Carving the Human Face

I have been using this book and the previous edition as well, for 3 years now.I love carving books and this is the best book I have bought. I learned how to carve realistic faces from this book alone. It is very detailed and shows every step from start to finish. I have all his books and have learned so much from reading this book over and over. I have tried 3 other books that were step by step face carving but the finished product never looks as realistic as when I use the instructions in this book.His eye carving method produces really nice looking eyes. People always comment on the eyes of the projects I’ve done and say how they are so realistic.I don’t know the author nor did I receive anything free, I love learning from books and have about 25 or so and this one gets used the most by far. I use Jeff’s methods for face carving on every figure I carve, from a 3 inch high figure, to a large mask like in his book. His carving the nose and mouth book is good too as is his eye carving book. This book is my fave carving bible.It takes a while to get good but stick with it and follow his steps exactly and you won’t be disappointed.

This book just arrived this morning. I find the photos and drawings to be clear and along with the directional lines drawn on theee carving to show which direction to make cuts with your tools makes the method used by the author very clear. He even gives a tool inventory of tools he used during the carving and when showing the reader how he makes cuts with his tool he tells you which tool he is using plus he gives helpful suggestions for alternate tools that can be used other than the tools he uses. His explaination of how he finishes his carvings is very good too. I would suggest this book to any aspiring carver, and when I wasn't using the book it would be a nice conversation piece for guest to enjoy viewing.

I have read this book cover to cover. Unlike some of his other books the photographs are clear, sharp and not over illuminated. Some have complained that the subject is limited to Native American's. While it is certainly true that the example is a Native American, he frequently shows sketches of a variety of choices when creating the various facial features. After all, an eye is an eye or a nose is a nose. If you can do one that looks good then you can do one that represents the details of the type you are going for. I personally have no particular interest in doing Native American's my interest is more on the caricature side of carving. Nonetheless I have learned a lot from this book and highly recommend it.I have no idea if the publishers read these reviews, but given that his other books are frankly poorly produced and sell for over $100 in the used market, it would seem that republishing his other books would make sense.

This book is a pretty good “show and tell” guide. One thing I wished it had was the facial measurements, i.e the width of the eyes in conjunction with the length of the nose, etc. I bought this book for my 22 year old grandson who is a beginner carver. But, this book is a little more advanced than most beginners can ascertain. On the other hand, I am enjoying it and it will have a place in my reference library.

Not to be unfair to the author, I'm giving this a 5 star rating. I bought this as a gift for my sister. She is on a blood thinner and has no interest in playing around with knives. I have not seen it so can't really give an honest review. So just hope that my sister doesn't throw the book at me. (You know, it is that, "you wouldn't have bought this book if you cared about me thing"). Signed, Insensitive Me.

Purchased for my brother who has been carving wood for 20 years, he loves the book. Says it is very informative, has great photos, descriptive directions.

This book gives good pointers on carving a particular type of face, but I didn't find it as helpful as I hoped. I suppose it depends on what your needs are. The book covers the same territory as many other books on carving the human face, but concentrates on an American Indian type.

Again as to my comment in the review on carving faces, I need all the help I can get being new to carving faces. The fact that experts are willing to share knowledge and tips and pitfalls to us amateurs is fantastic. This book also helps to understand facial anatomy and will be a constant reference manual to me as I practice and practice.