Woodcarving with Greg Phillips

Fireman Kneeling (Part 3)

Greg Phillips — Sat, 26 May 2007 17:59:32 GMT

We are now ready to work on the face. When you cut the blank out with the bandsaw, the area where the face is wide because of the hat slanting back. Because of this you will need to thin down the face. When you do though be sure to be careful to leave a big bushy mustache. Here is a picture of what it will look like as you thin down the face and a picture of what a finished face looks like.

Please feel free to alter the face to put your "mark" on the carving. The face and expressions are the easiest way to make your carving unique.

Here is the roughout of the face from the front:

Here is the left side of the face:

Finally, the right side of the face:

The carivng is starting to take shape! We will continue to rough out the carving before we put in the detail. Time for a story though:

About a month ago I was working on a chainsaw carving of a bear, I was finished with it and I was soaking it with water seal. I noticed that I needed to burn the eyes a little darker, without thinking I picked up the torch and went to work. Bad mistake! The bear went up in flames like a torch, my wife and kids stood laughing at me as I tried to put the fire out.

Well you can guess where this is going, my family thinks that I need to have this fireman that we are working on knealing, putting out the fire of a man torching his bear! I just might do that with this project, we will need to wait and see.

More later.....

Fireman Kneeling (Part 2)

Greg Phillips — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:43:26 GMT

Here is part two of the tutorial. We are still roughing out the carving. In this section we will begin to roughout the face, right and left arm, the collar, hat and the hose between the two hands.

I forgot to add the hose to the drawing! Not a problem though, we can add the hose at the end. Still, I would like to make the section of hose between hands as part of this main carving. I will also be carivng out the nozzle for the front of the fireman in the left hand.

Here is the roughout of the hat:

Next I want to show you the right arm and how it is positioned. The right arm is actually partially behind the fireman and is within the side view of the tank. Be carefull roughing out the tank because you need to leave wood for the right elbow and arm:

Next we will look at roughing out the face. Notice how the mustache must stick out. Also, the nose needs to begin to take shape as well as the eyes:

I use a round gouge to begin to cutout the nose and shape the nose and eye socket. Notice how the head is slightly tilted. This is important! For some reason, slight movement off of square creates a more realistic charicature. I always try to make the head lean forward or back and left or right or even tilted as in this case.

This is a front view of the face, this will help you with the profile of the face and the mustache and nose:

Here we are beginning to roughout the right arm and hose section. It is hard to see at this point but that is the hose comming out of the right hand! Notice that we are also starting to draw out the collar and indent the the arm pit and elbow area:

The final picture in this part of the tutorial is a front view showing the left arm. Notice how it is not square across the front of the fireman, the elbow is actually tucked back against the body and behind the hand:

Next time we will add more detail to the arms and hands, the hose will take better shape and we will begin to shape the coat.

Greg Phillips
Georgiacarver.com

Charicature woodcarving of a fireman kneeling fighting a fire (Part 1)

Greg Phillips — Sun, 27 May 2007 07:22:41 GMT

I will be starting a woodcarving projct of a fireman kneeling to fight a fire. I will first post the drawing and the roughout views. As I continue to work on the project I will post the pictures so that you can try the project yourself! I will eventually add some additional items to the project, perhaps a burnt house, or even a burt dad over the bar-b-que. Who knows, lets see what develops.

Be sure to check out my website as well: www.georgiacarver.com

Here is the drawing:

Here is the front view of the roughout:

Here is the right side view of the roughout:

Here is a couple of pictues roughing out the air tank:

Here are how you shape the feet and legs, notice how they are not strait, they angle away from thebody. This first picture is the bottom of the carving with the back up. The right knee (on the right) is pointing out from the body. The left leg is fairly straight away from the body. At this point be sure to leave plenty of wood for the detail carving which will come later.

This next picture is the bottom of the feet with the front up at the top of the picture. On the left side of the picture you can see a different view how the firemans right legg slants out just a little. The legg on the right of the picure (the firemans left legg) slants out slightly

Next time I will post some pictures of the roughout a little closer to the shape (no longer in the square block)

See you soon!

Hobo just minding his own business!

Greg Phillips — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:33:45 GMT

This is a charicature carving of a hobo with his hands in his pockets, just hanging around. I was sitting around one day and decided that I wanted to carve a hobo. I picked up the sketch pad and drew the outlines and then went to the shop and cutout a roughout. The carving is 3 inches tall and is done out of basswood. I will post the final picture now and then add the photos so that you can carve a hobo for yourself, later. Also checkout my website at GeorgiaCarver.com

This woodcarving is done in a semi-flat plane style. The paint is a light acrylic wash. The carivng is done in one piece except for the stick and the bag. The stick is actually a piece of a bamboo skewer and the bag is carved out of a scrap piece of basswood.
GeorgiaCarve
You can see this carving and others at georgiacarvers website:
www.georgiacarver.com

Farmer wants to sell his Duck!

Greg Phillips — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:36:42 GMT

Here is a picture of my charicature carving of a farmer offering to
sell his duck! The carving is mounted to an oak base. The farmer and
the duck is carved out of basswood and painted with a thin acrylic
wash.

Be sure to check out my website at www.georgiacarver.com

The
hands and the head are done seperately and then added. The benefits of
this are that the hands and duck will not get in the way of carving the
detail of the body. In addition, the neck and head actually give the
lifelike impression of the neck being inside the shirt with air around
the two. It is much easier to give this effect doing the carving this
way than to try to carve an remove the wood. More pictures can be seen
at the following GeorgiaCarver site page:
www.georgiacarver.com

Welcome to the Blog site of GeorgiaCarver artist Greg Phillips

Greg Phillips — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:53:28 GMT

I want to thank you for visiting my blog site. I will be entering topics like Tips & Tricks and online tutorials. I will also offer suggestions and provide details about several of my carvings. Please be patient as I develop this blog. My goal is to update the blog on a monthly basis.

Be sure to visit my website at www.georgiacarver.com