"Strong Bad"

Hey, if you don't know him, neither did I! One of my friends at work found out I was carving characters for some of the people at work. He asked if I'd carve him this Internet character he likes called, "Strong Bad."
After a brief lesson on this guy, I kind of liked this little "irreverent" guy and so my next project commenced.
"Strong Bad" it turns out is extremely popular. http://www.homestarrunner.com/yearbooksb.html
It turns out, the simplistic position I selected for the project allowed me to basically "cope" him out quite a bit before I had to take the Dremel to him.

First, we "cut" him down to size.

Cut off the extra length of the block and cope him.

Here he is, pretty well trimmed.

Time for the Dremel.

He really lacks many features that would take time. However, getting a piece of wood round is tricky... and this guy has four round features!

I'm cautious to "leave" wood for the features on his face that need to be raised.

Now you see what's left is to refine his features and add paint.

... and, here you are...

Would you believe this guy's got brothers?

"Mr. Met"

This guy took a little longer time for me. I had to take a trip and it cut into my "carving time." But, I just finished him and he is going home with a friend who is "ga-ga" over the Mets. He should really be happy! He has the plastic bobble head Mr. Met on his desk. Well, Mr. Bobble Head, you've got some competition!

Seeing that "Mr. Met" is over six feet tall in real life, my piece is a little taller also. Interestingly, my "Mr. Met" is just over six inches!

He didn't need very much coping so it was carving most of the way.

Just when you think you've got a piece that will "work up" fast, you don't realize the amount of detail some require.

Once I got him past the "roughing" stage, as they say, "the devil is in the details!"

...and this is what he looks like "dressed".....

This guy turned out to be a really fun character to carve... and kinda cute as well!