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[heppnerguy]

I have made a few personal portrait patterns and enjoyed the outcome of most of them. I struggled to go through the step by step procedures, that took my so long to achieve my goal, so I do not take the effort to make one very often. This year I plan on making  enough of them to be able to go through the procedures in my head without the long process. So I once again took the long time effort to once again begin my effort to learn this process in my head. I fail to take the time to learn new  things that  take time to learn, so I don't bother to put out the efforts. Here is my newest efforts and I am looking for comments that are on the negative lines. I want people to point out where my weakest parts of this and my future efforts could use some advise so I can see it through someone else's  eyes and help me to be more aware of where I need to pay more attention. I understand that we are not here to critique other people's work, but to support them in their efforts to learn. I understand that  I am a mediocre scroller, at best, but I have been scrolling for a number of years and still make a lot of mistakes.  Please help me, if you choose to and let me hear  your thoughts so I might be able to improve as I go along, trying to learn.

Dick

heppnerguy

[Dak0ta52]

Well, Dick, I wish I could give you some negative critique but from what I see, you're doing a darn good job. I've tried making patterns, primarily of pets/animals, with little success. I do have one I've completed and cut but still needs to be finished. I would not have been able to do this pattern without the help of the online pattern program.

It's obvious the one you have in this post is William Shatner. If I were to critique anything, and this is really reaching out there, would be to have moved the image down slightly to include the tip of the head. Maybe some of the real "pattern makers" on the forum can provide you with more, or better, insite.

[Scrappile]

Looking good to me, Dick.  You know I cannot make patterns.  When I try, I lose it on the eyes and the mouth.. I just cannot make them look right.  The eyes on this look great, the mouth I would have left off the little final curve on the his left side, just before the cheek line.  But if I saw it side by side with the pictrure you  worked from, I my disagree with myself.   I tried a pattern a couple weeks ago, of my grandson, using the "Cute Cutter' website.  ( https://cutecutter.com). I came the closest I ever have to making a pattern.  If I knew how to use GIMP I could have taken what I came up with and maybe easily finished it up better with GIMP   It was close enough that I cut it.  It is only for me so, what the heck.

This is were I got to.   

Edited February 9, 2023 by Scrappile

[Charlie E]

Hi Dick. Just some thoughts from my perspective, not necessarily right or wrong. I just worked from your pattern of course and not the original. I've never had much luck adding highlights to eyes from above. I usually come from the side. I took a little off of the mouth and nose and broke up the left side of his face a bit. I think, in this case, letting the mind fill in some of the details of the mouth and nose works.  I try to make lines like  the ones in the forehead, or wherever, vary in width since consistency looks more artificial as it rarely occurs in nature. 

There's probably not a portrait on my wall that I wouldn't do something different on if I did it again but I guess that's part of the fun of it. You never stop learning.

Just some ideas that may or may not be any good to take or leave.  

Edited February 10, 2023 by Charlie E

[Millwab]

Dick, I’m not much of a pattern maker but my concern when first looking at your pattern was how well the face was supported.  It didn’t look like there were many bridges to hold it in place. Charlie's edit looks like it answered that. 

[daveww1]

nice job

[heppnerguy]

22 hours ago, Dak0ta52 said:

Well, Dick, I wish I could give you some negative critique but from what I see, you're doing a darn good job. I've tried making patterns, primarily of pets/animals, with little success. I do have one I've completed and cut but still needs to be finished. I would not have been able to do this pattern without the help of the online pattern program.

It's obvious the one you have in this post is William Shatner. If I were to critique anything, and this is really reaching out there, would be to have moved the image down slightly to include the tip of the head. Maybe some of the real "pattern makers" on the forum can provide you with more, or better, insite.

This photo was taken from the internet and it includes as much of the top of the head that showed in the actual photo. I too thought the exact thing you mentioned about the top of the head when I saw it but it was all I had to work from. Thank you so much for your input as that is exactly the type of thing I am looking for so as to pick up pointers that will help me as I go about my endeavor to learn to make scroll saw wood portrait patterns from photos. I truly appreciate you taking your time to help me.

Dick

heppnerguy

[heppnerguy]

21 hours ago, Scrappile said:

Looking good to me, Dick.  You know I cannot make patterns.  When I try, I lose it on the eyes and the mouth.. I just cannot make them look right.  The eyes on this look great, the mouth I would have left off the little final curve on the his left side, just before the cheek line.  But if I saw it side by side with the pictrure you  worked from, I my disagree with myself.   I tried a pattern a couple weeks ago, of my grandson, using the "Cute Cutter' website.  ( https://cutecutter.com). I came the closest I ever have to making a pattern.  If I knew how to use GIMP I could have taken what I came up with and maybe easily finished it up better with GIMP   It was close enough that I cut it.  It is only for me so, what the heck.

