Wednesday 15 July 2009

ART BOOK REVIEW: Urban Paper - Matt Hawkins

BOOK BLURB:

Hip designers will love this collection of 25 paper toys ready to be cut out and built. This fun project book includes step-by-step instructions, diagrams, and a section about how to design your own paper toys from scratch. Plus, a bonus CD-ROM features patterns for all 25 toys and even more templates to print out. Complete with interviews from the toy designers, this fun guide gives you everything you need to build and even design your own cutting edge urban paper toys.


REVIEW:

As a child I was the sort of kid that when given things to do with the PVA glue, used to end up with it not only everywhere but was the sort of kid that spent hours pulling it off the hands pretending that it was skin and flicking it at everyone else.

These days, I know better than to do that (even if its still pretty good fun) although I did suspend my self imposed ban so that I could start making these wonderful cut outs. What makes them thrilling is not only are they colourful but also pretty crafty with all the hard bits prefigured and easy to follow instructions. They’re modern and if you’re a collector of the multitude of plastic collectables from Japan then these will add something extra to the collection. Add to the mix that if you’re pretty crafty, what I did was to scan these into the computer and then printed them up in order to keep the book intact, then carefully using the craft knife I cut them out and followed the instructions. The fact that I didn’t end up with my hands glued together as well as something nearly identical to the illustration is a pure testament to the skill used by the creator of this book. Definitely something worth getting if you’re looking for craft projects this Summer and will give you hours of fun with a collection of creatures that you’ll be left wondering how the hell you managed to create them.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think the book world could use super heros again. Don't they show up in times of war and economic strife?

Cute idea for craft projects with kids for summer.