Paper Sculpture Inspired by a Blank Canvas and It's Endless Possibilities
The inspiration behind “Let the Fun Begin” came from reflecting on that unique moment when an artist stands before a blank, white canvas—a clean slate full of potential. It is a space of endless choices and creative freedom, where nothing has been decided and everything is possible.
“Let the Fun Begin” delves into the quiet anticipation and limitless possibility an artist feels when faced with a fresh canvas. This compact work measures just 4.5" by 3.5" framed, yet it carries an expansive narrative, rendered entirely through the delicate interplay of white paper sculpted onto a vivid watercolor background.
The artwork is a three-dimensional paper sculpture that meticulously depicts a painter’s workspace. You’ll find a carefully arranged palette with circular wells, paint tubes scattered in casual disarray, and a brush—and a pencil—all crafted with precision from acid-free white paper and adhered onto a textured surface. The monochromatic white palette emphasizes form and shadow, turning the familiar tools of the artist into an abstract study of shape and volume. This white relief is set against a bright and dynamic backdrop of blues and teals, creating a sharp contrast that heightens the sense of depth and dimensionality.
The inspiration behind “Let the Fun Begin” came from reflecting on that unique moment when an artist stands before a blank, white canvas—a clean slate full of potential. It is a space of endless choices and creative freedom, where nothing has been decided and everything is possible. I wanted to express that quiet suspense and the exhilaration of beginning something entirely new. The title itself hints at this transition: the “white play” represents the pristine canvas, and the “begin” points to the spark of action, the moment when ideas spring to life.
What distinguishes this piece is its incorporation of sculptural elements purely through paper and paint, blending two-dimensional and three-dimensional art forms. The tactile nature of the paper gives the tools and palette a physical presence, inviting the viewer to consider the act of creation from a fresh perspective—not just as a visual image but as an object to be explored in light and shadow.
Through “Let the Fun Begin”, I invite viewers to pause and consider the magic of beginnings—the blank pages, fresh canvases, and untouched surfaces we all encounter at the start of creative ventures. This work honors that initial quiet moment, where potential hangs in the air, waiting to be transformed into something beautiful. It’s a celebration of the threshold before creation, when the real adventure starts.
This paper sculpture is a part of the International Miniature Art Show at Seaside Art Gallery and is available for purchase online or in person at the gallery in Nags Head, NC.
"Ruffled Feathers" - A Paper Sculpture of a Pink Flamingo
“Ruffled Feathers” - a three-dimensional paper sculpture feathered bird - all handmade out of paper.
Introducing "Ruffled Feathers" - A Delicate Paper Flamingo Sculpture by Melinda Fabian
Ever wondered what it takes to capture the grace and charm of a flamingo in a piece of art? Well, I’m here to tell you all about my paper sculpture creation, "Ruffled Feathers," a meticulously crafted paper sculpture that brings the flamboyant (pun totally intended) flamingo to life in the most intricate and delightful way.
This beauty stands at a petite 4.25 x 4 inches, and let me tell you, it was no small feat! Every feather, every tiny detail is made out of hand-cut paper and carefully painted to mimic the flamingo's eye-catching feathered attire. Yes, you heard me right—hand-cut paper!
The sculpture features our star flamingo standing with one leg casually raised, looking as if it just paused mid-strut during a dance number. Talk about elegance! And it's not just floating in space; this graceful bird is displayed under a glass dome sitting on a sturdy wooden base, which adds an extra touch of class.
To make things even more interesting, I decided to include some elements of the flamingo's natural habitat on the base. There's sandy terrain, and small patches of grass to make our pink friend feel right at home. The lifelike quality of the setup is designed to make you feel like you're observing a real flamingo in its natural environment.
Now, why a flamingo, you ask? Flamingos are incredibly fun to watch; they have these comically long legs and necks that move in the most fascinating ways. They're like the jesters and ballerinas of the bird world! Their playful and whimsical nature was my main inspiration. I mean, how can you not fall in love with a creature that often looks like it’s dancing in a silent ballet?
So, that's "Ruffled Feathers" in a nutshell (or should I say in a glass dome?). This project was a labor of love, with each piece of paper and brushstroke contributing to the final masterpiece. I hope it brings as much joy and wonder to you as it did to me while creating it.
