The photograph above is of Study Faces that are a by- product of the instructor’s carve along instructional go-by for doing the preliminary steps during a class.  Those instructional pieces served their purpose and now have been completely carved to become visual examples of various faces that can be carved following the initial steps of carving the basic landmarks of a face.

  Each face becomes a visual tutorial to imagine how the various expressions were carved and how each face can have a personality of its own by subtle ways of shaping the wood while carving.  Observation plays an important role in learning to become a better face carver.  Observe carved faces, observe cartoon faces, observe photographed faces, observe other people’s faces and most important observation is to study one’s own face in a mirror.  We can observe a lot just by looking and then using those observations while practicing to carve faces.  Out of the practice will come another observation that the “more you carve the better you carve.”  Carve what you see and look to see what more to add to the carving practice.

The next series of photographs are of the Study Faces presented in groups of four faces.

Then next series of photographs of grouping of four Study Faces are from an earlier posting.

The final photograph is of the progressive steps in carving the study face beginning with a basswood block half inch thick, two and half inches long and an inch and half wide that is carved into an oval and then the face carved in the oval shape.