Making an Army of Paper Robots

Given Mateo's interest in this Japanese cartoon about fighting robots, we decided to make some paper toys with 110 lb cardstock and the art supplies that we had on hand. The Cutter Bee Precision Scissors were particularly useful for making the standing cut outs and pop-up backgrounds.

Our standing cut out versions of the Tenkai Knights Titan mode. My nephew colored the base color with a yellow Crayola crayon, and I used some Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons to add some additional shades and brighter colors.

The good guys army was colored with markers and crayons. Notice the explosion cut outs and the red guy that can fly in his own Nakamura-lock paper airplane. Paper toys might be inexpensive to make, but they can still be plenty of fun.

The bad guys army was colored mainly with crayons. Our first batch below was particularly  monochromatic, but Mateo soon discovered how much better his creations looked once he took to coloring with multiple crayons.

Got Supplies Ready and First ARTScool class filled today, yaay!

Ok guys looks like we are almost ready to go for ARTScool 2011 next week: with our first week's class filled up and the remaining drawing supplies arriving today, all I have left to do is color a few finished sketching-page samples and fold a few origami models. Spent the morning at The von Liebig Art Center printing out the handout lessons and photo-copying custom origami paper for making our initial paper airplane models.
Note to Parents: If you would like to provide your children with a nice sketching set for working at home and after their summer art camps are over, I would highly recommend pairing a generous supply of paper/card stock or portable sketchbook (8.5" X 11", 9" X 12", or 11" X 14") with a Sakura Pigma Sensei Manga Drawing set as a well rounded starter set with 4 drawing pens of different nib sizes, 0.7 mm mechanical pencil, and efficient white vinyl eraser.

Spending Quality Time with Tato

Spent the last few days with my nephew in North Carolina. Here he is trying to make Origami planes.
Watermelon break.
Made these custom coloring sheets for Mateo given his love for trucks.
Used my trusty sets of Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens to color a few pop-up card backdrops for Tato's playtime. This one was done right after watching "Clash of the Titans" which turned out to be a pretty entertaining movie.
Every morning a couple of new pop-up cards would be waiting at the breakfast table.

"Oh no! no more filling left!", and Tio Pork Bun already finished the other two buns.
Checking out the dragon pen we found at Target.
Doodling with the ballpoint pen.
Enjoying my travel set of Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble crayons.
Coloring some truck drawings.
Train ride at the park.
Taking a Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil for a spin.
So long as they are non-toxic, I have no qualms about sharing my artist grade art supplies with the little one. Of course one must remain alert to avoid accidental staining of the surrounding area. Keep in mind though that once you get kids to appreciate the performance of artist materials, they might come to prefer them over the more inexpensive kid grade tools. I would recommend keeping the good stuff at home and using the easily replaceable more affordable stuff in take-along travel kits

Klutz Origami Books Review

Folding entire fleets of paper airplanes was a favorite childhood past time of mine, so I was a tad surprised to discover that so many children in my drawing classes did not know how to make a single paper airplane. Thus I started introducing a few origami toy models in recent classes.To expand my repertoire I picked up the Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes that provides clear step-by-step instructions on how to fold 10 flying models that perform quite well when thrown properly.
While the book included a pack of 40 sheets with 2o custom fun designs, I decided to do my early attempts with 24lb brightly colored Xerox paper. This heavier paper stock is quite cost-effective and yields sturdier finished airplanes (though you might want to use a bone folder to ensure neat crisp folds) that are easier to spot wherever they might land.
Already tried making every model from the book using regular size paper and quarter-sheets. They flew or glided quite well when made out of a letter size sheet. The mini gliders were fairly functional, but the mini darts did not work as well.
The first model of the book is probably one of the easiest to fold, and it works well both using a full 8.5" X 11" sheet and quarter-size sheets. After a quick demonstration, Nicole had no problem folding her first mini squadron.
Got a few quarter-sheet size Nakamura Lock paper airplanes ready for my next open house event.
This other Klutz Origami book kit would make a nice introductory gift for a kid interested in the art of paper folding. It covers 10 fairly simple origami designs (with the Jumping Frog and the Magic Star models been the most fun paper toys from the bunch) with clearly illustrated easy-by-follow instructions, and it also includes a pack of 80 square sheets of custom-designed Origami paper to get you started.These miniature versions were folded using 2" origami square sheets. Don't forget to check your local library and local bookstore bargain books section for more origami books and folding paper supplies.

ARTSCool Manga Cartooning Week 5 Photo Journal

Today we started our second 5-day ARTScool Manga Cartooning course at The von Liebig Art Center. The course is being taught in English and Spanish since the last two students that joined the class only speak the latter.
Warm-up pencil sketching exercises.
First batch of pop-up cards using the available cut out templates.



Student first comic page.
For the second day, I have folded a few jumping frogs for the students to enjoy during their break and to use as samples for those who might want to learn to fold their own. Today the Nakamura paper planes were well received at break time.

Still making paper airplanes and mini comic folding video

Made a couple of videos on how to fold this origami planes: video 1 and video 2. They demonstrate the same process with different colored sheets of paper should you find it easier to see the details in orange or green.
Squad of Jet Pack Troopers.

These templates can be printed on regular copy paper, but I would recommend using 24 lb letter size colored sheets of paper if you would like to fold your own colorful origami fleet of sturdier planes that could withstand a few more flights each.




A few templates for the girls.


Smaller planes (3 to 4) folded out of a quarter sheet can easily be stacked on top of a plane folded out of 8.5" X 11". When thrown together the smaller planes can reach higher heights and make for a more dramatic display specially if the smaller planes are of a different color.
Stacks of origami planes and bunch of mini comics ready for use as break prizes in upcoming classes. Check this video for instructions on how to fold a mini comic.