Dutch artist Johan Schreft creates three-dimensional lifesize models of birds from pieces of paper. To make his works even more realistic he paints each one by hand with watercolors and gouache. The results are simply mind-blowing.

Leiden-based Johan Schreft showed an interest in drawing as well as animals and nature at a very young age. Inspired by the artworks designed by the english artist Malcolm Topp, he started making paper bird models when he was only 14 years old. Over the years the Dutch artist honed his skills, and today his papercraft models look so realistic it’s almost impossible to tell them apart from the real birds that inspired them. Johan takes anywhere from two days to a full month to complete just one of his stunning masterpieces, and although he uses some computer software for the basic design, he does most of the work by hand. Because each bird species has its own specific features, he can’t use a standard design, so every model goes through a complex process that requires several steps and involves a lot of trial and error.

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US-based artist Christina Lihan uses her experience as an architect to create detailed models of famous buildings and urban spaces, from paper.

Ms. Lihan received a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Virginia and went on to get her Master’s in architecture, from Columbia University, in New York. She done internships in England, France and Italy, but it was the repetitive, monotonous rhythm of hundreds of soviet-built housing cities she saw in Czechoslovakia that most influenced the way she looked at building facades. After completing her studies, she decided to use all of the acquired knowledge in the name of art, by creating impressive architectural models from paper.

Christina Lihan first decided to dedicate her life to art during the time she spent living in Florida, designing hospitals for another architect. She was really bored, and realized she needed a creative outlet so she just started cutting paper, playing with it and trying to turn it into building models. It sort of grew from there and ultimately became her passion. Her impressive creations are made from unpainted, 300lb, watercolor paper. She carves, cuts and folds every little piece by hand until she assembles them into a completed composition. Ms. Lihan starts by photographing the site she wants to replicate, then moves on to sketching with charcoal, and finally enlarges the drawing to the desired size of the finished piece. She generally places the detailed pieces of paper directly over the drawing.

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Korean Starcraft 2 fan “Constable” has created a series of paper models inspired by units in the video game that will probably blow your mind.

The fact that the dude who made these is from South Korea really doesn’t come as a surprise, since the Starcraft franchise is really popular there, but the level of detail in Constable’s work is pretty unbelievable. Looking at the photos, I had a rough time convincing myself these were anything more than 3D computer generated images, but that was only until I visited Constable’s blog and saw what he can do with a few paper slices.

I’ve posted some awesome paper models on Oddity Central, like the unique papercraft castle Wataru Itou spent 4 years creating, or the paper masterpieces of Taras Lesko, and Constable’s models are right up there with the best I’ve ever seen. If you’re not convinced they’re real, check out his blog and put your mind at ease.

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Artist Jill Sylvia uses ledger paper sheets to create amazing replicas of famous buildings, like the US capitol or the White House. One thing is for sure, you don’t have to like accounting to fall in love with her art.

Usually used to compile accounting information, ledger sheets become a very original art medium, in the hands of Jill Sylvia. Using a drafting knife, she removes the spaces where numbers are supposed to be, by hand, leaving only the grid separating the boxes. She then uses the resulting lattice to create intricate artworks, including models of American structures. I’d say it’s a great way of reusing a now obsolete material to create timeless artworks.

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Taras Lesko is an incredibly talented designer who likes to create beautiful things both on his computer and with his own two hands. Though his graphic designs are nothing short of impressive, it’s his paper craft creations that really caught my eye.

Taras spends months working on his paper craft models, drawing up the parts, cutting them out and putting them together. Now that doesn’t sound like anything special, but wait until you see what this guy make out of paper.

The Freedom Gundam is, in my opinion, the coolest paper craft model in his personal portfolio. Inspired by the famous Gundam anime movie, Taras spent two months working on the 4-foot paper-craft Fredom Gundam. He ended up using 175 paper sheets and 500 individual parts.

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Ingrid Siliakus carefully cuts and folds layers upon layers of paper, to create some of the most amazing origami building designs.

The Dutch artist has been fascinated with paper architecture, ever since she first set eyes on the work of Japanese professor, Masahiro Chatani, who invented this art form, in the early 1980s. She studied his artworks for years, before starting to create paper buildings, herself. Over the years, her skilled improved, and she began making origami replicas of some of the most famous structures in the world, like the Colosseum of Rome, the Sagrada Familia cathedral, or the Palace Del Marques De Salamanca.

Paper architecture is so incredible, because the artist is basically creating a beautiful design, from a single sheet of paper. Ingrid uses 20 to 30 prototypes, before finishing one of her artworks, creating the first layer, with a single shape, and adding layer after layer, until she is satisfied. After the design stage, where the skill of an architect is needed, comes the cutting and folding stage, where she uses her surgeon-worthy precision. Her artworks are between 160 and 300 grams heavy.

Check out more of Ingrid Siliakus’ incredible origami masterpieces, on her online gallery, and her Flickr stream.

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A Russian ship enthusiast spent two and a half years working on a 1:200 scale model of the RMS Titanic, made mainly out of paper.

A Ukrainian forum user that goes by the name of Henschel has posted some interesting photos of a Titanic model, on which he has been working for over 2 and a half years. Apparently he studied blueprints of the iconic ship from books and online, before he began his work.

Apparently, the main material used to build this model was paper punch cards. He also made good use of drawing paper, yarn, fishing line and wire. The paper components were covered with waterproof varnish, and the RMS survived the bathtub test, as you can see in one of the photos, below.

Henschel also fitted his paper Titanic with some electrical equipment, powered by a 6-volt battery, located below deck. The rudder is operated via remote-control and the entire ship is illuminated by small light bulbs and LEDs.

The awesome paper Titanic model apparently cost around $125 to complete. Pretty cheap for such a thing of beauty. Te photos aren’t exactly HD, but you can get an idea of how much work went into this project.

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23-year-old Mui-Ling Teh enjoys folding miniature origami creations and talking up close photos of them to tell a story. More information about her work is available at her online gallery where she sells cards, calendars and more items of her work. She also sells additional items at her Zazzle Store.

In February 2010, she was featured in a number of UK publications. However much of the published information and images were not as Mui-Ling had supplied. You can read the true story in her words ‘here’

Photos copyright of Mui-Ling Teh

And the best thing is he posts a series of templates on his site, so you can build the same paper models, in the comfort of your own home.

Shunichi Makino, a Japanese designer who loves papercraft, has created a series of mindblowing replicas of spacecrafts and vehicles from famous sci-fi movies like Star-Wars, Star-Trek, Robocop, Iron-Man and more. Photos of every one of them are posted on his websites, together with detailed templates of how to build them.

Mister Makino says designing the elaborate paper models was a lot more difficult than actually building them. Putting the paper cut-outs together is the fun part.

via Gizmowatch

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