Carving a face teaches different skills than carving a body, and the 3 projects here cover Native American figures, cowboy busts and carved character busts.
Your number of finished pieces decides which one to start with: the cowboy busts suit an earlier project because wrinkles forgive a loose hand, the character busts reward practice with expression, and the Native American figures belong on your second or third carving.
Basswood or a similar soft wood works across all of them, and every one ends with thin coats of paint over clean cuts.
1. Wood Carving Projects
A small animal in clothes is one of the friendliest first projects in carving.
A rabbit in a jacket gives you a simple rounded body, a few clear details and a splash of color, and the jacket hides any spot where the grain misbehaved.
Start with a basswood blank or a similar soft wood, and rough out the body before touching the face. Ears and paws are where small pieces snap, so keep them a little thick until the very end.
Paint the jacket with thin acrylic coats rather than one heavy one, so the carved folds stay crisp.
2. Lynn Doughty Native American Carvings
Faces with a feathered headdress ask for patience, because the headdress and the face compete for attention. Carve the face first and the feathers second, so a slip on a feather never costs you the features.
A pencil sketch on the wood helps more than any tool: mark the brow line, the nose and the jaw before cutting.
Feathers read best as shallow, parallel cuts with a small gouge or V-tool, and varied lengths keep them from looking stamped.
Blue clothing means painting, so leave the wood surface smooth enough to take color evenly.
This is a project for a carver with a few finished pieces behind them, and I’d treat it as a second or third figure, not a first.
3. Cowboy Bust Carvings
An elderly cowboy is a gift of a subject, since age gives you wrinkles, and wrinkles give you cuts you can’t really get wrong. Deep lines at the eyes and cheeks hold shadow and do most of the character work.
Carve the hat brim thin and keep the grain running along its length, or it will chip off in your hand.
The bandana is a good place for painted detail: dots are easiest with the rounded end of a small tool dipped in paint.
A black hat against a tanned face makes a strong contrast, so finish the face in a lighter tone than you think you need.
4. Carved Character Busts
A scowl with a cigar clamped in the mouth is a lesson in expression. Heavy brows pulled low, a pushed-up lip and a sagging jaw tell the whole story without a word.
Carve the cigar as a separate cylinder shape early, then shape the lips around it, so the mouth looks gripped rather than stuck on.
Leave extra wood at the cheeks until the end, since grumpy faces depend on deep creases and you can always cut more.
This is the entry I’d pick for practicing expressions, because exaggeration forgives small errors that a realistic portrait would not.
