Simon Arizpe, who started his career as a Paper Engineer in the studio of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart, recently won the Meggendorfer Prize for engineering Hamid Rahmanian’s Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King. Simon, who also illustrates, worked on famous pop-up titles like the Star Wars pop-up book and the DC Superheroes pop-up book. He started a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016 for his pop-up object/paper toy “THE WilD” and also engineered one of the most wanted and collectible pop-up books of all times, Mister Babadook.

We had the opportunity to ask Simon a couple of questions about his work, his career as a Paper Engineer and also about how Zahhak was created. Read all about it in this exclusive interview! Below this interview, we will list some video reviews of Simon’s work!

The interview

BPUB – First of all, congratulations being last years Meggendorfer prize winner with the Zahhak pop-up book. You must be really proud?

SA – Thank you. Yes, Getting the Meggendorfer Prize is a huge honor! My collaborator Hamid Rahmanian and I worked on Zahhak for over 3 years so getting this recognition is really exciting for us. The award is voted on by paper engineers, collectors, and people in the publishing industry, so receiving this award from my peers and colleagues makes it that much more meaningful. For me personally, it is a really good reminder to keep taking bigger risks in my paper engineering moving forward.

BPUB – How did the idea of making a pop-up book about Zahhak start and how did you get involved in this project?

SA – Zahhak is part of a larger project that Hamid has been working on and developing for several years. Zahhak is one story in an ancient Persian epic poem called the Shahnameh written by the poet Ferdowsi around 900 CE. Hamid originally created an illustrated book of the Shahnameh that is over 500 pages long, full of beautiful illustrations detailing all the stories of the Shahnameh. Aside from these two books, he has created several shadow theater performances based on the Shahnameh, an audiobook, as well as other incarnations of the story.

When we decided to work together on this project we met up and talked about which story from the Shahnameh we thought would translate best into a pop-up book. There are a lot of beautiful stories in the book but we decided on Zahhak because we felt it was a really exciting story with very powerful, action-packed visuals.

BPUB – Can you tell us about the process of combining the artwork by Hamid Rahmanian and your paper engineering for Zahhak?

SA – Every time I collaborate on a pop-up book project is very different. Working with Hamid we wanted to stay true to the art he had already created while making sure the paper engineering was able to bring a new aspect to the project. I think our two art styles go well together because they are both so detail focused.

Hamid has created this amazing image library of shapes, creatures, and figures that we were able to draw from when creating the pop-up book. If something from his original art didn’t fit in 3D we were able to draw from this well of images and create new art that would match our needs. Every dragon, person, or tree you could ever wish for is at your disposal if you needed a new element. It was a really cool way to work.

“I am always looking to nature for inspiration. Seeing how nature creates physical structures to achieve specific goals”

Simon Arizpe

BPUB – This book contains a lot of detailed and complex pop-ups and paper animation. Can you tell us more about some of the techniques used in this pop-up book?

SA – I strived to make the paper engineering of the book as complex as Hamid’s original artwork. With his original illustrations there are many layers and repeating shapes weaving in and out of the frame. I tried to capture that same movement, and feeling of weightlessness in the pop-ups. Like you are never sure where you are looking.

For each of the spreads we really looked at what aspects of the page needed to be animated to tell the story, and also be the most eye-catching. For example, in the castle spread on page 8, we really wanted to make it as big and imposing as possible, whereas in the dream spread on page 5, our goal was to make the whole page have movement and feel surreal and dreamlike.

We also wanted to create mechanisms and side flaps that were very unusual. In the last spread the hero sits alone on a pillow off to the left of the page. As you open the side flap the page transforms around him and the same figure is suddenly in a scene of celebration. These smaller surprises add to the overall tone of the book.

BPUB – We were impressed by the size of Zahhak which is a huge book with nine very detailed spreads. How long did it take you to make such a big and complex pop-up book?

SA – The book is super heavy too! The whole project took over 3 years. Some of the pages were very straightforward and I had a clear vision of what I wanted to make pop-up as soon as I saw Hamid’s artwork. Other pages were much more murky to figure out at first and took several rounds of revisions. Some times having to start over altogether a few times. We really wanted to make sure to do the story and the artwork justice.

BPUB – Which pop-up in Zahhak was the most fun and challenging to work on?

SA – For me, the most challenging pop-up to create was probably spread 5, “The Dream”. It shows the evil king Zahhak being visited by the vision of the young hero Fereydun, who will one day overthrow him. This spread was really challenging for me because there are a lot of separate moving parts to it. All of which are being asked to do a lot of very specific movements. The young Fereydun turns a full 180º in the middle of the page as it is opening. This movement is based on 5 or 6 V-folds on top of one another, that make the start pop-up and end point of the rider switch directions. Figuring out that mechanism kept me up for about a week. Also in that spread the king’s eye is meant to open just as the viewer has finished opening the page. It is meant to appear as though he is waking up from the dream. Motions like these are really hard because you are asking the paper to show a very specific moment, which has a binomial: yes or no. It’s not like making a pop-up of a mountain or something, where if it doesn’t work right it is still a mountain. If the eye doesn’t open at just the right moment then the scene won’t work correctly.

Narratively this is also the part in the story where the point of view shifts from that of the evil king Zahhak to the view and inner life of the hero Fereydun. In that sense it was very important for me to have both figures appear on this page in equal size and complexity.

Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King, created by Iranian award-winning artist and filmmaker Hamid Rahmanian and Meggendorfer Prize winner Simon Arizpe

BPUB – As a paper engineer, where do you find inspiration for your designs and techniques?

SA – I am always looking to nature for inspiration. Seeing how nature creates physical structures to achieve specific goals. I live across the street from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and I go there a lot when I need to think. I also look at the work of the illustrator Charlie Harper any time I am feeling uninspired. His work is really good at distilling down complex shapes right to the line of abstraction, while still retaining a recognizable narrative quality. He is basically my patron saint of design.

When I start designing a pop-up spread I try to get inspiration for the engineering from the concept of the story itself. If it is a wild storm, then the pop-up should be wild and chaotic. If it is a quieter scene than the pop-up should feel sparse and intimate. Hopefully you can understand the tone of the story just by looking at the pop-up without reading the text. Double points if the pop-up can speak to you with just white paper before there is even art on it.

BPUB – How did your love for creating pop-ups start and how did you develop yourself as a professional Paper Engineer?

SA – I was always drawing and making things as a little kid, and I really don’t think I had any other option than to keep making art when I grew up. I moved to New York when I was 18 to study illustration at the Pratt Insitute. For my senior project I tried to make a pop-up book, (it was really bad, like really). My classmate Jess Tice-Gilbert, who is herself a great paper engineer and art director, told me she was an intern at a pop-up book studio and I think I basically begged her to get me an interview there. I started as an intern working for Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart right out of college. Eventually, they hired me on full time and I learned every aspect of the field from them, as well as Kyle Olmon, Shelby Arnold, and Jess, who also worked at the studio. Matthew and Robert are always supportive of their employees developing their own careers.

I started working on my own projects during nights and weekends. Getting the Babadook pop-up book project was a really big deal for me and helped me get my name out into the world. About 5 years ago I was able to branch out and start my own pop-up book studio. I try to take on projects that are interesting to me, either conceptually or in how I can design the pop-ups. These days I work out of a nice little studio space in Brooklyn that I share with a few other artists. It’s a really great spot with a big window right next to my desk.

BPUB – You teach about paper engineering at The Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design in New York City. Can you tell us more about your classes and teaching methods?

SA – This is my 2nd year teaching the pop-up book class at Pratt and it is a really fun course to teach. Each week I have the students start off the class by learning a new mechanism of paper engineering, and the mechanisms get more complex as we go through the semester. By the end the students have made their own pop-up textbooks that they have been adding to each week. The larger assignments throughout the semester allow the students to apply what they are learning and explore new ways of creating pop-ups for themselves. It is really exciting to see their skills and confidence evolve over such a short amount of time.

The course I teach at Parsons is called “Seminar in 3D illustration”. While it does have a section in it about pop-up books, I also have the students design lights, 3D spaces, and even create their own forms of currency. I introduce the students to new concepts and artists each week that I think exemplify the overarching themes of the section we are working in. Sometimes it starts up really interesting discussions on art, design, and social responsibility. I try to lead the discussions in a productive way while letting the students come to their own conclusions.