This handcrafted paper flamingo sculpture is a perfect addition for art buyers, collectors, and flamingo enthusiasts looking for one-of-a-kind art pieces. This project was a labor of love, with each piece of paper and brushstroke contributing to the final masterpiece. I hope it brings as much joy and wonder to you as it did to me while creating it. “Ruffled Feathers” can be viewed in person or online at Seaside Art Gallery
Where Are All My Baby Sea Turtles?
I started working on this project after reading about the baby sea turtles and the adventures they must go through just to survive. Researching sea turtles really sparked my interest and inspired me to create an entire series of paper sculptures with an under the sea theme.
I have created many different pieces and parts for my Under the Sea themed aquariums. I made sea turtles, seashells, sea anemone, sea plants, starfish, rocks, coral and lots and lots of hand cut paper sand.
I started working on this project after reading about the baby sea turtles and the adventures they must go through just to survive. Researching sea turtles really sparked my interest and inspired me to create an entire series of paper sculptures with an under the sea theme. Many of these finished pieces highlight sea turtles and their lives and some of the finished pieces reflect the beautiful under water world that exits in our oceans.
After a sea turtle hatches from its’ egg, they must work their way down the sandy beach til they reach the water. For the first ten years of their lives, scientists aren’t exactly certain where the sea turtles live. I imagine they will thrive living among the coral reefs.
I found that to be so interesting which started me on a path of creating interesting ways of showcasing a variety of different under the water scenes. I thought you may be wondering where all these baby sea turtles have gone, and how did I incorporate them into my art. Here are some close up views of the sea turtles along with the finished aquariums.
Paper Sea Turtles - Part Five
Part Six - I decided to make some sea turtles out of paper and paint to go inside my Under the Sea Aquariums.
Sea Turtles
I’ve always heard many stories and read articles about the sea turtles that lay their eggs on the beaches, and then when the baby turtles hatch, somehow, they have to make their way to the beach. It is a long trek and can be a dangerous one for these little animals.
I decided I wanted to make several final images using my under the sea aquarium concept to highlight sea turtles. I want to show some of the sea turtles still on the beach, hatching out of their eggs.I also wanted to illustrate the concept of the long, difficult journey that these sea turtles have to take to crawl back into the ocean.
Now that I had an idea in mind, along with some rough sketch ideas, I was well underway to developing my under the sea series, complete with sea turtles.
I started making a couple of different sea turtles using paper and then painting them in watercolor and gouache. They are about 1” - 2” in size. I love this turtles little face!
The babies are only about .5 inches. After making these adorable little sea turtles I got to work on creating their little eggs. Below are photos of some of the turtles I made so far.
Next, I will make some colorful starfish for my under the sea aquariums.
Paper-Sculpting a Robin, the First Sign of Spring
The paper sculpture robin, pictured here, was framed in a shadowbox frame.
This little robin bird is an example of a three-dimensional bird similar to a bird or two that you may find flying around in my “Charming Victorian Country Garden Retreat” paper installation at The Mansion at Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland.
I liked the idea of making a robin. It’s a common bird on the east coast where I’ve lived my whole life. When I was growing up, you wouldn’t see robins until the warmer weather arrived. Every spring, people would spot the first of these red-chested birds and say, “I saw a robin today. It is the first sign of spring!”
The paper sculpture robin, pictured here, was framed in a shadowbox frame and has been sold. I wanted this male robin to look like a young bird, sitting in a tree, slightly hidden among the new spring leaves that are just starting to grow back in.
Paper Sculpting 'Dancing' Bleeding Hearts
One of my favorite flowers that you will see in many of my pieces are bleeding hearts.
One of my favorite flowers that you will see in many of my pieces are bleeding hearts. I have many reference photos of these beautiful pink heart-shaped flowers. Every spring when they start to bloom, I feel compelled to snap more photos of the beautiful, pink, bleeding hearts.
Because of the natural way these plants grow and the way the stem gently bends in an arc shape, makes it easy to use the flowers in a variety of compositions.
In my paper sculpture design “Crossing My Hearts,” I wanted the illustration to be a flat 2D painting and then have the flowers flow gently out of the paper into a three-dimensional painting. When you first look at the picture, it appears to be a two-dimensional piece, but then are surprised when you realize that the flowers are coming out of the background into the foreground.
I wanted to add a touch of humor to this piece, so I added the ants to look as though they are marching along, one after another, like ants do, all along the stem of the flower. Maybe they are getting ready to dance and do the mamba.
