started in r and kind of put me in that direction whatever it is the fact is that you need a vice there's a lot of stress to goes on you've got to make some days it's very stressful so you need to release  creative release something that you know you can you can always go to so this this hard drugs i think i went to ice and fruit and vegetables as my crack because on weekends when i was when i finally got a day off that's what i was doing and i'm finding myself i'm still back in the kitchen even on my off time as a chef your knife skills are in peril you just have to be there so you know you're always looking to improve them  tell majority of my students is you know learn how to cut a straight line before you start learning how to make a unicorn are making a three d eagle or anything of that nature so you know we start very rudimentary  something kind of work our way up so you would mention you guys are looking to see something like a face you know just whatever i want to show you i like pumpkins i like him a lot and a lot of fun it's one of those fruits and vegetables that's very malleable and allows you to pretty much do anything that you can do to clay to it so it really makes good for a good anatomy i'm going to talk about some tools really quick  loop tools as a chef i was never really introduced to these two a little bit probably the last four or five years ago and a lot of sand sculptors use these a lot of clay artist like that i'm thinking how good can it a three dollar tool so you know i went out i made the investment i started using i'm like wow this is right i maybe should have went to this a long time ago instead of using a knife this works very well i have sharpened this this is a plain old  tool you can buy any art store for about three dollars and you can basically difficult like this and you can start peeling the pumpkin see out that does i don't like that you never get to this part and you do a face like this and you start doing this to the pumpkin it becomes very stringy and a point where you can't carve it anymore and i don't like that so i try to use something always very sharp i found this little floppy in europe i had the fortunate good luck to go to the cullen area lympics in two thousand and eight so they are you know the nasa of undertaking there there's twelve hundred entries a day if you will so it's like a convention hall their convention hall just amazing artist and a lot of them were fruit and vegetable cars i could not believe how many carvers there were around the world you know you start you think of your little realm but the internet kind of made it more possible for you guys to see that while there is some amazing work everywhere like you go to thailand as a seven year old it can be to any of us in this room you know and it's kind of there all right so let's take a look at this this work a lot better it's like a mandolin but look at the look at the seal and i cut it like that it's no longer stringy it's fine now to take my leave to go over there but i don't want to put that much stress on the flesh especially that initial flash that i'm going to start carving on because that's going to i'm going to take this is start building it all the way back so i want to make sure that i got a nice good fresh pumpkin what i like to do is make a make a window because this is really you know sometimes a really good looking pumpkin and different there than the ones i don't pick because i'm looking for a very heavy wall pumpkin so i'm looking for some deformities deformities are and usually give you a thicker wall so something is  way or molding this way that's the pumpkin you're looking for because you're gonna get a big thicker wall the other thing is the pick the pumpkin up i have is for its size it's ok i probably got to an app engine maybe three so i really know i can't do too much you all right learning to do any kind of face i always believe in a point of reference in anything that you do in art ok for the longest time i think i went to competitions for about ten years and i didn't make a template i did showed up  things like i am a carpet is today good i think it's cool but the problem with that is it takes time you don't really you're not well adjusted to it you not sure what's going to have been so i kind of maybe i should start looking at a point of reference point of reference is you know you're all into what you're doing you look down to bring the bet right back on track so i'm going to carve a face and this is a very nice tool that i use is how to make an i how to make the lips different expressions of lips ok so i always pull this  thing if i were to anything with anatomy and i want to set it right here because i want to make and i can go right back down and see how that i'm going to be made and that to me is invaluable in specially if i'm trying to make something or captur expression on somebody's face all right but the pumpkin ring and it's always nice to have a ring or ball or something underneath you ok and i also like to carve on something that's moving because i'm able to carve move and it's able to give me like i'm doing some circular i can get that nice movement that way instead of stain stationary so a lazy susan and a cutting board can be your best friend and fashion fruit and vegetable carving works really good i'm going to go ahead make one little line here amazing you know believe it or not i would not sold on the loop tools i had a paring knife in my hand twenty years ago and i swore by it and impairing i just can't do something that a tool like this can do so i'ma start out with what he called the brow lines ok kind of bring it out and separate that's gonna be my forehead ok from there i'm going to make a note i'm kind of sketching with this thing too but by doing this i'm just taking a little bit of something off i'm not make and i'm not over