BPUB – This summer you will be a teacher for a two-week course in paper engineering in Sienna, Italy. What can we expect when we join in?

SA – It is going to be a really exciting program, all skill levels are welcome! The course is a two-week intensive where students will learn the fundamentals of paper engineering all the way through to combining them into advanced techniques, and use them to create their own pop-up books. It is basically the class I teach at Pratt distilled down into its most concentrated form! The class size is small enough that I can really work with each student one-on-one to get them to the level they are trying to achieve. Registration ends May 22nd, and there are discounts and scholarships available. We still need to get the minimum number of students signed up for the class or it will be canceled. Which would be a real shame. Check out this website for more info on the class.

THE WilD Pop-Up Object by Simon Arizpe

BPUB – Why do you think it’s important to share your knowledge about creating pop-ups with upcoming Paper Engineers?

SA – I think it is really important to demystify how pop-up books work to the next generation of paper engineers. When you show someone a pop-up book they either freak out and back away slowly, or look at it intensely and try to figure out how it works. I love when that happens. I think if someone is trying to understand the mechanisms behind a pop-up book, it is important to give them all the information I have already learned if I can.

In a certain way it is totally selfish too. Teaching helps me see things in a fresh perspective. Having to explain concepts and mechanisms I take for granted, really reminds me how powerful some of them can be.

BPUB – Do you have any plans for a new pop-up book soon? Or maybe any other plans or projects for 2019 that you would like to share with us?

SA – I have a few projects in the works right now that I am really excited about. The biggest one coming up is a pop-up book of house plants in collaboration with the photographer Daniel Gordon and the Aperture Photo Foundation. His work is really surreal so I think we are going to be making a really wild pop-up book, in a good way! I have another project in the works that is still in the development stage. It is a work of original content that I am writing, engineering, and illustrating solo, something I have not done all together in a while. I am excited to show it to you in a few months when it is finished.

BPUB – Thank you, Simon, for this interview! We can’t wait to see your next pop-up book!

SA – Thank you!

If you would like to know more about the work of Simon Arizpe, make sure to check out his website simonarizpe.com and to follow Simon on Instagram. On our website, you’ll also find more about Simon’s work like reviews, video’s and photo galleries.

Order at Amazon: Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King

Concept, art & design by Hamid Rahmanian
Paper Engineering by Simon Arizpe
Text by Ahmad Sadri & Melissa Hibbard
Published by Fantagraphics Books

Video reviews

Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King
Mister Babadook Pop-Up Book
The Hearthstone Pop-Up Book
THE WiLD Pop-Up Object

Pop-up books engineered by Simon Arizpe

Het bericht Interview Simon Arizpe verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Ever since we started collecting pop-up books, the work of Artist and Paper Engineer Yevgeniya Yeretskaya immediately caught our attention. The Snow Queen was one of the first pop-up books we bought and soon after that Snowflakes and many more followed. Her work can already be considered as collectable and that being said, it is hard to imagine a pop-up book collection without a book created by Yevgeniya.

We first wanted to introduce her as the “Queen of Winter pops” but we’ve just discovered that she already owns the nickname “The Dreaded Snowflake Woman”. This and more in our interview where we ask Yevgeniya about her work, her job at Up With Paper and how her career as a professional Paper Engineer started. She also reveals some details about an upcoming Christmas pop-up title that is going to be out in the fall of 2018. Read all about it in this exclusive interview!

The interview

BPUB – How did your love for paper engineering and creating pop-ups started?

YY –  When I was three years old, I had this beautiful pop-up book in Czech. It was Sleeping Beauty by Vojtěch Kubašta. Everything about it seemed surprising and magical to me: it had highly colorful, detailed illustrations of a different time and place, and every page held a dimensional scene, whose parts moved with pull-tabs and clever mechanics. I was enchanted, and really wanted to know how this was achieved… so of course, I took the entire book apart. I kept the pieces of it for years, and every once in a while I would make a clumsy pop-up, trying to recapture that sense of wonder I felt when I saw that book. I think since then I’ve subconsciously been trying to reestablish a sort of karmic pop-up balance in the world by creating my own pop-up books to share, in place of the one I deconstructed long ago.

BPUB – Can you tell us how you developed yourself as a professional Paper Engineer?

YY –  It was a comment from a friend of mine in college, which set me on the path of a professional paper engineer. He looked at one of my little pop-up projects and said something like: “You know there is a pop-up making class you can take here? You would probably enjoy it.” First lesson in, it was clear to me that I found my preferred medium, and after I brought in my first homework assignment (I was a bit of an over-achiever), my professor recommended me for an internship with Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart. I spent an entire semester in their studio, hungrily absorbing all the information I could, all the while working on my senior project, which was, of course, a hand painted pop-up book. In years that followed, I worked on as many freelance pop-up projects I could get my hands on. I mostly assembled pop-ups for others and then tried to use what I had seen and learned to work on my own cards and books. The Elements of Pop-Up by David Carter and James Diaz was my constant companion at that time, it still is. Honestly, I do not know any paper engineers, who do not own that book! Eventually, I joined Up With Paper, and that was when I was truly able to immerse myself in everything pop-up related and explore all the facets of paper engineering to the fullest.

BPUP – Are there other Paper Engineers or Paper Artists that inspire you?

YY –  Of course! I have already mentioned that Vojtěch Kubašta, Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart and David Carter were pivotal in my paper engineering life. I would also like to acknowledge Renee Jablow, whose precise engineering and pop-up construction have taught me so much, Brittney Lee, whose bright paper illustrations captured my imagination, and Dario Cestaro, who’s love of pop-ups and all things paper is almost palpable. There are so many others who inspire me, that I cannot possibly list them all. As a Director of Paper Engineering at Up With Paper, I am incredibly fortunate to be in a position to work with so many talented paper engineers. I have benefited hugely from the experience, and I am lucky to call many of them my friends!

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“The fun part about my job is that every day brings something different”

Yevgeniya Yeretskaya

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BPUB – Up With Paper looks like a fun company to work for! How does an average day at the office of Up With Paper look like and can you tell us more about your function at Up With Paper?

YY –  The fun part about my job is that every day brings with it something different. I am not certain that there is such a thing as an average day, because with constantly changing demands in the industry, new printing techniques and the variety of different product lines we produce, there is always something new and exciting to work on. My main function at Up With Paper is to oversee different aspects of paper engineering work: from directing our freelancers to looking over the art files, from checking the assembly on the in-house prototypes to communicating with the overseas vendors, who produce all our complex hand-made product, and from making adjustments when something unexpected happens to engineering or developing an idea for a new project myself. The possibilities are endless, so I am never bored.

BPUB – The pop-ups you create are surprisingly solid. Is that something you pay extra attention to?

YY – A lot of my work is geared towards a younger audience. Since children often learn by repetition, a card or book needs to be able to open and close as many times as they need it to. Whether they read a book every week, or every night, or say “again!” and go through it eight times in a row, it needs to last. I know paper is a fragile medium, but I endeavor to make it solid enough to make a lasting impression.

BPUB – We know you make the most beautiful illustrations. Any chance you’ll make another pop-up book with your own artwork like The Snow Queen anytime soon?

YY –  Oh, thank you so much for a lovely compliment! I really hope to illustrate another book someday soon. I’ve always loved fairy-tales, and would be thrilled if I were asked to use my own styling of artwork, before giving it a three-dimensional spin.

Illustration shared by Yevgeniya during this years #inktober event.

BPUB – You have made several holiday and winter pop-up books. Are the holidays and winter themes you like the most to work on?

YY –  I like fairy-tales and the possibility of magic. Working on the winter and holiday themes allows me to do both, so yes I really do love it! Even though there is a certain sense of wonder in this season that appeals to me, working on the winter themed books began by chance. Snowflakes: A Pop-Up Book was my first published pop-up title and the complexities in production earned me an “endearing” nickname with our production vendor — The Dreaded Snowflake Woman… I sort of love that, and embrace it!

