10 More Amazing Sculptures Made From Paper

Ontario-based artist Calvin Nicholls takes credit as the brains behind these beautiful works of art made entirely out of paper. Nicholl’s interest in Canadian wildlife led him to create these paper sculptures of animals found in his home country (um…with the exception of the panda bear and lion…not likely Canadian-residing animals). The sculptures have a special 3D quality to them thanks to the artist’s inclusion of a paper frame that is placed behind the subjects. The animals appear to be “popping out” of the frame, giving the work a tremendous amount of depth. Nicholls has approached each work of art with a delicacy of craft that gives his work extra merit – can you imagine how many strands of paper were required to create the complex fur of some of these animals?! Amazing. Nicholls outlines his creative paper-layering technique on his website: First, a pattern (or outline) of an animal is drawn, then individual pieces are traced from the detail drawing and transferred to the actual paper used in the sculpture. Scapels and X-acto knives are used to cut out small details (like feather, strands of fur or branches) which are then glued together (using a dab of glue on the tip of a toothpick) and all pieces are attached to one another. The base paper that comprises the “body” of the subject is usually a heavier weight that can support the various pieces of paper and glue. The process of cutting multiple pieces sounds quite tedious indeed – but Nicholls draws and cuts many like pieces that are layered together in order to create the 3D appearance.