temptress/aphrodite

[Back2Jake]

Roflao....

[hillmanjim]

Jeff, I just posted my only attempt at the female body...Ballerina. It is a JGR pattern and I did my best to make an attractive ballerina gal. I am not satisfied with it, but my wife says it is very good. I should have done more rounding of the legs and arms and a better job of the face. BUT...that is not easy and I can sympathize with your attempts. If we look at the Greek statues and similar works of art we see smoothness of form and life-likeness. Now that may not be the intent of all artists as they may be attempting to portray something else. I think it starts with the eye of the artist and what they are trying to accomplish. As for the 'censors' I am reminded of a joke which says that if you want to take one of your 'legalistic' friends fishing, you better take two of them because otherwise just one will drink all your beer.
Keep on and don't rush the completion as has been said, and you will reach your goal.

[workin for wood]

I'm hoping to hook myself up with a 30 minute crash course in woodcarving. I'm very fortunate that there is a guy in town that is a master and teaches classes. This is a very tiny town I live by, so that's extra lucky...I waiting for him to call me back today, because I already ground and carved the nose of twice and rebuilt it, but I swear a left hander broke her nose.

[DukeNukem]

Ian you're to funny,Jeff if you don't mind take a good look at the faciel area the chin and cheek bones they look a little out of place I think the chin is way to big and round.Just my two cents my friend.Jerry

[WyvernWench]

DukeNukem ... she's stunning. I love the deco look that you have captured with the over exaggerated proportions to give such a thin piece of wood so much depth and perspective ... Very, Very Nice!

I will give three small changes that I would make at this point. First is my impression the that front ankle could be a bit thinner. It may be the angle of the photo you have but I think a touch thinner would sculpture the back line of her leg nicely.

The other two points are in painting, not carving or scrolling. First, go take a look at the image you posted here as that is all I have to go by. Look at all the wonderful skin tone colors you have in her because of the changes in contour. Her skin does not appear as if it is just on color ... it has shadows and highlights as well as the base coating.

But her hair seems to be all one color at this point. Because you are using a darker brown I am not seeing either highlights or shadows. I think you might like to try a little dry brushing of a medium toned brown or brown gold especially around her face. This would accent the movement you have established in the hair as well as bring the facial features forward.

My other point on painting is her eyes. Your carving is great! You have the eyes very well placed and well deepened into the facial plane. So your structure is correct. But at this moment she has a startled or shocked look because you painted the entire pupil area of the eye.

OK ... Stop reading and go look at your self in the mirror for a moment. Do you see all of the pupil/iris area? Or do you see some of the pupil/iris area?

Back from the mirror??? What you most likely saw was the bottom two thirds of the pupil/iris area with the top part of the iris covered by the upper eye lid!

In a relaxed state the eye lids, upper and low, cover part of the iris. If you are looking forward or up it's the top part, if you are looking down it's the bottom part. The only time anyone sees the entire iris area of the eye is when someone is in physical shock or startled.

Changing this small area of painting I believe will dramatically change, soften and create a more realistic look to her face.

There is a small tutorial on the Carving Forum I did a while ago about painting eyes that I think will explain this is much better.

Santa Eyes

Susan Irish

[workin for wood]

sounds good susan, but nothing is painted in this picture. but I follow you on the shocked eye look, but not on the pupil part. I think you are saying cut out her lower eyelids and replace them with ones that are wider, covering more of the bottom of the eyeball. I'll check back later and hopefully you'll get back to me on that. I just did 10 hrs of facial reconstruction, but nothing to the eyes yet. I'm all for making necessary changes, especially on a project with so many man hours into it. I'll take a new photo of her face now.

[workin for wood]

ok, here is the new face now, although still the old face, but after surgery. Another episode of "nip/tuck" happening here I guess.

[BobD]

I'm guessing those stitch lines will be coming out in a few days <GRIN>

One thing I see is that if you look at the eyes, the eyelids are above the eyes...from the angle of your photo, they look like they are at the same level or perhaps even lower. You may want to shim up under the eyelids and perhaps undercut them a bit to give them some depth...

I also struggle with the eyes looking right at me from the center of the eyesocket...it almost looks like they are glazed over...it might look more natural to have her looking down, or to the side instead of straight out.

Don't be afraid to cover up part of the iris and the white of the eye with the eyelids...even part of the pupil. Look at your wife's face when she is looking to the left, or the right, or up and down...the pupil will be covered at times and so will the iris!

Bob

[workin for wood]

The eyelids are a hair higher than the eyeball and they follow the exact same profile. But still, I guess what your opinion is is that the eyes are simply too dead on center. so leave the lids, cut out the eyes, have them point down and left, which would be like looking down at her cloth.

[WyvernWench]

OOOPS! Of course you don't have any painted wood ... duh! Susan. My apologizes, I am too tuned to painted wood carvings and didn't register that you are working intarsia! Again, my apologizes.

The eyes look better already with the iris area covered by the lower lid. Now move the pupil down so that they are centered to the iris. It's not that the eyes are dead center ... it's that the pupil (black) is off center to the pupil and that it's dead center to the entire eye ball area.

The iris (color area) is circular and centered to the eye ball, the pupil (black) is centered to the iris. So if the eye looks down the pupil moves with the center of the iris ... and would no longer be in the center of the eye ball.

Susan

Beautiful sculpturing along the jaw line ... very, very nice!