BPUP – Are there any other Christmas subjects or stories that you would like to make a pop-up book about?

YY –  Actually, I am working on a new holiday title at the moment. The Nutcracker: An Enchanting Pop-Up Adaptation is going to be out in the fall of 2018. I am very excited about this subject matter, because it combines my love of strange fairy-tales with a life-long appreciation of theater and ballet. With an enchanting retelling of this holiday story by Jessica Southwick and charming illustrations by Neiko Ng, we hope it will be a Christmas pop-up to remember! Keep an eye out for it!

BPUP – What kind of Christmas cards do you send to family and friends? Do you make your own?

YY –  I do a few Christmas designs for Up With Paper every year — those are the ones I usually send to family and friends. I am really lucky that the cards I design are mass-produced. If I tried to hand-make my own, it would be so time consuming that my family and friends would not receive those Christmas cards until June!

BPUP – Thank you for this interview!

YY – It was my pleasure. Thank you for sharing my books!

Snowflakes, engineered and illustrated by Yevgeniya Yeretskaya – This book is all about the beauty and diversity of snowflakes and is both educational and entertaining for the whole family.

Het bericht Interview Yevgeniya Yeretskaya verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Pop-up book creator and author Chuck Fischer is our personal hero. He creates the most beautiful artwork and has been a pop-up book author for more than 15 years. Chuck has many books to his name including classic Christmas pop-up titles like Christmas Around the World, Christmas in New York, A Christmas Carol and his latest Christmas release The Gingerbread White House. He has collaborated with some of the best Paper Engineers like David Hawcock, Bruce Foster and recently with Robert Sabuda for their joint pop-up venture campaign at Indiegogo called LegacyPop. We’re honored that we had the opportunity to ask Chuck about his work and how his career as a pop-up book creator started.

The interview

BPUB  – You make the most beautiful artwork for pop-up books but there’s so much more that you design. Can you tell us something about all the things you create as an artist?

CF – I started my career in New York City as a muralist and decorative painter, in the world of high-end interior design. I then started licensing my art and designs and created various products for the home. I continue to design wallpaper and fabric, and one of my china collections for the American brand, Lenox, has been in the marketplace for 15 years.

BPUB  – What was your first introduction to the World of pop-ups and how did you get involved creating pop-up books?

CF – I had a few pop-up books as a child, but I became interested in them in the late 1990’s when I discovered Robert Sabuda’s all white paper pop-up books. Robert’s books were so sculptural and inspiring as design objects, but I didn’t think about creating one. I did have an idea for an illustrated book based on my decorative painting and architectural renderings. A friend of mine wanted to be a literary agent, and I needed one, so we started sending out my book proposal.

“Out of the blue he asked if I would consider creating a pop-up book”

Chuck Fischer

I received many “complimentary” rejections, but the publisher at Rizzoli USA liked my artwork, just not my proposal. He visited me in my studio and saw some three dimensional pieces I was working on for one of my china collections and out of the blue he asked if I would consider creating a pop-up book. Of course I said yes, and he put me in touch with paper engineer David Hawcock and about a year and a half later my first pop-up book, Great American Houses and Gardens was published by Rizzoli/Universe.

Chuck Fisher posing in front of beautiful blow-ups of his Christmas in New York pop-up book for The East shopping mall’s holiday decorations in Hong Kong a few years ago.

BPUB – You have to love Christmas to create such beautiful Christmas artwork?

CF – I do love Christmas and I grew up in a family that celebrated Christmas in a very big and traditional way.

BPUB  –  Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from for your artwork?

CF – I like to travel and visit historic house museums, art museums, and libraries and I like to tailor my trips to have a general focus on some current project I’m working. For instance when I created Great American Houses and Gardens I visited all of the places in the book before I started any sketching, thanks to this I realized how important it is to design your outdoor living spaces to feel comfortable in your own space. I worked on the outline for my pop-up book Angels in Rome, and I did some research at the Charles Dickens museum in London before I started working on A Christmas Carol Pop-up book. I also do a lot of research at libraries and on the internet.

BPUB  –  Of all pop-up books you’ve created so far, what is your dearest and why?

CF – If I have to choose, I would say Christmas in New York, because I love Christmas, I love New York City especially a Christmastime and it reminds me of Christmas traditions from my childhood.

BPUB  – Wouldn’t it be great to create a classic pop-up Christmas advent calendar?

CF – I would love to create a Christmas Advent calendar. I have an advent calendar from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that I put out in my living room every year.

BPUB – You and Bruce Foster have created many pop-up books together. Can you tell us how the cooperation between you and Bruce Foster started?

CF – I had a great time working with paper-engineer David Hawcock, who lives in Bath, England on my first three books, but my publisher, Little, Brown & Co. asked if I would look in to finding a paper engineer who lived in the US for my next book. I had recently received an pop-up invitation to an exhibit of Ellen Rubin, The Pop-Up Lady’s book collection and I really like the engineering. I asked Ellen who made it and she told me about Bruce so I called him. We hit it off and started our collaboration with Christmas Around The World, A Pop-Up Book published in 2006.

Chuck Fischer’s work represented in a Chinese item about pop-up books.

BPUB  – When you design a pop-up spread, do you already consider the way the pop-up is constructed?

CF – I do consider construction when I’m designing a spread for a book. I sketch and paint a rendering of what the general shape, type and height of the pop-ups will look like before Bruce starts his paper engineering magic.

BPUB  –  How does this work? Do you design them flat or in the form of a three dimensional pop-up?

CF – I sketch a spread as I envision it will look in the finished book before doing any of the original art.

BPUB  –  We’re just curious, do you also create pop-ups yourself?

CF – I create simple pop-ups all of the time to send as cards and I have lectured and led workshops for adults and children about the history of pop-ups, etc.

BPUB  –  Do you have plans for a new pop-up book anytime soon? Or maybe any other plans or projects for 2018 that you would like to share with us?

CF – I’ve been working with Robert Sabuda on a pop-up stationery company, LegacyPop. I will continue to work on LegacyPop in 2018 as well as other movable book ideas I want to show my publisher when they are ready. (Click here for more info about the LegacyPop project.)

BPUB  –  What kind of Christmas card are you going to send this year?

CF – I am adapting some of the LegacyPop architectural pop-up cards with paper wreath and ribbon designs to make them more Christmasy.

BPUB  –  Thank you Chuck for this interview!

Het bericht Interview Chuck Fischer Pop-Up Book creator verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Yoojin Kim is a Paper Engineer and Artist living in New Haven Connecticut. She studied Printmaking, Graphic Design and Book Binding. Yoojin now works as a designer of dimensional paper products for UWP LUXE and Up With Paper. She’s also a sloth enthusiast and it’s her dream to hang out one day with a bunch of Sloths. Yoojin recently won a Louie Award with her “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry” Christmas greeting card. The brand new “Leaves: An Autumn Pop-Up Book” is her first published pop-up title and we had the opportunity to ask Yoojin some questions about her work and this wonderful book.  

BPUP – Congratulations with your first published pop-up book Leaves! You must be very proud?

YK – Thank you! Yes, I’m very proud of how the book came out. Autumn is my favorite season so it’s exciting to be able to work on a theme that I really enjoy. I wanted to design a book that is informative and interactive for children, and also visually resonate with adults. The beautiful illustrations by Lindsay Dale-Scott really helps the book stand out. Designing my first book turned out to be a very tedious process, but I had a lot of fun and  learned so much from the experience and I hope to carry them onto my next projects!

BPUB – What inspired you and your team to create this pop-up book about autumn?

YK – Autumn is such a beautiful and brilliant season, and I wanted to capture the vibrance of the season in the book. I’ve always loved to working with nature inspired themes so creating a book full of colorful leaves and adorable animals came to me naturally (no pun intended!).

BPUB – Can you tell us how you, Janet Lawler and Lindsay Dale-Scott worked together on Leaves?

YK – It was a big collaborative effort for sure! I had a concept and lots of ideas, but I needed help from a professional writer to condense and consolidate everything into a writing that fits into seven pages. Janet Lawler turned my scribbles into a lyrical poem that flows through the pages. Working with Lindsay Dale-Scott was charming- I shared my pencil sketches with her and I received stunning illustrations in return! I think we all had the same vision of what we wanted in the book, which helped in binding the text, illustrations and the pop-ups together.

