The Art of Wood Carving. Creating Wooden Sculpture from Sketch to Three-Dimensional Figure

From a simple block, a face, a movement, a whole story can emerge - one just needs to know how to "listen" to the wood.
Victor Likachev's book, a master with seventy years of carving experience, is not just a guide to technique. It is a confession of a person who devoted his life to transforming wood into art. He shares his experience of carving both hard and soft woods, showing how to work from a sketch and finish the surface to a fine polish that makes the figure, portrait, ornament, bas-relief expressive and three-dimensional. The book provides time-tested carving technologies that allow for the creation of both sculptures and applied objects: from decorative interior finishes to custom tables and benches. The book also tells the author's personal story about his journey to mastery, filled with discoveries and interesting facts, inspiring the creation of one's own works.

- Types of wood: advantages and disadvantages of different wood species.
- Tools made by hand: how to make and adjust them to your needs.
- Carving and polishing techniques: how to transfer a sketch into wood, achieving accurate proportions, detailed relief on a clean surface, and expressive light and shadow.
- Real stories of creating works: portraits, figures, bas-reliefs, interior, and furniture.

Victor Likachev is a wood carving master with extensive experience, especially with hard woods, and the creator of the only sculpture website Sculptprivet. Author of the book "The Cult of Sculpture".