How to Carve a Man’s Face in Wood -Step by Step

Hey guys, the birds are out here. Can't tell if that's a squirrel or not. Today we're carving a Native American bust and I'm really pleased. I'll put some b-roll on this. Very pleased with the way it turned out and I hope that you enjoy it. I don't know what else to say except for let's get into it. Welcome back guys. All right today we've got another piece of basswood. This is seven and a half centimeters long or three inches long by about an inch and a quarter wide or 34 millimeters wide. In addition, today we're going to be using the flex cut knife which is an inch and a quarter blade. This is not the usual thing for me but I'm using this today because I'm just testing out, still just testing out the flex cut portable knife. This is called the Carvin Jack 2.0 and they were sent me this and I did a review on it and I've just been trying to put it through its paces. So that's why I'm using this. You can use your own straight blade knife at home. I've got a ruler, a pencil, strop and some notes here. So let's get into it. So first thing I want to do is start to round the corners. I want to make sure that these corners aren't digging in my hands because gosh that's no fun. Corners cut. I guess it's the only time in life where it's a it's a good thing to cut corners. So all right so the first thing I want to do is I want to trim this head down to about three and a half centimeters or what does that come to? Oh about an inch and uh just shy of an inch and a half of width at the top here and I'm starting at about the two inch mark or gosh all these conversions guys some of these I didn't already do but four four and a half centimeters ish close to five centimeters from the top down. I'm going to start to narrow here. So I'm going to leave a little edge for the shoulder and you'll see don't don't worry too much yet. Now you could mark it with your pencil. I'm just kind of guesstimating the the position. Now I'm going to take the corners off of the top of the what will be the head. So I'm just rounding those corners. My goodness it's a beautiful day out here. Stunning day. It's cool but not too cool. That's what they say about me. All right I'm going to take a little bit of time to strop this because I'm seeing a little line and I like to do this on camera. I know most of the whittlers on YouTube don't do this on camera and it might be boring for some of you but I hope it's a reminder that if you're carving and you're having a hard time that it could be that your knife is dull and you should take the time to strop your tool because nothing more important than a sharp tool. What was it that uh I'm going butcher the the quote but something to the effect of um god who knows if uh he even said this but did Abraham Lincoln say that if he was given a day to chop a log down he'd spend most of it sharpening his axe. All right so now we're going to come down from the top here. Let's see what the total height is on this face. Let's do that because there's a couple of measurements as you can tell that I didn't take so about three oh about three and a half centimeters from the top here. Now the nice thing about us Americans is almost all the rulers that we use have both uh you know American and metric and so yeah we have the ability us Americans to adapt we just don't do it. So all right so I'm creating a stop cut underneath this chin so it's a v-cut like so just like that okay and I'm coming underneath this is going to be the chin this is going to be the chin and I want to leave it fairly square I don't want to point it too much because we want this guy to have a manly broad chin we want to do this guy due diligence since we can make him right some of us would make our chins broader if we could I know I would. All right so this is uh the inner insecurities are coming out um the uh next step I'm going to do here is I'm going to make a cut about a centimeter and a half from the top so I can just mark that with my knife although many of you would rather use a pencil and you probably should because you're more likely to cut yourself this way but I just made a little indent there so once again inch and a half from the top and this is going to be his brow ridge. Okay now I'll carve a little bit of material above there carving this forehead back above that v-cut like so and then I'll make this cut once again and I'm starting to actually kind of curve downward into this valley here if you can see that that's what I'm after okay that line won't quite go away in the blade all right now I'm going to extend this line that we've made over a little bit and start to turn it downward so the light slight downward turn right I'm going to come down about a centimeter from that line grab our pencil here or ruler rather centimeter maybe a little less than a centimeter that seems a little long I don't know eight or nine mil come in establish another v-cut right there okay now we can go on either side of this about a quarter of an inch or so or uh so what is that six millimeter apart from one another on the center line here make a triangle cut on either side of this v-cut that we made notice that see that so I came straight in on this just about a millimeter up or two and then a little triangle angling it this way and then this way and those angles should all meet to create a chip that pops out just like that okay coming on either side with the scoop cut beautiful all right and I'm going to make another cut oh let's say about three quarters say if we divide this into quarters or into thirds I'm sorry in the thirds line here in the line here you can do that with the pencil you'll be able to see it a lot easier so I'll do that really quickly one here and then one here see that divided this area from the nose to the bottom of the chin into thirds we want the mouth to be on this dividing line the first and second third so I'm going to make a v-cut here and if you have a v-tool you can also use a v-tool for this notice that look at we almost have a profile the same way remember how we curved this line downward we came in with our v-cut but we took the v-cut at an angle we're going to do the same thing here we're going to do the same thing here with this mouth we're going