I am proud to present the House from My Neighbor Totoro! This was a commission from my friend to his lovely wife. She, too, is enchanted by the amazing home in this Studio Ghibli classic :)
-MJ
-MJ
An interview with Adam Harum of Transolar Galactica.
They achieved their Kickstarter goal, and now the world gets more of their award winning sci-fi comedy!
Showing posts with label paper art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paper art. Show all posts
Friday, December 26, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
When the Creator of a Beloved Game Sees Your Fan Art
Life is funny. If you had told 8 year old me that someday she would get to have a personal email exchange with one of the co-creators of Toejam & Earl and ask him questions about the game, she would have been excited at the idea, and hopeful probably, but wouldn’t have thought it was possible.
Well 8 year old me, it happened, it was awesome, he’s super nice, he likes your art, AND you got one of your burning life-long questions answered: Are they saying, “Whoa, shit!” when they’re about to fall off the cliff?!
Sadly, no.
But onward to the story!
Some photos from a recent play through of Toejam & Earl for the Sega.
In January of this year (fabulous 2014) I completed a Toejam & Earl paper art piece. I was proud of it and thrilled to have made it. Toejam & Earl is a childhood and life-long favorite game of mine and my sister’s. If two video games defined my early years, they would be Mario 3 and Toejam & Earl. There were other games of course but those two were played the most, and they continue to be played by my sister and me even to this day. The first time we beat Toejam & Earl I was about 18 years old; we had been whole hog dedicated to that title for a solid 10 years!
The week before Thanksgiving I had a day like any other day. That is until I received an email alerting me to the presence of a new comment on my Toejam & Earl paper art photos. I checked it out and discovered that someone claiming to be one of the co-creators of Toejam & Earl had found my art and really liked it, and posted it on their official Facebook page. He invited me to check out the page and to e-mail him if I liked.
Now, I like to think I’m optimistic but I also don’t like to be fooled, and the internet is chock full of liars. So, I proceeded with caution. First I looked for the Facebook page, which I found, and sure enough there was my art! I scrolled for a bit and discovered that it was totally legit, and then I may have cried a little? But then I got it together and sent him (Greg Johnson) an email expressing my thanks for the comment and his compliment, as well as my unending love of the game series.
What followed was a very pleasant e-mail exchange where I was able to tell him everything I loved about Toejam & Earl and I got to ask any questions that had been on my mind for the last 20 years. He told me about the most recent game he’s made, Doki Doki Universe, and even gave me a download code so I could play it on my PS3. On top of that he offered to send me some signed Toejam & Earl art as a token of appreciation. Talk about a crazy nice guy!
(Note: I plan on writing a little about my experience with Doki Doki Universe once I've had a chance to dive into it!)
He had such wonderful and encouraging things to say about my paper art, and it was a wacky ass dream come true to get to talk to one of the people responsible for SO much happiness and gaming in my life.
A nice shout out to my sister from an email exchange from Greg.
Greg is currently working toward a new Toejam & Earl title and personally I could not be more excited. His Facebook page is promoting interest in the quirky series and he’s also hosting a lot of game-based quizzes with signed art up for prizes! He wants to hear from people on what they love and hate (who could hate any of it?) about the games, and what they hope to see in a new release. Any Toejam & Earl fans owe it to themselves to get in on the fun and have their voices heard!
So that’s my story. It was an honor to hear from him and a total thrill to have my art seen by one of THE creators of the game. He was also so kind and genuine, which is a rarity in my experience. I’m thankful that the internet exists and allowed this crazy thing to happen!
-MJ
Friday, November 28, 2014
People Portraits - My Sister's Family
This is the last practice commission that I did and it was for my sister. She requested a portrait of her and her entire family (pets included!).
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, November 21, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
Firefly Serenity Paper Art Video
The fourth practice commission that I made! The background was supplied by my friend Chavid (the piece was also for him).
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, October 24, 2014
2D Paper Art - The Legend of Zelda Dungeons
Here's a little something I made for Zach for the Zelda subreddit gift exchange a few months ago. It was fun! And challenging. And you know. Maybe it wasn't that fun. There are so many geometric shapes, you know? But I think it's pretty cool, and I think the recipient really enjoyed it.
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, September 26, 2014
Friday, August 29, 2014
Roadster Sculpt Video - Vroom Vroom
A paper sculpt of a friend's real roadster! This was a total challenge for me since cars aren't really my thing. It was difficult to know what I was looking at in the reference photos. Hurray for challenges!
