GF Smith

In order to create something which I felt would suit its design purposes, I looked into previous work created by the company 'GFSmith.' From the logo alone, I think it is immediately noticeable that their work is not only simple, but it is clever in its own right. 

The piece below shows a united jack design being incorporated into a GF Smith advert; broadcasting its selling purpose (being paper. ) As with the logo, I think that although this is a really simple technique, (cutting text from the original flag- shape, ) it must have been much more difficult than you would think to be able to show that it is in fact the union jack.

I feel that although GF Smith's designs do not broadcast the fact they are trying to sell a product, they are successful in creating professional, eye-catching and memorable typographic design pieces. I think that this sort of approach to a difficult market to advertise works extremely well in bringing a modern approach to an everyday object, being paper.

Final sculpture

You can see that to create this, I have just begun with a normal a4 sheet and slit the card vertically, I have also hand-cut text into the corner of the sheet which will become a key part of the design later on.

Final Poster

This is the final, edited image for my '100 years of GF Smith' poster. I have successfully changed the colour of the backdrop, as well as adding artificial lighting. This has really brought out the shadows of the cut-out numbers, making them clearly visible on the white card.

After cropping the image, I have gone on to add text, my own take on the GF Smith logo and all of the other required information. I think the tight greyscale colour scheme really works in enhancing the important factors of this poster. For example, the way that I have matched the type to the image, enhances both of the features, meaning that they immediately stand out. 

Although I am happy with this design, I think that the spotlight which I have added should have focused mostly on the middle '0.' This would have ensured that both the numbers, above and below would have been sufficiently lit, which here is not the case (the bottom 0.)

Wooden Block Inspiration

This is the sort of layout I want to include in my poster, I am taking my initial idea of 'building blocks,' and developing it to work with paper. I have been inspired by the playfulness of this common way of creating words. I think this could mean that my final poster would appeal to children as well as adults (which would be the obvious choice to target.)

Setting up the final design

I really want my photography to compliment my final design; I want the contrast between the paper and the backdrop to be as high as possible. Unfortunately I do not have a black backdrop, so I have already decided that I am going to edit this later on in photoshop. Therefore I need to ensure that the paper is completely white in all of my photographs so it will be easier to distinguish from the background later on in PS.

Here I am experimenting with various layouts; as the brief states that the poster format must be portrait, I have decided that the poster would work best with the objects stacked vertically reading '100' down the page.

Playing with Paper

What I think is an interesting, yet simple design is my second sculpture, created by scoring a square piece of paper and bringing all corners to the middle. Although I would have liked to use this on a larger scale as a possible final piece, I found it difficult to secure the centre join , especially as the surrounding gaps were to small to fit a stapler into. Superglue would also not hold this together.

What I found particularly interesting about this piece is the way that I can create the image of the paper being smooth, which to look at, makes you think this must be extremely complicated.

Here I have decided to work with strips of paper, folding them in half and stapling them in the centre. As this design went on (as I added more strips), the design became harder to staple and I resorted to my last option, superglue.  After a while, the paper began to become 'immune' to the superglue, so I was left with this. This was as far as I could take this idea. In a way I am happy, as looking back I feel that this idea looks particularly messy, as well as simple. Immediately after looking at this idea, you are able to work out how it is constructed which I feel is not very interesting for the viewer.

GF Smith

After looking at Julene Harrison's work, I have taken it on to create an idea along the same lines, using typography as my main basis. After creating a quick logo for the stated company; GF Smith, I opted to cut it out to double as a logo as well as one of the 0's in the number 100.  Here I have photographed my work in the style of Harrison, the first template photographed next to my cutting equipment. This logo was hand cut, as with all of my final pieces.

In a second photograph, after adding the triangular back to my design, I have captured the shadows reflected on to the white of the card inside. I want my final photographed piece to be shot this way, playing with highlights, shadows and lamps to create this image.

