That’s right. May is almost over and I’m just now getting around to rounding up what caught my eye in April. Sometimes life is like that.
via: LittleGoldFoxDesigns
via: DanitDesign
via: birdmafia
via: Kate Kelly
via: Leslie Strock
It’s almost sad that I feel super on top of things posting my March papercraft roundup while April is still in the single digits. What can I say? I set my bar low and March was kind of a whirlwind for me. I turned 24 on the first, then I spent the next several weeks trying to work myself to death. Two jobs, mandatory overtime, very little sleep and 12-14 hour work days everyday. It wasn’t all nose to the grindstone, though. One of my jobs sent me to New York for two weeks to work at our Manhattan office and it was my first trip to the Big Apple. I had an amazing time and was super sad to come back to South Carolina. I can’t complain too much though. The weather here is beautiful (Nice to finally see you, Spring) and the papercraft roundup for today is pretty great. Here’s some papercraft illustrations that impressed me in the Month of March.
via: Erin Maala
I just found Erin Maala’s work this month and I was blown away. That’s a partial lie, because I had seen one of her pieces, this epic Ron Swanson illustration, before on Tumblr. As is sometimes the case on Tumblr, it was uncredited and I didn’t know who had made it. So glad that I found out because I have been drooling over her portfolio and pinning practically everything she has ever done on my Pinterest papercraft board. Suffice it to say, I’m a fan.
via: Aleksandra Davydenko
I’m not sure what exactly is going on in this illustration by Aleksandra Davydenko, but I like it. Any ideas of what might be happening?
via: Alice Colombo
Alice Colombo is probably going to develop into one of my favorite papercraft artists as well. This is style is my favorite. Really clean lines, and blocked off color. It’s clean, but so whimsical and her color choice is great. Can’t wait to see more from her.
via: Thumbdemon
Thumbdemon has quite a few pieces similar to this in their portfolio. I think the shapes are really nice, the cuts are clean, and the light play is really interesting. I don’t know if they pack the same punch when they aren’t backlit, which makes the piece a little harder to show off, but I’m impressed nonetheless.
via: Matt Walford
Matt Walford has a great style. It’s super simple and clean and looks like it would be easy to do. That’s just what he wants you to think.
via: giovana medeiros
How cute are these little portraits from giovana medeiros? I love this kind of papercraft, where the patterns and paper are all made by the artist as well. It just looks good. Plus, I have a soft spot for lumberjacks. What girl doesn’t, amirite?
via: Louise Jenkins
How cool are the colors in this piece by Louise Jenkins? This is one of those cut paper projects that I have to look at several times to determine that it is, in fact made with paper. This one almost feels like a watercolor to me.
via: Florence Weiser
Florence Weiser has several pieces if you click on the photograph, which all feature some nice experimentation with type as well as fun graphic illustrations and patterned (!) paper. I don’t think we see enough patterned paper in papercraft these days.
via: Eiko Ojala
So, I’m kind of obsessed with this series of cut paper illustrations by Eiko Ojala that was done for a Estonian Weekly newspaper called Eesti Ekspress. The article was on eating habits and was called “Hunger for Love.” If you’ve ever asked yourself what a grown man would look like spooning a croissant, check out the rest of the series by clicking on the image. They are fabulous.
via: Louise Heng
I may be mistaken, but I think this series of Moroccan playing cards by Louise Heng is a student project. In my mind, that makes it all the more impressive. She’s done the Jack, Queen and King in the set, but I need more, Louise. Full deck, stat.
via: Daydreams and Nightschemes
I featured some cut paper type experimentation by Daydreams and Nightschemes in the January papercraft roundup, and they did not disappoint in February when they came back with this series of pieces about Deception. When the works are shown over a white field, all that is visible are the quotation marks. It’s only when light shines through them that the text appears. Pretty cool.
via: Alisa Brainard
I couldn’t not post this awesome piece by Alisa Brainard. I actually first saw it when I was doing the roundup for January (since I’m routinely posting these almost a month late) and I was so bummed I had to wait an entire month to share it. I think she did a superb job. This piece has great texture and depth, and the layering is amazing. I hope to see more work from her in the future for sure.
via: Jared Andrew Schorr
One of my favorite pieces, from one of my favorite artists. I’m all about some all gold everything lately and Jared is tapping into that with these golden trees and adorable bears. Jared Andrew Schorr, you never let me down.
via: Kevin Stanton
Last but not least, this is an older piece by Kevin Stanton, and I’ve featured it before but I’m bringing it back because Kevin recently started selling prints of his work, which you can find by clicking the link to his store. I plan on purchasing a print of this beauty, asap. How about you?
Via: Atichart Pinrut
Via: Jennifer Ho
Via: Manuel Melo
Via: Jeanie Chong
Via: Alexis Gallo
Via: Kim Phillips
This last one feels like cheating since its not actually paper. It is, however, inspired by Chinese paper cutting and it is so beautiful I had to share it.
