At first glance, and maybe even second, the birds in these images look real enough you don’t want to frighten them away. It’s a surprise then, when you find out that they are made entirely of flat pieces of paper, carefully folded and glued together to form precise replicas of real-life birds. Perhaps even more surprising, they aren’t even reproduced from photographs, but are hand-drawn on sheets of paper using tools as simple as colored pencil. [Read more...]
For anyone who’s a fan of a little DIY, these lampshades will both warm your heart and brighten your home. Created by the duo Maik Parfahl and Wolfgang List of the interdisciplinary design/sound/architecture collective mostlikely, the collection features a managery of faceted animal heads you fold into 3D form yourself. [Read more...]
When you look at the work of Estonian illustrator, graphic designer and art director Eiko Ojala, it’s hard to imagine it’s just flat pieces of paper. Even in printed form his works seem to spring from the page, bringing a surprising extra layer of dynamic detail to his otherwise wonderful illustrative style. As you can see, this is far beyond typical arts & crafts time. [Read more...]
In her little paper craft theater, Elly MacKay meticulously creates, lights, then photographs dreamy scenes. Although the final product looks like an illustration or painting, the actual process is much more fastidious. Once MacKay comes up with an idea for a scene, she begins to conceptualize it with thumbnails, drawings and words. Using a plastic material called Yupo paper, she draws and cuts out the layers she will need. Using wires she carefully places each piece where it belongs and adds additional touches, like parchment paper skies or tissue paper for landscapes in the distance. [Read more...]
Cleverly returning a hint of their paper based origins, artist Kylie Stillman takes old discarded books and carefully carves inverted bonzai tree reliefs in their pages. Her works come at a time when book art and carving are gaining in popularity, yet her works stand out as unique examples in the young trend. The Australian artist got her start at carving books in 2006 when she trimmed a bird into a discarded tome; she later gave her birds a place to sit, progressing to potted plants and now her current tree carvings. For her latest work featuring trees carved in stacks of boldly colored paper, see her website kyliestillman.com. [Read more...]
I can only imagine how difficult creating faces must be for an artist, because the slightest distortion could make the character unrecognizable. Instead of struggling with the art of perfectly replicating facial proportion by hand, however, Bert Simons sculpts people digitally to increase accuracy. The Dutch artist creates 3D papers sculptures using a “dot per dot” method. [Read more...]