“I wanted to capture the vibrance of the season in the book”

Yoojin Kim

BPUB – The colors of Leaves are beautiful! How was it to see both the artwork and your pop-ups as a final result for the first time?

YK – It honestly feels quite surreal. I still remember receiving the flat artwork from Lindsay and feeling the pressure of dissecting and converting the work into pop-ups.

BPUB – We’ve discovered a new 2018 pop-up book by your name titled Shells: A Summer Pop-Up Book. Can you tell us more about it?

YK – This is my new book project, coming out in Summer of 2018!  I hope to turn this nature-inspired title to be filled with colorful shells, animals and interesting facts. Luckily I’ve been working with Janet and Lindsay again, and am excited to explore a new color palette that captures summer ambience. Stay tuned!

BPUB – Are Leaves and Shells going to be part of a pop-up book series of all seasons?

YK – Yes, we’re continuing the four season series, all focused on nature themes!

BPUB – As a paper engineer, where do you find inspiration for your designs and techniques?

YK – I’m a very visual person so I take bits of inspiration from my surroundings. When I’m working on a pop-up of a specific object/theme, I really like to study the structure and how that object functions, to incorporate those details into the pop-up. For example, the idea for the hedgehog pop-up from one of the spreads of LEAVES came to me when I saw my pet hedgehog lay on her belly! I also refer to David Cater & James Diaz’s Elements of Pop-Up a lot- seeing the physical pop-up models help me visualize how I can work with certain mechanisms.

The UWP Luxe team at the 2017 Louie Awards

FLTR: Yevgeniya Yeretskaya, Yoojin Kim, Brette Guilmette, Monika Brandrup, Jackie Chakar and Nicole Yen

BPUB – You also design beautiful pop-up cards for UWP Luxe. Can you tell us more about UWP Luxe and the products that you make?

YK – UWP LUXE is a luxury/boutique division of Up With Paper. Our aspiration for UWP LUXE is to transform paper into beautiful paper designs and explore the possibilities of the modest medium. Our design team is always tuning into current design trends, so that we can turn our passion into cards & paper designs that resonate with the recipient.

Pure Alchemy cards are my personal favorite, where we get to use delicate laser cutting and try new printing techniques. One of our Christmas designs, Eat, Drink, and be Merry (illustrated by Brette Guilmette & I engineered) card won a LOUIE award this year, which gives us more drive & encouragement to continue to push the envelope.

BPUB – Will there be a pop-up book about Sloths from your hand anytime soon?

YK – Oh I’m sure there will be one down the road. Sloths are such fascinating animals and I love them too much to not make a book about them!

BPUB – Thank you Yoojin for this interview!

YK – Thank you so much for sharing the book. I look forward to seeing many more exciting books on Best Pop-Up Books!

Click here to go to our full (video) review of Leaves: An Autumn Pop-Up Book

Website Yoojin Kim: yoojinkim.com
Up With Paper: upwithpaper.com
UWP Luxe: uwpluxe.com

Image credits: Instagram Yoojin Kim

Het bericht Interview Yoojin Kim verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Tina Kraus from Germany is a freelance Illustrator and  Paper Engineer who creates the most wonderful pop-up books, paper toys, pop-up cards, displays and packaging for promotional products. Tina is also the creator of the beautiful Circus Zingaro: A Pop-Up Book. We already did a review about Circus Zingaro last week and we now had the opportunity to ask Tina some questions about this book, a new project and her work as a Paper Engineer.    

BPUP – Why did you choose the circus as a subject for this book?

TK – I don’t really remember, but I’ve always liked the mood of these mysterious carnivals from the past. I also liked the the Idea of a sweet little girl meeting all these odd characters and that she will find a new family with them.

BPUB – Can you summarize what the public response was to Circus Zingaro in the past seven years?

TK – The video has been watched more hat 100.000 times and I regularly get emails where people ask me how they could buy the book. I was in contact with a French and a German publisher who were interested in publishing the book, but after many considerations and even after I made some simplifications compared to the first version of the book, it turned out to be too expensive for them. Due to the many different and sometimes difficult techniques they would need to print more than 10.000 books (?) for the first edition to make it affordable, and the French and German market is too small for that. I would need a big international publisher to make it happen.

“I need a big international publisher to make it happen.”

Tina Kraus

BPUB – All movables and pop-up techniques fit very well with the type of circus acts you have chosen. Was it a challenge to choose which technique to use for which act?

TK –    Sometimes! But other times I thought of something and it just clicked immediately. Or I went through other pop-up books or the Elements of Pop-Up by David A. Carter and saw a mechanism and thought “This would be perfect for…”

BPUB – Can you tell us how the process of designing and engineering of Circus Zingaro is done?

TK – I start with a rough scribble and then I make a first simple model just to try out whether my Idea would even work. When it does, I start to draw a vector template in Adobe Illustrator. I then print it and cut it out or use a silhouette cutting machine to do that and refine the model more and more, adding details with every step. Sometimes I make more than 10 or 15 dummies of one mechanism until it all works.

For a complex page like the first one where you can see the whole circus, I need to figure out how the wagons can be pulled up even when they are not centered on the page. I work on each mechanism individually first before I combine them to such a spread. If I get stuck, I go through the books of the great masters like Reinhart or Carter and look for inspiration. When I’m satisfied with the blank paper models, I print the templates very lightly on watercolor paper and start illustrating. Then I go back and adjust the templates to the scanned illustrations. Finally I do a test with the finished templates before I start nesting the printing sheets. Then printing and cutting of the final book can begin. A cutting machine or knowing someone with a laser machine helps a lot at this point!

BPUB – Have you ever considered making a crowdfunding project from Circus Zingaro?

TK – Yes, and some people have suggested it to me too. However it seems to me that it would be a full-time job or even more work than I alone could handle if I would do that since I don’t have any experience in dealing with a printing company that specializes in pop-up books or handeling the logistics of such a project. So right now I’m still hoping for a conventional publisher who already has the know-how to realize such a project.

BPUB – Is this the final version of the book?

TK – Yes, kind of. But if a publisher would decide to go ahead with the project, I might need to do some more adaptations to make sure it can be mass produced or to reduce the cost.

Paper Toys for the Chinese New Year by Tina Kraus

BPUB – In addition to pop-ups, you also design pop-up cards, paper toys, displays and packaging. How did your interest for working with paper started?

TK – I started to craft with paper as a young child and spent many afternoons crafting and painting. When I was older I got some instruction books for crafting with paper and also for making pop-ups (It was by Paul Jackson I think) In the book were instructions and templates to many basic mechanisms but I soon started to take it as a challenge to recreate the pop-ups that were only shown as examples without any template or instruction. In my last year of high school I made my first pop-up book. It contained 4 spreads with pop-up stages for famous theatre plays or musicals. (Die Zauberflöte, Hamlet, Die Dreigroschenoper, Grease)

“I soon started to take it as a challenge to recreate the pop-ups that were only shown as examples without any template or instruction.”

Tina Kraus

BPUB – You and Florian Biege also created a wonderful pop-up theatre (play) book titled “Rittergeschichten – Ein Pop-Up Theater“. Can you tell us more about it?

TK – It was a spontaneous idea we had last year. The concept of the stage was perfect because I wanted to make a pop-up book that would be easier to mass manufacture. We are hoping this will make it easier to find a publisher. The machanisms now are pretty simple, but still add a nice effect to the book. The final book is planned to contain 6 stages, 8 characters, 4 plays and a lot of possibilities for your own stories. We could also imagine it would work as a series with more settings like a pirate ship etc.

BPUB – Are you all caught up now and can we expect more pop-up books in the future?

TK – I would love to do more pop-ups and hope I will get the opportunity!

BPUB – As a Paper Engineer, do you also have other Paper Engineers who inspire you?

TK – Yes, of course. Where can I start? Probably anyone of whom I have a pop-up book in my bookshelf has inpired me somehow! As I mentioned I started with a book by Paul Jackson. Then David A. Carter with his Elements of Pop-Up. It is so helpful! Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart probably inspired me most to test out what is possible to make pop up.