Via: Julia Perry
Edutopia papercraft by Jared Andrew Schorr
One of my absolute favorite papercraft artists, Jared Andrew Schorr just shared this new piece he put together for Edutopia. Since it’s that time of year where all the kiddies head back to school, Jared partnered with Edutopia who are donating money to teachers for new school supplies. You can help by liking Edutopia on Facebook. Not only will you be supporting a good cause (and Jared Andrew Schorr), but you also have a shot at winning a $250 gift card. Not too shabby, eh?
You have to act fast if you want to win though, because the contest ends August 24th.
What do you think of the piece? The illustrations are fabulous as always, and I love the limited color palette.
You might have noticed that ThePaperGnome has been a bit sporadic lately. My life has been going through a lot of changes lately, both personally and professionally, and I think that it’s time that ThePaperGnome goes through some changes of its own. I’m still working on getting the new design for the site ready and have found a design team that I’m really excited to work with to help with the coding aspects.
I’ve also been doing a lot of brainstorming when it comes to content for ThePaperGnome. A lot of what I’ve been doing for the past year (almost) of blogging is curating things that inspire me on the internet, and adding little bits of design to help convince myself that I’m still a designer even if I don’t have my dream job, and brief glimpses of my work. I feel like I’m just regurgitating things I find on the internet and there isn’t enough of me on this blog. In the future, you can expect a lot more original content.
You can still look forward to collections of papercraft goodness, but as the title of this post suggests, I’m only going to post them once a month instead of weekly. Starting today!
via: Jonathan Shackleton
I’ve seen these adorable little paper suits floating around Tumblr and Pinterest this month and I kept wondering what they were for. Now that I know, I like them even more. Designer Jonathan Shackleton was hired by Fedrigoni, an Italian paper company to create a marketing campaign that would introduce the UK market to their new paper selection tool which features 262 different paper samples. That sounds like a dream to me. Shackleton came up with the concept of printing templates onto those paper samples, so you can cut them out and assemble a dapper little suit, getting a feel for the paper and seeing how different patterns might work together for your project. It’s brilliant and adorable.
via: Zim and Zou
This is a super quirky project by French design duo, Zim and Zou celebrating the 30th birthday of the restaurant Au Bon Gîte. The chef comes up with bimonthly menus, and Zim and Zou create a mask made up of the ingredients of that menu. In this case there’s asparagus, strawberries, onions, peas, rice, and ham on the bone. After seeing this first mask, I can’t wait to see the rest of the series.
via: Sebastian Pelaez, Guillermo Siachoque, Gus Marioni, and Andrés Lancheros
This is part of a campaign for the Colsubsidio Book Exchange, and the concept is pretty straight forward. They took iconic characters and illustrated them as minimally as possible with paper. Must be a trend going around. Only last week I featured a similar minimal illustration of Gotye from Alysse Asilo.
via: Travis Betz
So this weekend I went to see Prometheus with my boyfriend… wow. On the outside, it seemed like a pretty okay movie: everything looked great, as gory as I expected it to be, didn’t confuse me too much while watching it. But when you go back and think about what you just watched… so many loopholes and unanswered questions. Not sure how I feel about it. I do know how I feel about this papercrafted Prometheus trailer by Travis Betz. Fantastic! It’s like delightfully horrible. The end with Michael Fassbender looking at his finger saying, “Big things have small beginnings” just kills me. His eyes!
In honor of that gem, this weeks Monday Link Love is going to be all about the video. Here are more papercrafted animation videos for your viewing pleasure!
The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.
The Thomas Beale Cipher from Andrew S Allen on Vimeo.
via: Terada Mokei
via: Bomboland
via: Megan Brain
What a ridiculously long weekend that was. I’m sunburnt, exhausted, possibly sick but Bonnaroo was so much fun. Still kicking myself for not getting off work today too because it’s rainy and I would love nothing more than to sleep all day and let my body recuperate. But there’s work to be done so here’s what I’ve collected for you guys today. Enjoy the artists and have a lovely Monday!
There will be no more posts this week because this lady is off to Tennessee for some camping under the stars and amazing music performances. Have a good one!
via: Laurel Larsen
Pretty neat project from Laurel Larsen that features silhouettes of well known authors as the surface for illustrations of their iconic characters. In this case, it’s Alexandre Dumas featuring The Count of Monte Cristo. Click the image to see some more pieces from the series.
via: Jason Lynch
Jason Lynch is an illustrator who does not typically work in papercraft but took advantage of a laser engraver at his workplace to see how his illustrations would translate into paper, and I’d say they translate quite nicely.
via: Anna Villalba
I’m always drawn to super clean, simple looking (but not simple at all) papercraft. Anna Villalba did a series of food illustrations for a packaging project and each one is better than the last. The colors are bright and the work is clean. Definitely check it out.
