I Am Alone, Walking On The Straight Road

Masanori Okamoto created this rather curious papercraft animation piece to commemorate the work of Taneda Santoka, one of Japan's most famous Haiku authors. While on an initial viewing I was a tad perplexed by what I saw, witnessing a man having a drink and slowly exhibiting all the subtle mannerisms an inebriated individual would, I slowly came to realize what this was all about. Aside from being a technically impressive short by Okamoto, who setup an experimental system for emoting with a cutout paper method, the short embodies everything that Santoka himself lived for.

Savoring the moment. Enjoying one's saké. Realizing that there is no destination, only the journey. Santoka embraced an unusual pursuit of achieving enlightenment, choosing to walk to achieve his own version of Zen. Over the course of 28,000 miles walked by foot he would record his thoughts and perceptions regarding everything he encountered on his way, which would ultimately immortalize him as one of Japan's literary treasures.

The Paper Architect

Love the idea behind The Paper Architect, which explores the concept of a talented craftsman escaping into a fantasy world to escape the harsh realities of life. Created by Davy and Kristin McGuire, the project uses projection mapping to bring his paper crafted world to life, mixed with the theatrical aspect that the actor brings into the mix to tell his tale.

The Paper Architect is a play combining paper-craft, animation, projection mapping and performance. It tells the story of an old model-maker who uses his paper creations as vessels for his imagination. The show features tiny, accurately mapped animations playing across intricate paper sets: sunrises and sunsets come and go; flocks of birds pass by; leaves flutter from a tree... When the actor places a cut-out dancing woman on a detailed paper model, she comes alive; he adds a paper man and watches their romance unfold.

Paper Cities

It's kind of interesting, but I recently ran into three papercraft/stop motion projects with the same theme just recently- Habitat Patch, Revolution and Paper City by Mauro Lovadina, Helen Friel and Maciel Janicki. All distinct in their own respects, but all centered around the themes of towns and cities.



Nearly a year in the making and shot in a continuous take, Revolution follows the cyclical journey of a single water droplet.



The streets are paved with paper. This delicate animation follows the charming rise and fold of a fragile metropolis. Captured by an unseen helicopter, the narrative unfolds through winding roads, erupting forests and emerging mountains. Paper City grows in one fluid take, with skyscrapers rising from the page – only to crumble, wrinkle and gently crease back into the ground.

Titan Paper Sculpture

I have some true respect for the folks who dedicate hundreds of hours to the art of papercraft, an incredibly time consuming craft at it's higher levels that definitely takes a certain type of mindset. Personally, I'm missing that type of time to sit down and meticulously fold for hours on end, but here's to hoping that I'll someday be granted the opportunity to take it that easy.

Crafted by Thomas Voillaume using a mixture of Maya, a specific software for papercraft called 'Pepakura,' 145 sheets of paper (Including a resined variety for structural integrity), expanding foam, old comics and plenty of time, Titan is a timelapse covering the creation of a 6.5 foot tall paper sculpture. According to Voillaume, Titan represents a creation of collective imagination, meant to represent contemporary mythologies (Thus the comic flavored coating).

Matt Mendez : Square

This fantastically catchy, upbeat music video for Matt Mendez's Square (Available for free download here, btw) was created with some extensive help by Alexis Facca of Paper Donut, self proclaimed freelance artist and space designer. Loved all the Pixar references thrown in, including a little tribute to Wall-E and even a tip of the hat for UP towards the end. Enjoy.

The Paper Art Of Tougui

Lumber jack #1 (Via)

Tougui is an established French papercraft master/illustrator who really blew my mind with his incredibly elaborate creations. Using the same angular style with simplified details (A pretty common trend for last decade or so in Western cartoons) that was made popular by retro Hanna Barbera cartoons, he's created a ton of paper art with a ton of personality. Tougui opened my eyes to an entire subgenre of artists dedicated to highly collectible papercraft, which sure beats shelling out a ton of money for designer vinyls.

Check out a few more of his papercraft pieces after the break. And you can even download a small handful of these to make yourself at home on his website.

Epic 7 Foot Gundam Papercraft

After completing a 4 foot tall Gundam papercraft back in 2010, Taras Lesko set out to outdo himself in 2011 with a bigger, better Gundam..The RX-178 Gundam MK II from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. 1,250 pieces, 720 pages and countless man hours went into creating this impressively detailed tribute. This man is no mere mortal, by completing this insane task he has ascended to papercraft god status in our books.

Check out the behind the scenes of the 7 Foot Gundam Project after the break!

Nyan Cat Gets The Papercraft Treatment

Go Nyancat go! No matter the medium, you must keep spreading your rainbow Poptart goodness across the galaxy. This amazing papercraft contraption was created by the user ddi7i4d (Its not a typo, lol) over on Deviantart. Want to make one yourself? Just print out the papercraft here and follow the instructions to get your very own, hand cranked Nyancat on your desk. Nyan!

Paper Gameboy By Zim And Zou

This color scheme would have sold like hotcakes in 1989. (Via)

Zim and Zou is a design studio based in France that focuses on a contemporary approach to design by using mixed media. Aside from graphic design, the duo behind Zim and Zou (Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmermann) mix it up by using a variety of different approaches, including installations, illustration, sculpture and more. This mini project was created for nothing other than showing off just how insane their papercraft skills are. Check out a ton of images, including their uncannily realistic standard color Gameboy after the break!