to take it down slight downward angle okay all right let's narrow his head up a little bit I've got a reference photo out here let me just pull that up here's the reference photo okay now I'm going to take my knife and I'm going to make a cut for the hairline up top here now I'm coming gosh I must be coming just about why don't we find out about a half a centimeter five mil from the top of the carving but at an angle here right like so establishing the hairline Mr. and Mrs. Goose are saying hello hello from Mr. and Mrs. Goose hey guys with the cut at the top I'm serious guys this is uh probably one of the best days we've had all summer so far high of 79 it's a little bit warmer than yesterday which is good I don't mind a little bit of heat I love the I love the anytime we're in the 70s in Michigan I'm happy so I just created this v-channel up top here I'm going to carry it over carry it on down carry it on down the side of the face just like so all right I'll come in with my knife meeting that cut and just make a little bit of a v-channel just like so establishing the side of the face and while we're at it I'm going to make a cut along the side of the face this whole face is probably not going to be definitely not more than an inch wide no less than that maybe even seven eighths wide and it tapers down at the jaw to about three quarters of an inch okay I know you want your metric for that so what is that oh I don't know where it is 17 millimeter 16 18 something like that so I'm kind of narrowing down like so okay I'm extending the lines down notice how the face kind of widens at the cheekbone right right um at the at the brow ridge coming down off the side of the brow ridge kind of widens out that's what we're after here all right I'm going to come in with my knife and I'm going to take another scoop cut out of the side of this guy's face run other side of the nose so scooping out if you need to practice that cut it's kind of a difficult cut for some people but practice it on a scrap piece of wood just grab a piece of wood and practice scooping scooping through the wood turning the blade as it's going through and you'll learn the grain oh it's lost my guy you'll start to learn the grain and the structure of the wood how it behaves you have great great uh control of your knife blade which is what allows you to do these really finite adjustments all right define the jaw a little bit more come along the side of the jaw create a v-cut here just like that v-cut here I'm going to create a collar I'm just going to come beneath the chin or really it could be a necklace beneath the chin coming in with the knife like so and then I'm going to carve down to that line little chunks at a time guys if you start pushing really hard and forcing the blade to do stuff it doesn't want to do you're way more likely to stab yourself and even if you're wearing a glove which you should be wearing a glove um you're you're not going to come out unscathed put it that way a a glove will not protect you from stabbed wounds that's for sure even those fancy steel fishmonger gloves that I bought you can still stab yourself with them it's definitely safer to have those but my hands are slippery today second time I almost dropped this thing all right so I'm coming in narrowing the cheekbone right actually I'm coming right below the cheekbone called the zygomatic arch making a little scoop cut back to that scoop cut notice how important this is for this project the scoop cut is so important the most important it's so important I don't know my trump accent is pretty bad it's okay um when they saw this carving they said wow it's important I'm sorry why is everyone has to do a trump accent now or impression I mean all right so I'm coming along I'm extending the hairline down like so I'm gonna keep going over those cut lines until a chunk falls out back and forth okay do another one on the other side to create a braid a couple of v cuts on both sides if you had a v2 I'm serious this would just be so much breezier and easier I guess that means the same thing be a breeze so do use that if you have one I'm gonna bring his shirt down I'm in between those two braids that we just made like so how can you not have fun when you're out here and in the beautiful sunny skies nice and cool in the morning I like carving in the morning outside because it's still cool enough to be really enjoyable you know you're not quite in the summertime and the heat in the summer you know really even in Michigan you can get temperatures into the 90s and higher and that the humidity factored into that it's just nice to be out here early in the morning it really is so okay so we can go on either side if we want to create a little necklace instead of a collar here so we can go right below that line I mean a millimeter or two right below that line that we just made coming alongside of it with another cut and another v stop cut to chip that out and then that gives us our little neck a little uh necklace okay so his I'm gonna put his his shoulder right here it's really really kind of to you where to put the shoulders as far as if you wanted to have really broad shoulders but within reason you know I mean you don't want to go too much lower than the chin which is where I'm at here starting kind of at the chin okay cool all right now let's make something it's called the uh first of all and take the nose take the angle of the nose up a little bit okay well we could have left the nose a little wider maybe a little over maybe like eight millimeter instead of six millimeter or at least seven millimeter in hindsight but that's just that's just who this guy is this is not the guy that I was originally intending on carving and that's the beauty of carving is that you you have a plan and yet it diverges and sometimes it's it surprises you and in a good way okay so I'm going to make little cuts on either side remember this triangle cut that we made on either side of the nose earlier I'm going to extend this a line from that triangle cut down into the side of the face to make the frown line um this is really helping to shape the mouth mound too because I'm coming in and I'm taking a big section out from underneath the nose right above the upper lip or at the