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, July 25, 2014
Shiva Video - FF8 GF Sculpt Series
For the first time ever I'm playing through Final Fantasy 8 (and documenting it!) and I decided to do a paper sculpt piece of each Guardian Force in the game. Here's Shiva!
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, June 27, 2014
Super Dog and Super Pickle Adventures - A Sculpt Video
Made for my friend as a surprise gift for his girlfriend. These are original characters that he made as something fun for her. When he explained that they were a super hero duo made of a pickle and a wiener dog I immediately pictured them sharing a milkshake. It was fun to do something 'original'!
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, May 30, 2014
'No Face' Spirited Away - Sculpt Video
Made for my cousin for his 18th birthday. He insisted that No Face was his 'homie' and needed him feeling greedy and surrounded by piles of gold. No Face himself came together fairly simply, but making piles of gold was really challenging. Damn all of the tiny circles! I also need to find a place to have mats made. Honestly I'm proud of how this red one turned out but it's just a piece of paper so it's not super sturdy. Oh well! Learning is good :)
-MJ
-MJ
Friday, April 25, 2014
Studio Ghibli Crossover Sculpt Video
The first in a series of 'practice commissions' that I'm doing for some friends. She asked for something Studio Ghibli related, so I came up with this Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away crossover piece! I have to say that I am SUPER pleased with it! The feathers were a nightmare and I don't ever want to do anything like it again. Haku was a dream, though. The whimsy of his design had me smiling the whole time I was cutting.
-MJ
-MJ
Saturday, April 12, 2014
FF8 GF Sculpt Series Video - Quezacotl
Here's the first GF portrait from Final Fantasy 8! I'm working on creating all 16 of them as a personal project, and I hope to show them in a gallery at the end of the year!
-MJ
P.S. Did you see the little video camera icon on the article picture and preview picture? That'll be a nice, extra indicator that there's a video waiting for you! :)
-MJ
P.S. Did you see the little video camera icon on the article picture and preview picture? That'll be a nice, extra indicator that there's a video waiting for you! :)
Friday, March 28, 2014
Friday, February 28, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
Grumpy Cat Paper Sculpt
First sculpt video of the year! The goal is to have at least one each month :) I made this as a Christmas gift for a friend's daughter. I hope you enjoy it!
-MJ
-MJ
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Discovered Artist Showcase - supercoolspyclub
In order to inspire my own interests (while simultaneously fighting back the urge to rage-quit a tangible hobby because of jealously and fears of inadequacy) I am constantly on the look out for new paper artists to follow! I love to find people who have the same or a similar style to what I’m attempting to achieve. I’ve found that this is kind of hard to do, though. I don’t know if my search terms are off or what, but it’s just hard to find paper artists for me.
A while back I found a great tumblr that does all the work for me! They don’t post *super* often, I suspect because they have a similar issue that I did, but when they do, it’s almost always gold. Through them I found Jared Andrew Schorr, or supercoolspyclub on tumblr. His stuff absolutely rocks! Even better is that I sent him a message telling him how I was melting and freaking out over his work, and he gave me a response of thanks and encouragement for my own work. What a guy!
Please relax and enjoy this (very small) selection of his work.
His work is so simple, yet detailed! Such clean lines while also depicting movement and activity. And so delicate! Some of these pieces appear to be extremely small! How does he cut out the circles? You know, I tried to make a watery background for an octopus piece one time, and it was a full blown disaster. It looked so bad. I felt like a first grader who had just learned how to cut construction paper. I believe I threw it away because it filled me with such shame and frustration. But look!
I’m so thrilled by everything that he does, and it has helped me to get back to the Toejam and Earl sculpt that I’ve been trudging through. I knew when I started it that it’d be a real challenge, and so I’m dragging my feet rather badly. Then I see detailed sets like this:
and I know I have to get back on the horse.
What do you think of his work? Do you have any amazing paper artists for me? :D
-MJ
*all images have been respectfully borrowed from Schorr's tumblr and they are his property.
A while back I found a great tumblr that does all the work for me! They don’t post *super* often, I suspect because they have a similar issue that I did, but when they do, it’s almost always gold. Through them I found Jared Andrew Schorr, or supercoolspyclub on tumblr. His stuff absolutely rocks! Even better is that I sent him a message telling him how I was melting and freaking out over his work, and he gave me a response of thanks and encouragement for my own work. What a guy!
Please relax and enjoy this (very small) selection of his work.
