DIY Network

Carved Caricature: Firefighter, Pt. 1 From "Woodsculpting" episode DWDS-102

Award-winning wood sculptor Peter Ortel carves detailed and often humorous caricatures. One of his specialties is carved representation of NYC firemen.

In this episode of DIY's Woodsculpting Workshop we meet Peter Ortel, award-winning woodcarver who specializes in carved caricatures. Peter demonstrates the techniques he uses to create his unique miniatures as he carves a NYC firefighter.

Materials used in this episode:

Bass wood
Chisels
Band saw
Tracing paper
Carbon paper
Ballpoint pen
Watercolor paint and brushes

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Peter Ortel: Caricatures and Character

Peter Ortel grew up in the Northeast and made his career as a New York City fireman. Since his retirement from the fire department, he has devoted himself to woodcarving. He specializes in caricature carvings of people. He captures faces, body shapes, expression and gesture using wood -- and does so in much the same fashion that Norman Rockwell captured them with paint. He likes to incorporate humor into his work and, in fact, developed skills early on in sketching and cartooning. After his retirement, he enrolled in woodsculpting courses and seminars and soon discovered a new way to create cartoon characters -- in wood (figures A and B).

Figure A

Figure B

Within just a few years, Peter was impressing woodsculptors from around the world at the prestigious Affiliated International Woodcarver's competition. Ultimately one of his pieces (figures C and D) took the "Best of Show" honors, in a competition that included more than 500 other entrants. In fact, he became the first carver specializing in caricatures to ever hold that title.

Figure C

Figure D

In 2001, the September 11 tragedy took the lives of six of the firefighters from the New York firehouse where Peter had served (figure E). One of his fellow rescue-workers would later ask Peter if he might consider creating a piece in memory of the fallen firemen. The tribute piece that resulted (figure F) became a well known icon among NY firefighters, and plans are underway to house it in a display in a special Firefighter's Museum.

Figure E

Figure F

It was two years after those events before Peter would return to creating his caricature pieces. Today he has returned to carving the humorous faces and characters he sees in everyday life. Following is a brief summary of the artistic approach and some of the techniques that Peter uses.

Firefighter Carving, Part 1

• After deciding on the basic size of the piece he wants, Peter selects an appropriate piece of wood (figure G). He prefers bass wood, which is the choice of many woodcarvers. Bass wood has many of the properties of pine -- i.e., a soft wood that's easy to work with -- but it lacks pine's heavy grain lines.

• Peter then sketches out a basic design, in actual size, for the character he wants to create, including both a front and profile view (figure H).

  Figure G

  Figure H

  
  

• He then aligns the drawing on the block of wood and transfers the drawing onto adjacent sides of the wood.

• After refining the sketch and transferring it to the block of wood, Peter cuts away the excess wood using the band saw (figure I), leaving the rough-cut form for the carving (figure J).

  Figure I

  Figure J

  
  

• In order to facilitate the hand-carving, Peter then draws out guide lines for the details of the body parts and other structures in the carving (figure K).

• He then uses a sharp chisel to begin carving away the larger pieces of wood necessary to begin shaping the parts (figure L).

• Tip: Peter recommends making stop-cuts with the chisel to prevent cutting away too much wood. With sharp chisels, it's easy to cut further into the wood than you intended. Stop-cuts help reduce the possibility of over-cutting.

  Figure K

  Figure L

  
  

• Peter continues to carve away the excess wood (figure M) -- cutting away, as he puts it, "all the parts that don't look like a fireman."

• When necessary, as he works Peter goes back and draws additional lines to guide his cuts.

• Tip: When marking guide lines, mark your elements larger than you think you'll need. It's always possible to cut away a little more wood, but if you start small and inadvertently over-cut, there may be no way to fix the problem.

• As he continues to carve, the figure comes increasingly into view (figure N).

  Figure M

  Figure N

  
  

  	"Caricature carving is an exaggeration of whatever the subject is," says Ortel. "There are certain parts that you exaggerate on the form. I like to exaggerate the hands, feet and face."
  	How do you carve a fireman? According to caricature artist Peter Ortel, simply take a block of wood and "cut away anything that doesn't look like a fireman." Seriously though, Ortel follows the sculpting principles espoused by Michelangelo -- visualizing the carved form from the outside in.

In the segment that follows, Peter refines the carving with detail work and paint.

RESOURCES :

Fox Chapel Publishing Co.
Publishers of
Woodcarving Illustrated magazine and numerous books on woodcarving.
1970 Broad Street
East Petersburg, PA 17520

Websites:
www.foxchapelpublishing.com

Fox Chapel Publishing, featured authors

Special DIY page at www.woodcarvingillustrated.com

Woodcarving Illustrated magazine
Website: www.woodcarvingillustrated.com

Caricature Carvers of America
www.cca-carvers.org

GUESTS :

Peter Ortel, wood sculptor
Monroe, NY
Peter Ortel bio