Speakerdog - The Cloudy Dog custom

Speakerdog Series 6 is finally here and it's loaded with 265 designs from every corner of the world! My little custom is called The Cloudy Dog, inspired by the Batik rain-cloud pattern from Java. I hope you like it along with the other 264 customs ;D.



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Lynx Development 3

So, here goes the final step before we can work on the skin design. After making sure that the 3D model is clean, I export it to Pepakura. Pepakura is a handy little program made by the japanese to help paper craft designer unwrap their 3D model. Despite the magical and smart unwrapping result, the procedure is very straight forward.

First you will be asked to determine the front side of the model. Then you will be asked if you would like Pepakura to do some adjustments, please don't ask me to explain what kind of adjustments is that, normally I just click OK/Next and hope the model is still in 1 piece...

After Pepakura finished asking me random question, I just need to click UNFOLD button and SHAZAM! On the right hand side window you will see the template of your 3D model. While this program is handy to some extend, there are always some part that you might want to tweak a little. The glue flap position, connecting sides, overall size, parts position, etc. Once you are done with it, I will export the template to EPS and work on Illustrator.

This Illustrator part is the final cleaning session before I can work on the skin design. Normally I will clean out the unnecessary folding lines and combine some shapes. To test the model, I will print a dummy model from the template that I'm working on. For Lynx, my concern is the on the head part. I need to get around with the construction design so we all can get the exact head shape with minimum confusion for the assembly.

Lucky for me the little night elf help me to get things right! Look what I got in the morning:

Gee..... I wish that little night elf really happened.

The truth is while I wanted to share the process on how to tweak the template to the very detail of it, I just can't because there are just too many things to jot down. In short: Yes I need a lot of adjustment to get the right template. But I have to admit that I'm very happy with what I got now compared to just a little sketch I made last time.

With this blank dummy, I will then stare at empty space until an inspiration came upon me. I hope I didn't have to stare too long this time...

Black Friday - Stop Bombing Random Places Please

I don't usually write or design anything related to politic issues but this time I can't hold my emotion toward those cowards responsible for the recent Jakarta Bombing. It's unfair when our country is labelled as a dangerous country while we are actually the victim of some psycho terrorist it self. By a matter of minutes, 9 good peoples are lost, hundreds wounded, 200 millions honest and hard working Indonesians are effected by the action of 2 suicide bombers.

When will those psycho learn how to design something good rather than going suicidal and making bombs. Earn big money, get exposed and entertain people by making FIREWORKS if they are so into exploding something...

But, let me assure you all that the show is running as scheduled. Those kabloey monkeys is not going to stop any of my design! YEAH!

I'm about to release 3 new paper toys. One of them will is a speakerdog custom from bentheillustrator, it will be distributed by the end of this month. Make sure you stay tune to that as they will release 250 customs from all over the world!

Another toy that I'm going to post is a set of character from my good friend's comic Fantasy Story Comic who will be participating at the Singapore Toy, Games & Comic show.

The last toy is of course our baby Lynx who is still under development process.

See you later folks!


Show your support against terror on humanity,
download the Indonesia Unite Shield.

Cheery'Gloo

Meet Cheery'Gloo, a great Nogloo custom from our friend Papermate. I really recommend this custom as not only it requires no glue to make but it will also give you two designs at one go. Actually I'm supposed to post this last month before I get buried with my work, accidentally leaving this post as a draft. My bad.

"Have a nice day! Or, may be, night?"

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Lynx Development 2

Ok, now that I have the little sketch... I have 2 choices to proceed. One is to try to do it manually by trial and error just like what I did with Fatboy. Second is to use the quick (a.k.a. lazy) way, hail the 3D application!

Both manual-trial&error and 3D way have their own plus and minus.

The manual way will take you a longer time BUT the outcome will produce a design with more human feel to it. Normally if I'm going for the manual way, I will do A LOT of fail template. Take all the time in the world to seek the right shape milimeter by milimeter. Since you are going to spend a lot of time giving birth to the final design, in the end you might feel bonded with it. I spent around 5-6 months working on Fatboy, the longest of all my paper toy design. Until now, I still feel that Fatboy is my favourite. Maybe it's something like having your first pet.

This is the actual photo from my work in progress:

at that stage, I only have the head and body ready... struggling to find the right shape for the arm and leg. I took a photo of what I got so far, then play around with it by doing some digital scribble. It's easier to design this way since you can really see what fit and what doesn't.