cutting and that's what happens when novice cover cutter carvers start to do things and overcompensate blackening go in the end all of a sudden what should have been a cheek there is now longer the flat spot and i could say i probably had a good fifteen years of doing that honestly my learning curve was stream lee long i went to college other competition there competition after going and i would be thank you for coming here's your certificate no metal no hardware but as time went on as i went on to do that i want to get better i want to get some of that other stuff so you know you start walking the guys and what are you doing so coming to events like this can only going to make you stronger because you're always going to what do you do and it's nothing in technique that we're looking at it's going to help you get stronger and help you build your repertoire of of tools and technique i probably should have another scrapbook here but i try to keep it a nice pile a brush helps too because in the beginning thing you got stuff everywhere plastic apron helps to because it is everywhere pumpkin g basement some horrible place for that one of those things right now too that isn't in season thing it's still in the cheapest things you know out there right now watermelons are going up sky high and your other melons you know now's the time to switch over to pumpkin right good work here ok here's some simple things that help me make a face and think you if you watch a video go through it if you just see that raw if you start to see what i'm looking at well there it's where the cheekbones going to be that's where the eye sockets going to be the bridge in those is going to always slope and then kind of come out from a pop this out then taper these corners but this is kind of my rough for a face so i have a brow i had two eyes i have cheekbones i have a face line where the mouth will be pushed back from smiling or smile lines so i kind of put them in there roughly because by putting the smile lines in there gives me a place to put lips i got lips right here and then i always start out as put a little a little half circle there which if you look right here most people have that the starter chen with so i'm saving a little bit down here for this little ball and for a chin with that point of reference now that gives me kind of my my get my template if you will to make this face as long as i'm not you know cut into it too much and start bringing it back and start pushing everything is deep as i could possibly go it should look pretty good should let's go to work here another coloring medium and which i work in but it's very it's very much just like clay but it's actually animal fat and again something with a point something you can draw on it in this edge right in there to get where you're going to go  so i drew some more lines in there is really quick so just again i'm always looking at lines and references when i'm going to sculpt something one back ok a car that away and i'm going to put that reference line back and so i know right where my face and where my nose or my cheek going to be in there and then i'll take a tool like this and i'll start working it into the shape i like and then i'm also going well then i go a little bit deeper i know a little bit deeper and i go a little bit deeper and i just  a couple more lines in there what did i put in there next thank you very much the brow the brow is one of those things either go up and down on a human being and some are heavier than other pinning on the expression that you have on your face depending on how big the brow will be ok there you go that kind of goes like this you know i'm one of my mentors taught me something when i was making a face and stuck with me for years and called i use this peak valley that alley peak that alley pete that alley peak that alley peak so you're always looking at those points on the face that are higher than one another to bring them out so i was thinking ok and i look over now i love the little bit here more than i love here because the lips so what i always on something this is what i always did but if you look at some of the radar he kind of comes in here and starts because if you've carved enough of this this will actually flip up like this and then if you start smiling back here actually your lips are already started so it's kind of a unique thing i just kind of switched over to him but i always leave a little extra here because you can you can always take away but you never put it back right on sculpture i know i got a tool here i can is with that up but i got something to carve i didn't take it down to something flat majority my fleece for year look like mongolian monkeys i had monkey face and a monkey face looks like  like these really skinny jolly can do nice really skinny then i could not help because of a face in monkey face so then i started carving monkeys and i was much better nice thing about these two the investment is next to nothing i mean they're almost as small as about two and three dollars apiece so i mean they're not in any art store and they're there again crimping them to the size that you want for smaller lines or detail lines and that's all i'm doing it all on the way and this is something i never did before starting block and things out ok i get a rush ok i'm there i got this done i go i jump three steps which led to mongolian monkey face which we're not going to do here today gave you see the nose i made a triangle right here no it's not really a triangle so you need some of that part there and that starts to when i put his nose a little bit on a slant but this is the ways expression going to be and see if you can flat or is it a point in huli a ball ok so i left a lot there and i'm going to bring this ball to a point if i wanted to depending on what kind of you know  here's another thing to look at