Creating Custom Paper Sculpture Letters as One-of-a-Kind Keepsakes
When I was designing the letters, I intentionally made them so that each one could be used individually, framed and sold separately to display on a shelf or to hang on a wall.
This Letter ‘E’ and the letter ‘R’ were both originally designed as a part of my logo that spells out the word “PAPER.”
But, when I was designing the letters, I intentionally made them so that each one could be used individually, framed and sold separately to display on a shelf or to hang on a wall.
The letter ‘E’ is made up of a colorful array of flowers with a butterfly and a little bee on it. It is a beautiful way to highlight one of your initials. To make up this Letter ‘E,’ I individually cut by hand each little flower.
After the flower is cut out, I then paint it in watercolor and gouache. This letter ‘E’ contains over 50 hand-cut and hand-painted flowers. Each petal is individually cut by hand, glued together to form the flower and then painted. The butterfly is “flying” just above the flowers, looking like it is about to land. The little bee in the bottom left hand corner is very busy checking out the gorgeous pink gerbera daisy.
For the letter ‘R,’ I wanted to highlight a bird in honor of a close friend of mine who enjoys taking bird photos. No matter where he goes he manages to find a bird to photograph — even when no one else can even see any wildlife in the vicinity, he will find one!
For this letter, I chose a blue heron, since they are also a very popular bird in my home state of Maryland. Here is just one of my friend’s many reference photos he generously let me use to make this tall, statuesque bird.
This letter ‘R’ was a little trickier to make than the flowery letter ‘E.’ Flowers can pretty easily transform into any of the letters of the alphabet. On the other hand, the blue heron and the tree shape had to conform to the shape of the letter ‘R.’ I added a couple of other birds in the tree and a cute little box turtle is sitting at the base of the tree on the left-hand side.
This three-dimensional letter is all made out of paper. I included a behind-the-scenes photo of the hand-drawn letters and you can also see the blue heron, all in white, before he got painted in watercolor and gouache.
Both letters are framed inside a custom wood shadowbox frame. The frame measures 10.75” L x 9” W x 2.5” D. Please contact Melinda Fabian if you would like to purchase either of the framed letters.
You can also custom order a personalized letter, which can include items that are important to you or your loved one, if you’d like to give it as a gift. Send me an email at melinda@MelindaFabian.com to discuss your custom letter initial.
Turning a Cat Nap Into a Work of Art
When you see a sweet little cat nap, don’t you wish it could be you, sleeping peacefully at 2 in the afternoon?
When you see a sweet little cat nap, don’t you wish it could be you, sleeping peacefully at 2 in the afternoon? Life of a house cat. The only thing he has to worry about is, “When can I take another nap?” and “When is supper time?”
Those were a few of the things I was thinking about when I was painting this orange tabby cat sleeping peacefully in his favorite, blue-stuffed chair, not a care in the world!
This sleepy tabby is a flat, two-dimensional watercolor and gouache painting with a few three-dimensional elements added to the picture. His furry ear is popping out of the paper, and his whiskers and a few bits of fur here and there gives him some added 3D effect.
Identifying an Artist's Signature Style: 'Bunny and Butterflies in My Garden'
When you look at an artists’ work, you can often get a sense of not only their style, but also their color palette, the subjects they enjoy painting…
When you look at an artists’ work, you can often get a sense of not only their style, but also their color palette, the subjects they enjoy painting – such as landscape painters, floral artists, animals, etc. You may also notice similar items in many of their paintings. If you look through my art and illustration work that I’ve done over the past 35 years, including my published illustration books and editorial work, you will also notice a trend.
Like many artists, I tend to paint and illustrate things that I am familiar with and that are of interest to me. My work is almost always nature-related and is very colorful. An example of some of my favorite things to illustrate can be found by looking at the paper sculpture illustration, “Bunny in My Garden.“
The first thing you may notice about this 3D paper sculpture illustration is that it is quite colorful. It is a good example of my color palette, which includes pinks, purples, magentas, coral and blues. The next thing you probably will notice is the bunny rabbit.
Instead of painting a typical brown wild bunny, I wanted to depict one of the pet rabbits my daughter had when she was growing up. It is no coincidence that this bunny is sitting in the flower garden. You may think this is where she would run off to when not in her hutch, but that is not it at all. I will often include a little secret or a hidden play on words in my paintings (that only my family members would catch onto) and this is actually a small play on words.