"Only when the object exists can I think clearly about it".
- Marry Frank -

Ok, now back to our soon to be born Lynx. Like I already mentioned before, this time I'm going to use the quick (a.k.a. lazy) way. This is the part where I need 3D Studio Max's brain power instead of mine... After playing (not so) cheerfully with some polygons and the beloved primitive objects, I can start to see the emerging embryo of my design:


As a result this is the final 3D visualization:


If you are not familiar with 3D application, I really encourage you to just do it manually. Be brave to make mistakes, that's where you will learn how to really make paper toy. Sketch the desired shape - draw the template - assemble the template - back to step 1 if you are not satisfied. Some people often get discouraged starting their first paper toy design, thinking they will never finish the design without the 3d application.

Well, it sure will take some time but I can bet on two of my obese pet rabbits and one ultra hyper active pet dog that YOU CAN FINISH THAT DESIGN without 3D application interference. Let us move along before I start betting on something stranger.

My point is, if you never design any paper toy before, just go easy with it... Remember to have fun as you progress. Try making something like Cubeecraft for a start!

Next I will show you another 3D application called Pepakura that will help me to 'unwrap' the above visualization and turn it into an almost ready to use template.

Lynx Development 1

Post by post, I'm doing more things from my to-do checklist. One of it is to post a behind the scene progress. People often ask me how to start creating paper toy, what software I used, where to find inspirations, etc... Well, I hope this post will help you know what's the best technique for you...

Frankly, I don't really have any standard operating procedure in designing paper toy, it's more kind of going with the flow... When I got an inspiration block, I often condition my self to a more conducive state of mind. I go to bookshop, observe people as they past, surf the internet, watch movie, read magazine, check out the toy shop, play some new game, anything to stimulate my right brain. Say I feel like I want to create something girly, I will read girl magazine... Or maybe when I want to create something robotic, I will try to see a lot of mecha design, play some robot game maybe...

Once I feel like I have enough stimulation, I will then 'close the book' and 'isolate' my self to start working with the design... I think it's very important for me to do this, otherwise I will keep on wasting the time with movies/games/books/etc and missed the inspiration train. On the other hand, some time ideas just popped out of no where... just like this fellow:



I designed this during my work trip out of town... As you can see, I don't use fancy sketch book (not that I against it), most of my design was born on a scrap paper. I always like to improvise and see what happen next... First thing I want to make sure is I got the character's silhouette right, the bold marker outline help me concentrate with it. Sometime it took me few days or even weeks to get the right shape. But as for this, I'm happy with what I got.

Next post I'm going to show you the 3D visualization... meanwhile, feel free to drop a comment if you want me to explain on something that I might missed.

Gammon - Abz's Custom

Yeeha! Abz from oh-sheet just sent me the new Gammon customs... As if one is not cool enough, Abz delighted us with two customs! One is the factory fresh Gammon and the other one is battle worn Gammon.

The Factory Fresh version is a brand new Gammon, strait off the robot assembly line whereas Battle Worn is torn and tattered from the many wars he's fought and is also lovingly decorated by the soldiers he's fought along side with. Awesome design Abz!



Grab your scissor and glue!

Download Factory Fresh Gammon

Download Battle Worn Gammon

Ms. Diamond

THE WORLD CHEAPEST DIAMOND IS HERE!

Impossible you say? Well while this diamond is cheap and not forever, Ms.Diamond is certainly not the most humble diamond in the world... In the world of Saltnpaper, everyone are free to own valuable gems as much and as BIG as they want. Now is your turn to show your own diamond(s) and spark jealousy among your friend... Give it to your fiancé and see if she is buying it or show it to your boyfriend just to give a hint you want the REAL one!


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The Departure

The ICU chapter is finally over and the funeral went well. I still remember the moment when my father's heartbeat dropped second by second on the ECG monitor, it's like watching new year's eve countdown on TV, instead this time it's very calm and quiet. I must say the room is suddenly filled with the kind of composed quietness that I never felt before. Especially after the good doctor and nurses perform their final duty and close the door.

The funeral was attended with at least 400 guests, I'm sure my father will be very happy to know the guest list. Some guests reveal funny little secrets about my father, some shares good advices, some offered amazing supports and overall it created a good farewell mood.

