A couple of relief carving questions

[sebastiaan56]

A couple of beginners questions. Ive started a relief carving but am hitting a bit of a wall. My image is taken from a wildlife magazine, Ive sketched it successfully a number of times and have a good idea of what the 3D animal is like. So...

- modelling in plasticine before commencing the carving, does anyone do it? I was thinking of just working the plasticine onto a piece of mdf. Any tips?
- what determines the depth of the background? seems to me that when you start undercutting a different set of rules apply, that is backgrounds become curved. Any tips?

Thanks in advance

Sebastiaan

[pallin]

Hi Sabastiaan, let me be the first to give you some answers. I have not modeled a relief design before carving it. There have been some forum discussions from those who do, however. Try a topic search.

I limit the relief depth to half the thickness of the wood. Sometimes I have built up the wood in places to increase the relief.

Like other forms of carving, it helps to study the project, to visualize the forms, and to proceed slowly. Let your creative side work on the task rather than your analytical side.

[sebastiaan56]

Thanks Pallin, I'll do some more searching. Im a bit stuck on this carving.

[mateo]

Dont forget to consider what direction the light source is going to come from. Relief is more about the illusion of depth. The modeling idea has merit. Good luck to you.