Wood ducks

[Mudbone]

Mitch, those are absolutly fantastic! I can see they will soon be alive. Would it be too much to ask you to continue with this picture tutorial through the painting and finishing process? I guess I would be lying if I said I'm not after your secrets. Just kidding, I am a novice trying to learn what I can, thats all...
Thanks, Tom.

[RMitchell]

Ill post progress shots and the finished birds.
Let me take a minute to ramble on carving .
First off learn to make your own patterns from pictures and other reference like study bills and taxidermy skins . Drawing and painting birds will make you appreciate them more and give you closer insight into how they move . I subscribe to numerous birding mags and get alot of ideas from these sources.
Think through the carving presentation concept and know what the final arrangement is gonna look like before you begin .I like tupelo formy miniatures it carves fast holds great detail and sands smooth and burns clean.
Carve what your familiar with . Enjoy each phase of the carving and savor each stage of development to the final carving you will soon realize the real treasure is in the journey not the destination. Dont compare your work to anothers work rather compare your work to the real bird .Always use the real bird as your benchmark not another carving .Find a mentor a club or a resident bird carver most are eager to help beginners .
Thats all for now .
Mitch

[torpidhummer]

Excellent detailing and a great and masterful carving and by the way Mitch, Randy is not the only one after your secrets. Thanks for sharing and I'm looking forward in seeing more of your progress on the ducks.

Oscar

[Blackjaxe]

Very well said Bob, when you copy or use someone elses carving you will also make the same mistakes that they did and possibly even add your own errors especially if your just starting. Do not misunderstand what I'm saying, there is no such thing as a PERFECT carving and thats what also drives us to perfect our skills and learn from our mistakes and that works for all art forms.

Enjoy and savour every portion of the carving process and when you have completed the piece you can sit back and relive every bit of detail you lavished on your carving and make the next one even better.

Ken

[Mudbone]

Howdy folks, sounds like I may have stepped on a toe or two. I did not mean to imply I wanted to copy Mitches or anyone elses bird, I simply have carved birds and they dont come out looking as they should (in the wild). I am an Evironmental Technition at work so I spend my days on an airboat doing wildlife surveys most of the time (counting & photographing species), so theres no problem in finding whatever subject I want to carve. Actually my carvings turn out fine, its the finishing that I am trying to learn.

So Ken I am perfectly capable of my own mistakes, and I do learn from them, but I bet you also learned from another carver his or her techiniques that put you on the path to your "skills". And Mitch I am very sorry if I worded my post wrong, let me try this- "Learn your technique-yes Copy your carving-no." I see more fish and game in a month than most see in a lifetime and have a database loaded with images of them in a natural setting to try to mimick. I simply admired your detailed work and wanted to soak up some ideas that may help me.

Find a mentor a club or a resident bird carver most are eager to help beginners .

There are no clubs local to me,in fact if there are any carvers I would be surprised. I will stick to utube videos and books to learn to do realistic feathers and not ask folks here anymore.
Sorry if I offended anyone, it was not my intintion.
Regards, Tom.

[RMitchell]

Don't get all up in a hissy fit Mudbone nobody is saying they think you want to copy anothers carving were saying don't copy anothers carving, but use the real bird .If you want to learn something about technique or tools or how to make a bird look like it does in the wild (Realism)I and others here are more than glad to help.My post following your initial post was not directed at you specificly but beginners in general .Beginners have a tendencey to copy it is natural I did it too .But the sooner you learn to resist the urge of seeking perfection and pursue excellence the sooner you will begin to enjoy the process of learning.Dont take my posts as directed at you specificly but take them as general information to draw from or reject.
Tools and techniques dont make the artist that comes from within and repitition. Like playing scales on a guitar one day it clicks and you play a song and dance.So to learn to carve birds well study birds and carve them.
One day it will click and you'll be good at it.
Anybody can learn to carve wood that's the easy part ,its learning when to stop carving wood that is difficult to learn.

[Blackjaxe]

TOM....thats not what I meant.....This thread has gone sideways. All of us have started off with copying or using techniques that others have used, thats how we learn I was never intentionally criticizing you or anyone else.

Bob is a superb carver and painter and I would venture to say that this thread is not only to showcase his skills but also be helpful and enlightning to those who are just starting out, kind of the same thing I did with my Warbler W.I.P. I had many questions asked as to how I made the branch....it's there to share with anyone who needs help.

As for my carving, well I have to be honest and say YES that I was influenced by another carver who took the time to explain and show me what to do but I also have many years of experience as an artist to call on when it comes time to paint and I do make my own patterns....once again over 40 years of experience in painting wildlife, mostly birds.

Lets get this thread back on track, I find this is a great way to share and learn from.

Ken