Anyone have suggestions for really excellent books on carving? Specifically, about realistic, in-the-round, wildlife (mostly mammals & plants) carving/sculpture. That would also include carving the human figure, so long as it's not too heavy on the caricature style. I'm making progress, but I'd love to learn from books & preempt my disastrous mistakes/learning experiences.
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How are your drawing skills?
At some point, you need to transfer bits of drawing to the block, sustain a center line and get to making chunks and then chips.
Promise you won't fall in love with every one of them? You will never see the junk I create.
Of 10 of my starts,
3 die.
3 become the living dead for the next 10 years+.
3 finish up looking OK.
One is exactly what I saw in the wood.Brian T
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ll I will add is to carve a lot of different things. I was taught relief carving, learned a great deal but wasn't satisfied.
I decided that carving in the round was all 4 sides and the top! So I began to do that.
I have 10 carvings on my list of things to work on. I don't find that unusual.
Then something fresh will go straight through.
I need a center line for as long as is possible and measure everything away from that.
So a 24" turtle is the same thing as a 64" pole, just keep the line.Brian T
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I have bought a shelf-load of books on carving, most sight unseen over the internet. My experience has been about 10% absolutely worthless, 20% had something decent but minor to impart, 20% were good but limited to specific projects, and 50% excellent.
My experience has been that the older the book, the less helpful it is, not from the information necessarily, but the format and illustrations have improved dramatically in the last thirty years. You'll find that the same information on tools and sharpening is repeated ad nauseum in virtually every book, I suspect more as filler than anything else...appropriate in a work dedicated to beginners, sure, but not every book.
Addressing your specific areas of interest, Fox Chapel, publishers of Woodcarving Illustrated and sponsor of this Forum, has quite a few books that would be helpful, particularly in the area of wild fauna, less so re flora. I would like to see more on carving realistic humans, but in that regard I have found two books by Ivan Whillock (another publisher), one on carving a crucifix and the other on carving the head, to be excellent.
I suggest you also view a video on Youtube by Joe Dilette, "The Carving Shop," on carving a commissioned statue of St. Clare, in which he shows the carving from start to finish...he learned from Ivan Whillock, by the way, and mentions that in the video.
Arthur
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If you click on the dark strip at the top of the page that says FAQ it will take you to the WCI homepage. Click on (“How To “). You will find a lot of help getting started including a section with 14 pages of patterns and tutorials. These are two books I have and can recommend on animals. Available at Fox Chapel Books and Amazon
books3.jpgWe live in the land of the free because of the brave! Semper Fi
https://www.pinterest.com/carvingbarn0363/
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Originally posted by Randy View PostIf you click on the dark strip at the top of the page that says FAQ it will take you to the WCI homepage. Click on (“How To “). You will find a lot of help getting started including a section with 14 pages of patterns and tutorials. These are two books I have and can recommend on animals. Available at Fox Chapel Books and Amazon
books3.jpg
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Last edited by Arthur C.; 03-13-2019, 01:22 PM.Arthur
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Personally I suggest Mark Gargac's DVD on woodspirits. It is AWESOME. Very clear and easy to follow. Also, the cool thing about carving books, etc. is that we can use them to get the basics. After we get the basics, we can put our own self into our carvings for originals. That is one of the Blessings of carving.
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