Our family bunny never ran into the flower garden. The bunny’s name was Flower. So of course she needs to sit among these beautiful colorful flowers. (Although I must admit I had imagined that if she did get into the flowers, she would have eaten them all.) The other thing about Flower is that she was the cutest little dwarf bunny rabbit — soft bright white with dark black spots — just like in the illustration.
At the top of the oval picture are one of my favorite flowers, the bleeding hearts. I really like the shape of the flower and the plant and I like drawing them and paper sculpting them as well. The pink heart-shaped flowers curve nicely on the stem, which I can use to my advantage to help to create a frame around the subject, as I did in this painting. I used the curved flower stem to bring your eye back to the cute little bunny rabbit.
I’ve also loved seeing and watching butterflies since I was a little girl and have many reference books, photographs and books about butterflies. This spring I even had the opportunity to visit the butterfly pavilion in Los Angeles at the Natural History Museum. I will often include butterflies in my work and the ones in this picture are three dimensional and pop out of the paper instead of being just a flat painting.
The last thing I want to point out about this “Bunny and Butterflies in My Garden” design is that if you look closely, you will notice a little ant “hiding” in the leaves of the flower garden. I’ve drawn hundreds of hidden object pictures over the years and will often have little things hiding out in the background of my work, waiting to be found.
If you have the time, I hope you will take a look through my portfolio to see if you can notice any other similarities in my work. Can you find other illustrations with bleeding hearts, bunny rabbits, ants and flowers? I hope I have also encouraged you to look through other artists portfolios and gallery work to see if you can discover their color palette and the similarities they may have in their work.
Celebrating Fall With a Trio of Paper-Sculpted Gourds
This trio of gourds was a fun project to do. I wanted them to look as realistic as possible.
Sometimes I like the challenge of creating something as realistically as I possibly can out of paper. While visiting a local farm, I discovered so many interesting gourds in all different sizes and shapes. Of course I thought — that’s it! A great idea for a photo-realistic paper sculpture.
After purchasing many different varieties of gourds in all different shapes, sizes and colors, I had to narrow it down and decide which one I would try to mimic out of paper and paint. These are the three gourds I chose. I also decided to make them quite a bit smaller than the real-life gourds.
My favorite part of this design was adding the texture to the gourds — all those knobby lumps and bumps. I then painted the gourd after it was all shaped and formed to mimic the color of the ones I bought at the farm.
The paper sculpture that was the most challenging to make was the smoothest-looking gourd of the three. That surprised me as I thought it would be a breeze to make that one: Just glue down some paper, add some paint and it is done. But for some reason, it took some trial and error and many re-dos to get the smooth surface of the gourd correct. It kept getting lumpy and the seam where the two ends of the paper met kept showing up in an obvious way in all the wrong places. The trick is to hide your seams when you paper sculpt so that is doesn’t give your “secret” away that it is just made out of paper.
This trio of gourds was a fun project to do and I especially like hearing people be so surprised to discover they are paper gourds and not real gourds. The photos show the real gourd next to the paper gourds, which are completely three-dimensional and made entirely out of paper that I painted to give them a realistic look.
Making a 3D Coral Seascape Come to Life With Paper
I like creating 3D under-the-sea paper sculptures because I can add a lot of different textures and vibrant colors to the scene.
I like creating 3D under-the-sea paper sculptures because I can add a lot of different textures and vibrant colors to the scene, such as my design, “Coral Reef.” I also like making the sand out of paper – keeping the entire paper sculpture authentic –100% made out of paper.
For this colorful “Coral Reef” paper sculpture, I wanted to highlight the crab and the clown fish. I also wanted to intermix flat papers with three-dimensional pieces. For instance, the magenta and light purple coral on both sides of the illustration are 3D in that they come out of the flat papered background, but, the coral is made with flat paper.
In contrast, if you look closely at the 3D paper seashell (bottom left corner) and the paper crab, they are both a completely three-dimensional object that you can hold in your hand, prior to me attaching it to my “Coral Reef” illustration. Both the crab and the seashell are not a flat piece of paper but life-like mini versions of the real thing.
Another example is the fish. The yellow fish in the middle of the “Coral Reef'“ illustration are three-dimensional — coming out of the paper, not attached to the flat background — but the fish is painted on flat paper.
In contrast to the yellow fish are the completely 3D clown fish. Each one of the orange, black and white clown fish come out of the paper as individual components of the design. Their bodies are about one-quarter of an inch in width.
Can you tell if the blue fish in the background are completely three-dimensional or if they are made using a flat piece of paper?