This is were I got to.   

As for me, I am in the same boat you are as far as understanding all there is about changing a photo to a scroll saw pattern. In most patterns one can cut something incorrectly and no one can even notice it but with  wood portraits ever miss cut or wrong lines stands out and changes the face just a little and those things are critical. In the Village site, Travis has a step by step tutorial for making wood portraits using GIMP. This was the results of trying to follow that tutorial but making the changes as I see them. It is a 7 part tutorial that you may enjoy viewing. I think you did a better job with your wood portrait then I did on mine but then I am not the talented person you are for sure. Thanks for showing your work I really like it a lot.

Dick

[heppnerguy]

16 hours ago, Charlie E said:

Hi Dick. Just some thoughts from my perspective, not necessarily right or wrong. I just worked from your pattern of course and not the original. I've never had much luck adding highlights to eyes from above. I usually come from the side. I took a little off of the mouth and nose and broke up the left side of his face a bit. I think, in this case, letting the mind fill in some of the details of the mouth and nose works.  I try to make lines like  the ones in the forehead, or wherever, vary in width since consistency looks more artificial as it rarely occurs in nature. 

There's probably not a portrait on my wall that I wouldn't do something different on if I did it again but I guess that's part of the fun of it. You never stop learning.

Just some ideas that may or may not be any good to take or leave.  

      Thank you so much for your reconstruction and your comments. This means a lot to me and is very helpful. I have to agree on several things you talked about as I like your rendition better than my own. This is sort of looking at my first scroll saw cutting and comparing it to the improvements I have made through the year as far as my skills go

      I really felt the same as you about the forehead and did exactly as you mentioned but I wasn't sure if as I got to the smaller part of the lines if they would even show through the backer board so I elected to to keep them even for that reason. I can see however  that my idea on it was incorrect as yours look fine.

   Another  thing I like on your is the thinner facial lines on the left side of the face ( as we are viewing it ) and I made the effort to do that  also but I could not make it look the way i was after so I resorted back to the heavier lines. I think I am happier with it the way I did it, in this case.

      The nose I also did not like the amount of heavy underline on the nose but I did this from a tutorial that Travis made and teaches from here in The Village and I ended up making that line considerably smaller than did Travis, but I have to say, I like the way you did the nose better than did I.

    Now to the eyes. Travis said in his tutorial that if you don't get the eyes right, none of the portrait will be correct. In this pattern I have to say that I prefer the highlight the way I did mine over  the way you did yours. I am not putting your way down, I am just stating that I prefer the way I did the eye highlighting on this one but I am happy for you comment as it gives me some options on others in the future where I am sure I will probable use your way of making them and I am so happy you have shown me some options that I may not have considered when I really needed better way to do them.

     Seeing things a little different than you do in some areas does not make you or me wrong, I believe, but only means we have a little different view on how we like what we see. We are individuals and everyone has different likes and dislikes. There is nothing you did or pointed out that I am going to consider as I go through this learning process and I believe that almost everyone who makes portrait patterns would make some part of it a little differently than others.

    I can not thank you enough for all your input and also including a rework along with you comments as it does help me to better understand what you are pointing out to me.

Dick

heppnerguy

[heppnerguy]

16 hours ago, Millwab said:

Dick, I’m not much of a pattern maker but my concern when first looking at your pattern was how well the face was supported.  It didn’t look like there were many bridges to hold it in place. Charlie's edit looks like it answered that. 

Thank you so much. I see exactly what you are saying. I had meant to make a bridge on the left side of the face and forgot to do so. A very good observation on your part. Charlie did make some very good points and observations and I am so happy that he did reply as he has done so many wood portraits and I was hoping to get some pointers from him. I really appreciate you  taking the time to help me with my new endeavor.

Dick

heppnerguy

[Scrappile]

I've been through the tutorials a couple times.. Just too many steps for this old coot.  I even have a cheat sheet that someone one made up several years ago, so many steps.

[rdatelle]

I don’t know Dick, it looks pretty good. The hardest part for me is the eyes and mouth. Thatst what I do first in case I mess them up, I can start over.

