Monthly Figure Carving Challenge

[rharris]

It is cold and windy today so I thought it would be a good day to stay inside. Here is my lion.

Edited January 31, 2008 by rharris

[ClayB]

Clay, one thing I noticed is that the eyes on the pattern is a little too timid, if I was doing this on my own I would have added some skin flap over the eyelid like Tina did.

Scouter,

I think that the skin flap you are talking about is mainly just how you interpret the pattern and how you bevel or shade above the eye. I wonder if adding a line in the pattern would have made a lot of difference. I think whyAl Stohlman changed his patterns when he wrote Figure Carving Finesse book. Instead of dotted lines, going to shaded areas the defined muscle definition. Paul Burnett touches on that in some of his instructional material too. It would be interesting if someone good at drawing patterns and familiar with that technique would take a stab at redrawing this pattern.

[ClayB]

this was my first attempt at this sort of figure carving including this amount of complex hairing and embossing.

i pulled out my AS figure carving book for the cam idea. one of those flat sidded cams would have made it quite a bit easier

One thing I notice about using the cam for the hair, above the eye it looks kind of like rows of hair in really even layers. I would like it more random, but I am wondering if you used the cam in a random overlapping way, if you would get more of a cross hatch pattern? Guess I'll have to dig out the book and see how Al did it. I still think for a first attempt at this kind of at this kind of project, you did a really nice job. I'm glad you gave it a shot.

[Roger]

One thing I notice about using the cam for the hair, above the eye it looks kind of like rows of hair in really even layers. I would like it more random, but I am wondering if you used the cam in a random overlapping way, if you would get more of a cross hatch pattern? Guess I'll have to dig out the book and see how Al did it. I still think for a first attempt at this kind of at this kind of project, you did a really nice job. I'm glad you gave it a shot.

i think if i had a flat sided cam and a better understanding of what i was doing it could be done without a problem. i also could have gone back with my hair tool and added some more ramdom hairing. i kinda liked the way the hair flowed around the eyes and mouth.

i guess i would need to study some cat pics to do much better

[SCOUTER]

rharris, Looks nice, could use a bigger pic... I like your wiskers!

[ClayB]

It is cold and windy today so I thought it would be a good day to stay inside. Here is my lion.

Hi Russ,

I am running out of things to say (is that clapping I hear in the background?? ) so I am glad you didn't ask for comments. You guys are all doing a great job with this pattern. Thanks for taking time to give it a try.

[ClayB]

Ok, despite several of my latest attempts at painting not turning out so great, I keep trying. This one actually turned out better than I expected it would. I went back and used the techniques Silva Fox teaches in her Dazzling Color DVD and they really do work. I don't know why I dont do things that way more often.

The first picture is with the shading done in shades of purple.

And then the second is the finished painting.

[Regis]

Clay,

Just amazing!

I've gotten side tracked some on sewing but, carving is my desire. I need to back-up a couple steps and review your tutorials for "each" attempt and work slower. Still need to sew to get functional items done but, need to invest more time into carving (although I'd have to live to 103 to catch up to your embossed lion here)

Thanks for leading & showing

Regis

[HorsehairBraider]

Clay, that's nice! You've even got the eyes, nose and tongue shiny so they look like they are wet. That embossing is a really neat technique for showing depth.

[Tina]

She came out absolutly great Clay...Awesome:-)