My first carvings/practice carvings

Ok so i did two tikis, and they were mainly as a practice for staining and getting used to my tools for carving. Both are from Eucalyptus logs that my step dad had laying around his house. so I have plenty more wood to carve. Any help/suggestions would be great. I'm trying something different on this next one im working on. Constructive only please, as I would never attack anyone elses work i do not expect that to happen to me. so here are a few pics, mahalo.

Bro, no one here is going to attack you or your work, believe me! I'm new to this myself and have found folks here nothing but encouraging, you will too! You will get more and more confident with your tools, try carving things you've seen others do because it looks cool, and even join in the events and goings on in your area when you can, and will dig it! Browse through the numerous carving posts for ideas, read up on the tips and tricks folks here are using, post questions you have, and you will be more addicted than you expected!

Your 2 brothers are steps in the right direction, and as most folks here will tell you, just keep doin' it! It's all a big learning experience, you stop learning when you're dead! (Keep living)

Ditto. I'm new too, and these folks have been nothing but generous, encouraging, helpful and kind. If you wanna learn from some great carvers, this is the place to be! Good luck.

thanks guys, yeah i was reading through and i started carving out a log ive had skinned down for awhile, its kind of a weird log, as its still got the stump of a branch in it, but i had an idea today at work, about making it into like a dog type thing, with the stump being the nose, ive got a few pictures of the work i was doing on the eyes tonight, and its got some pencil markings on the log that ive started using for guides, my first two were all free hand, lol. well, here are the pictures of the new one.

Lighting isnt the best, cause its like almost 11 and im outside carving still, so yeah. hopefully tomorrow ill be able to get some better pictures with more carved out of it. mahalo.

That looks very cool, keep the progress pics coming!

Ok so I did a bit more on "The Dog" or my official name, Tiki C, here are some pictures

Mahalo.

krey, Nice first efforts but don't stop just because you call them done. The learning continues when you begin finishing a carving up, adding those finishing details. Its almost like a carving is Never done as you can Always find another area to define better and clean up. Every carving is practice for the next one. So Practice, practice, practice and post your pictures as that even helps.

Great job thekrey! I especially like the head detail on the first two, very creative! I really like how the branch nose looks too - very cool! If you wanted to outline some lips on your doggie guy, it might give a little more definition.
Keep up the good work!!

Thanks guys, I just woke up, and thinking about going out to carve for a little bit, and i was planning on outlining some lips on him, but im still trying to figure out how I want to do it. oh well, ill try something and see how it turns out. ill post pictures proabably later tonight/tomorrow morning of the stuff i did to the dog today.

it's exciting to see a sactown carver on tc. keep learning, carving and posting. brah.

The expression so far with the branch nose looks like he's trying to expell something, hang a tissue on the end too!

lol, that sounds pretty interesting, i may try that, a tissue might make the dog pretty sad looking besides trying to sniff something. lol.

ok, so ive sanded off all the bark from the log, and i still cant figure out how to outline the mouth to get a little more definition to it. Im also thinking about doing two colors when i stain it, the main color like the happy tiki i have, and then for the mouth and eyes, doing the darker red color. what you guys think? im posting a picture of the dog in its new state. which is pretty much all white. lol. mahalo

ok so this last tiki was way more technical than my last two that i did, and i really like the way it came out. I put the stain on it tonight, so the coloring may be a little different in the morning because of the stain soaking in and what not, but here are a few pictures of what it looks like now. mahalo to everyone that helped out with some suggestions or compliments, made me want to make it that much better.

Great progress in a few days. Save the first two I saw and as you progress you can look back and see the difference. I have learned to embrace my mistakes as they teach me so much more than my successes. Just keep carving and don't use the chainsaw if your tired. coco louimg]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/7726/46c397f2.jpg[/img]