Paper Cut Outs

12.6.2014(Week 11)

Imani Najwa Binti Nordin (0319405)

Progression Assignment 2(b) : Composition cut out

My newly assignment was to create two paper cuts outs.One symmetrical cut out and another an asymmetrical cut out.Ms Lisa had first asked us to sketch our ideas and show it to her for her approval.I had made rough sketches,roses and thorns,lions and much more but she had rejected those earlier.She had mentioned that they were either to simple or had been done.So when I was finally about to draw another sketch Ms Lisa saw that I had made a very rough draft of a two headed dragon  and finally she asked me to do more of those,she said that it was something different.

So long story short my subject matter was a dragon.

Process:

Working with the dragons were a bit though,first I begin to sketch a rough draft of how it would look like on regular A 4 paper,this I had to show Ms Lisa to get her final approval before she releases us for the semester holidays.She said mine was nice and that she wanted my theme to be slightly dark and so I followed.

I then begin my work,at first I wanted to use hard card stock paper for the cut outs but they were sold out :'( Not wasting any time I begin to find other alternative papers I had lying around in my house.I've found a stash of black sugar paper and decided it would have to do.I quickly begin sketching on my black A4 sugar paper.

After the sketches were completed,I begin to cut.Bare in mind I've already had a bit of a practice on our Thursdays lesson.Cutting the dragon wasn't so bad, but it wasn't so easy either.I had to be patient when handling the pen knife and certainly patient about cutting the tiny details,since dragons have either hard rock skin or scales I had to take my time cutting out those sections.

Most interesting/ favourite part :

The dragons head: I had lots of fun drawing and cutting out the dragons head,this was where I paid lots of tiny details into consideration,the dragon has scales up to its face,so I had to make tiny cut outs of that.

Wings:I had fun cutting out the wings since they look like skeleton bones with spikes.It truly was something different.

Originally I had wanted my asymmetrical dragon to have more of a butterfly enchanted wings,but Miss Lisa said I should stick with the whole gothic look.

Symmetrical two headed Dragon

Much details were put into the face of the dragon.

Asymmetrical Dragon

A knight fighting a fire breathing dragon 

Challenging part:
The most challenging part for me was to cut the symmetrical dragon.Its actually can be quit easy in the sense where you fold the paper in half and cut it slightly deeper so that the knife cuts through both thickness of the paper But ,always the big BUT.Since Ms Lisa doesn't want to see the crease on the centre of the paper,I couldn't do so.
Thats were it got tricky,I had to use tracing paper to trace exact same drawing on either half of the paper and it got me frustrated.Im a perfectionist,so using tracing paper wasn't the most accurate thing,however I bared with it.

Symmetrical Dragon

A two headed dragon

I was experimenting on which coloured background would suite most.Red anyone?

Tips:

A tip is to cut on glass,it is far more easier to do so rather then using those cutting mats in which I've found whenever I use my blade and cut too deep it would get stuck and this causes the paper to slightly rip.

I have yet to past and mount them on a A3 mounting board for my upcoming class presentation.Best of luck .

These are the final outcome of the finished cutouts.I've nicely mounted them on my A3 mounting board and placed it by the window stele to help show it off to my class mates.

I've observed that everyone is really creative and that each of us is unique in our won special way.Some of my class mates stepped it up a notch and payed a lot of attention to the little details in their artwork.One of my class mates Ester had made a paper cut out of the famous japan wave Kanangawa.I was green with envy when I saw it,never the less I also admired her work.There were a few that really stood out to me and I enjoyed looking at everyones art work placed on the window seals of the classroom.It really did look like some art exhibition.Ms Lisa did also mentioned that if there is any such luck we should be able to book and display all our art works in the art gallery of our university.

Last but not least,before class ended Mr Lisa mentioned that we would have to each separate and create a group of 4s and 5s for our newly assignment which is the Colour Wheel.