Assignment 5: The Fantastic Cut Paper Works of Deepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker

 The art of papercraft has been around for ages and taken on many different forms, each molded by the intuition of their creators and craftspeople. From papercraft to sculpture to illustrations, paper has proven itself to be a truly versatile and expansive medium. One particular exploration of the medium that really caught my eye was the cut paper images from artistic duo Hari and Deepti.

Upon my first inspection of this particular piece, I was almost positive it was made digitally.
It took me a while to wrap my mind around what I was really looking at, as well as the effort and care that went into making it look so smooth. Many layers of paper give such vivid tonal contrast and implication of depth, and the cartoony, simplified style lends itself fantastically to such an aesthetic.






The monochromatic nature of the paper illuminated by LEDs both unifies the image by creating a strong, bright background, but also emphasizes the figures better than a vivid detailed background would allow for. The simplified, organic figures are a personal favourite for me, as I've always been drawn to cartoons and graphics like this, and I personally think it lends itself extremely well to figures constructed from a flat medium. The subtle texture and thickness of the paper adds so much intrigue without doing too much, and contrasts beautifully with the strong silhouettes.

Creating the shapes seen in these images with paper would take a lot of patience and precision, especially the squiggly holes on the cloudlike shapes to the sides and the thin, delicate humanoid characters. Removing the light source from the background gives us a better look at just how intricate and calculated Hari and Deepti are forced to be in order to produce the desired effect. One wrong cut or tear could drastically change the desired effect of the image and could call for a redo, which is scary with a material as delicate as paper.

Many preparatory sketches and crafts would be required before the duo are ready to dive in, as well as considering the placements of the tiny dividers that give the works their depth. Overall, this intricacy and planning are necessary for creating such a striking product.

 Original Article:

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/03/illuminated-cut-paper-light-boxes-by-hari-deepti/

Papercraft Process Article by Elsa Mora:
https://elsita.typepad.com/allaboutpapercutting/materials-that-i-use-for-.html

YouTube Video on Papercraft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHduGm4uFvE