Some thoughts about carving figures
Use a glove
A glove with cut protection is a simple protection that can save you from doctor visits and, in the worst case, lifelong injury. I always wear a protective glove on my left hand, the hand I hold the piece of wood in. Even though the gloves are not always puncture-proof and often not stab-proof, they provide good protection against small cuts that otherwise can take a long time to heal.
Use your thumb
Since I hold the knife in my right hand and the piece of wood in my left, I keep my left thumb on the top side of the knife blade to both balance the force of the cut and to be able to control how deep or long the cut should be.
Watch out for your thumb.
When carving towards yourself, make sure to keep the thumb of the knife hand out of the way. It can be difficult to control the force when cutting with one hand, and one must consider where the knife blade will end up if it slips or the wood splits too far open.
Take it easy
The main reason I cut myself or ruin my wood carving is because I've been in a hurry. Many small cuts have happened because I didn't put on my protective glove when I "just needed to carve that away..." or when I "had to" finish...
When I need to remove larger pieces of wood, I tend to grip harder and make bigger cuts, instead of more controlled small ones. This makes it easy for me to both remove too much wood and lose control of the knife blade.
Sometimes it's better to let the knife rest and come back to carving another time.
Carve on multiple pieces simultaneously
Sometimes I am surprised by how I can have missed something on a wooden figure when I look at it hours or days after I carved it. It's like seeing it with fresh eyes. That's why I often carve on a couple of wooden figures at the same time. This way, I can alternate between them, and even if it has only been half an hour since I put down a wooden figure, I see it with new eyes when I continue carving on it.
Usa a sharp knife
This cannot be emphasized enough;
Make sure the knife is always sharp!!!
With a sharp knife, you don't need to exert so much force behind the cut that you lose control of the motion. A sharp knife cuts through the wood fibers instead of tearing them apart and provides a clean cut.
Utilize 'mistakes'
On more than one occasion, I have cut wrong and perhaps removed too much wood so that I cannot complete the shape I initially had in mind. At first, I would discard these and start over, but now I let them sit for a while and then come back to them with 'fresh eyes'. What initially seemed like a big mistake can lead to new or different shapes and ideas that I hadn't thought of before!
Take care of small cuts
Even if you get a small cut or prick, it's important to take care of it quickly. Rinse the wound under cold water and apply a plaster before continuing carving. This decreases the risk of a minor infection that takes time to heal and also prevents accidentally staining the piece of wood.
Templates
I have found great benefit in using templates when I carve. By starting with a template that I paint on the piece of wood, I can cut out the figure and visualize how it will look when I am finished. Much work can be saved by being able to cut away unwanted material with, for example, a band saw. Templates can be found in books and of course on the internet, but sometimes you can't find a specific template that you can use. In that case, you can create your own by asking someone to take pictures, preferably one from the front and one from the side, when you are in the position you want to depict. Then you can print them out in the right size on a piece of paper and cut them out.