Origami Animal Sculpture: Paper Folding Inspired by Nature

953 Pages·2018·32.52 MB·English

by  John Szinger

For Michelle and Elizabeth
Acknowledgments
Thanks to John Montroll, friend and mentor, to Brian Webb, Paul Frasco,
to everyone else who test-folded these models and gave me feedback
and support, and to OrigamiUSA. Special thanks to Bob Plotkin for the
wonderful photography, and to my Tuttle Publishing editor, Jon Steever,
who was instrumental in shaping this book. Super-special thanks to my
wife Jeannie for continually indulging me in my passion for origami and
helping in every way imaginable outside of actually folding.
Credits
All models designed, folded and diagrammed by John Szinger.
Photographs by Bob Plotkin.

Contents
Introduction
Asian Elephant
Adirondack Camp
Canoe
Lean-To
Adirondack Chair
Adirondack Animals
Common Loon
Foxy Fox
Brown Bear
Adirondack Moose
Insects
Inchworm
Butterflies
Cephalopods
Octopus
Cuttlefish
Giant Squid
Arctic Marine Mammals
Bull Walrus
Elephant Seal
Narwhal
Hex Base Critters
Lizard
Snapping Turtle
Frog
Five-Banded Armadillo
American Turkey
Fivefold Rose
Appendix: Symbols and Folds
How to Download the Bonus Material of this Book.

1. You must have an internet connection.
2. Click the link below or copy paste the URL to your web browser.
http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/origami-animal-sculpture-downloadable-
cd-content
For support email us at [email protected].
My Origami Journey
Origami is an endlessly fascinating and rewarding art form. It combines
sculpture, mathematics, and creative expression in a unique way. Although its
roots and traditions go back as far as the invention of paper, origami in the
twenty-first century is exploding with creativity like never before, and finally
coming into its own as a legitimate sculptural art form.
I've been folding paper most of my life, starting with paper airplanes at a
young age. As I matured, I devoured all the origami books at my local library. I
even experimented with my own designs. Life is full of many roads, and around
the year 2000 I came back to origami after a long hiatus. I started attending
conventions. I met an excellent community of folders and was inspired to really
work at designing my own original models.
I began creating original origami purely for personal enjoyment. I undertook
the task of diagramming my models for the OrigamiUSA annual collection as a
way to share with fellow folders. As my repertoire grew, the idea for a book
gradually began to take shape. Along the way I've developed a folding style that
works for me and seems to produce nice results. I've spent the last couple of years
focused on designing new models and making lots and lots of diagrams. I'm
happy that it has all come together in the form you see here.
The range of models presented here is intended for intermediate to advanced
folders who are looking to tackle some deeper and more challenging models. An
intermediate folder can expect to advance as he or she takes on the more
complex projects. The chapters generally progress from less complex to more
complex, as do the models in each chapter. A good gauge for model complexity
is the size of paper that I recommend (larger generally means greater
complexity). The number of steps needed to complete the project is another
good way to quickly size up the relative difficulty involved in folding a given
model.
ON ORIGAMI DESIGN
If you're a folder you already understand the essential appeal of origami. If you're
new to origami, jump in and discover the joy of creating something out of almost
nothing; just a piece of paper and some creases. This minimal starting point
marvelously gives rise to almost limitless possibilities. Like music, origami has a
deep basis in mathematics, particularly geometry and ratios, and from this arises
higher levels of expression. Unlike most art forms, which are either additive or
subtractive with their media and materials, origami is purely transformative;
nothing is added or removed.
This book is mainly about animals. Although many subjects—both
representational and abstract—can make good fodder for origami, animals are
among the most fun to design and fold. They have broad appeal, and can be as
simple or challenging as you want them to get. Even exotic animals are somehow
familiar in essence, and touch on something deep within the human psyche.
My design process begins with meditation on the subject to see if I have
anything to say or an approach that looks promising. Which aspects of the
subject to emphasize? What should be minimized or left out entirely? Should it
have claws? Does it even need legs at all, or is a mere suggestion enough? The
balance between simplicity and complexity is a central concern in the creative
process. While I enjoy complex models, I don't like complexity for its own sake.
It's only justified if it expresses something essential. This first phase, before the
folder folds anything, is perhaps the most important. Every artist will answer the
question differently, and that is one of the things that makes our art compelling.
Capturing something about the posture and attitude of the subject is
important. Animals are lively: they move around and do things and are not in
the same position all the time. Although a finished origami sculpture is (usually)
still, I strive to capture something about the subject's style of moment. Is it strong
or quick or fast or slow? The stance communicates much of this. One important
area to concentrate on in almost any model is the shoulders and neck; the
connection between the head and the body. This often speaks much more about
the subject than making detailed and anatomically correct appendages.