a load right now only thing right that is big thick braids do is nose and it tapers a bit too but i haven't taken that down that so depending on how you want him to look how you want you may suggest his body weight by if you're pretty large or does person and you get a bigger know that the base so in a pumpkin you know you have a lot here if you want to make him a bit chubby or like the hulk as that they honk and bridge or something of that nature not you can taper it in and in every pumpkin you know that's the thing about thing you can start to say we're starting to get that right there because i've been a little bit a little trick for that it's taken a break and let it dry out a little bit when it's really wet like that it's go because it's very it's a very fibrous vegetable so it's going to want to do that when it dries out a little bit you know it won't be changing directions helps a little bit but not always you might have to just go a little bit easier and when you start that starts to happen then i go to sharper apparatuses so i know i'm not go see that right in there so if i put a david in there i know that's where i'm going to start bringing the beginning of the lip into the lips to one another ok and that's why i love this here and you can see that there and i'm  of make a little line where i want those lips to go and this guy's going to have closed lips and you don't go all the way to the dot kind of stop right before their that's the dental and you can kind of see now we've got lips starting right there and i am this by taking i'm going to refine that curl that lip back up and recess nice thing about these tools two is like it's like two or three tools that one side once i would do one of the thing just takes a little time practicing and playing with them took me forever but you know now i'm like wow this is really handy so i went and bought more thinking i needed more and i think i use two or when i started doing my pumpkins and trying to you know make mine somewhat look like his and oh ok well that looks so much better by doing that because his eyes on his pumpkins are just incredible or creepy they look just like ok that just looks real and that's the window of the soul so you know that's i said i'm still struggling with the they're there in that they're not eas and you see right here this taken that nose once i got to this point and i'm now starting to get that right there nose really start to come out the bottom of the lip i come underneath here and now this making that line here i've got my top lip ok that's something to that i always forget i just had this big mound of there's a top up in a bottom of the surrounded so you got to kind of play with them but at least we know what's on the pumpkin there the other thing too is blending something i would just kind of what a year or two i kind of started doing more of once i make that harsh line now i start to blend that line i did back into what i did without doing that so it doesn't look like ok there's a line just there's a trench there that doesn't look right so once you make and you know you go that then blended into the other before you start digging deeper  do you awesome another great trick in the scouring pad acts like sandpaper you know some point in that you don't want to do it too much some people ten when i start to get crazy with it it really does make the pumpkin less knowledgeable and heart of the carbon surface so you get to a point where you know these are nice the gold ones at the dollar store a little bit finer too so you know again when you start looking at this stuff and it's a different chain mail it's a little bit finer allows you to do that and then i don't go too hard where i used to grab one it all look i got a perfectly smooth then i go a little bit lighter to work on my lips and then i got the eyes to bring out a little bit and then i can start putting some detail on it another thing to i always try to get a little half sheet pan thing like this i'm a tory as for just going swipe right in a garbage can there went to school that you need specially if you know shortage of them around here is at the end of the day i'm like that i think i got a ma and you go back  like a dentist or surgeon would have you know how many you you are your worst critic or that the great at you that means you're a good artist he means you're never really satisfied with anything that's good that's wonderful because you're going to go and cover more never believe the hype  there's always something you can learn about this right now let's bring up the lips and some of the chin there that other valley i got going here so the thing that i do when i carve pumpkins nothing that ray brought to light is light having a light above you so you can see where and how deep the shadows look that makes a milk more ominous and not is i can even tell you  i do i don't even car with a light anymore because it makes a big difference when i look back in here i can't really tell because lighting is you know ten feet up in the air when i got three feet here you're going to see where i cast that shadow some and say hey can i put that ice  depending if your pumpkin can take it or not i'm going to try to push that back so everything looks a lot more deep when i hit like two it's going to make it look more realistic was pretty good i kind of consider this rough and kind of just stand it out right now now try to start putting some details in there ok depending if i want to look old if i want to look happy it's going to mean what i'm going to put in it far as texture is and there's really you can get everything in a pumpkin that you pretty much see on a human skin from fractals to pores it's just that simple but by using some of the smaller lube tools this is a nice little  sells you know that's what he sell and then from michael in a hobby lobby and sometimes