WIP. The first attempt to emboss the human face

[ABHandmade]

17 minutes ago, battlemunky said:

Is that Cameron Diaz?

My god man that is really amazing work AB!

Yes, it's an attempt to portray she. The main thing that she did not see it never 

Thank you for compliment, @battlemunky!

49 minutes ago, Riem said:

Yeah, the word 'awesome' sets the appreciation bar rather on the low side... That is way beyond superior! Wow! Man, I felt like I knew her when she looked me in the eye like that...

Thank you, Riem!

Edited September 26, 2018 by ABHandmade

[bikermutt07]

I thought it was the girl from Rogue One, but I guess it is Cameron Diaz.

It looks really awesome.

[JLSleather]

3 hours ago, ABHandmade said:

Thank  you, Sir! 

Probably, if I, apart from the brush, used an airbrush for coloring, it would be possible to improve something. Although, on the other hand, coloring only with a brush looks more hand-crafted, so to speak?

WAIT ... WHAT?@!  THis is what you call 'needs improvement'? 

It may be hand made, but "hand made' is not the same as POORLY made.  I did a short article about this a while back, but it's only in English   Check it out... I think you apply! http://www.jlsleather.com/hand-made-well-made/

In fact, you got a web site, or pics on FB or any of that?  I would not hesitate to link to your work as an example that HAND made can still be WELL made.

 

[Sheilajeanne]

AB, that is completely correct the way you worded that.

Even some very, very good artists I know need photos to work from. I follow a FB page called "The Art of the Horse" and one of the most frequent requests from the artists is for reference photos they can use. Many photos out there are copyrighted, or you need the permission of the horse's owner to draw or paint the horse.

[ABHandmade]

6 hours ago, JLSleather said:

It may be hand made, but "hand made' is not the same as POORLY made.  I did a short article about this a while back, but it's only in English   Check it out... I think you apply! http://www.jlsleather.com/hand-made-well-made/

In fact, you got a web site, or pics on FB or any of that?  I would not hesitate to link to your work as an example that HAND made can still be WELL made.

 

Sir, thank you for link on article. 

I really liked it and absolutely agree with every word in it.
I also think that the word HAND is the key word in the word-maid phrase "hand-made". HAND but NOT the Foot;  )

I have a page on the FB https://www.facebook.com/ABHandmade/, but it is in Russian and, frankly speaking, it is not enough informative.
And there is a board on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/avb_home/my-leather-works/
But, taking into account the fact that I started to work with the leather less than a year ago, not all the works placed there can have the status of WELL made .

6 hours ago, JLSleather said:

WAIT ... WHAT?@!  THis is what you call 'needs improvement'? 

Well, something like that;)

In fact, I suspect that with an airbrush and sufficient skills for its application, can get a awesome result (your works, which I saw here, confirmation of this). I do not have such skills yet, but I also want to learn it.
This will allow me to select one or the other tool (or both) to get the best result in each case.
Therefore, when I talked about choosing a brush instead of an airbrush, I was little  being disingenuous..
Brush is chosen simply because the I not yet mastered airbrush sufficiently.

Edited September 27, 2018 by ABHandmade

[ABHandmade]

3 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Even some very, very good artists I know need photos to work from. I follow a FB page called "The Art of the Horse" and one of the most frequent requests from the artists is for reference photos they can use. Many photos out there are copyrighted, or you need the permission of the horse's owner to draw or paint the horse.

Sheila, thank you for your moral support
Question about copyright and permission: in the case that the work is done for myself, and not for sale, is it also necessary?

[Sheilajeanne]

No, if the work were not for sale, it would not be.

And I am sure celebrities get used to fans doing pictures of them! I am a member of different fan groups, and fan art is

 one of the most common things you see, other than photos of the celebrities.

[ABHandmade]

26 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

No, if the work were not for sale, it would not be.

And I am sure celebrities get used to fans doing pictures of them! I am a member of different fan groups, and fan art is

 one of the most common things you see, other than photos of the celebrities.

Sheila, thank you for info.

[ABHandmade]

13 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

I thought it was the girl from Rogue One, but I guess it is Cameron Diaz.

It looks really awesome.

Sorry, I miss this comment.

Thank you, @bikermutt07.

You guessed right about Cameron Diaz

Edited September 27, 2018 by ABHandmade

[JLSleather]

11 hours ago, ABHandmade said:

not all the works placed there can have the status of WELL made .