upper lip see that take some of the sharpness out of the chin like a squirrel marked one of my pencil over okay I'm going to take the knife marks out of those cheeks here and one thing we can do is create the mid-face groove which is a really interesting groove because it kind of runs along parallel with the smile lines that we just created on either side of the mouth but just above them so just above that is another kind of v-groove I mean maybe two or two millimeters above that so I'll make a stop cut and a relief cut stop cut relief cut until that thing there it is it comes out and then we've got the mid-face groove which I love the name of that because it's so easy to remember it's just describing what it is it's a groove in the middle of the face I love when it works out like that because sometimes my memory is it doesn't stick some of these names you know as with anyone okay I'm going to make a little cut at the brow ridge raise the brow inside corner of brow just giving him a look of concern I find that my face looks like this but I'm just resting so maybe he's not concerned maybe he's just like me resting concerned face I call it what was that I'm telling you those squirrels are playing with my stuff I'm watching my back I'm expecting a squirrel to come out of the woods am I carving probably a chipmunk honestly okay now I'm going to make I'm going to give his eyes kind of a squint to them and so I'm just going to come in with my blade and make an almond shape one curved and then another curved cut until you can kind of see him peering out check that chip out see that I'm gonna do the same thing over here this is a technique that I picked up from Ron Adamson actually he would carve eyes like this at times just a little slot that's my if my memory serves me correctly it could be wrong Ron hopefully I'm not offending his process here okay I'm just narrowing up the face a little bit more create a little groove a little feed cut right under the eye to create the lower lid I'll come underneath that to relieve it same thing over here a line meeting that line and we'll come on the inside corner of the eye make it a little bit more pronounced there inside corner and we're going to keep this very simple guys we're not gonna well I know for some of you this already seems like a challenge for sure don't don't be dismayed that's the case but I'm not going to take this one maybe as far as some carvings I'm going to keep it as simple as I can as though it could get it's it already is pretty challenging I'm just admitting to the fact that if you guys are struggling with it it's not not an easy carve it's a it's a definite if it's if it's a beginner carving it's definitely a one that folks need to try later in their journey you know their beginner journey so you know I don't know about that that I say stuff like that but that's what really excited me when I started carving was realism and portraiture and all that and I I think I got better quicker because I really strived to try and do more challenging projects so even if you are a beginner why not challenge yourself because he's got that you know bear grease in his hair most likely or he might be greased might not be but brings his hair a little bit tighter tighter to his head all right I could go crazy with this guys and just keep carving all day but this is good enough I'm gonna open up his mouth a little bit with the upper lid upper lip rather tuck that inside corner of the lower lip in create some marionette lines we'll we'll be cut up the edge corner of his mouth all right that's that guys I hope you enjoyed this project I'm keeping it just gonna stop it right there there are just so many ways we could take this thing but again I wanted to keep you keep you engaged and keep you uh following along we'll do some more maybe some more advanced projects in the future but this is what we've got so far you can do a whole necklace pattern all the way down if you wanted to it's up to you if you want to go crazy with a necklace pattern but um I'm just gonna stop blowing the head huh all right guys thanks for watching again and uh see you in the next one oh and by the way if you want to learn to carve faces in wood I've got a book out I wish I brought it out here with me but yeah I can put a little picture right here uh yeah it's called carving faces in wood and uh it's a book that I wrote to help people like you who are interested in this sort of thing so if that that's something that you uh are interested in you enjoyed this video you enjoyed learning about faces carving faces or you're already trying to master your skills check out the book it's called carving faces in wood and it's out everywhere you can buy a book amazon barnes and noble all that so all right see you guys whoa nelly I forgot the nostrils guys we can't forget the nostrils sorry about that so I'm back so to do the nostrils I'm going to extend the corner uh so basically extending the line of this smile line here but I'm turning it up into the side of the nose into that side profile taking a little hair hair's worth of material out of it wow that airplane's timing is perfect notice that see how I created that I'll show you over here so I'll come in the airplane extend that line with a little v-cut okay you can take some of the squareness out of the nose tip as well and then nostril wise I just like to take the knife and a little scoop turn wow sounds like I'm in an airplane here a little scoop cut little scoopy scoop just a little scoopy scoop beautiful oh beautiful look how much better it looks now with a little scoopy scoop in there and I did do a little trimming up cleaning up on it as well okay how about that come on tell me you're not having fun okay now I actually leave you a little philtrum do a little philtrum little v-groove above the lip right there that's always nice how about that okay thanks guys hope you enjoyed check out the online school too in the description if you're trying to learn more about faces there's a ton over 100 videos on the web page uh I don't know 60 or 70 or I don't know how many projects now 80 projects I can't remember uh lots of projects on there on face carving realistic portraiture and all that so check that out all right see you guys