whittle or carve

Do you whittle or carve? Even though the definitions are similar it seems that most people consider wood carving on the more refined side of the two. Whittling seems to be more the basics form, done mostly with a knife and no other tools. No matter how you define it both are closely connected. Back when I first started I whittled, I would take a piece of wood and a pocket knife and just carve whatever, not always having a plan for the carving or the wood. Of course now there is usually a subject I want to end up with and usually comes from a pattern or a roughout. Now for all my friends out there who produce roughouts please don't take this the wrong way but I don't want to rely on roughouts for my carvings, at least not roughouts that I have to buy from other carvers. I want to get to the stage where I create the image and transfer it to wood. I also want to get to the stage where I can produce a roughout of my own so I can reproduce my own carvings with a greater degree of accuracy. Creating an original roughout is an art in itself, one I have not yet learned but will research within the next few weeks and months. We will see in the not so distant future how it all works out.

Enough of that here is a whittling/carving I did of a simple face. The day this was done I had no game plan I was just carving/whittling with no specific idea in mind.