Some of my early work went directly in the trash, before anyone got to see it.  And later I will of course deny writing this post

Некоторые из моих ранних работ пошли прямо в мусор, прежде чем кто-нибудь увидел это. И позже я, конечно, откажусь писать это

[JLSleather]

11 hours ago, ABHandmade said:

I suspect that with an airbrush and sufficient skills for its application, can get a awesome result ...I do not have such skills yet, but I also want to learn it.
This will allow me to select one or the other tool (or both) to get the best result in each case.
Therefore, when I talked about choosing a brush instead of an airbrush, I was little  being disingenuous

If you can paint with a brush (and you can) then you can paint with an airbrush, and probably faster.  What brush over there - still red sable?

 

[ABHandmade]

5 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

Some of my early work went directly in the trash, before anyone got to see it.  And later I will of course deny writing this post

Некоторые из моих ранних работ пошли прямо в мусор, прежде чем кто-нибудь увидел это. И позже я, конечно, откажусь писать это

Sir, for some reason I'm sure that you keep the first few works. Perhaps you do not show it to anyone, but you certainly did not throw it away.
I was always interested to see the first works of those who later reached a high level of skill.

Нескромный вопрос - вариант Вашего комментария на русском означает то, что я подумал?

[JLSleather]

31 minutes ago, ABHandmade said:

Нескромный вопрос - вариант Вашего комментария на русском означает то, что я подумал?

No, really did PITCH EM OUT.  In fact, the first one I did that didn't look too bad, I RUINED with far too much neatsfoot oil, so after waiting several days for it to clear up I threw it away.  

The translation is of course what GOOGLE TRANSLATE comes up with, so you decide how accurate that it

 

[ABHandmade]

`

38 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

then you can paint with an airbrush, and probably faster.

I very much want you to be right

39 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

What brush over there - still red sable?

Oh no. I use synthetic brushes. To get a halftone transition, I use an almost dry brush, actually rubbing dye on leather. And this quickly kills brush. If I used a red sable, it would be very expensive.

[ABHandmade]

19 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

No, really did PITCH EM OUT.  In fact, the first one I did that didn't look too bad, I RUINED with far too much neatsfoot oil, so after waiting several days for it to clear up I threw it away.

It's a pity.

20 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

The translation is of course what GOOGLE TRANSLATE comes up with, so you decide how accurate that it

I noticed that Google Translate much better translates from English to Russian than vice versa.

[immiketoo]

As someone who specializes in (and teaches) facial carving, I think this is a fantastic first effort.  The most impressive thing about this carving is the lips.  They are the most difficult part to reproduce.  While the eyes are the most important, the lips or mouth make this piece.  So much of the expression comes from the subtle curves of the lips.  

My only recommendation is the technique you used for the hair.  There is only one way to make realistic looking hair textures and that is one strand at a time.  Its a pain in the ass, but anything else detracts from the image in my experience.  I've never had much for floral carving.  It's over done, mostly stamp by numbers (And often poorly, with deco cuts that are nothing more than unplanned scratches).  

Faces take skill, subtlety and most of all attention to detail.  Very impressive.  

One other thing.  You may want to experiment with acrylic paint for coloring.  Leather will darken with time, and in a year or so, you'll have Mexican Cameron Diaz due to the natural darkening of the leather.

Also, here are my first two attempts at faces.  I'll let you decide which one is which

[ABHandmade]

2 hours ago, immiketoo said:

As someone who specializes in (and teaches) facial carving, I think this is a fantastic first effort.  The most impressive thing about this carving is the lips.  They are the most difficult part to reproduce.  While the eyes are the most important, the lips or mouth make this piece.  So much of the expression comes from the subtle curves of the lips.  

My only recommendation is the technique you used for the hair.  There is only one way to make realistic looking hair textures and that is one strand at a time.  Its a pain in the ass, but anything else detracts from the image in my experience.  I've never had much for floral carving.  It's over done, mostly stamp by numbers (And often poorly, with deco cuts that are nothing more than unplanned scratches).  

Faces take skill, subtlety and most of all attention to detail.  Very impressive.  

One other thing.  You may want to experiment with acrylic paint for coloring.  Leather will darken with time, and in a year or so, you'll have Mexican Cameron Diaz due to the natural darkening of the leather.

