Aother carving

Well I finished another carving and I really like the facial expression on this one. I am making an effort to change up the facial expressions and facial hair on each carving. I will do some elf type characters and then carve some Santa type characters after that. I will not only focused on the areas mentioned but also on my basic carving techniques. In previous carvings I have utilized my Denny Ortel V-tool for different areas, like where the hair outlines the face. I have been recently started doing this area with stop cuts, I know it's kinda like going backwards in my technique but I don't want to get to the point where I can't do everything with a knife, so this will be the game plan for the foreseeable future.

One thing I struggle with in this area is keeping clean cuts and no burring or lines. You know the lines I am talking about when you cut too deep into the stop cut and there is a cut line. You are going to get a certain amount of these but keeping it to an extreme minimal is my goal. At least I have another carving done and awaiting painting. This will make it interesting as well since usually I carve, paint and move on to my next carving. Now I will carve, carve and carve some more, then paint a bunch all at one time. Maybe this will strengthen my painting technique as well, we can only hope.

Carpe diem carving