[Charlie E]

4 hours ago, heppnerguy said:

      Thank you so much for your reconstruction and your comments. This means a lot to me and is very helpful. I have to agree on several things you talked about as I like your rendition better than my own. This is sort of looking at my first scroll saw cutting and comparing it to the improvements I have made through the year as far as my skills go

      I really felt the same as you about the forehead and did exactly as you mentioned but I wasn't sure if as I got to the smaller part of the lines if they would even show through the backer board so I elected to to keep them even for that reason. I can see however  that my idea on it was incorrect as yours look fine.

   Another  thing I like on your is the thinner facial lines on the left side of the face ( as we are viewing it ) and I made the effort to do that  also but I could not make it look the way i was after so I resorted back to the heavier lines. I think I am happier with it the way I did it, in this case.

      The nose I also did not like the amount of heavy underline on the nose but I did this from a tutorial that Travis made and teaches from here in The Village and I ended up making that line considerably smaller than did Travis, but I have to say, I like the way you did the nose better than did I.

    Now to the eyes. Travis said in his tutorial that if you don't get the eyes right, none of the portrait will be correct. In this pattern I have to say that I prefer the highlight the way I did mine over  the way you did yours. I am not putting your way down, I am just stating that I prefer the way I did the eye highlighting on this one but I am happy for you comment as it gives me some options on others in the future where I am sure I will probable use your way of making them and I am so happy you have shown me some options that I may not have considered when I really needed better way to do them.

     Seeing things a little different than you do in some areas does not make you or me wrong, I believe, but only means we have a little different view on how we like what we see. We are individuals and everyone has different likes and dislikes. There is nothing you did or pointed out that I am going to consider as I go through this learning process and I believe that almost everyone who makes portrait patterns would make some part of it a little differently than others.

    I can not thank you enough for all your input and also including a rework along with you comments as it does help me to better understand what you are pointing out to me.

Dick

heppnerguy

You're welcome, and I 100% agree there is no right or wrong when it comes to how different people see the same thing. Often I'll work on some facial feature for an hour, get happy with how I did it, and the next day think it looks awful.  

[heppnerguy]

On 2/10/2023 at 3:10 PM, Scrappile said:

I've been through the tutorials a couple times.. Just too many steps for this old coot.  I even have a cheat sheet that someone one made up several years ago, so many steps.

That is the very same problem that I am having. I  hope to try new portraits often so that I know what steps come when. I am hoping that will make all the efforts will become automatic, making the process go much faster and I am also very hopeful that the efforts become  much better with the practice, like most things do

Edited February 16, 2023 by heppnerguy

[heppnerguy]

On 2/10/2023 at 4:19 PM, rdatelle said:

I don’t know Dick, it looks pretty good. The hardest part for me is the eyes and mouth. Thatst what I do first in case I mess them up, I can start over.

    Me too. I just hope by continuing to  try different photos eventually I will understand it  enough to eventually produce a wood portrait  pattern that I like without having to spend too much time making the photos into a good pattern.

 Dick

heppnerguy

[lawson56]

Dick it has been awhile since I made a pattern, I started out teaching myself and like you Iasked for help here, and got a lot. I personaly don't see anything wrong with your patterns, they are Fantastic. and you are FAR from a mediocar Scroller. As with anything with repatition we get better. Looking forward to seeing more of your Plaques.

[heppnerguy]

On 2/16/2023 at 3:37 PM, lawson56 said:

Dick it has been awhile since I made a pattern, I started out teaching myself and like you Iasked for help here, and got a lot. I personaly don't see anything wrong with your patterns, they are Fantastic. and you are FAR from a mediocar Scroller. As with anything with repatition we get better. Looking forward to seeing more of your Plaques.

 That is a really nice reply to my pattern attempt from you. I will try to continually make an effort to understand about patterns.  There are so many steps from photos to scroll patterns and it is not easy for me to remember them all. With practice, I know it will eventually come automatic.  I did another one and I am  not even close to what I am after. I may or may not post that one for critique, not sure yet as I am a little embarrassed but my results. As far as my mediocre scrolling  goes, I am confident that  I can do about any pattern cut I choose to take on but the results has somethings to improve on, but in the past few months I have finally learned to slow down and my success rate is much better now than it ever was but being in my 80's now isn't an asset for sure. I look at some of the other scrollers work and I am still amazed by what they can do. The good part is the people that buy from me an a regular basis are not able to compare my work with those that are so much better than I so, what they do not know helps me. 

 Dick

heppenrguy