BPUB – Do you also collect pop-up books?

TK – I have for a time, so now I have a small collection. But since there is no space left in my bookshelves, I stopped and only buy books that I feel are really special for some reason. But I still get more books as presents sometimes!

BPUB – Thank you Tina for this interview and the opportunity to review your work!

Click here to go to our full (video) review of Circus Zingaro: A Pop-up Book

Website Tina Kraus: tinakraus.com
Portfolio Tina Kraus: faltmanufaktur.com
Blog Tina Kraus: faltmanufaktur.wordpress.com

Het bericht Interview Tina Kraus verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

The TRIAD Pop-Up Book is a collaboration between Manga artist Junko Mizuno and Paper Engineer Rosston Meyer from Poposition Press. We already did a close-up review of TRIAD but there’s more! We also interviewed both Junko and Rosston about this unique pop-up project. We’ve asked them about their collaboration, how they managed to transform Junko’s flat artwork into 3D pop-up scenes and the paper engineering of TRIAD. A detailed look behind the scenes of the TRIAD Pop-Up Book!

BPUB – Congratulations with this third Poposition Press release! The both of you must be very proud with this beautiful result?

RM – Thank you! Yes, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished with the Triad book. We had talked about making a book together a few months before starting it so I was thinking about what to do with each piece for quite some time before actually starting on it. Being able to look at each piece and really think about what needs to pop up and how it can pop out I think really helps the process of taking such complicated artwork and transforming it into something new a bit easier, at least for me.

Junko and I worked together on two pop up spreads in the last book I did (The Pop Up Art Book) and I asked her if she wanted to do her own book once that was released. I think we both really enjoyed making those pages, and solving the design challenges of figuring them out, so working together on a book of just Junko’s work was really exciting.

Now, looking back at the original pieces that the Triad book is based on (which are in the last spread of the book) it still amazes me that artwork like the black and white and very vertical Serpent was transformed into such a fun, exciting and colorful pop up spread. Junko really went above and beyond what I ever expected, from adding color to black and white pieces to creating all kinds of new artwork and characters throughout the book. She even made icon-type graphics that we used for the laser etched slipcases – over 60 of them!

JM – I’m really really proud of how it came out! I remember when I first got the offer from Rosston for the Pop Up Art Book project, I was expecting just simple, one or two layers pop-up but I was blown away by how intricate my page looked in 3D. It’s amazing now we’ve made a whole book together. I can’t wait to show it off to my family & friends and am looking forward to seeing how people will react to it.

BPUB – Junko, how is it to experience your own artwork in 3D pop-ups and movable paper?

JM – It’s exciting & fun! My art has been made into 3D figurines but pop-up feels very different. It feels like something between 2D & 3D… it’s really interesting to look at. I had to do a lot of work and the process was so much more complicated than I had expected, but it was also a very interesting and exciting challenge. I learned a lot of new things during the process.

BPUB – Can you tell us how it was to work on a project like this together?

JM – I live in San Francisco and Rosston lives in Colorado so most of the communication was made by emails, exchanging photos, videos and mockups. English is not my first language so sometimes I had hard times explaining details but he was so patient and easy to work with. I had fun having non work-related conversation about art and movies at the end of emails sometimes.

RM – The process of course involved a lot of back and forth, and hundreds of emails. I would first make a mockup of each spread which would show the main elements from the original artwork that needed to be popped out. After showing this to Junko, we would both have a good idea of what would need fill ins and additional artwork, and then she would let me know her ideas about extras that could be added to each spread.

I would send Junko photoshop files with layered groups of elements that needed to be filled in, and we would basically go back and forth with those until each spread was done. And with each new iteration, I’d make a mockup so that we could see what the additional art would look like, if it needed to be enlarged or made smaller, etc. If you take a look back in time on the @popositionpress Instagram account, you can see many of these mockups of each page.

Work in progress – Source: @popositionpress

The first few pages probably took us a few months to get figured out, and by the time we were working on the last page of the book (the Ink Triptych for the Special Editions) we had our process pretty set.

I also want to mention and thank Simon Arizpe who did the paper engineering for the Tree spread in Triad. We met at the MBS 2014 conference and I had asked him if he’d be interested in working on a page for a future book. This was kind of a test to see how it would work to work with another paper engineer, and the results were great. I’ll surely work with Simon in the future!

BPUB – Junko, where you familiar with pop-up books and modern paper engineering before your collaboration with Rosston and Poposition Press?

JM – Yes, I’ve always loved pop-up books and it was one of my dreams to make my own. I have some by Robert Sabuda and my recent favorite is The Little Prince pop up book. After I started working with Poposition Press, I learned more about different kinds of movable books and started to check out pop-up book section at book stores more carefully than before. It’s amazing to see people keep coming up with new ideas.

“I’ve always loved pop-up books and it was one of my dreams to make my own”

Junko Mizuno

BPUB – The TRIAD pop-up book is based on the TRIAD exhibition at The Cotton Candy Machine gallery. Does it contain all the artwork from the exhibition or did you need to make a selection?

RM – It does. There was originally ten pieces of art in the TRIAD gallery exhibition, which ended up in six different pop up spreads. Since the title is Triad, and it’s the third book I’ve done, I knew from the start that combining the three portraits of the Nurse, Witch and Wrestler would be a great center spread for the book. This ultimately became the ‘Triptych’ spread.

The three other combined images (Surgery, Magic and Tiger) all had the same ink style to them, so those were put together as the three part ‘Ink Triptych’ which is part of Triad’s Special Editions.

As for the covers, Junko told me that she made two additional pieces of artwork featuring all the characters from Triad that will be released as posters in the near future. These images, Dawn and Night, are both very wide and allowed us to think about different ways to crop them. A crop of Dawn was ultimately used for the main cover, and a crop of the Night image was used as the cover of the Special Editions. Both of these images are also shown in full as a double sided pull out poster included in the Special Edition books as well.

BPUB – Rosston, this book contains a lot of detailed and complex pop-ups and paper animation. Can you tell us more about some of the techniques used in this pop-up book?

RM – My own paper engineering is always getting better as time goes on and the challenge of transforming Junko’s very highly detailed artwork into pop up spreads is part of what made this project so interesting. The first spread in the book, Ocean, was originally a portrait orientated image and needed to be turned into landscape to match the format of the book (11” x 17” spreads when opened). I knew that the main focus of that piece was the Wrestler fighting with the shark in the center, so that was the first part to get done. The other elements in that spread such as all the waves and the nurse were added after the Wrestler/shark fight was setup. That page probably had the most revisions to get right, especially figuring out how to make the wave pieces pop up but also have the effect of a flowing curvy wave as seen in Junko’s original art.

“The challenge of transforming Junko’s very highly detailed artwork into pop-up spreads is part of what made this project so interesting”

Rosston Meyer

The Serpent spread which stands about 15” tall when opened was actually something that I saw in a few other books, most notably Rapunzel’s castle in Matthew Reinhart’s Disney Princesses book. He has a cut in the front piece that seems to take some of the tension out of that joint, and while I wasn’t able to do the same I did use that as a guide to make the Serpent spread stand up tall. I’ve made similar pages in the first two books that I did, but wanted to handle the engineering differently for the Serpent, as it needed to stand up tall and really pop up as the page opens.

BPUB – Was it necessary to create new artwork in order to complete the pop-up scenes? Can you tell us more about how this process works?

JM – I had to fill in a lot of blanks that appeared after making the 2D art into pop-up. Rosston first makes the mock-up and sends it to me, he also sends me the cut-out images in digital file. I check them both and fill in the blanks in Photoshop. It’s easier when it’s an ink drawing but paintings are much harder to fill in as they have more complicated color shades than ink drawings. When it’s too difficult to re-create the same colors digitally, I have to actually paint the part on paper, scan it and attach it to the blank. For example, the second layer of the witch’s hair in the 3rd page (Triptych) is all newly painted on a separate piece of paper as there were too many blank parts that were hard to fill in.