Using a combination of flat papers and completely three-dimensional objects creates another element of dimension, texture, variation and interest to this colorful paper-sculpted “Coral Reef.” Plus, it was so much fun to create. I look forward to making another one in the future.
The original “Coral Reef” piece has already sold, but you can purchase a notebook with the coral reef art printed on the front cover in my shop on my website here. The coral reef art is also available on a mouse pad in my shop.
Why Norman Rockwell Is a Major Influence on My Artwork Goals
Norman Rockwell is just one of many illustrators that has influenced the type of art that I want to create.
One of the many things that I like about Norman Rockwell’s work is the subject matter. He depicted images of children playing — happy, pleasant scenes that often used humor within the illustrations to create images of an idyllic childhood.
Even though these scenes were most likely not what most people experienced growing up, it was certainly what people wished it was like or hoped it could be like. His illustrations make me feel happy and I imagine that his illustrations brought happiness to many people, even if only for a few minutes.
Of course I also like the character he was able to bring out in his models and the expressions on their faces. He was a master illustrator and had the ability to bring life into the characters he painted in his artwork.
Influenced by Norman Rockwell, I hope to be able to bring joy to people when they are viewing my art. My hope is that it will make them feel happy and hopefully make them smile. I like when someone looks at my paper sculptures and wonders, “How did she make that?” It creates a sense of fun.
Whether I am working on another Can You Find? hidden object puzzle or another paper sculpture illustration, one of my goals for my art is to make people happy and to create art that even your grandmother can view. Norman Rockwell is just one of many illustrators that has influenced the type of art that I want to create.
Finding Inspiration In the Graphic Art of M.C. Escher
How my beautiful 3D paper sculpture illustration of a peacock was inspired by the work of artist M.C. Escher.
One of the famous graphic artists I like is M.C. Escher. He is famous for his interesting lithographs and his use of tessellations in his art work. When I was first introduced to his art it reminded me of a puzzle. At first glance when you look at one of Escher’s pieces it looks almost “normal” but with closer observation, you realize what he drew is actually impossible, such as his work “Waterfall” or “Relativity.”
I like the humorous interactive elements in his drawings such as in “Reptiles” and “Drawing Hands.” These two have influenced my work. When I first began thinking about how I was going to seamlessly combine watercolor paint and paper sculpture, those two lithographs of Escher’s were something I thought about. His work is a flat lithograph but they look three-dimensional. In “Reptiles,” the creatures appear to actually walk right out of the paper. In “Drawing Hands,” the hands appear to come alive but are actually just a flat two-dimensional piece.
I like creating that play between a two-dimensional surface and how it will gradually grow into a three-dimensional surface. An example of this in my work is the paper sculpture illustration titled, “Peacock.”
This beautiful peacock is a flat painting in some areas, and then is gradually transformed into a 3D piece. My hope is that when viewing this paper sculpture illustration at a distance, it appears to be a flat painting. But then as you move in closer, those colorful peacock feathers are really 3D and coming right out of the paper!
M.C. Escher is just one of many artists that have influenced my work. Whether you’re an artist or not, we’re all touched by beautiful design — it could be hanging in a gallery, the printing on your favorite T-shirt or something you see online.
What artists have influenced your work? Let us know in the comments below!
Artwork Feature: Delicate 'Teacup in Spring' Ready for Tea Time
“Teacup in Spring” is framed in a hand-made, custom wood frame and the image is only 3.75” x 2.75” x 1.25” deep.
I love beautiful flowers in pinks and purples, butterflies and antique teacups. Influenced by botanical art, beautiful decorative floral wall art, and the Dutch floral artists of the 17th century, I felt inspired to combine all of my favorite elements into one 3D paper sculpture, titled “Teacup in Spring.”
I like the shapes of antique china teacups, which are typically decorated in delicate floral motifs. I am drawn to the intricate shapes of the teacups and the flowers on the hand-painted teacups. I liked the idea of combining the teacup with a flower bouquet and of course, there had to be a butterfly that just happened to be visiting this spring bouquet.
The entire paper sculpture design is all created out of paper and paint. I took a photo of “Teacup in Spring” next to some antique teacups for size comparison. “Teacup in Spring” is framed in a hand-made, custom wood frame and the image is only 3.75” x 2.75” x 1.25” deep.
Creature Feature: Octopus Wants You to Catch If You Can
“Catch Me If You Can,” is one of my latest paper sculpture designs, a clever octopus made completely out of paper, even the suckers on its eight tentacles.
