[Woodcarver] Carving Hair...

[Bill Judt]

Maricha:

When I carve hair on a human head (full detail, not stylized) I first  
model the surface of the hair with gouges, sometimes even with a 8-mm  
V-tool. Then, over the surface that has already been modeled, I use a  
12-2mm, 12-3mm or 12-4mm V-tool (depending on whether I want coarse or  
fine hair) to cut "S"- curves over the surface of the wood. Hair is  
NEVER straight, unless, as is common among the youth, it is gelled or  
moussed first.
The "S"-curves follow the contours of the surface according to the  
original image resource that you are using. Some of the "S"-curves are  
short, and some are wide. These "S"-curves NEVER cross (read:  
intersect). They only MERGE or DIVERGE.

Not all the modeled surface needs to be "saturated" with v-cuts. Some  
areas can remain untouched by the v-tool.

Hope this helps,

You may want to visit my website and view some of the close-up images  
of my carvings, some of which feature HAIR... especially the series  
"Seven Deadly Sins" which is a collection of seven portraits. Go to:
http://wwwoodcarver.com/ChristianCarvings/SevenDeadlySins/ 
SevenDeadlySins.html

Bill
List Owner

W.F. Judt,
46 Harvard Cres,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
S7H3R1
PH: 306-373-6649
Email: bjudt at sasktel.net
Website: http://www.wwwoodcarver.com

On Jan 27, 2005, at 1:18 AM, maricha wrote:

> DONATIONS to the Woodcarver Mailing List can be made using PayPal OR  
> regular mail. Click this link:  
> http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html
> hi dave .... what a delightful email.
> what a lot of wonderful things are coming out of this list and as you  
> mentioned a few i will not go into it. 
> there is no doubt in my mind that you are entering a great journey,  
> being a draughtsman you have a splendid background, actually i have a  
> few students with similar back grounds to you, and after many hours of  
> explaining the left and right side of the brain, they are really  
> coming up with the most delightful works in carving and sculpture and  
> jewelrey.
>  
> the secret is to use the skill you have with tools, but to tell your  
> unartistic side of the brain.... to shut up and not interfere with the  
> artistic side of the brain. this is explain in the book joe talks  
> about but also it is much in use teaching in school for  
> schitzophrenics dislectic and lateral thinkers.  it really is not a  
> big deal it is just plain common sense when you apply it, because we  
> have learnt so much in our life that we have a warehouse of  
> information inside us and this dictates and censors what we do and  
> becomes our worst critic, so we have to kindly tell the side that does  
> not know anything about art to give the artistic side a fair go and  
> you will see the marvelous discoveries you make.
>  
>  
> dave each step at the time, and you have already reached a milestone ,  
> my apprentice jeff was exactly the same, could not visualize in the  
> round, yet now i make him touch a round ball, a flower, a leaf etc.  
> and make him close his other side of the brain, and wow he is indeed  
> improving tremendously like you are.  congratulations with all the  
> wonderful carvings you have done.  do not think of your confidence or  
> any other stumbling points, just take each step at a time, and ask and  
> discuss and work hard.
> i recommend you also read a book called THE ARTISTS WAY   by Julia  
> Cameron, which is a wonderful book to give back to your artist/inner  
> self the self truth and confidence that is there.
>  
> different levels are hard to grasp but if you take a good look at a  
> stair case you will see the steps going up or down, drawing it is  
> difficult at first, so just plainly get three or four bits of clay,  
> wood and make rectangles of the same size put one on top of the other  
> with about one inch space to glue them and three inches to step on.   
> the different actual graduations will give you the exact location of  
> where to put your router for the different layers you want. 
>   
> Now for my question(s) for Bill or whomever:
>
> Do you model and carve the whole image with regular gouges before  
> defining the hair or do you use the hair defining tool to do the  
> shaping?
>  i am sure you will get different answers to this question, but i  
> usually carve hair in clumpbs of three, use three different size  
> gouges, largest one first to create a wavy effect, then a medium u  
> gouge to create deeper crevices and a small u gouge to give the  
> shadows and deep recess to create dark and shadows of the hair.
>  
>
> If you shape before defining hair do you leave extra thickness to  
> carve the hair?  yes leave enough material to give you the bulk of the  
> hair.
> The ears seem to me that they should be deeper than the plan calls  
> for. Is that a misprint?  may be the ears are deeper, or could not be  
> made deeper because of lack of timber but by creating certain cuts you  
> could give the illusion of depth.
> How can the nose, eyes and forehead be at the same level? they are  
> not, look at your face with several mirrors and you will see the  
> different graduations.
> when you are doing a face think of the elements that make it, the eyes  
> are shaped like a football, so you must shape them like a foot ball.  
> the nose is more like a pyramid, so when you are carving think in  
> shapes, think of cylinders, pyramids, cubes, umbrellas etc. this will  
> help to work out carving the round.  do not attempt very difficult  
> things. i suggest you first carve one feature at a time, get to know  
> it as it really is, quite a magnificent shape.  forinstance the eye,  
> its shape is like a football, but it has the eyelid, the pupil and the  
> tear glad.  work one step at a time and you will surprise yourself.  
> hope this helps a bit. am sure joe and ivan and bill will give you  
> much more input than i can.
>  
> cheers
> maricha
> _______________________________________________
> Woodcarver mailing list
> Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/woodcarver