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Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

12/16/2012

Have a happy holiday!

charlie_browns_christmas_tree.pdf
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You will need

1 x paper grocery bag - print is okay
1 x green paper
1 x cardboard, about 8 x 10in (20 x 25cm)
Cutting mat
Scissors
Knife
Metal ruler
Glue
1 x Christmas ornament

1. Cut the paper bag, so that you have a big flat sheet.

2. Roughly cut triangles that are about 20-24 inches (50 x 60cm) long, and 2-4 inch (5 x 10cm) wide on the bottom with scissors as many as you need.

3. Start rolling and twisting tightly in a winding direction about 1/3 of the triangle from the tip to make a branch. Repeat on the rest of your triangles. If you don't want to see the print on the branch, make sure the printed side gets rolled in.

4. Take two branches, and hold the ends of the twisted parts together, and start twisting the two pieces about a couple of inches more.

5. Add more twisted triangles, one after another, and keep rolling and twisting them altogether to make a tree.

6. Cut the bottom clean and flat.

7. Using a knife and a metal ruler, cut 2 pieces of cardboard 3.5 x 9in (9 x 23cm) to make a base, and in the middle, make a hole as big as the width of your branch. Glue them together as shown in the picture.

8. Cut 6 small pieces out of cardboard, and stack 2 pieces. Put them aside, and make another stack of 2 pieces.

9. Glue the little stacks on both ends of the base piece that is on the bottom. Glue the rest of the little pieces on both ends of the base piece that is on top.

10. Flip the base, and put the tree in the hole.

11. Cut about 2 inch (5cm) long and 1 inch (2.5cm) wide piece out of green paper. Make cuts along the longer side to make pine needles, leaving the other edge uncut.

12. Put some glue on the uncut edge, and attach one corner to the tip of the branch. Tightly wrap the branch with the green paper in a little bit winding direction.

13. Decorate the tree with a Christmas ornament.

14. Cut and spread some pine needles around the tree.

1 Comment

David Wisniewski

12/9/2012

3 Comments

I found a couple of awesome awesome paper sculpture illustrated books at a Half Price Books years and years ago. The pictures just blew my mind, and told myself to look the artist up, but never did until a few months ago. I was very saddened by what I have found out about him. This year is the 10th year since he passed away. I felt shocked. Not only his works, but also the journey he took as an artist in 49 years of his life is truly inspiring and intriguing.

Here's a good reading about him, but basically, he was very into comic books early on, became a clown when he was an young adult, ran a shadow puppet theater after he got married, and then became a paper illustrator and an author. You can pretty much see all his life experiences reflected in his works: humor, terrific story telling, playfulness, drama, mastery in compositions, color, animating the characters and cutting paper. I'd like to celebrate and share his exquisite paper art before this year ends. Click the images to see them bigger.

3 Comments

Paper zombie mask

10/21/2012

5 Comments

Halloween is just around the corner! Here's a fun project for you. Try this, and send me a picture. Show me how yours turned out. I will post it on my blog.

paper_zombie_mask.pdf
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You will need

1 x white poster board or card stock - sturdier the better for the head band(skull)

Few sheets of light weight card stock or tissue paper - color of your choice for the hair

1 x yucky green paper - light to medium weight, big enough to cover your entire face

1 x yellowish or brownish paper - for the teeth

1 x red paper - for blood

1 sheet of white tissue paper - for the eyeballs
1 package of 20 x 26in (50 x 66cm) pale pink gift wrapping tissue paper - for the brain, you need one sheet, but you'll probably need more than one to practice

Scissors
X-Acto knife(optional - if you use one, you'd need a cutting mat or a sheet of thick scrap cardboard)
White glue
Small paint brush or scrap paper strip
Pencil

1. Cut 2 inch (5cm) wide strips out of white paper for the skull as many as you need, and glue the ends together to make one long strip that can wrap around your head. Loosely fit the head band on your head, and cut it 1/2 inch (1cm) longer than the fit for gluing. Glue the ends.

2. Cut a sheet of pink tissue paper roughly 3 times larger in diameter than the skull.

3. Give it a good crumple.

4. Gently open the crumple until it becomes as big as the skull, flattening the center of the paper while keep the edges crumpled as much as possible to form a blob.

5. Put a small amount of glue on one edge. Gather the edge a little bit. Hold it until the glue sets. Carefully let go of the tissue paper, and dry off any wet glue on your fingers for your next gluing. Glue the opposite side of the blob, and then in between the glued areas till the shape is evenly secured.

6. Pour some glue on a piece of scrap paper or plastic. Thinly apply a little bit of glue in the middle of the blob with a paint brush.

7. Pinch the glued area from underneath the blob. Carefully let go of the tissue paper, and dry off any wet glue on your fingers. Glue a few inches further next to the first glued spot.

8. Make sure your fingers are dry in between gluing. After a few gluing, let it dry a little. Repeat gluing in between the glued spots until the blob is divided into two sections.

9. Apply glue on one edge of the brain, and attach it to inside of the skull.

10. Repeat on the opposite side, and then in between the glued areas until the brain is evenly secured to the skull.

11. Crumple and flatten the green paper few times to get a weathered look. A little tear here and there is perfectly okay. Cover your face completely with the paper. Feel your eye sockets, nose, and mouth, and mark them on the paper with a pencil.

12. Cut out the eye sockets. Tear the nose part out. Cut the paper all across the mouth area. Cut the paper in the shape of a skull as shown in the photo.

13. Cut about 1 1/2 inch (4cm) wide strip long enough to fit along the mouth. Give some short cuts along one edge for the teeth, leaving 1/2 inch (1cm) of the opposite edge uncut.

14. Glue the teeth to the back of the mouth, and then bend some teeth outwards.

15. Cut a dripping blood shape out the red paper, and glue it to the back of the mouth.

16. Cut 2 circles out of white tissue paper about twice larger in diameter than the eye sockets.

17. Crumple each circle and form a blob just like you did for the brain, and attach the eyeballs from the back of the face. Cut, or tear a little hole on each eyeball, so that you can see through.

18. Put the brain on your head. Put the zombie face on your face, looking at a mirror. Fold the top of the forehead back, and position the face on the skull, showing about 1/2 inch (1cm) of the skull. Take the mask off. Put glue on the folded area, and attach it to the skull.

19. Connect the paper for the hair to be long enough to cover your head except for the face. Fold one of the longer side edges over, about 2 inches (5cm). Cut strips on the larger area all the way to the fold.

20. Crumple the hair if you'd like. Put glue on the uncut side of the fold, and attach it to the remaining skull.

5 Comments

My book cover design is published!

9/30/2012

0 Comments

I designed and created a cover of the book "GRIMM TALES, for YOUNG and OLD" by the worldly famous wonderful British author, Philip Pullman. The book is published last week in UK by Penguin Classics. I'm pretty psyched about this. I can't wait to read the author's version of Grimm tales. I don't know when exactly the book will come here in US, and if the book will have the same cover. Oh~ darn it. I'll just have to order it from UK. It's really an amazing experience to see my artwork on BBC news, a giant publisher's website, Amazon, and whatnot.

0 Comments

Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

David Wisniewski

Paper zombie mask

My book cover design is published!

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