World of Warcraft Papercrafts

Today i discovered a blog that's devoted entirely to papercrafts from models of the popular World of Warcraft MMORPG. Some very cool things to build over there... really nice. :)
Check it here:
World of Warcraft Papercraft.

Despite some artists don't like Pepakura, as it's easier to build some models with it, there are communities out there that build entire Formula 1 car racing teams with it or create their most favorite characters from computer games. Some of the stuff that surfaces like this is a lot of fun to buid.

I also stumbled over some mech-robots papertoys at Mechwarrior3.org.

Not exactly papercraft

...but cool stuff nontheless. Curtains with ASCII art, funny idea. Or how about a couch in pixelart? I like reading blogs about design concepts and prototypes, often gives you great ideas for other things. One really good website i read regularly is Yanko Design - great stuff!

iPod Shuffle papertoy - work in progress

Well, after toying around with the eggotastic family i thought it's time for a more functional papertoy again next. On the small picture you can see part of a papertoy you'll be able to integrate your iPod Shuffle in. ;) I'm not sure yet when it will be finished tho. I also have a nearly finished design for a very cool business card sheath in the works, but am thinking about keeping that one until i created a small series for it.

Until the iPS papertoy is ready, you can check out other papercrafts you can build free for your iPod:
IPod Touch Paper Cradle
DIY iPod stand
The $100 iPhone & iPod Touch Stand

eggotastic - blank template & bunny disguise

After i added the blank template for the eggotastic model, i created another one. With Easter close i figured the eggotastic alien should disguise as a bunny to blend in. Download the new template from the original eggotastic post. Enjoy your weekend!

eggotastic - deranged alien egg

First day of spring, crazy things can happen... like a deranged alien egg from outer space tries to blend in by posing as a chicken egg with an eggshell hat. Here is my newest papertoy: eggotastic - the deranged alien egg.

I never intended to create this model, it just evolved from a few things i was trying out for other papertoys i was working on. The idea of the hat evolved from a kind of sword i was working on and i needed a half-round sphere-like object for it. Looking at the first tryout i thought "heh, would make a nice hat with antennae."

The body is a hexagonal bifrustum (yes, i had to look that one up as well *g*) and evolved while playing around with square-edged shapes, trying to make them look round-shaped - as those are easier to build. Together with Easter approaching the idea of an alien egg resulted in the model you can build now.

EDIT: I cleaned up the files and added a blank template. Should you create your own, drop me a comment here.

EDIT2: After i uploaded the blank template i had the idea for a pink eggotastic in a bunny disguise, added that one to the downloads as well. This version got a fur hat with bunny ears instead of the eggshell one.

Download here:
 eggotastic "green alien egg"
 eggotastic "pink bunny disguise"
 eggotastic "blank"
(just choose the FREE option)

The Wicked Wench sailing home?

While reading through some papercraft blogs, i saw a post at Papercraft Paradise stating that the Disney Experience paper store will close at March 22nd. The site has some great models and is not affiliated with Disney. The news are not explicit enough if they'll only stop selling some models or if also the free models will vanish as well. So best grab those you like now... better save than sorry. There are some pics of those models in this flickr album.

Dr. Shazam released his first papertoy called Sparky, a cool match... I already printed mine.

On a personal note, I'll release my next papertoy probably tomorrow. It evolved while i was testing a few designs for a certain sword i wanted to create for another model and together with some tests in SketchUp something totally different was created from there... associative modeling from its wierdest. ;)

Crazy Antlor

After watching Episode 29: Paper Cuts at toybreak (and rambling a bit about Mr. "Marvin" cougar bait at nicepapertoys) i had a look at their forum and stumbled across a custom for Kenn Munk's Antlors i had not seen before. Check it out from Dr. A at spookypop.com, looks weird. ;)

While I'm still surprised my BC Butler design was now downloaded around 300 times already, like i expected the cookie caskets did not spark that much interest. But then again, they're not exactly papertoys.. hehe.

Paper Masks with reflexive Tape

Today i saw this cool gallery of huge paper masks, which were used for a video of Nação Zumbi (Dinamo Filmes), that use reflexive tape to accomplish an even cooler look. Using papercraft to create masks is another great thing you can do, some time ago i saw a Guy Fawkes Paper Craft Mask created with Pepakura. But I'm sure there are even better masks out there. Should be great to create some in old venetian mask style.

As you might have noticed, i took some time to add further websites to the link list on the right. Still not complete, but getting there.

Pirate Wedding Papercraft

During the weekend i was invited to a wedding and i used parts of the Canon Balance Game to create a wedding gift. The coins in front were supposed to look like waves being more blue, but i did not had the correct paint at hand. Well, it looked cute nontheless and the couple was happy i hope. ;) Check out the Canon Papercraft Website, they got a bunch of great papercrafts.

Some time ago i talked about this bunny ninja paper model i have in mind and did some sketches on, being an hommage to Usagi Yojimbo... i just saw there is a nice papertoy at cubeecraft.com with the same character.

scavenger hunt to involve customers/fans

Recently i had a discussion with a friend about internet marketing and ways to involve customers/fans more & regularly with your website. Beside many things like related to postcardware and others we also discussed internet scavenger hunts. It's rather easy to do and if not "overdone" it can be fun for the visitors of your website as well. But of course there has to be a carrot dangling in front of the user. Something to collect, either in parts or after collecting clues through a hidden weblink. Maybe another idea for a papertoy, to split it up in parts and hide it all over your website - even better if the parts can be used on its own or like putting together that enormous robot you always dreamed about. What is it btw that connects robots and papercraft? Seems there are tons of robot models out there.. just because of the shape?

I'm always amazed about the creative work some people do. IMO it's fun how many people start their own design lines for toys. Just a few days ago i saw some pictures from Ben's Speakerdog Exhibition At Go Go Plastic! Check out the pics and if you reside close to Birmingham i suggest you head over and have a look. great stuff - love the colorful plots!