Julene Harrison

Julene Harrison, a female paper artist based in London, works in fine detail, creating typography- based pieces hand-cut from card.  All of her designs are created to be individual, some even including images relating to the text. Looking at this particular piece, it is immediately recognisable that Harrison creates her own text. Harrison individually customises each letter- whether this is done by either adding or taking away from its normal form, this really brings a unique feel to her designs, giving them 'her stamp.' 

To create something like this which would not HAVE to be displayed on a flat surface, it is required to link all the paper together so when lifted, the design does not fall apart. I can only admire Julene Harrison for her ability to do this without spoiling her art work (see below image.)

Julene Harrison has become a famous designer across this range of art, creating pieces not only for personal use, for gifts, but due to commercial demand as well. Harrison has designed and created basic artwork for book covers, as well as a template paper design for the major phone network company, O2. 

o2 promotional work

I think as with any other paper sculptors work, however abstract, it is crucial to a graphic designer that whatever you create, however big or small, it is vital that it can be computer enhanced and used in a design successfully in the way that Julene Harrison clearly demonstrates. Her paper artwork brings something new and different to the standard computer or photographed advertisements, it strips design back to the bare minimum using the most basic media and turning it into something beautiful.

Julene Harrison's work has really inspired me to use paper- cut typography in one of my final designs. I want to bring something different to the table when creating my poster, distancing myself from the cliche 'sculpture' idea (which usually means a 3d paper creation displayed in an odd form. ) I feel that by using Harrison as my main source of inspiration, I will not only create something unique, but I will also play to my strengths , which I have found to be typography.

Shells

After looking at both Richard Sweeney's and Jen Stark's work, I decided I wanted to take elements from each designers' principles to combine the two styles. I think the vibrant colours in Stark's work really brought the designs together, being a key element of her artwork. I wanted to take this and combine it with my own take on Sweeney's shell pieces which  I have earlier elaborated on.

The outcome was this; a bright, shocking shade of pink which I could see featuring in any one of Jen Stark's pieces. This really contrasts with the smooth, delicate outlines of the shell- shape which I have stapled together. I don't think that a contrast this big really works, it sets the design away from its simplicity, which Sweeney really managed to exaggerate, using the most basic colouring and photography.

Richard Sweeney

At first he intimidated me, then he made me jealous, then I despised him, and now, I can't stop stealing his ideas! I give you... Richard Sweeney.

The simplicity of the "shell-like" sculptures Sweeney has cleverly created work together extremely well in this 2X2 image design. I think this piece is so fascinating; the odd thing about his design is that you cannot tell whether each shell is different or just captured at different angles. 

After looking closely at the last shot, I think I have figured that Sweeney sliced the piece of card with the intention of leaving large to small widths in between each cut.

After deciding that I'm not a natural paper sculptor,  I quickly realised that this sort of thing is actually in my sculpting range. I've been playing about with this idea for a couple of days and I must say, even if it does take me about half an hour to try and match Sweeney's fantastic works of art, the simplicity of it really astounds me.  I've found that the paper pieces which have soft curves work best, I'm not sure if this would work as well if the paper had not been sliced, but this is something I can choose to experiment with.  I have finally got an idea in mind, which will be to use this as inspiration but in a different form. Hallelujah! 

Jen Stark

Similar to Richard Sweeney, Jen Stark is also a paper sculptor. Whilst researching this particular artist, I have found Stark to be far more abstract than Sweeney. Basing her designs on patterns found in nature; she cleverly creates intricate masterpieces using coloured card and unusual shapes. 

I am particularly fond of Stark's work as it is out of the ordinary; I have never seen anything like her work before, because of this I decided to have my own take on these design principles using only WHITE card which was outlined as a restriction in the brief. 

Imitating Jen Stark 

Phase 1.... hours of cutting squares, realising that they are all different sizes because the template makes them larger, recutting them, ending up with rectangles, stressing out.... realising that this idea is going to take hours and that the card isn't very thick...