Even when I didn’t need to fill in the artwork at all, some parts looked too empty when translated into pop-up so I added some new elements and characters which was fun. You can compare the original artworks in the end of the book with the pop-up pages and find out the newly added characters.

BPUB – Rosston, we have also spotted pull-tabs and a lift-the-flap hidden in the artwork. It looks like you’re exploring new possibilities of movable paper and paper engineering?

RM – Absolutely. Adding in some movables such as pull tabs and flaps is something I’ve wanted to do and all of the elements in the Mansion page allowed that to finally happen! I had the toilet flap figured out first, and the pull tab on the little party poop in that spread was something I was playing around with while figuring out that page. We both thought it was funny and it was Junko’s idea to show that little guy as a party poop that was drinking as he walks down the stairs. It’s probably the silliest thing in the book, and I love it. We also made some enamel pins  of the poop character (we call him Poop E. Jones) so it’s also a fashion accessory!

The TRIAD pop-up book is the third pop-up book title engineered by Rosston Meyer and published by Poposition Press. We have already seen the work of Manga artist Junko Mizuno in the previous Poposition publication The Pop-Up Art Book. This cooperation led to the idea to make a pop-up book completely dedicated to Junko Mizuno’s art. In this review we will take a closer look at this brand new and surprising pop-up title in the category Art. Click here to read the full review…

BPUB – Junko, have you contributed any ideas to the work of Rosston and Simon about how your artwork was translated into pop-ups and 3D scenes?

JM – Yes! At first, I didn’t know anything about how to make pop-up so I was just leaving everything to Rosston & Simon but I kept learning while working on the first couple of pages. When I received the mock up for the Serpent page which was the third or fourth one in the book, it only had the three-headed serpent in the center. And it was so tall that it felt like some kind of religious statue. So I came up with the idea of adding worshippers on the sides of the serpent. I made actual paper pieces of the worshippers, attached them to the mock-up, sent Rosston the photo and asked him if it was possible. He liked it and it worked!

BPUB – Rosston, TRIAD is self-published without any help from crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter. Can you tell us how this publication was different compared to your other pop-up books?

RM – Yes, in the case of Triad the plan was always to offer pre-orders directly to customers without any help from Kickstarter or other crowdfunding platforms. I setup the Triad website to accept preorders back in September, and had a goal in mind similar to a goal on Kickstarter so I basically crowdfunded the project on my own, so to speak. Both Junko and I had been sharing the progress of the book all year, so alot of people knew that it was in the works for months before it was available for preorders.

The main reason that I didn’t want to do a Kickstarter campaign was that I wanted to see if the book could be sold without any additional help, and thankfully it was! I did run a lot of ads on Facebook and Instagram as well as banner and print ads in some art specific blogs and magazines, all of which helped spread the word about the book.

In the future, I may still do a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for other projects, and I think one of the benefits of doing that is getting the word out more easily to people outside of my or Junko’s existing networks.

BPUB – Do you have any plans for the future with Poposition press to continue publishing pop-up art books like this?

RM – Yes. I’m talking with a number of artists about working together, but nothing is set in stone yet. Since the timeframe to make a book is so long (about a year), I’m exploring the idea of making one pop up page at a time, in a small quantities so that they can be designed and produced much quicker – a few months rather than a year. Having a pipeline of pop ups would be great, and single pages could be compiled into another compilation book – possibly a Pop Up Art Book Vol 2. And Junko and I have talked about doing something else together in the future, which I’d love to do!

There is a book that is not specific to art that I’ll be collaborating with a handful of other paper engineers on next, it’s a more mainstream subject than what I’ve worked on before. So that will probably be the next pop up thing I focus on, hopefully the bulk of it can get done by the end of 2017.

BPUB – Thank you Junko and Rosston for this detailed insights of how you’ve created the TRIAD pop-up book! We look forward to your next projects!

Click here to go to our full (video) review of TRIAD

Website TRIAD Pop-Up Book: triadpopup.com
Website Junko Mizuno: mizuno-junko.com
Website Poposition Press: poposition.com

Het bericht Junko Mizuno and Rosston Meyer Interview verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Maike Biederstaedt is a German freelance pop-up designer who lives and works in Berlin. She’s an illustrator and a very talented paper engineer. She creates the most wonderful books, greeting cards and advertising materials and recently won the coveted Louie Award (an American greeting card industry award) with her MoMA Snowflake pop-up card. She also teaches a pop-up class at AID Berlin and organizes pop-up workshops. Creatures of the Deep is her first commercial pop-up book publication and what a great introduction that is to the world of pop-ups! We’ve asked Maike Biedersteadt about her work as a paper engineer and the Creatures of the Deep pop-up book.

Het bericht Interview Maike Biederstaedt verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Keith Allen is an illustrator, designer and paper engineer who lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and children. He lives a busy life, working as a product designer at American Greetings, and works on his personal projects at night. Keith comes from a creative family and got into the self-publishing world a couple of years ago with the launch of a wonderful pop-up book called A Day in Rehoboth Beach. Keith, his grandmother Joanne DeFiore and his brother Brian Allen created this pop-up book about their favorite summer destination Rehoboth Beach.

We had the opportunity to ask Keith a few questions about his latest pop-up book What a Mess!

BPUB – We have been able to follow your 5am project from the start and we’ve seen the What a Mess! pop-up book develop from rough concepts into a complete and advanced pop-up book. From what point did you decide  to publish this book?

KA – Thank you so much for following along in the process! Self-Publishing was always in the back of my mind because I’ve done it before and knew that it could be done, but honestly in the beginning, I just really wanted to make something that I could be proud of. As the process went along, I was gaining more and more followers and being really encouraged. It was really neat seeing peoples reactions and I knew that I had to get this book out into the world.

“It’s cool how everything kind of fell into place with this book”

Keith Allen

BPUB – There’s a large diversity of different pop-up techniques used in What a Mess! The illustrations and paper animation also fit perfectly with the story. Can you tell us more about the engineering and animation techniques that you’ve used for this book?

KA – Thanks! It’s cool how everything kind of fell into place with this book. I’m always jotting down book ideas in sketchbooks, but this one just really resonated with me and kept me interested. From the first draft of the story, I could visualize a lot of the page spreads. Not every story works well with pop-ups and vice versa, but I felt this one worked really well in the format. I just loved the idea of the chaos and mess rising and falling from the pages, and that the only thing holding it back was the book cover.

BPUB – We are impressed with how you achieved to make “a mess” look so beautiful. Was it hard to find a style that fits both the story and the paper engineering?

KA – In a nutshell, the process worked like this: I finished the first rough draft of the story which determined my page count and how many spreads. Then I started sketching, and doing character development. I chose to illustrate them in a very flat but colorful style so it would feel almost like cut paper. Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart are huge inspirations to me and their art-styles work so great with paper-engineering because they don’t compete with the pop-ups. I wanted to achieve that same balance. Once my art style was determined, I started the paper-engineering process and worked out all seven spreads before illustrating. I have done a lot of jobs in the past where I work with an illustrator and I just provide them with the paper-engineering. Depending on the illustrator, this process can work beautifully– but I think you can achieve an even greater result when the illustrator IS the paper-engineer because they are so familiar with the pop-ups and can complete the initial creative vision of the spread

BPUB – What a Mess! is inspired by the everyday adventures of your children. Did they give you any feedback about the story or illustrations?

KA – Haha, yes they were very involved. I made sure that I shared with them during the whole process. I tested out a lot of jokes with them, let them help pick out their characters outfits, and also choose what toys went into each scene. I’ve also hidden a lot of little easter eggs throughout the book which makes this book very special for them.

BPUB – You’ve engineered this book, made the illustrations, wrote the story and did a lot more like your website, downloads, social media channels and tutorials on YouTube. Did this project grow on you or did you have all of this in mind from the start?

KA – LOL, It definitely grew on me. It’s been a learning experience, that is for sure, but a fantastic one. It really forced me out of my comfort zone. I learned that creating the product is really only half the battle, and that there is a whole other side that I knew very little about. But it’s been great, I have found that marketing can be just as creative as building the product. It’s also allowed me to really connect and engage with my followers which has been such an encouragement. It definitely makes you appreciate the amount of work that goes into a project like this, on the creative side and the business side.

