Papercraft Research
For this week I’ll be doing research on a specific artist in the field of papercraft. The immediate association, of someone who is not familiar with papercraft art, is that of simplistic and easy to do. However, papercraft can be quite difficult and time-consuming. The end result of papercraft is an impressive and quite beautiful piece that is completely unique to its medium.
I have decided to do my research on Nahoko Kojima, perhaps the most known and influential kirie artist. The whole process for one of the most recent Kojima pieces took a whole year from concept to completion. Her research for shiro, the life-sized blue whale, took months. Kojima draws an initial continuous drawing that then becomes what her final design, she then prints it with custom paper made for her. Kojima works traditionally by cutting all pieces by hand; she is known to alter designs as part of her process, making all her works hard to recreate in their entirety.
Her style is unique and impactful, making technically impressive pieces that linger in the mind. From looking at her work, it is clear to see that it is a flat graphic design that thanks to the overlap and bend on the paper achieves a feel of volume and depth. It is important to say that her designs are really complex, they emulate every part of the subject being depicted from texture to even more stylistic aspects of the works like special lighting or color. The last aspect that jumps out at me about Kojima’s work is the colors she chooses; she primarily works in black and withe, but she does employ color to elevate her pieces even higher.
I personally feel inspired by Kojima’s work because the style she employs is everything I love in 2d art. Kojima achieves the look I personally love in 3d which, I am astonished by. I feel that this particular artist has expanded more than any other—in the list—my view on what can be achieved with papercraft. I used to think that this project would have me tie down with what I can make, but after seeing Kojima’s work I fell that any look can be achieved in papercraft.
I have decided to do my research on Nahoko Kojima, perhaps the most known and influential kirie artist. The whole process for one of the most recent Kojima pieces took a whole year from concept to completion. Her research for shiro, the life-sized blue whale, took months. Kojima draws an initial continuous drawing that then becomes what her final design, she then prints it with custom paper made for her. Kojima works traditionally by cutting all pieces by hand; she is known to alter designs as part of her process, making all her works hard to recreate in their entirety.
Her style is unique and impactful, making technically impressive pieces that linger in the mind. From looking at her work, it is clear to see that it is a flat graphic design that thanks to the overlap and bend on the paper achieves a feel of volume and depth. It is important to say that her designs are really complex, they emulate every part of the subject being depicted from texture to even more stylistic aspects of the works like special lighting or color. The last aspect that jumps out at me about Kojima’s work is the colors she chooses; she primarily works in black and withe, but she does employ color to elevate her pieces even higher.
I personally feel inspired by Kojima’s work because the style she employs is everything I love in 2d art. Kojima achieves the look I personally love in 3d which, I am astonished by. I feel that this particular artist has expanded more than any other—in the list—my view on what can be achieved with papercraft. I used to think that this project would have me tie down with what I can make, but after seeing Kojima’s work I fell that any look can be achieved in papercraft.
Comments
Post a Comment