Artist Watch: Garth Britzman

Designer Garth Britzman created a beautiful and ingenious use for plastic soda bottles. At first his car canopy design looked to me like floating flowers. But look carefully and you'll see that each flower is actually a bottle filled with a little colored water. What a creative way to reuse materials!

DIY Pop Up: Mother's Day Cards

Mother's Day is around the corner!  Why not try your hand at creating a special card for the mothers in your life?  We have a few on matthewreinhart.com to choose from!  Click the photos below for the steps and the printable templates!

Artist Watch: Malin Koort

Malin Koort is an illustrator/designer living in Stockholm, Sweden.  Her art ranges from mini paper figures, collage, and ink drawings.  I'm totally in love with her paper people, each one has so much emotion and tells their own story.  And there seems to be a bit of humor in there as well.  Also her collage work is is beautiful.  Definitely explore more of Koort's work on her website!

 ~Jess

What's Popped Up: Carol Barton's Newest Book!

Here at the studio we're always looking for new pop up books, and I have to say we're very excited for Carol Barton's newest book, The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 3: V-Folds (it comes out in May!)!  Ms. Barton has created many pop up books and instructional pop up books that I recommend to people who want to learn more about making pop ups.

This third volume deals with V-Folds and how to create and integrate them into your pop ups.  This book is filled with tutorials and has ten do-it-yourself projects that are inside the book!  You can check out more about this book and pre-order it on Ms. Barton's website.

~Jess

Artist Watch: Joel Cooper

Joel Cooper's work is mind boggling.  He creates tessellations and intricately folded masks out of single sheets of paper!  It's really incredible!  Joel has also been kind enough to share some of his secrets on his website.  His pieces look like they're woven out of paper.  See for yourself!

~ Jess

Artist Watch: Leagas Delaney Group

The internet is filled with so many great images!  Check out these ads that the Leagas Delaney Group created for Plant for the Planet campaign.  The leaves appear to be hand cut, leaving incredibly detailed images behind.

The campaign is about planting trees to help lessen carbon dioxide and also planning for the future of the Earth.  You can find out more on their website.

~Jess

What's Popped Up- Nomad Brush

I am always blown away with digital painting-- how realistic they can be!  Mimicking the way paint smudges or how a crayon is a little rugged.  I've now just discovered the Nomad Brush, which is a digital brush that works on iPads and iPhones (and possibly other tablets).  Check out the video below to get a sense of what I'm talking about!


Nomad Brush: A Portrait from Don Lee on Vimeo.


~Jess

Artist Watch: Riusuke Fukahori

When I saw these goldfish I couldn't believe that they were made of paint and resin!  Artist Riusuke Fukahori meticulously paints between layers of resin to create three dimensional objects that appear to be floating in water.

Check out the video below to see him in action!



To see more of Fukahori's work check out his website!

~Jess

Artist Watch: Lauren Clay

Thanks to a fellow paper engineer Shelby,  I have discovered Lauren Clay's amazing paper sculptures.  Clay has a background in painting and her sculptures have blossomed from them.  She mainly uses papier-mâché and painted cut paper for the sculptures.  Check out some of my personal favorites below and be sure to go to her website to see more!

~Jess

Artist Watch: Suren Manvelyan

I stumbled across these amazing photos of animal eyes by Armenian artist Suren Manleyvan on the website Behance.net. The images are stunning both for their beauty and for their representation of what is "hidden in sight" all around us. You may never look at your pet's (or your own) eyes the same way again!

blue-yellow macaw parrot

husky

blue crayfish

On the artist's website, I also found these photos of Armenian doors. I love the intricacy of the carvings and the shadow and light in the images.

What's Popped Up: Pratt Class Work

My students have made it to the middle of the semester!  I'm so proud of their progress, and the complexity of their pop-ups!  World, you had better watch out, there's more engineers coming you way!  Enjoy their latest projects-- a greeting card or a holiday card.

And if you can't make it to Pratt Institute to take the class, you can still learn how to make pop-ups with some of my tutorial videos!

~Jess

I Spy: Mosaic

Sometimes you need a train to be late to stop and look around.  I found this beautiful mosaic piece in the subway last night and just wanted to share it with you all!  There are more of these great mosaics by Tim Snell.  They're part of a series called Broadway Diary installed around 2005 on the station platform walls both directions.

-Jess

Artist Watch: Matthew Davis

The paintings of Matthew Davis are like vivid dreams.  You can see what the image is, but it's a little unclear since there isn't a definitive line and the colors pop right out at you.  The British artist slowly drips pools of oil paint on different surfaces (sometimes aluminum, others canvas) and lets them dry before going back and adding more pools of color.  I absolutely love color and I'm blown away by the way he handles it.  You can find out more about Matthew Davis' work here on his website.

~Jess

Artist Watch: Ultra Creative

This is an amazing package design from Ultra Creative that I just can't get over!  I first found it on the Dieline where I immediately needed to know more about this project.  Ultra Creative each year creates a promotional piece that has "original artwork that is both cultural snapshot and talent showcase".  The project usually has to be relevant, interactive and above all hold one pound of chocolate!  Excellent choice, if I do say so myself.

Here are some images from this past year's promotional project, The Fox with the Golden Fur.  Enjoy!

~Jess

What's Popped Up: Carol Barton's New Book

Carol Barton's third how to book, The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 3:  V-Folds, is available for pre-order!  Carol has also created the The Pocket Paper Engineer Workbook, Volume 1
Basic Pop-Up Forms and The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 2 Platforms and Props.  Volume 3 teaches how to create V-fold pop ups and it's many different incarnations.  Definitely a must have for any paper engineer.





You can pre-order The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 3:  V-Folds here, and you may also want to order Volume 1 and Volume 2 to have a complete understanding of paper engineering.  To learn more about Carol Barton and her wonderful pop ups, please visit her site!

~Jess

Artist Watch: Tyree Callahan

I first encountered the Chromatic Typewriter through Colossal (which is a site that posts great artwork).  Tyree Callahan created the Chromatic Typewriter, and I personally wish that I could send emails this way!  Instead of letters on the typewriter, he replaced them with colors so you can now paint your letters out.  It creates a very ethereal picture, a very hazy, dreamy landscape.  To find out more about Callahan's work check out his website!

~Jess

I Spy- Grains of Sand

Do you ever wonder what grains of sand really look like?  Well Professor Gary Greenberg from University College London did.  And the result is spectacular!  Very much how snowflakes are intricate lace like pieces of ice, sand looks like shells and pieces of crystal!  Below are his photos that were taken at a magnification over 250 times!  Amazing!  You can find more of his photos (not just of sand) at his website.

~Jess

Artist Watch: Zim and Zou

We came across the work of two young artists, Lucie Thomas and Thimbault Zimmerman, and had to see more. They are the duo behind Zim & Zou, a studio based in Nancy, France. Their colorful, whimsical images are photographs of objects and paper sculpture. We hope you enjoy their work as much as we do!

- Becca