Paper Sculpture: A Step-By-Step Guide

This book is full of unique and beautifully made paper scupltures and collages. It's become one of my favorites for inspiration.

Intriging book. Really wonderful ideas, Explanation on methods and ideas.

Efficient

There are many very impressive paper sculptures on display in the book and it is amazing to see the variety of styles and treatments. I think anyone who gets the book would like to make something like this and I surely did. I decided to copy the one on the cover. It is a magnificent piece and very artistic. There is a section showing how this can be done (by a professional artist different from the original creator) who outlines what to do on this particular sculpture.. There are good hints there on techniques and materials which are a big help if you want to try it, but for anyone who does not have the art background it will take some time and experiment to figure out just what to do. Since this is not my own original art I only have two goals - to create a paper sculpture like the one in the book, and to learn the process and technique by doing it. Since I don't have the creative vision and skill to make a masterly piece by myself, I just printed out an enlarged image of the picture at the size I wanted and used it as a template to cut out the pieces from art paper. This is strictly a no-no among artists but I don't care because I am learning how to do paper art from this and can progress from imitating someone else's art to creating my own alter I master the process. I actually have had to study the picture in detail to do this and I've learned a tremendous amount by doing so. Now I can see why the artist did things in certain ways, because I have questioned whether I should do things differently at each step in the process. It has been a great learning process, and I can now see several reasons why the original work is so much better than the copy that is produced by the second artist in the book. And I have changed a few things from the original too. This has taken quite a while so far, but I have completed the swan and it is very impressive. This piece is more like classical impressionist art. I could write an essay on it. There are a few others in the book that reach that level, but if I ever do another one it might be from my own original idea, if I can find the level of inspiration I see in this one.

It is a beautifully illustrated book but there is very little that really helps learn how to do it. Some basics are included but not enough with samples which can be duplicated for practice.

I liked this book's diversity of relief-style paper sculptures. By relief-style I mean paper that is cut and then folded, rolled, mounted, etc. onto a flat surface. Other types of paper sculpture, such as cast paper sculpture are not covered. If you are interested in other ways to use paper I recommend the book The Art of Sculpting with Paper by Michael G. Lafosse. This book is a combination gallery of each artist's work plus one project each artist did step-by-step demonstrating their techniques. The beginning chapter gives an overview of the basic techniques every relief-paper sculptor uses and types of paper suitable for relief paper-sculpting. It then launches into the artist demo/gallery format. The nice thing about the step-by-step demos is that you can copy that project for practice if you wish (although patterns are not provided so you would need to recreate the pattern on your own.) Each step-by-step demo is definitely of professional quality. Most, if not all, of the artists featured are graphic illustrators who work on these kind of projects as a living for various commercial clients. Therefore, you can expect that the art displayed inside is of similar quality to the cover photo. Using this book I've begun a small project that I designed myself. It's definitely fun but I can see how it could become more time consumming. One thing I would've liked to have seen in this book was an estimate of the time it took for each artist to complete their project (not including the very initial sketch design). This would give me a better estimate of how long a similar project might be for me (although I'd estimate about 1/2 to 2/3 more time since I'm a beginner). I've enjoyed this book so much I plan to get the sequel. It's an excellent introduction to this style of paper art.

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in paper sculpture. Each project is followed by a wonderful gallery of similar work by the demonstrating artist. These make the book worthwhile for anyone who appreciates the medium even if they don't do the work themselves. The book starts out with a brief introduction to paper sculpture and overview of paper sculpture techniques. Nine projects, each directed by a different artist, follow. Though the instructions are arranged step-by-step with photos, there are some advanced techniques involved and some experience and talent would be needed to create some of the more elaborate projects. There are also no templates, so making a project that looks exactly like the one in the book it almost impossible. I didn't try all the projects, but did enjoy making the sun. It is fairly simple and looks so great using marbled papers. I would have liked to try the goldfish and the swan shown on the cover, but I felt they were a bit to time-consuming and complex for me. Other projects, like the Liberty Bell and too cute chicken wreath, just didn't perk my interest. All in all, I'm glad I bought the book. The artwork examples are great and have inspired me to try some things on my own such as butterflies, fish and landscapes. I like that they list all the artists with contact information, awards they've earned and clients they've served. A list of schools that offer professional instruction is also a nice bonus.

arrived as ordered. Good reference-not a step-by-step per se-enough to challenge a creative person.

Starts with the basics but in no time leaps into the advance and is a step by step guide for the advanced. Basic knowledge in drawing is required in order to start the projects shown in this book. Love it!

I love this book as it gives me further ideas for my own practice as an artist working in this medium.

Dieses Künstlerbuch ist Mitte der 1990er Jahre erschienen und zeigt, dass Papierskulpteure und -schneider nicht erst seit den letzten 10 Jahren aktiv und erfolgreich sind. Denn in der Zeit, als ich Fimo, Batik und Kartoffeldruck in der Grundschule entdeckte, waren neun kreative Köpfe bereits auf einem hohen Niveau und schufen einzigartige Kunstwerke, die sie exemplarisch in diesem Oeuvre zeigen. Das Buch ist NICHT an Laien und Neulinge gerichtet, auch wenn der Untertitel "Step-by-Step Guide" dies suggerieren mag. Es ist vielmehr für Personen, die bereits Erfahrungen gesammelt haben und neue Techniken erlernen bzw. von alten Meistern lernen möchten. Dazu stellen insgesamt neun Künstler je eine Arbeit in einer Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitung vor. Danach wird auf einer Doppelseite ihr Portfolio präsentiert, um (damals) sowohl Werbung für den Künstler zu machen als auch zu zeigen, was für Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten sich aus Papier ergeben. Ich möchte für Anfänger noch eine kleine Brücke zur Modernen schlagen und das Buch "Creative Paper Cutting" von Cheong-Ah Hwang vorstellen. Es ist 2013 erschienen und gibt wesentlich mehr Einblicke in die Papiere, Werkzeuge und Hilfsmittel, die Papierskulpteure gebrauchen. Zwei der 15 vorgestellten Projekte sind in ihrem Aufbau und ihrer Machart sogar SEHR ähnlich zu denen aus "Paper Sculpture. Step-by-Step Guide". Vielleicht ist es darum nützlicher für die ein oder andere Person. Wer noch ganz am Anfang steht und viele Tipps und Bildanleitungen braucht, sollte das neuere Buch von 2013 nehmen (sehr zu empfehlen, ebenfalls auf englisch). Wer hingegen mehr Erfahrungen mit sich bringt und die wesentlichen Techniken beherrscht bzw. verinnerlicht hat, der kann sich das Buch aus den 1990ern holen.