Need alittle advice...........

[Soggy]

I'm hoping that some of you seasoned caricature carvers will be able to help me with a problem that I'm experiencing. I carve a lot (possibly 100 ) of Santa ornaments each year, and I carve them "on the corner". I started doing a fairly simple eye on them a couple of years ago and feel quite comfortable in doing it, and in my opinion it looks ok; but here's my problem.......... All my Santa's seem to look very stern or grumpy. I would really like to have Santa be the Jolly old guy that we all know he really is.
Sooooooooooo... ! anybody care to recommend a book, a video, a study stick or some other carving aid that may have helped you with this problem ?
Thanks
Wayne aka Soggy

[Tom Ellis]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Wayne, a picture of one, and maybe we can help from that. Your hunters all seem to have your same style face.

Tom

[uvawyo]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Marv Kaisersatt in his book Carving Caricature Heads suggests arching the eye brows to get a happier look, Wayne.

[Soggy]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Wayne, a picture of one, and maybe we can help from that. Your hunters all seem to have your same style face.

Tom

Thanks Tom; Yeah I guess I should have included some pictures; I posted that original post from my laptop and didn't have any examples on there.
Here's some pictures that I just took of some random ornaments that I have carved since Christmas. Most are in the 3" to 3 1/2" range and carved with a fixed blade utility knife (Old Reliable; as Lynn Doughty would say ) I don't use gouges or V tools much, with the exception of a bit of texturing for hair and beards.

[Soggy]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Marv Kaisersatt in his book Carving Caricature Heads suggests arching the eye brows to get a happier look, Wayne.

Thanks Herb; I do happen to have that book, so I guess I'll have to reread it and pay a little bit better attention this time.....LOL
Wayne

[shakey875]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

the book is in english mate im here if you get stuck with big words..ie any words with more than 4 letters...lol

[Soggy]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

the book is in english mate im here if you get stuck with big words..ie any words with more than 4 letters...lol

Well if it's got big words like that I just might as well forget it ............

[JoeVM]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Nice bunch of Santas there Soggy. Herb's right about arching the eyebrows but most of yours don't have eyebrows. You could change the shape of your eyes. Smiling or laughing eyes have a flatter or even an arched bottom, the downslope makes them sad. Look in the mirror and smile and that may give you some ideas.

[Soggy]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Thanks Joe; I'll give that "arched bottom" style a try, sounds like that might just be the effect that I'm after. As for looking in the mirror and smiling.........when I look in the mirror it's hard not to laugh.......
Wayne

[mpounders]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

I touched up one of your pictures to illustrate the advice a little better. Your carvings are great, but it is easy to make them a little happier looking. The advice about arching the eyebrows, rather than just a straight slant, is good. Jon Nelson says that you can always make an eye look happy by curving the outside line up, rather than slanting it down. And the whole face needs to smile, even if the mustache is covering it. I like to had little curved dimples up from the corners of the mouth to show a big smile. Hope the picture shows what I'm talking about.

[DanJohnson]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Millard Harrel (Cottonwood) had an article on this subject in WCI a couple o issues back. By the way those all look good if they are not jolly.

[Tom Ellis]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Boy I like them all Wayne. My suggestion would be to curve up the outside corner of the eyelid a little, as they all drop down. Also I would raise the cheek a little. The smile line would curve back up the cheek a little, instead of dropping down beside the mouth.

On the otherhand, Santa does have a serious side.

That is the wonderful thing about caricatures. You have a style all your own on your hunters, and I can always tell one of yours.

I can't decide if the really large pupils give him a little startled look.

Dont change them too much, cause I love them all.

Tom

[Soggy]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

Thanks guys, I've taken a bunch of notes from the various posts and will have a go at working some of those points into the next few carvings. We'll see what will evolve from my interpretation of your advice........... The wife says I don't listen or take advice well, but hopefully some of this will stick.
And a special thanks to Mike P. for taking the time to edit my picture so that I could see exactly what he was referring to. It's actions like this that make this forum one GREAT PLACE to hang out.
Wayne

[Buffalo Bif]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

surprising help can come from making them smile- since the mustache is in the way, put the smile curve into the stache.

JoeVM is spot on with his advice to smile at yourself in the mirror, IMO

[Steve Reed]

Re: Need alittle advice...........

IMHO, anytime you carve eyes that are lower on the outside corners than they are on the inside, your piece will look sad. Having said that, I think you have a unique style going for you, why change?