Steve Prescott  is a founding member of the Caricature Carvers of America  and has been gracious in sharing some photographs of his recent carvings with the visitors of this blog.  Pictured above are two caricature cowboy carvings for our viewing as well as subjects for this tutorial for “adding the extras”  to a caricature carving.    The first two photographs are of a cowboy with minimum cowboy outfit and accessories.  The other two photographs show a cowboy with extras in detail added. (click on photos to enlarge for better view)

The next four photographs show the extra details added to the second cowboy and serve as point of reference for tutorial on adding extras.

Adding the extras.  There is an old adage that says, “Clothes make the man.”   The same holds true when carving human figures.  A male face can be similar on several carvings of human figures while it is the clothes and accessories  that give personality to the carved face.  One could carve a male face of a figure with western clothes to be a cowboy while that same face with a sea captains uniform makes it a sea captain.  Or it could be a Civil War soldier, or a hobo, or a baseball player, or a gambler, a banker, a hillbilly, a mechanic or a policeman.  The clothes or outfit distinguish what kind of figure it will be.

One could carve the bare minimum characteristics of the outfit to get by, but adding a few extras of detail will tell a more interesting story.  Steve Prescott has carved two cowboys.  The first two photographs (at top)  are of a well carved cowboy whose pose and outfit are quite adequate.  It can stand alone as a caricature cowboy. The next two photographs (at top)  are of a cowboy where Steve has added the extras to “dress up”  the story of the second cowboy. Notice that both faces are quite similar while the outfits of each tell a little different story.

In order to “add the extras”  it is necessary to always be the student by doing research on the subject being carved.  A big part of carving is using one’s imagination and inner eye in the planning and execution of a carving project.  Imagination needs to be fed with research of the realistic of the accessories and outfits that go along with the subject being carved.

Since “caricature is exaggeration of realism,”  it is necessary to have a good understanding of what is the “realism”  that will be exaggerated. That is where research comes into play as the carver studies the “realistic characteristics”  of the subject to be carved.

Research can be pursued through books, museums, photographs, classes and other carvers’ work or tutorials.  The Internet search through Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search engines can be helpful by always adding the word “images”  to the subject being researched.  For example, a good distinguishing part of a cowboy’s outfit is the western hat.  In the search box type “Cowboy Hat Images”  to find a great variety of hat styles.  The same can be done for boots, six shooters, chaps, bandanas, mustaches, lariats, saddles and always add the word “images”  to the search.

“Adding the extras,”  to any carving adds a little zip to the carving and it also says that the carver cares enough to add extra bits of detail to tell a better story through the carving.  Doing the research and adding the extras is part of growing in the carving experience by going the second mile of service to the art of caricature carving.  Steve Prescott is a student of that art as well as being a pioneer in blazing to trail to better caricature carving.  Thank you Steve.