I have many ideas of different paper sculptures I want to make — sometimes I want to make them because it sounds like it would be fun to make. Flowers are a personal favorite, or a little furry animal because creating the fur out of paper is both challenging and rewarding when the finished piece looks like fur. Then I feel I was successful at mastering that.
Sometimes I have so many ideas, i have a hard time choosing something. That is what happened with “Catch Me If You Can,” a clever octopus made completely out of paper, even the suckers on its eight tentacles. When I was deciding on a new project, I rattled off a handful of ideas to my daughter and asked her what I should do next. She chose an octopus!
What a challenge it was figuring out how to make the suction cups on the tentacles. It did take quite a bit of trial and error until I figured out exactly the right technique to make and attach all those tiny little suction cups to the octopus. Happily, I figured out a way to do just that out of paper and I think it all worked out rather well.
Transforming 'My Studio' Into a Lifelike Paper Sculpture
I’ve been working on a design concept for a series 3D paper sculptures around habitats, and the first one I’ve created is “My Studio.”
I’ve been working on a design concept for a series 3D paper sculptures around habitats, a detailed representation of real-life environments made only out of paper and painted with watercolor and gouache.
The first habitat I’ve decided to sculpt is… me! Or I should say the place where I can be found 8, 10, 12 hours most days of the week — in my studio. Here’s how I made an exact replica of my desk completely out of paper.
To make my personal habitat, I started by making my desk and chair and then added in the accessories. There are a lot of accessories. “My Studio” is a representation of my art desk — pencils, paper and paints. It is also representing a part of me, much like my art. So, in this first habitat, the items are both literally on my desk or representative of my life.
For example, when I am working on a paper sculpture, you will find me surrounded by books that I use for reference materials. In “My Studio, you’ll see stacks of books but they’re made-up titles and images that have a special meaning or are symbolic to me.
Then there are the clay containers of brushes, pencils and markers. My sketchbook, scissors, rulers and pencils are always nearby my desk too. Mini tubes of paint, brushes and even my little kitten are on top of and surrounding my desk and are all hand-sculpted out of paper. And, of course, don’t forget the paint trays. These are just my basics.
On the shelves next to my desk I have dark brown handmade clay containers, the ones I made in a pottery class during my college days. They hold markers, pencils and miscellaneous items too. Of course, there a few favorite family photos, drawings and mementos nearby as well.
Did I mention the pinwheels? My studio would not be complete without a couple pinwheels. I have a yellow wind-up pinwheel pen, a personal favorite, and a vase or two on shelves nearby filled with pinwheels in bright colors.
Why pinwheels, you ask? I don’t know — they just make me happy because they are colorful and whimsical. (Everyone starts laughing when I bring out my yellow wind-up pinwheel pen and start writing.) I just have a few represented in the “My Studio” paper sculpture.
If you look closely, you might also notice there’s another miniature desk and chair in “My Studio” to represent the habitat I was creating.
Now that you’ve seen close-up photos of the parts and pieces of my paper sculpture habitat, “My Studio,” here is a final look of the completed piece — complete with the artist in her studio.
The Process of Bringing 'PAPER' to Life as a 3D Sculpture Illustration
Melinda Fabian outlines the process for creating her marketing paper sculpture design, "“PAPER.”
As a self-employed illustrator, I have to continually market my work. One of the ways I do that is to come up with creative ways to show people my paper sculptures, which is a medium and style that is a little unconventional. I want to convey to people quickly that it is something different and exciting and explain to someone in a visual way what my illustrations are. I also want to demonstrate to a potential client how I can solve a project and what medium I use to illustrate it.
This whole process of coming up with marketing materials is similar to being in college, and being assigned your next project by an art teacher. Except now, you come up with your own assignments for your marketing and advertising needs and figure out the goal, the problem that needs solving and the parameters you have to stay within.
So, with this marketing assignment, I want to use the final image on all of my social media sites and also on a postcard to market my paper sculpture illustration business to art directors. The problem is, how can I quickly portray my paper sculpture medium and my process to someone unfamiliar with my work? How can I demonstrate that I can help solve a publication's needs?
My concept was to create a one-word sign appropriately titled PAPER. I could show a progression beginning with a simple, plain white piece of paper and end up with a fully illustrated 3D paper sculptured letter. Using just one word will quickly explain my process visually and I will also be able to show different ways of visually and graphically communicating a solution to a publication's message using my medium, paper sculpture.