BPUB – It’s unique how you created a world around What a Mess! with it’s own style and branding. It gives more depth to the book and the characters itself. Do you have any plans to continue with the characters and this “brand” of Messy Pop-up? Is there a chance that this will be a series?

KA – Thanks! I have spent a lot of time with these characters, and have really enjoyed building and developing them as the project progressed. There is always a chance, that would just depend on if I had another story that worked really well with them.  I’m hoping they’ll stick around awhile!

BPUB – What’s the first thing you’ll do when your project reaches its Kickstarter goal?

KA – I’ll probably get back to work, haha! I’ll be so thrilled if that happens, but there is still a lot to do! First thing is to get the book off to manufacturing because that can take a while to produce and then I’ll need to finalize all the rewards. But, probably the first thing I’ll do is celebrate with my family. They’ve been so supportive of this venture and I really couldn’t have done it without them. We’ll have a pizza and Ice-cream sundae party and stay up until 11:00pm!

BPUB – Thank you Keith! We wish you the best of luck with your project. We can hardly wait to see this wonderful pop-up book being published!

Support Keith’s What a Mess! pop-up book project on Kickstarter.

Go to our video review of What a Mess! A Pop-up Misadventure
Got to our What a Mess! Kickstarter special

Het bericht Keith Allen about What a Mess! verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

Matthew Reinhart is best known for his advanced and outstanding paper engineering. But it goes beyond that. Much further. Reinhart is an artist with the mind of a curious child. If you’re smart, you choose to study and become a Biologist or Doctor. If you’re brave, you follow your heart and trust on your talent. And that’s exactly what Matthew Reinhart did. His motto “Life is too short so do what you like best” he translated into the realization of his dream: creating art. The work of Reinhart, of course, needs no introduction to collectors.

He takes a lot of inspiration for his work from his passion for Transformers, StarWars, dinosaurs, comics and street-art. Because he can empathize effortlessly with the imagination of a child, Matthew knows how important it is to make exciting books for children. With his impressive portfolio of published pop-up books, his goal, to motivate kids to read more books, is more than achieved. Seen from the artistic side, his way of working is precise, technically but particularly creatively. As he mostly makes his own artwork, he does not choose the easiest way, but the much more time consuming aesthetic way. With a precision knife and a cutting mat as a tool, he makes beautiful pieces of art that form the base of his pop-up designs. All pop-up elements are carefully cut out of the hand-painted textures and formed into a colorful collage. By using his computer as little as possible, he retains the “craft” look of every design with an extreme focus for detail, all done by hand. A time-consuming process which he has mastered, that results in that typical and recognizable Reinhart look and signature: Artistic, vivid and pure.

“I really enjoy making these books. Work is hard, but a pleasure. There are days I don’t want to get tired, eat or leave the office. I am THAT into my work.”

Matthew Reinhart

The work of Matthew Reinhart was our first introduction to modern pop-up books. The impressive Transformers A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy was our main reason to buy (collect) more pop-up books and explore the field of sophisticated pop-up books. We therefore think it’s a great honor to interview Matthew Reinhart. In this interview, Reinhart talks about his hobbies, his studio, his disciplined and dedicated way of working, upcoming books and he also gives us some insights in how the most complicated pop-ups have been established.

Matthew Reinhart interview

BPUB – What are your personal interests besides pop-ups and paper engineering?
MR – This is the kind of question I like! Off to a great start! I love to talk about pop-ups, don’t get me wrong, but I have many other interests/passions/obsessions in my life, too. Many already know that I am kind of a comic book and science fiction nerd. Star Wars is at the top of my list – it always has been since the first time I saw it in 1977. Not only have I seen all the movies countless times (even the prequels), but I’ve read all the books/comics, watched all the animated shows, and collected almost every 3.75″ action figure since 1978 (by the way, there have been something like 2000 different Star Wars figures made since then). Now with a new series of Star Wars movies and stories ahead (yes, I loved the new movie), I am a very happy camper. While I love DC Comics and Marvel super heroes, my other favorite besides Star Wars is the Transformers universe (mainly cartoons, comics and toys – not so much the Michael Bay movies). I’ve been a Transformers collector since their introduction back in 1984 – and never stopped! Perhaps the complicated puzzle-like aspect of transforming each robot into its alternate mode sparked my interest in paper engineering? Who knows?

I’ve actually a recently become interested in urban street art, which is often gets categorized as ‘graffiti’ – it’s so much more! Whether a giant commissioned mural or a graffiti artist’s tag, it’s art that appeals to everyone, tells a new story, beautifies harsh city environments even though it may not last forever. Also, over the last few years, thanks to my husband AJ, I’ve become much more interested in modern and contemporary art. Along with my bookish interests in zoology, paleontology and world mythologies, I’ve a keen interest in ancient history. I exercise daily – weightlifting, biking and running. Being physical keeps a crazy artist like me moderately sane! Any family time, especially with my niece Lillian, my nephew George, is cherished above all else.

BPUB – You’re known for your advanced and groundbreaking pop-up designs. Do you see it as a challenge to raise the bar for yourself and other paper engineers?
MR – Thank you very much for the kind words and for appreciating the evolution of my paper engineering work. When I am creating a book, I don’t at all intend to challenge anyone or raise the bar at all – I just want the work to be good, different and interesting for myself. Admittedly, my engineering skills have advanced quite a bit since I first began. After forty or so books in about a career of over 15 years, though, that tends to happen. New engineering ideas, whether they succeed or not, keep things interesting for me and the readers. Recreating the same mechanisms over and over would bore me to tears! I believe an artist’s should always be evolving and changing.

BPUB – During your career as a paper engineer, which pop-up was the most fun to work on and which was the most frustrating?
MR – Every book has parts that are fun and frustrating, so it’s hard to say. I’m not sure I could pick a book that was the most fun, for example, many would say my first Star Wars book, Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide To The Galaxy, would have been non-stop joy, but it was far from it. I am a terrible critic of myself and I wanted that book to be as perfect as it could be. So it was equally fun and frustrating. The same went for my upcoming LEGO POP with Scholastic that releases Fall 2016; while I loved creating the initial pop-ups and all the artwork, there were countless revisions that needed to be made, and then revised again. Thankfully, the wonderful folks at LEGO are very detail-oriented (even more than me) and were extremely helpful with getting every brick just right! The end result will be pretty spectacular, even if I do say so myself.

“I took all the new things I learned from creating the Transformers book and used it to advance my pop-up storytelling.”

Matthew Reinhart

BPUB – Some of your books are known for their impressive pop-up pull-tab transformation techniques. Can you tell us more about this technique and how it has evolved to spreads like Optimus Prime in the Transformers pop-up book and the Little Mermaid scene in the Disney Princess pop-up book?
MR – Well, I’ve always been interested in representing transformations in storytelling, whether they were characters’ transformations or whole scenes changing. I started years ago cutting little windows into flaps, so that readers could see a flattened pop rearrange into another pop-up structure. My Transformers: Pop-Up Universe was years in the making, thankfully, so I had plenty of off-time creating transforming pop-up structures. I mean, what would be the point of creating a pop-up about Transformers if the pop-ups didn’t transform? I created countless designs – many more failures than successes, I’m afraid – and got inspiration from other pop-up artists like the unrivaled Robert Crowther (who created books like Amazing Pop-Up Trucks). I didn’t borrow directly from his work, but it helped push me in the right directions and learn what could be done. In making a transforming pull-tab pop-up, there are a lot of factors for which one needs to account. Two primary structures need to incorporate less complicated mechanisms so that they can fold away with a simple yet satisfying pull/push – the fact that the whole structure can transform AND fold flat is complicated enough! The pull-tab mechanism needs to sturdy and placed in an accessible place. Most importantly, the transformation needs to fit with the storytelling, which I believe is illustrated well in Disney Princess: A Magical Pop-Up World. I took all the new things I learned from creating the Transformers book and used it to advance my pop-up storytelling. Whole pop-up dimensional scenes change around a specific heroine helping to advance the story and her development. It’s funny to think that the pop-up for the Cinderella’s magical ballroom makeover drew its inspiration from the paper mechanics that made a truck shift into a giant robot from outer space!

