Carving a Green-Eyed Green Man

If you follow my blog, this is one of the pieces from the cottonwood bark preparation tutorial. I really like the way this guy turned out, beautiful color and grain.

I started this carving with a simple sketch.

I begin this like all my face carvings by removing wood to bring the nose forward and setting the eye channels.

Removed wood to form the dental mound.

Rounding the dental mound. 

Drawing in the leaves.

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Roughing in the leaves. 

Adding detail to the leaves, and defining the cheek bones.

I have cut in the eyes and laid out where the mouth will set.

Added detail to the eyes and carved the mouth with just a little smile. 

Hand sanded and added some color to the eyes.

Applying the water based matte polyurethane sparingly. 

Love how the grain pops, the finish is still wet.

Here he is after the finish has dried, has a softer look.