A new carving project: a full body figure of a ship captain in a 1:48 scale [COMPLETED BUILD]

Huc Bernard said:
I personally use a technique with drawings of front views, side views etc., printed at the right scale on transparent paper. It is very efficient to see the parts of the wood to be removed:View attachment 343928


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Bernard
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Dear Bernard
Thank you for sharing this technique with me, I will try to use it in the coming days when I return to carving.
I would appreciate any advice and guidance with an emphasis on the face area of the character.
 
shota70 said:
good evening dear friends
Tonight I continued with the carving, while this evening I focused on the left hand and the areas around it. First I will answer Stephen's question, I use a combination of several manual carving chisels alongside an electric dremel. In Dremel, I use diamond nail polishers, ball drills of 0.5-1 mm size, sanding/sharpening stones, magnifying glasses and sharpening accessories.
View attachment 343913View attachment 343914
Now let's go back to the carving of the sleeve/left hand, before carving I examine the drawings carefully and transfer them onto the wood and start carving. I am slowly making the contours of the sleeve as well as the fit to the jacket in the lower part as well as in the chest to neck area.
I'm still in the middle of the process,
think this time too the pictures will express the carving process , more than words.
View attachment 343915View attachment 343916View attachment 343917View attachment 343918View attachment 343919View attachment 343920
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Thanks Shota, :D
You are making good progress and the info is quite helpful.

Cheers,
Stephen.
 
Huc Bernard said:
I personally use a technique with drawings of front views, side views etc., printed at the right scale on transparent paper. It is very efficient to see the parts of the wood to be removed:View attachment 343928


View attachment 343929


Bernard
Click to expand...
Hi Bernard,
Yes, using front-side-rear elevations makes the carving relatively easy and if you have the luxury to own all of these, you are very lucky! But in most cases these are not available, so you have to use your imagination and experience. And I also used to draw on the timber at different stages of the project, although some people say that it is not necessary. I still think it helps a lot.
In the case if you've got all of those views it makes life much easier (an the carving quicker) if you cut the figure around with a scroll saw or with a fretsaw as the first step (leaving about 1mm surplus all around) around the contours. With this you result in a square block with all the contours around to start with. Obviously the left-right-side differences have to be taken care of (ie. the frame saw in the right hand of the figure or the pole in the left hand). Having said this I think it should be allowed to make the pole as a different piece. You can make it separately say with a draw plate and insert it into a hole in the left hand just before you finish the whole thing. The advantages of this method are more than twofold. You can start with a smaller piece of timber, and you don't have to worry about breaking the long and thin piece to be broken (you will break it anyhow). In this case it might not be that serious because the pole is vertical so most likely in line with the grain, but if it is to an angle, it will break due to the grain effect anyhow.
János
 
shota70 said:
Dear Bernard
Thank you for sharing this technique with me, I will try to use it in the coming days when I return to carving.
I would appreciate any advice and guidance with an emphasis on the face area of the character.
Click to expand...
Hi Shota,
A generic advise is that you have to make sure of the proper ratios of the body. The head height is about 1/8 of the total height. In this case you have a proper side elevation so this does not matter. As you proceed with the carving you will work out (from the side elevation) where the most forward point of the head (the tip of the nose) is. Make a vertical plain surface at this point. Then you can draw the outline of the face onto this surface. Even better having another copy of the face part of the front view and stick-glue it to the surface. Then you can work out the perimeter of the face. (I any doubt or if there is no front view drawing available, search the Internet. There are tons of drawings of different faces available.) I then take the smallest diameter millbit (0.3mm) or a made-up pointy piece and scetch the main features of the face into the timber (eyes, nose, lip, etc) not very deep - just about half a mil or so. Then I remove the paper by scraping it off from the timber. Then I use the same small dia bit to cut around the sketched contours into the timber by the appropriate depths. Then I cut around the eye balls and the nose into the proper depth. Then, using a flame, sphere or bud bit I take the face sections to the appropriate depths, leaving the eye balls an the nose intact. Then I lower the bottom face area to the right level - as shown on the side elevation and create the lip and other details. Also the forehead and the face sides are carved in. Then the face and forehead, nose, eyes, eyebrows and the face features can be rounded to the proper depth - with looking at the side elevation, and by looking at the side of the head and a number of times as you proceed. Then comes a fine sanding, or using a 600 grit diamond tool instead. If the figure is not going to be painted, I usually put a black dot onto the eye ball with a soft pencil to represent the iris.
And then comes the final inspection and putting the carving into the scrap box and start again if you don't like it...
Good luck!
János
 
janos said:
Hi Bernard,
Yes, using front-side-rear elevations makes the carving relatively easy and if you have the luxury to own all of these, you are very lucky!
Click to expand...
In my case, it's not about luck, it's about hard work. I extract the front views, the right views etc. from a 3D model that I also draw. The 3D drawing of sculpture is exactly the same intellectual exercise as woodcarving. It is essentially the understanding of the form. When you know how to carve in 3D you also know how to carve in wood.
Shota,
If we use the technique of the transparent paper, it is important to keep a parrallepipedic base which will be used as reference face to put the transparent.
On this carpenter it is obviously necessary to make the meter as a separate object.
To make a head, no particular trick. You just cut the 2 outside profiles from the front and from the right (or from the left). You make the nose stand out by digging the cheeks, after the hollows of the eyes.
You trace the line of the mouth. Then you refine all these shapes more precisely.

