Howling Wolf

[Schaef]

Hi all,
Took a commission to carve a howling wolf for a lady friend. She likes strong male wolves. She admires the fact that wolves mate for life, and when they howl she believes them to be calling their distant mate.
She left everything design-wise up to me so I decided to complicate things. I'm attempting a full body wolf, standing on its hind legs, body twisted to the right, head turned farther right, with one fore-leg on firm ground and one slightly lifted. That should provide a big enough challenge and plenty of opportunity for mistakes!
So I got a 23" cedar log from my buddy's place and off to work. First pictures show the blocking in process. The trick was to establish a spiral centerline and keep reorienting to it as the carving progressed.
I left him very fat, because I knew I needed leeway for mistakes, and I needed bulk to do the furring. OK, I just made a fat wolf!
The other pictures show him coming into form. I blocked in the fur layers where I wanted them, and gave them twisting movement to support the pose. He's still fat because he's WIP. I intend to shrink his chest to make his legs longer, and move his hind legs back to give him a strong but springy look. I have a cool book called "Swiss Carvings" which shows how turn of the century Swiss geniuses furred their bears, dogs, deer, etc. Good reference for all of us chainsaw crazies.
How do you like it? Save me some time, where does it need improvement?

[Schaef]

Here are the pics

[jefftaylor]

its looking really good schaef, i cant save you any time but im sure you will make it look just great

happy carving
jeff

[W.duBois]

Wish I had beautifully colored wood where I live.. Very nice, even at this stage the Wolf would sell as an abstract piece!

[highsierrabear]

Really nice piece. Thanks for posting it, including how you started blocking it out. I've been meaning to do some study pieces of my dog for practice, and now I have a better idea of how to approach the blocking out.

Your client should be stoked when it's done.

Thanks again.

[doris]

now that is after my taste, making a commision more interesting by doing it more challenging :-) ... it looks good to me for this stage, i don´t know wolf very well, but i think you could take a closer look at his front legs to check them, so that they not bend in the wrong direction. now they bulge out to front in the middle while the limb does the other way around, or is straight...

[Rwenzoski]

Hi Scheaf, It is coming along very well & I do understand the front leg position as you have explained which Doris has commented upon. The form looks very well! One aspect I have started to thik about when even in the blocking stages is all these animals are active in which I mean are they breathing in or out & this will change the form drastically especially on something such as a howling Wolf. The lungs on your Wolf are defintiely to full capacity whereas if he was almost finished this single howl his chest would be much smaller, just an aspect that has been on my mind lately which I never considered before & will change the form. Looking forward to finished pics!
Thanks, Robbin

[Schaef]

Thanks for all the comments and useful, welcome critique!
Addressing them in reverse order: Robbin, you are easily as obseessive as I am. What a wonderful insight about considering how full his lungs are and what stage of howling! Very "systematic"! I read your sharpening response about making your own automatic sharpener. Lots of stuff running around in that busy brain!
Doris, you were absolutely right in the observation on the direction of the leg. I now have a book (I think it's called) "How to Draw Animals" by Jack Hamm that shows the anatomical structure of mammals ranging from squirrels to horses, with a nice section on wolves, coyotes and dogs (Robbin you'll love it!).
So Doris I just whacked the leg off and glued a new one on that a) bends in the right direction and b) adds dynamic motion to the work. I cut the joint with a chainsaw, so I used excessive amounts of Gorrilla Glue to make sure there were no gaps. Pictures below.
High Sierra, I think the secret is to work to a curving (not spiral) centerline and constantly re-orient yourself to it to achieve a flowing work. The book reference above should be a big help to your dog project.
Walter, Jeff, thanks for the feedback!
Here's an update: Progress on the weight reduction, big hole to fill on the neck (ideas?), prosthetic leg

[Schaef]

Here's where I made the cut, and the generous supply of Gorrilla Glue. BTW, it carves away like it's not even there. The drips are a little more problematic, had to use gouges to scrape them off - I'll be more careful next time. This leg will be drawn back and lifted, giving the wolf some additional interest (and Doris, making him harder to carve, so more fun!).
Since his eyes are closed with the howling, I have to figure out how to make them prominent enough to show up (again, any ideas?)
Schaef

[Schaef]

Gorrilla Globs!