HarperCollins Publishers recently sent me a copy of
Louis Bou's new book “We Are Paper Toys: Print-Cut-Fold-Glue-Fun:, here’s a quick and short review ^^
Before we start, I want to point out that there's a big crease on the book that is noticeable on the photos, I blame USPS for that.
The title “We Are Paper Toys” is spot on, the book features 32 of the most popular and well known paper toy designers and customizers today.
Each designer featured has his/her picture shown, the URLs associated to their work and where they’re from. Alongside that is a mini interview /statement on which they share the reasons on why they love paper toys and what it means to them and photos of their paper toy creations (with mini templates to tease you :)
Each photo has a proper title, description, and the name of the designer/customizer who worked on it.
Some designers shared their sketches and concept art as well, which, besides the mini interviews and photos is my favorite part of the book. With these sketches, you get to see how they actually transformed them from a simple 2D idea to a real life 3D object that you can touch and hold.
It is a very gorgeous book, the photos used are hi-res and print quality is exquisite, you will not want to cut it out ^^. And that takes us to the one thing that I found to be odd - the full-page templates, it doesn’t really detract from the overall quality of the book but I just didn’t find them necessary.
I’m not sure if the author intended for them to be cut-out, but if they were, the full-page templates are printed on the regular pretty page of the book, it takes up one side of a whole page (remember a page has two sides) and the other side has photos. If you cut out the template then you’ll be cutting the pretty photos on the other side. I would have preferred that the full-page templates were printed on their own tear-out sheet.
And if they weren’t meant to be cut out, then I guess they serve as a pretty filler – since most of the templates, if not all, are included in the accompanying CD.
Yes, that’s right, it comes with a CD full of paper toys for you to print, cut, fold, and glue (80+ templates – will surely keep you busy this summer).
Here is the CD interface, it runs on Macromedia Flash Player 8 (a multimedia and application player). In order to run the CD you’ll need to have Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer, or you can just open the CD (without AUTOPLAY) to get straight to the content.
All the templates in the CD are in PDF format. To view the PDF files, you’ll need Adobe Reader.
So to sum it up, this book is a compendium of photos, artwork, sketches, and templates of paper toys from the 32 designers, most of which you can find in their respective web sites. Besides being a paper toy book, I would also categorize this as a photo book – it is that pretty.
So who is it for? definitely a must buy for paper toy / papercraft collectors, it shows you the who’s who in the paper toy scene and features their most prominent works. It’s also a good beginners book if you intend on introducing friends or family (or anyone else for that matter) into our craft, the pictures alone will do the selling ^^
Once again, the book is called We Are Paper Toys: Print-Cut-Fold-Glue-Fun
by Louis Bou and published by Collins Design - an imprint of HarpersCollins Publishers, it will be available online and in stores on June 15, 2010.
Special thanks to Ms. Meredith Rusu / HarperCollins Publishers for the review copy.
The Beast Helm is part of the Monster Armort Set from Final Fantasy XI, it is worn by Beastmasters and gives the wearer aboost in "Charm" and Parrying Skills
Noodle is the Gorillaz' kick ass riffmeister and Asian axe princess (guitars and vocals). Noodle paper model created by Chris Ryan / Bamboogila's Corner.
A papercraft tribute to Mr. Gray Powell ^^
The most important part of Matica's 2010 World Cup celebration, a hi-def TV to watch the games.
SHINYA outdoes himself this time, this Ferrari F50 GT papercraft is a beauty - and all this within 5 pages ^^
From the upcoming Black Rock Shooter anime, a deformed paper model version of one of the characters - Kokui Mato (the other character is Takanashi Yomi).
The Corsair Tricorne is part of the Corsair Armor Set from FFXI, it's a 3-cornered hat that enhances the player's Quick Draw effect.
New paper totem pieces from UK illustrator and designer Katari.
4 Porsche 917 paper models offered free by Motografica.de
South Africa's official currency is called the "rand" (R / ZAR) and is subdivided into 100 cents.
M1A1 Abrams main battle tank paper model by Yudho, this is a more detailed version and has some added parts.
Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) paper model created by RabiscoPop, Disney's teen queen shows her defiant side on her new single "Can't Be Tamed"
It's been over a month now since we last visited the Shrek Forever After papercrafts, we're going back because new stuff have been added, including this very cool video.
Home jersey for the Chilean World Cup Team.
3.5 ft tall Viewtiful Joe papercraft created by Taras Lesko, a tribute to its video game origin.
Typical coffee table to go along with the sofa, chair and beer fridge from Matica.com
Red Hulk paper model by Xavier, the Red Hulk is has abilities identical to the Hulk but is more brutal and tactically intelligent. While the Hulk grows stronger when his rage increases, the Red Hulk emits tremendous heat.
Oscar the Grouch is the trash-loving Jim Henson Muppet that appears in the ever popular children's tv show, Sesame Street.
From the anime/light novel series Durarara!! - Celty Sturluson (aka The Black Rider, aka The Headless Rider) is an Irish Dullahan who goes to Japan in search of her missing head.
Snow covered Yoshi from Mario Kart 64.
The Toilet Team paper toys by PaperBoxWorld, meet Bowls, Rolly, Wee, and Doodoo - their names and appearance pretty much tells you who they are ^^
Princess Alena (aka Tsarevna Alena) is one of the main characters in Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, she belongs to the Fighter/Martial Artists-class and is the Princess of Zamoksva.
Rin Kagamine is one-half of Crypton Future Media's second Vocaloid Character series, the other half is Len Kagamine (male).
Rahwana paper toy by Sal Azad, Rahwana is the main antagonist in the Hindu epic Ramayana.
Boeing X51A paper model by Julius Perdana, the Boeing X51 is a robotic flight demonstrator capable of hypersonic speed.
Nothing better than a cold brewski while watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup, kickoff in 3 days!
Peter Rabbit paper model created by 21th Century Papercraft, Peter Rabbit is based on English author, Beatrix Potter's children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit (published in 1902).
Black Luster Sword paper model by Brandon, this is a Scimitar-type sword wielded by the Black Luster Soldier from YuGiOh: The Falsebund Kingdom.
El Looser paper toy created by Scott Charron using Tougui's Rodrigo del Papel template.
Chick-fil-A is "fired up" over their newest sandwich - the Spciy Chicken Sandwich, they're giving away free fire truck papercrafts to promote this so check your local stores and see if you have them.
Giovannino paper toy n°7 by Vinsart, flower power.
Add the F16 fighter jet to Mabikaze Paperwork's new series, Mabikaze Wings - nice looking paper airplanes that actually fly ^^.
Gardevoir (aka Sirnight) is a Pyschic-type and Embrace Pokemon that is the evolved form of Kirlia, it resembles a humanoid creature wearing a white gown.