2010/08/09

The Strange Case Of Origami Yoda

A while back, I was wandering around the book store with my bookish friends and came across The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. I immediately found the folding instructions in the back and committed them to memory (only 15 steps, none of them complex). Then when I found my next sheet of paper I folded away. 

I don't know who designed it, so I'll just 
credit the author, Tom Angleberger.

Then, I later went back to the book store and bought the book so that I could read the story. It is a case file written by a middle schooler. Each chapter is a story about an origami Yoda and how it affects the students at the school. Each story has a bit of analysis (at 6th grade level) of what might be happening. 

Their classmate, Dwight, has folded a small puppet that looks like Yoda and begins giving out advice. Some believe that the puppet can see the future, others are skeptical. I really enjoyed it, because it reminds me of when I over analyze situations and try to find the truth, while ultimately missing the point that was right in front of me the whole time.

2010/08/03

Faces!

I was drawing with some people recently and one of them mentioned the likelihood of a art show featuring paintings and drawings of Lady Gaga. I said that there may be a way to fold a likeness of her, instead of draw it, so I got to thinking.

I began experimenting with faces, hoping to develop some skills.


This first mask is a model by Jun Maekawa that I dissected to better understand faces.


This is an attempt to create a face wearing a masquerade mask. I tried to make the eyes apparent without a color change.


This is another attempt at the masquerade, but with the added element of tiling on the mask to give it texture. The resolution of the tiling is low, so it is not all that apparent.


This is the masquerade again, but out of a much larger sheet of paper (from a presentation) and I was able to get a higher resolution on the tiling. Unfortunately, the paper was really springy and it did not have the effect I wanted.


This is an orc wearing a helmet that I designed.

 
I don't know what this is, but since it is blue and elongated, it reminds me of a Navi from Avatar....

 
This is an experiment, and I kind of really like the eyes.


This is something of a samurai with his eyes hidden. I really like this look, I think I'll make it my profile picture.