Here is my thought process for each of my paper sculpture letters:
Just like the way I work in paper sculpture, the first letter of the sign ‘P’ is just a plain white piece of paper — nothing fancy, just a basic letter cut out of a flat sheet of paper.
For the letter ‘A,’ I wanted to show the beginnings of a transition to manipulating the medium, using a small scissors to cut out the plain paper to make a box letter ‘A,’ cutting, bending and shaping the paper to transform it from a flat sheet of paper to a simple 3D form — just the basics.
This is where the real fun begins — the second letter ‘P.’ I wanted to highlight the transition from materials into a project. You see the little scissors in the previous step. But now, as things start to get more complicated, I need my pencils to sketch with, my paper, paint brushes, a paint tray, and paint. I also like that each one of these items begins with the letter ‘P,’ which was a fun added bonus. This is the first letter of the sign where each of the objects are a more advanced 3D paper sculpture, all made out of paper. The shapes all work together to form the letter ‘P.’
Next up, the transition from white paper to the painted paper. For the letter ‘E,’ I started with the stark white paper sculpture flowers, which can be very beautiful all on their own in white. But, I wanted to show that these flowers transition into realistic full-color flowers.
Lastly, my favorite, a completely painted 3D paper sculpture letter that completes my PAPER sign. The heron, turtle and little red birds (all words that have the letter ‘R’ in them) all surround this tree and create the letter ‘R.’ It was a challenge to figure out how to create the letter ‘R’ using those critters, and I think I successfully solved that tricky situation. The letter comes across as an ‘R’ and is clearly legible, which is so important when creating decorative lettering.
“The letter comes across as an ‘R’ and is clearly legible, which is so important when creating decorative lettering.”
I feel that my paper sculpture sign has successfully fulfilled the requirements of my assignment and I accomplished all of my goals that I originally set forth — to visually explain what it is I do and demonstrate that I can help communicate any message for a publication's needs.
Capturing the Beauty of the Birdwing Butterfly
Butterflies are so beautiful — all those colors and different shaped wings! I couldn’t resist painting this birdwing butterfly.
Butterflies are so beautiful — all those colors and different shaped wings! I couldn’t resist painting this birdwing butterfly. What makes these butterflies so impressive are its stunning colors. The black against the yellow, is such a stark contrast in color, but then the bluish green in the wings blends and camouflages among the colors in their surroundings. As the wings flutter against the leaves, the butterfly can get lost among the shadows in the trees and the blues in the sky.
There aren’t too many butterflies that have a touch of red on their bodies like the birdwing butterfly. Just one more element that makes them so spectacular. Because of the red and black colors on this butterfly, it inspired me to include a little black and red ladybug in the painting. The tiny little paper ladybug sitting on the leaf in the upper left corner, creates a 3D element to the watercolor painting.
Why You Should Save Your Old Sketch Books
Hold onto all those old sketch books. They are filled with lots of ideas and reference material.
Hold onto all those old sketch books. They are filled with lots of ideas and reference material. I can't tell you have often I have gone back to look through my sketch books. There are lots of ideas of things I wanted to do, to create sketches of things I want to transfer into paper sculpture. Even the sketch books from 10 and 20 years ago are helpful. It can spark new ideas. It reminds you of where you've been and how far you've come. They contain material that can spark a nespark a new idea idea. Sometimes it is an idea I had 20 years ago but forgot about it, but now I can now grow upon that thought.
What hidden treasures do you have saved inside your old sketch books? Tell us in the comments below!
Creature Feature: Illustrating the Giraffe
One of my favorite animals to draw is a giraffe. Here are just of the few designs I’ve done featuring these long-necked creatures.
The other day I was thinking about all the animals I have drawn during the course of my illustration career. Over the years I have drawn animals from all different types of environments such as elephants, frigate birds, peacocks, lizards, monkeys, cardinals, zebras, and lots more. Many of the illustrations were painted in watercolor and gouache or pen and ink line art for various children’s publications, activity pages, games, and greeting cards.
I would have to say that one of my favorite animals to draw is a giraffe. Of course, everyone knows they have that very long neck, but I also like them because they are so tall and I think those long eyelashes give their faces so much character.
Here’s a couple of my giraffe illustrations I’ve done over the years. And, in a few weeks, you will see my next paper sculpture. Yep, you guessed it — a giraffe!
