Papercraft or pepakura (ペパクラ) is a method of building three-dimensional objects using paper similar to origami. Most of the time, the art and colors are already printed on the paper, requiring only cutting and folding to create the desired art.
Papercraft or pepakura models can be easily found on the internet, printed, and assembled, making it much easier than doing origami. The internet has become a popular place for papercrafts of anime characters, games, cartoons, and various others.
Origin of Pepakura
The art of folding and creating objects with paper is as old as origami. However, the papercraft or paper models we know began to appear during World War II. In England, around 1941, various paper models became popular, mainly ships and airplanes.
Unfortunately, the arrival of plastic caused interest in paper models to fade into obscurity. It was with the advent of the Internet and printers that the art of creating models and characters in paper became even more popular. Nowadays, various companies use papercraft to market their characters and products, often providing official character models for printing and assembly.
Papercraft Techniques
To create a three-dimensional object, techniques of folding, cutting, gluing, molding, sewing, and even creating layers are used. With papercraft, it is possible to create not only square objects but in any shape. In reality, the word papercraft can refer to any art and craft made with paper, but we are highlighting the famous Pepakura that are used to create characters like in the images of this article.
It is common to use harder papers or cardstock to create three-dimensional objects. Some apply paint or resin to protect and harden the paper, making it last longer. Others often fill the hollow part of the paper with foam or something else to prevent it from crushing.
There is even an application called Pepakura Designer where you can transform polygons, objects, and three-dimensional characters into templates to print and create your own papercraft.
And you? Have you ever assembled a pepakura? Why not search the internet for the papercraft of your favorite character and assemble it? Don’t forget to take a picture and post it in the comments so we can see. And don’t forget to share the article so that more people can get to know this art. xD
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