Calvin and Hobbes Papercraft Diorama

Even though the comic strip ended in 1995, Calvin and Hobbes still holds a fond place in the hearts of many (including myself ^^). This simple papercraft diorama by Dave Delisle depicts the boy Calvin (right) encountering his tiger friend Hobbes (left) after Calvin has been transformed into a tiger by the cardboard box "transmogrifier" in the background. The template for the diorama is available as a .PNG image file and may be downloaded here.

Fairy Tale Paper Theater

During my work on the Imaginarium paper theater, I came to appreciate paper theaters as an art form. I especially like the 3D effects the theaters are capable of achieving. This fairy tale paper theater is a good example. Through the two archways, Cinderella is seen leaving behind her glass slipper while the prince and his castle are glimpsed in the distance. The scenery in the theater can be changed to also show scenes from Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The template for this theater was originally offered in the 1920's by the Danish language magazine Familie-Journal. Patricia M at the Agence Eureka blog has scans of the four page template starting here (the other pages may be viewed by clicking on the thumbnails at the right of the page). The build photo above is by Patrick Pasques.

House of Mystery Paper Halloween Diorama

Here is a little something I put together for the 2010 Halloween season. This 3D papercraft diorama was originally printed on the back of the 1973 Halloween edition of DC Comics' House of Mystery comic book. Scans of the diorama parts were posted on The Haunted Closet blog. I downloaded the scans, scaled them, and put them in PDF format to make the table top diorama easier to print and build. The foreground of the diorama shows Cain (the host of the comic book) and his pet gargoyle, Gregory. In the background are some grave diggers and the House of Mystery itself. The style of the artwork may look familiar as it was done by well known comic artist Sergio Aragones of Mad Magazine and Groo the Wanderer fame. I have made my PDF of the diorama available for download here. Happy Halloween!

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Paper Theater

Late last year I was approached by a theater in the Netherlands to produce a paper theater for their gift shop. But alas, the project never became a reality and I was left with an unfulfilled desire to design a paper theater. I finally got inspired enough to follow through on my desire a couple months ago after watching the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The movie is directed by former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam and features the final on-screen performance of actor Heath Ledger. The plot of the movie involves a troupe of traveling actors whose portable stage looks much like a life size paper theater. At the end of the movie Doctor Parnassus, the leader of the troupe, is shown on the street selling toy theaters which resemble his own theater. This papercraft is my attempt at recreating the toy theater seen at the end of the movie. Information for the template is as follows:

Scale: 1:2 (estimated)

Finished size: 7" W(17.8 cm) x 7" H (17.8 cm) x 4" D (10.2 cm)

Number of pages: 7
Number of parts: 23
Difficulty: 3/5
Download

The photo shown above doesn't do justice to the 3D effect of the theater which is similar to 3D decoupage. I hope you enjoy the theater. It was a lot of fun to design and build. Oh, I forgot to mention the model comes with a "curtain" and there are slots in the top so that it may be used as a functional toy theater and not just as a prop for a book shelf.

Monkey Opera Paper Theater

Monkey:Journey to the West is a nine act contemporary opera inspired by a Chinese legend about the adventures of a monkey who hatches out of a stone egg. The production of the opera involves acrobatics, singing, animation and electronic music by the co-creators of Gorillaz. What's not to love about this opera? This paper theater depicts act one of the opera and is available for download here. Eight additional scenes will be available sometime in the future.