Risers!
I never would have thought to display paper in anything but a frame.
Same color layering!
I don’t even want to talk about it.
Tiny cuts for fur? Yes!
His work is so simple, yet detailed! Such clean lines while also depicting movement and activity. And so delicate! Some of these pieces appear to be extremely small! How does he cut out the circles? You know, I tried to make a watery background for an octopus piece one time, and it was a full blown disaster. It looked so bad. I felt like a first grader who had just learned how to cut construction paper. I believe I threw it away because it filled me with such shame and frustration. But look!
It can be done! I really should give it another shot!
I’m so thrilled by everything that he does, and it has helped me to get back to the Toejam and Earl sculpt that I’ve been trudging through. I knew when I started it that it’d be a real challenge, and so I’m dragging my feet rather badly. Then I see detailed sets like this:
and I know I have to get back on the horse.
What do you think of his work? Do you have any amazing paper artists for me? :D
-MJ
*all images have been respectfully borrowed from Schorr's tumblr and they are his property.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Gotta Sculpt Them All - Pokemon in Paper Form
A few months ago I came across a paper artist on Tumblr named PlaidCushion, or Sarah, if you know her in person. She lives in New Zealand (I'm pretty sure!) and makes some damn awesome paper art.
From Sarah's Twitter @PlaidCushion.
My first experience with her work was through her (what I assume to be) university project called Wintergreen. I was absolutely blown away at the idea of a comic told entirely in paper sculpt format. She has great angle and perspective, I think, and I'm very much enjoying the whimsy of the story. You should definitely check it out.
From there I have watched her do a lot of Pokemon projects, one of Neil Gaiman, and even Rei from Evangelion! Most recently she finished an incredible Adventure Time piece, which I excitedly shared on the A Bit of Geek Facebook page. I was absolutely blown away by the detail! How could a human cut such tiny pieces? I think I kept the pictures open on my computer for days, because I could not stop looking at them.
Both images are from Sarah's Adventure Time post on Tumblr.
Now, Sarah has moved onto a different type of challenge, by way of creating a Pokemon for every day of December! And they're each about the size of a standard x-acto blade. After the challenge though, she plans on doing every. single. Pokemon. And she hopes to have Gen 1 finished by the end of January! My mind reeled when I first saw the picture she posted of the Dratini she had made. It's a damn good thing she juxtaposes them with an image of her knife, because otherwise I don't think I would believe that they were really so tiny.
Both images from Sarah's Tumblr account.
From Sarah's Twitter @PlaidCushion.
Personally speaking, I can't wait to see her make Oddish! He is my favorite, after all. And Lapras! Oh gosh, I honestly can't wait to see them all! I'm so in awe of her dedication and talent, and I truly hope that everyone will go and check out the rest of her work. She deserves it! Oh, she also does commissions, if you were hoping to get a little something unique for yourself or a friend!
Are you looking forward to any specific Pokemon being made into paper form?
-MJ
*header image source
Monday, September 16, 2013
Wind Waker Paper Sculpt Video
Happy Friday! Today I have a total treat for you: my Wind Waker HD art contest submission! Check it out in all of its roughly two minute long glory.
The last frame is what I submitted to Nintendo for the contest. I made top fifty, but not top five. So, no Wii U/Wind Waker bundle for me, but at least I got to see my work displayed during the Legend of Zelda symphony in Seattle last night! (Check back Monday for a write up of the show!)
What do you think? Are you liking these videos? I have a lot of fun making them!
-MJ
The last frame is what I submitted to Nintendo for the contest. I made top fifty, but not top five. So, no Wii U/Wind Waker bundle for me, but at least I got to see my work displayed during the Legend of Zelda symphony in Seattle last night! (Check back Monday for a write up of the show!)
What do you think? Are you liking these videos? I have a lot of fun making them!
-MJ
Monday, June 3, 2013
Minecraft Collage Sculpt
Mojang hosted a fan art community contest at PAX Prime 2012, and I decided to go ahead and submit a piece. (spoiler alert: my piece wasn't chosen) It was very fun to make, and also pretty challenging and tedious to cut out so many tiny squares. Also? I'm not a fan of the math necessary to cut up small squares into even smaller, even sized squares. From here on out I may stick with wibbly wobbly cut-as-I-please pieces. I hope you enjoy!
Time: Ten hours
Minecraft is property of Mojang.
Song: Crafty by Flawgic. http://soundcloud.com/flawgic