So my final design didn't turn out too great... I needed to use 5 layers of card for each different size of square, still, it didn't turn out thick enough with that many. Anyhow, after 2 and a half hours I ended up with this. I think I should have either; chosen an abstract shape rather than settling for the basic option, had shorter gaps in between each square size. On the positive side, at least I know what I WON'T be doing for my final!

Stars

Using strips of paper, I managed to make 3d stars in various sizes; the bigger the star, the harder it was to make. Although the end result is not a perfect star, they look quirky and difficult to make. I am starting to  focus on creating shapes rather than sculptures at the minute. Perhaps I should go back to sculpturing...

A recent idea I have had is to cut typography into cubes for my poster design. The text could cover the whole poster design, or part of it with extra text printed on top. After the obvious search of "cube art" on Google - I came across this. Cubecraft.

I wouldnt really class this as 'art' in the same league as Peter Hellesen, however this is a different approach to paper folding, similar to Origami. These particular designs are quirky and childlike in comparison to other paper sculptors such as Richard Sweeney. 

Yulia Brodskaya

I have decided to include typography in my second paper sculpture which will link closely to the set theme; "100 years of paper." My initial idea is to cut from a sheet of A3 card and decorate around the text. However, I feel that this would not be 'sculpting' as the finished piece would not be 3D. 

After looking through Brodskaya's designs I have been utterly fascinated at the detail that each piece of type contains; every last inch of the design has been intelligently calculated so that the paper all fits together inside the border. Colour is a key part of Brodskaya's designs as with Jen Stark who I have also researched. Unfortunately, I am unable to take any of their design principles for this as I cannot use anything BUT white paper. Here, each design uses a tight colour scheme, using particular shades that fit well and compliment each other. Colour also contributes massively to the final feel of the finished product; in the 'heart' designs instance, the warm, paler tones fill the deep red borders of the word, ensuring the text is still legible. The overall result is that the meaning of the word is really felt in this design. This is the complete opposite of the design below.

http://illusion.scene360.com/art/1281/paper-made-typography/

Richard Sweeney Workshop

The first workshop with Richard Sweeney was a basic introduction to paper sculpting; using a5 card, I mainly focused on slicing strips of the card and bending sections to see what I could create, this shell like piece being the result. I've already decided that I'd love to do something like this as a final piece, even though it is so simple to create, the way it looks doesn't make you think that. 

After experimenting with different photography methods, I have also discovered I can create different effects using even the most basic shape. Here I have shown how an object can completely change once it is photographed from the inside, from a distance, macro etc. Macro shots are also popular with Sweeney, who I have noticed photographs pleats closely to create a 'landscape/ texture' feel. 

Continued at home

Being interested in this method; after returning home, I continued to work with paper which had been split vertically down a landscape piece of A5 card. I am interested to see how this effect would work with different materials such as; newspaper, coloured card, printer paper. This design was created the same way as the above, however this time, I brought 2 corners to the centre of the card, securing it with a stapler. Although it is annoying that staples are highly visible in work like this, I have found it is the most reliable form of keeping the design together; glue frequently becomes weak and my pieces quickly fall apart. 

Here I have taken 2 different shots of the same piece, one with warm lighting shot from a distance and the other is a close shot in full focus. I am not particularly keen on shooting with warm light, I think it takes away from one of the main points of my design, that I have to use white paper. It also gives an old feel to the design when I want my piece to look modern and intriguing. 

When photographing my final piece I think it will be vital that I shoot with a wide depth of field, ensuring that each detail is in focus. This is vital to the overall image of my design, especially if it is slit in the way that these pieces are. Therefore my final model will be seen how it really is, hopefully by either suspending it or positioning it correctly as well, I will also be able to compliment the design further. 

Peter Callesen

Taking a totally different approach to paper sculpture; Callesen creates paper 'art' using limited materials. These particular pieces that I have included are all A4 pieces using only paper, glue and acrylic paint. What is interesting is how Callesen manages to make all of his designs 3D in the sense that they step out from other designs by 'telling a story.' All Callesen's designs are based on real, material objects. Perhaps these would not be classed as sculptures?

www.petercallesen.com