you catch him on the specially after you know they go on sale or whatever the very inexpensive tool i go as deep as it will cast a shadow and then i stop because it's not really you know that just going to lead to more structure for the nose to stay longer i'm not going to go halfway but no is cavity because it does no one's going to see that just the word to cast a shadow so no you know it's there helps soften everything up to where if you had a something that was sticking out work very good they're not as long and thin and flexible as some of the lacquer knives you know and they all vary there are a lot of them out there they're very inexpensive expect if you go on e bay you look and you can find a plethora of things from thailand most of all there's another little girl by the name of coonrod or she's in thailand you might have seen her on facebook and see some of her work she's really all over the internet when it comes to vegetable carving and she does he make his amazing kid of knives for less than a hundred dollars where you know you might fight sixty dollars for one of these where she's selling these for twenty from thailand and all you need to pay pal account so thank god for pay pal last couple years because i know my melons a little bit fibrous it cuts very nice with a nice sharp tool you know you can make a nice clean sharp line where that loop tools going to grab maybe some more fleshing pull it with it and you're like oh i didn't want that to come off so not kind of i know get a little spo big bright eyed guy here so when you make any kind of cut again you mean two points together into a v so i try to you know keep that married up and keep that in mind so when you start making more than one cut that's when trouble starts having made oh i'm going to come back and fix that and get more than you start to pull that away and there's like six little lines that are flat there so i make one line then meet that other line and i can tell you i struggle with that for the longest time was like obvious having a good time oh well there's nothing left there to car slow down a little bit and then you got better how many guys use you tube as a resource like you know what do we do before you to write and we actually had to meet somebody and talk to them so you're out event like this but you tube is a great way because a lot of people are out there post and you change ok so when you take it from the outside to the inside to the outside you have water content and water content inside of it so it crystallizes if you've ever loved something not in the crisper like celery or not as you come back you've seen the molecular structure of a go oh wow that lettuce is dark now right so this is kind of what happens to the fruit and vegetables if you kept on that one solid let them outside constantly and you're going to get a great pumpkin but when you start bringing them inside outside they get shipped from wherever they're going to ship this is how that happens now like temperature just like tomatoes right first time in the eye and then i look down on my i think it's marginal the progression that we made you saw here if you start from one that we made that indent right in the beginning of the carving remember that the eye socket and you go down and then we made that little ball and now we're going to make the bottom eyelid and the top  it's not an easy thing to do because at this point it's i'm not going to be able to do it on this plane because it's falling apart and i start to scrape that back so many cutting the best i can out of it out and you know i could say you do the best you can with what the medium that you're dealing with but if you an opportunity like you say cars are more gourds and stuff like that it's very hard so you have a more malleable substance you can get in there and you can make that highlight because now the iris is going to go in here and you're going to push it way back so it creates a shadow over the iris to give the illusion that the eyeball is really the retina is really looking at you and you the best i can with this bad boy but first it's also very hard if you don't have direct lighting on something that you know a different color like like pumpkins are you know like where did i just cut that line and no word of it although i did want to cut that so having that light there really kind of helps especially so i always cut in because your eyes on the access right so i want to cut in deeper toward the end you want to flake and it's worked really well because then you don't run the risk of running your loop through that i mean it takes a very finesse touch not that that's kind of a radio in there so i figure this is one of the way to cheat on the make an iris and then i think the iris back in there well there's not much i mean i would card that if i had a more malleable piece but i just don't have that option and i don't want this to look like ok instead of throwing this in the garbage what he says he does is like it doesn't carve all roads into garbage and it's the one that he likes to carve i mean and poke that through like that and to go all the way through right i just put the eyebrows in there basically and then i want to you know blend those back as well you know you got to get started five right ok i can't take much more your time any other questions like i'm no yes know walk into a store one day and it's like oh my look like that's awesome i need that and they sell them for hair they some for lips and some for all different kind of parts of the anatomy like twenty five dollars each and they're just they're oil or something i just don't kind of leave it because i have this carving compulsive thing i have to put my thing to every part of what i'm going to car is just what i do so anyway any questions i hope this is inform for you thank you very much is up to greg thank you