Bernard
 
Huc Bernard said:
In my case, it's not about luck, it's about hard work. I extract the front views, the right views etc. from a 3D model that I also draw. The 3D drawing of sculpture is exactly the same intellectual exercise as woodcarving. It is essentially the understanding of the form. When you know how to carve in 3D you also know how to carve in wood.
Shota,
If we use the technique of the transparent paper, it is important to keep a parrallepipedic base which will be used as reference face to put the transparent.
On this carpenter it is obviously necessary to make the meter as a separate object.
To make a head, no particular trick. You just cut the 2 outside profiles from the front and from the right (or from the left). You make the nose stand out by digging the cheeks, after the hollows of the eyes.
You trace the line of the mouth. Then you refine all these shapes more precisely.

Bernard
Click to expand...
No-one can appreciate the 3D modelling more than I do as I was working with Solidworks for 16 years and created quite a lot of highly sophisticated 3D models so I know what I am talking about... I also own Zbrush but I did not invest more time to learn it. Beyond the usual laziness for not learning Zbrush my other argument was that finishing up a 3D model can be achieved on two ways: 3D print or CNC carving. I don't value a 3D printed sculpture on a model so let's put this one aside. (and the cast metal decorations, supplied by most European and American kits are even worse than these.) For CNC finish you have to make the model (100% of time) than creating all the necessities (toolpatch etc) - another 50% of time - so why do all these when I can carve the figure in 100% of time? Not talking about the necessary investments for hardware and software - so I stuck by carving. Having said that I am just breaking my own rules for carving each and every piece of decoration on my current De Crone model as I am making a mixture of carving and using polymer clay due to the high degree of repetitions.
I, for one, value the carved decorations at the highest degree. Everything else is just a pale copy of this method.
János
 
Nice Shota, that you start again carving. I can see your learning curve. You got a lot of advice already. The only thing I can say is that you have to see your project in you mind and work that out in the piece of wood. The statue is already hidden inside the piece of wood. You only have to peel of all the unnecessary wood around it. Don't worry about details, they come at last.
 
janos said:
No-one can appreciate the 3D modelling more than I do as I was working with Solidworks for 16 years and created quite a lot of highly sophisticated 3D models so I know what I am talking about.
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It is not because one has worked for a long time on a CAD tool (Solidworks, Pro Engineer, Katia etc) that one knows how to sculpt in 3D. Parametric CAD is geometric shape modeling. 3D sculpture is the modeling of organic forms.
I have known many excellent 3D industrial designers in my life who did not know how to sculpt in 3D.
It's not the same thing, and it doesn't require the same skills.
I don't work much with software like Zbrush, Mubbox, Sculptris. I still work with the old method of Bézier curves.
In model making I don't make a difference between a hand sculpted object and a 3D printed object. Provided of course that the 3D printed object has been drawn personally.
I am not interested in printing objects found on the web.
3D printing is just a simple procedure that can be completed in a short time. The 3D sculpture does not use complicated functions. On the other hand, it requires a lot of practice, a lot of practice.
Bernard
 
I don't want to stretch the issue any further (this is Shota's thread anyhow) so I stop it right here. Obviously I don't need to be taught about the differences between parametric and organic modeling. So let Shota have his thread back.
János
 
janos said:
I don't want to stretch the issue any further (this is Shota's thread anyhow) so I stop it right here. Obviously I don't need to be taught about the differences between parametric and organic modeling. So let Shota have his thread back.
János
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Huc Bernard said:
You are right. I am sorry for this discussion.
Bernard
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Dear Friends
It is perfectly fine to have a respectful dialogue for mutual learning and help.
I thank you both for sharing your knowledge, this is what makes us better. The topic I started, is the stage for all of us, there is a place for everyone who is willing to contribute their knowledge :D:)
 
Looks like it will be nice Shota. But this is not the job for me which I am able to do :) I am going back to the shipyard :)
 
RDN1954 said:
I'm impressed by your courage to pick up the carving gauntlet.
The intended figure is already emerging, I'm sure you're on track to create a fitting carving.
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mtbediz1 said:
Looks like it will be nice Shota. But this is not the job for me which I am able to do :) I am going back to the shipyard :)
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thank you very much my dear friend for the support and encouragement :)
 
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