improve. I'm lucky in that I live in horse country and have been able to take numerous pictures of many aspects of horses and horse sports. They are fascinating animals.

[doris]

a nice attempt for a horse head... as bill suggested, i would advise too for further learning on carving horses to look many pictures of them,,,or even better look a real one. the head shape is complicated, you got the side view pretty good, but the eye area is not located on correct forms. you can see how they should be when looking front and 3/4 views from horsehead fotos. watch how the eyes seem portrude and form the widest part of the head, and how it tapers down, also from front view...the most essential needed is the eyebrow bone ,,, that is just, since you asked for comments, your horse is really nice already...

i am interested on hearing about the technique you learned versus the "old technique", what is the difference ?

are you carving with gouges ? i thought so, from what i saw on your other thread on the class. i wonder, since i never cut myself when carving with gouges and chisels, ,,,its impossible, as both hands are behind the cutting edge...(provided the carving is clamped somehow, not handhold). even so small things, its best, in my opinion, to clamp it ,,,there is always a good way to do it,,,sometimes one needs to be a little inventive,,,keeping extra wood on the carving for clamping often solves the problem, and cn be saw off when finished

[gtech]

You are both right about looking at photos or real horses, I have problems figuring some details and specially the mouth. My sister told me she has many photos of a horse she rides regularly. I will copy them on my computer and will try to arrange a visit to see her horse.

About my old technique, I was using more knives for the details like for chip carving, and I was working on the details too fast when I was starting a piece. Most of the time, I was also carving the piece while holding it in my hands. I was carving some details in the background of the subject before the details of the main subject. I was also using the wrong tool (too small) to get rid of the wood.

Now, I first establish the different levels to rough out the piece and get rid of the unneeded wood first with a bigger gouge. Then I work on the main part of the carving and add the details. That way, it is faster and I don't work on the background until the higher level is done. As the teacher mentioned to me, one of the reasons is that sometimes we hit the lower levels while working on the higher level. So we must work on the secondary levels "again" to correct the unwanted marks left by the tools while carving the main subject. Another reason is that we can correct the higher level if we make a mistake and take out more wood than expected. So we didn't work on the lower levels for nothing and can just re-adjust them to fit the higher main level.

Now, for the cuts in my hand... I now "try" to clamp the wood and keep both hands on the gouge. But I still like to work some details while holding the piece in my left hand and do some details with the tool in my right hand. I now normally use gloves to do that because I already cut myself too many times... but sometimes I forget...

Don't worry about the comments, I asked for them. Sometime, I know something is wrong but can't find "what exactly" is wrong.

Thanks again for the comments, I can't wait to start another horse head, but I have some study to do before.

Gilles

[Dicky]

I think your doing OK Gilles, and I also believe you are 50% home with your attitude of accepting criticism as part of the learning process. Progress will come and I wish you continued success.

[gtech]

Originally Posted by doris

.... but the eye area is not located on correct forms. you can see how they should be when looking front and 3/4 views from horsehead fotos. watch how the eyes seem portrude and form the widest part of the head, and how it tapers down, also from front view...the most essential needed is the eyebrow bone ,,,

I looked at my carving again this morning... and now I see it about the eye. I was focusing too much on the mouth and wasn't "seeing" the eye...

I also noticed that I looked at many horse head carvings for inspiration, and some of them are not correct either. I should look more at the real things.

Gilles