Now... I'm sure there are plenty of you who are hungry for a new paper toy, please wait a little longer while I 'cook' something for you all.

The Condition

These months have been one of the toughest months to endure. My father's condition is inevitably leading to the end. I once pray to God about 2 years ago to lengthen his life because I'm not ready & I want to know my father more. My prayer was granted.

Today, I sit here with a better understanding toward my father. Seeing him in great agony fighting his spreading cancer and complication from day to day, week to week, month to month is really heartbreaking. As the eldest in Asian family, I'm expected to perform my best to escort my Mom and siblings through this 'adventure'. Sometime it's tempting to think about my ex, thinking maybe I would feel better and stronger if she is around now, but luckily (or is it?) my logic shout louder than my emotion. In this situation I really don't have much time and energy to get carried away with the illusion of the past. I hope can maintain it this way at least until the 'showtime' ended.

This is my first time sharing my personal stuff to the world. I have no idea how people will perceive this post, but having this 'adventure' really open a new chapter for me to read. If I can summary this chapter it will be "What ever you do with your life, please respect yourself & respect others."

The cliche is repeated.

Well, one thing for sure. Because of my father's condition some of my good friends decided and successfully quit their smoking habit, they even started to do routine exercise. Now that's what I meant by respecting yourself.

So far, I've seen 4,5 deaths during my stay at the ICU (the 0,5 was a false alarm from a resurrected poor guy). Observing the hospital procedure, listening to the heartbreaking family cry, watching the cold stainless steel coffin approach the death bed, I try to imagine as if it's my turn to face that. Rehearsing for the 'showtime'. Hoping I will be ready.


Life is suddenly a drama.
The only different is you can't leave your sit even if you don't like how the story goes.



Happy Birthday Father.

Positiveboy

Have you ever experienced months where there are so many bad news came from people that are close to you? Well these months is my turn, after a series of bad news, the latest one came from my ex student who passed away few days ago. These are the days where I feel like I'm walking between 2 different world. The ignorant-suicidal world and the struggling-for-the-next-breath world.

ILL OMEN BEGONE!!!


This one is a variant to Fatboy, originally made for my friend with his positivity group 2 years ago. After seeing so many sombre news these days I think we all need something to keep us going and going and going... Every time I design a paper toy, I always remind my self to design something that will make people smile. If this one can make you smile, give me a buzz so I will know how many happy faces is caused by this yellow fellow!

TGP Alpha

It seems that it took me more than 24 hours to upload this one, Jakarta is having another major black out today, 5 hours with no electricity really crippled me. Can't imagine how will I spend the day if I'm thrown back to the era where people still use candle and wooden gears for the technology...

TGP was designed during the long days at the hospital tending my old man. Can't resist to draw the skull and syringe... TGP stands for The Great Pretender, I'm planning to design a different skin out of this papertoy template once a while. As for this one, I have to admit the Keith Haring inside my head is shouting really loud and I decided to listen to it. I've always wanted to design something with urban art doodle feel...

TGP's template is a bit tricky to build, I will redesign the template for the next skin so your life will be less miserable.

Oh, one more thing. I've created Saltnpaper facebook group, hop on so we can all poke around and feel free to post your photos with your favourite paper toys!

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Away Notification

I will be away from designing paper toy for a few weeks because my father is hospitalized. Will surely update you all if I'm ready with new paper toy.Thank you and sorry to everyone who is following my blog.

Nogloo Speaker dog

Another Nogloo custom! This time it's from the infamous Ben The Illustrator, he is the creator of the famous Speakerdog series.

Whew, thinking of when I started making paper toys, I never expected that I would get to know a lot of good friends around the world. I guess Ben's suggestion to "try every angle in life" really worth doing!

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Sofia Bali Custom (Barong)

My first custom ever. As a big thanks to 3eyedbear for designing Voodoo Stubey custom, I decided to custom his Sofia paper toy with Balinese touch to it. Bali is definitely my super most extra favorite island so far.

Focusing on 'Barong', the king of the spirits and also representing the good side. Balinese like to tell share their culture through dances and performances, as for Barong usually the story is about the battle between the good and evil. Balinese also believe that besides the good and bad, there is also the 'not so good & not so bad' aspect in life. Thus represented with the gray color in the checkered flag like pattern.

It would be cool to see designers from around the world introduce their culture in a funky way.

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