When I started in the design program at my university, I was hyper-focused on using vector illustrations for all my work. I hadn’t worked with Adobe Illustrator before college, so it was new to me, and I didn’t know any better. After I took an image making class, though, I finally got out of that.
This paper-cut piece was one of the assignments for that class. I was exploring the boundaries of what could be done with paper, and I found the process to be tedious but also rewarding. I took a lot of inspiration from a visual development artist at Disney who also happens to do a lot of paper-cut work. Looking at her style helped me find the direction for mine.
I started with a sketch to get some ideas out there, and once I landed on this woodland theme, I got to work figuring out the layers. I picked some natural colors and then began the tedious task of cutting. I went a little crazy and only used an x-acto knife, which killed my hand, but that meant I could get all the curves just right. Then I stuck everything together with liquid glue and some adhesive foam tabs to create some depth. I also added some painted details at the end to give my little birds some character.
It was fun to be able to experiment with a different medium and see what I could come up with using it. I had never considered that paper could be used like this, so it really opened me up to the possibilities of what I could create and illustrate. This piece was the inspiration for the illustrations in my children’s book piece.
