Voilà un super livre pour occuper ses longues sessions de bronzette sur la plage cet été. We Are Paper Toys! est une très belle édition du designer Louis Bou, qui réalise ici une véritable plongée au coeur de la matrice Paper Toy. Rares sont les livres en la matière et celui-ci a le mérite d’être fondateur…
208 pages d’inteviews d’artistes très largement illustrées de centaines de modèles. On y retrouve 32 des meilleurs papertoys makers au monde. Chaque designer nous donne un aperçu de son univers et explique sa passion pour cette branche si particulière du papercraft. Un délice introspectif et visuel ! Le livre comprend également un CD avec quelque-uns des modèles (en PDF) exposés. Prêts à être imprimés, découpés et collectionnés…
Préface :
« PAPER. YES, WE ARE!
Paper toys have conquered the hearts of millions of Internet users all over the world. Never before has art been so easy to do: Designers and artists create amazing paper toy templates, wich they then share for free on their own Web sites and blogs. Fans download these templates and using a few basic tools – paper (that’s a given), an Internet connection, printer, scissors, glue, and just a little patience – assemble these wondrous toys.
The thrilling part of the process is watching a sheet of paper transform into a three-dimensional object that’s as creative as you want it to be. The cost to make them is laughable, and the ruling idea is very simple: Do it yourself!
Creators of paper toys come from the world of graphic design, graffiti, and illustration, and one of the most interesting aspects of this trend is the collaboration between artists from all over the world. Artists share their blank templates with other artists, who customize them, adding their own style to an individual paper toy. Matthew Hawkins, one of the most renowned makers of paper toys, sums up the philosophy of paper toy design in a sample and direct fashion: « It’s very democratic! Anyone, anywhere on the planet with a little time to waste, can own one of my toys ».
Paper toys are en vogue. Best of all, they are yet another way for artists to promote their creations; akin to a homemade advertising campaign, their creations are distributed freely and without boundaries through the Internet, with the outreach and magnitude it carries.
Anyone anywhere in the world can take part in the creation of paper toys, from the artists who design them to the fans who build them. This do-it-yourself dynamic of the movement encourages fans to become artists and vice versa.
We are Paper Toys! presents thirty-two of the finest paper toy designers in the world. Each artist gives us a glimpse of their world and explains their passion for paper toys through a personal interview.
The book includes a CD with PDF templates of some of the paper toys showcased in this book. They are ready to be printed, cut, and pasted so you can have these small works of art in your own home. It’s never too soon to start cutting, folding, pasting, and above all, having fun!
Louis Bou. »
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Dispo sur Amazon (208 pages couleurs / Broché / anglais / 25€).