Also, here are my first two attempts at faces.  I'll let you decide which one is which

Mike, thank you so much for taking the time and willingness to pay attention to my work!
It probably took about 30-40% of the time on the lips in this work, because it was not possible for a long time to get the necessary form. It turns out that even the smallest details radically affect the result. It was a very valuable experience for me.
Eyes are still a weak point for me.
With your comment on the hair, I absolutely agree and accept the recommendation with gratefully.
Regarding the coloring I want to ask your opinion.
The fact is that in this work (as well as in several previous works with animals) I first perform a protective dye with an alcohol dye on all surface, in the specification to which the manufacturer reports that this dye provides protection against ultraviolet.
After that, I primer the area, which are to be colored, with white paint diluted by isopropyl alcohol.
And only after that I perform coloring of the primed areas with alcohol dyes.
Upon completion, the work is covered by the finish.
Will there be a darkening that you mentioned in case this technology?
I use several things myself that are made in this way. So far I have not noticed darkening. True, the oldest of them is only 6 months old. You have the experience and use of products much longer than mine, so your opinion plays a big role.

Regarding the quest with 2 of your first works... I have already seen the first photo in one of the topics of this forum with your comment that this is the first work with figured carving. I tend to believe you

With great respect and gratitude,

Andrey

Edited October 3, 2018 by ABHandmade

[immiketoo]

Andrew,  if you have found a UV protective finish that works, you might not experience the darkening, or maybe it will delay it for a long time.  I don’t use a product like that so I can’t offer any opinion other than I’d like to see your results over the course of time.

In the piece with the braid, you can see my struggle with the lips (well, all of it really) and how badly I mangled it.  Do you have some sort of art background?  Most people that can pull off a first piece have some sort of familiarity or artistic history.  Again, well done.

[ABHandmade]

Mike, I'm not 100% sure yet that the finish I used provides the necessary level of UV protection. Although in the summer I exposed out on sun for a long time a piece of leather with several types of finishes applied and chose two of them, which practically kept the leather color unchanged.
Apparently, the only way to check this is to wait. I will definitely share with you the result.
Unfortunately, I do not have any art education and my main profession is a programmer. And all my experience is the small time that has passed since the day when I really liked some kind of leather work seen on the Internet. I really wanted to achieved the same results. This is still far away, but the goal has been set I have no abilities (at least I haven’t found them yet) to draw something from memory
I will be very grateful to you if you can in the future point me to my mistakes and help me with advice - a critical look from the outside is very important for moving forward.

Edited October 4, 2018 by ABHandmade

[immiketoo]

Yes, we shall see how the finish fares.  Hopefully you've found a solution.  As for your background, that's doubly impressive.  Ian more than happy to offer whatever help I can, but I doubt you'll need much in the future.  Stay in touch and we can talk about hair and eyebrows!

[koreric75]

On 9/26/2018 at 2:20 PM, ABHandmade said:

Work done.

Coloring is done with alcohol dyes.
Finish - matt polyurethane lacquer.

 

that is jaw dropping, breath takingly awesome! I can barely draw a stuck figure let alone draw it on leather and then make it 3d...I would love to see a picture of the inspiration if you have it to compare...

[koreric75]

On 9/27/2018 at 5:41 AM, ABHandmade said:

Sorry, I miss this comment.

Thank you, @bikermutt07.

You guessed right about Cameron Diaz

Never mind on my previous post lol, I thought it looked like Cameron Diaz, and it truly does

[Northmount]

Really fantastic work.  Inspiring to us all.  I've only done a small amount of figure carving.  Will take me centuries to get to your level of accomplishment.

Tom

[JLSleather]

26 minutes ago, koreric75 said:

I thought it looked like Cameron Diaz, and it truly does

And there lies part of the talent... ONE thing to make " a portrait".  ANOTHER thing to make an accurate, recognizable representation of a specific person.  

AB → this looks great.. if I can ask... can we get a picture with some perspective?  I think it would help folks 'round here to see the EMBOSSING you did here, maybe make more sense to some folks (plus, for those of us who "get" it and would love to see it anyway).  You know -- like a pic taken ACROSS the carving to show the "topography" of it....

[ABHandmade]

5 hours ago, koreric75 said:

that is jaw dropping, breath takingly awesome! I can barely draw a stuck figure let alone draw it on leather and then make it 3d...I would love to see a picture of the inspiration if you have it to compare...

I tried to play this photo. Unfortunately, it is precisely in this resolution, so it was very problematic to consider the small details.
It is clear that I still have something to work on. In particular, above the eyes, eyebrows, hair, as Mike (@immiketoo) rightly pointed out.

And the line of the mouth, despite all my efforts, is not quite similar.

Edited October 4, 2018 by ABHandmade