BPUB – How was it when you first saw the complete Transformers pop-ups, combined with the artwork of Emiliano Santalucia?
MR – I was blown away! First of all, he creates the art so quickly, and it’s all so accurate, sharp and clean. Plus, he followed my initial rough guide sketches perfectly which making them 1000 times better.

BPUB – How does it feel that your work is represented in a lot of Transformers and Star Wars fan collections worldwide?
MR – Very lucky indeed! To be a tiny part of such wonderful universes makes me a very proud fanboy.

BPUB – We’ve noticed that most of your pop-up books contain a giant pop-up. Are you secretly trying to break your personal record of engineering the highest pop-up ever in a book?
MR – Well, it wouldn’t be a secret if I told you, would it? I guess I always include big pops because I’m from the United States and we like everything big here! Seriously, though, I try to fit the pops to the content or story. Sometimes I make things gigantic because it’s fun to make a structure that will surprise readers.

“I am a hyper-focused individual. It’s who I am”

Matthew Reinhart

BPUB – We can not imagine how disciplined you have to be to be able to work on multiple pop-up book projects per year. How do you and your team manage to do that?
MR – I am a hyper-focused individual. It’s who I am. I also really enjoy making these books. Work is hard, but a pleasure. There are days I don’t want to get tired, eat or leave the office. I am THAT into my work. It isn’t always easy to have my attention divided between different projects but it keeps my mind nimble. And these days, I don’t really have a full-time team, only part-time helpers. While I love collaborating and employed several full-time designers in the past, the pop-up book business changed a few years ago and I was no longer able to maintain a team financially. While my business has vastly improved, my needs as an artist changed. Being a supervisor of a full-time team distracts me from my work and at time restricts my creativity. I often like and need alone to work uninterrupted in my work studio. Such a difficult artist I am, right?

BPUB – When you work on more than one pop-up book at the same time, do these projects run simultaneously?
MR – It depends. Sometimes I can work on a smaller title during the progress of a larger book, and I’ll just allocate certain days of the week on each title. It is not an ideal situation for me – and helps if I have a helper who can implement my designs while I work on something else. I would rather devote all of my creative and analytical energy toward one book at a time.

BPUB – Do you think it’s important to share your knowledge in paper engineering with the next generation paper engineers? And what do you suppose is the best way to do that?
MR – The best way to share my knowledge to the next generation is to teach and work together directly, I think. I really enjoy teaching when I am not under terrible deadlines – it’s a wonderfully fulfilling experience. Students often teach me more than teachers do – they aren’t wrapped up in rules and restrictions.

BPUB – Who is your favorite (new) rising paper engineer from whom we can expect a lot from in the future?
MR – That’s a tough one! One of my most recent assistants, Becca Zerkin, is always surpising me – her Walking Dead book was incredible! As well, many of my other past assistants – Yevgeniya Yeretskaya, Kyle Olmon, Jessica Tice, and Sam Ita – all make incredible work, though most of them are already pretty well-established in their own right. Robert Kelly is probably doing some of the most innovative and inspiring paper engineering these days, and has even gained the incomparable Ellen Rubin, known to the world as The Pop-Up Lady, as his most vocal fan!

BPUB – What do you think of the indie pop-up book publications on crowdfunding platforms like KickStarter?
MR – I love them and contribute to making them a reality when, of course, I know about them! I am a fan and owner of both Pop-Up Art Books by Rosston Meyer. I hope to one day collaborate with him when I have the time in my schedule. Rosston is making the pop-up books he, his supporters (like me), and art fans want, without the restraints of mainstream publishing. He’s a taking pops into new territory – a true pop-up pioneer – and I love it.

BPUB – We have to ask, what’s your favorite Robert Sabuda pop-up book?
MR – I have a lot of Sabuda favorites, actually, and, in my opinion, he’s the one of the most talented paper engineers ever. His most brilliant works are his classic adaptations including Alice In Wonderland, The Night Before Christmas and The 12 Days Of Christmas.

BPUB – Could you perhaps reveal anything about the new LEGO an Frozen pop-up books your working on at the moment?
MR – What can I reveal? Hmmm. My publishers are always block me from saying too much too soon. They are both MONSTER books, a pop-up feast for the eyes and the mind! Both titles release this fall, LEGO Pop first and, then a month or so later, Frozen: A Pop-Up Adventure. Both titles really pushed me artistically, especially in regards with creating color artwork. Frozen incorporates several really fun, interactive (i.e. pull-tab pop-ups) storytelling mechanisms. Oh, yeah, and the LEGO Pop actually has a triple changing pop-up. How’s that?

BPUB – Did Insight Editions already ask you to think about a 30th Anniversary Edition pop-up book about the Simpsons? Wouldn’t that be great to create?
MR – I do believe I had a chat with the wonderful folks at Insight about making a Simpsons 30th Anniversary Pop once. Sometimes, many factors keep projects from happening unfortunately. Funny thing is, I had wanted to create a Simpsons pop-up for a very long time (I’ve been a fan since the Simpsons showed up on the Tracey Ullman show) and even had an assistant mock-up a rough prototype for the Simpsons folks over a decade ago. Nothing ever came of that either, and that’s OK. Now, if you are friends with Matt Groening and want to put in a good word for me, please feel free!

BPUB – What do you think of bestpopupbooks.com and the idea of a platform just about pop-up books. Do you have any feedback for us?
MR – I think it’s a brilliant site – unbiased, content-filled, current, modern and accessible. I’d be happy to contribute as often as I can in the future!

We would like to thank Matthew Reinhart for his cooperation with this interview!

Matthew Reinhart pop-up book video reviews: Complete overview

Website Matthew Reinhart: www.matthewreinhart.com
DIY templates by Matthew Reinhart: DIY Templates
Or check out more titles from this creator: Matthew Reinhart at Amazon

Het bericht Matthew Reinhart: Artist and Paper Engineer (interview) verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.

When we did a review about The Walking Dead: The Pop-Up Book, we noticed that this amazing title is the very first pop-up book created by Becca Zerkin. What a great introduction! We already knew about the outstanding work of David Hawcock, who also engineered this book, but Becca was new to us as a paper engineer. Little did we know about Zerkin’s impressive resume…

Becca Zerkin first was an elementary school teacher and staff developer until she started making pop-ups. She studied paper engineering at the Center for Book Arts in New York and at Pratt Institute. She had a promising start as a paper engineer working with big names like Sam Ita and Kyle Olmon. For almost four years she worked alongside Matthew Reinhart in his studio (New York) and contributed to impressive pop-up books like Transformers, Disney Princess, Game of Thrones and Star Wars A Galactic Pop-up Adventure.

We are very happy that Becca was willing to answer some questions we wanted to ask about her latest work, teaching, new projects and her collaboration with Matthew Reinhart in New York.

The interview

BPUB – What inspired you to create pop-ups and change jobs to become a paper engineer?
BZ –I loved being an elementary school teacher. After 10 years, I was ready to try something new. I was first drawn to the idea of making pop-ups when I saw Paul O. Zelinsky’s books Wheels on the Bus and Knick Knack Paddywhack, with amazing pull tabs engineered by Rodger Smith and Andy Baron, respectively. I thought to myself, someone had the amazing job of figuring out how to make paper do that! It looked like a great combination of math, art, and play, and I dreamed that I could make it my job, too. So I set out to learn. I’ll always be grateful to Kyle Olmon for being a fantastic mentor and to Sam Ita for hiring me at the very beginning. They both taught me a lot. I’m very proud to call myself a paper engineer now!

BPUB – We’ve seen some children’s book reviews you’ve written for the New York Times and the Junior Library Guild. You already reviewed a pop-up book once. Do you have any plans to write more reviews about pop-up books in the future?
BZ – None in the offing. I really enjoyed writing reviews. I’m ready and willing!

BPUB – Do you also write children’s stories yourself? Have you ever considered writing a story of your own to create a pop-up book about?
BZ – I have indeed! I think some stories work better with pop-ups than others. I’d love to do a non-fiction book in which the movement of the pop-ups helps to show how things work.

“I love working with Up With Paper. The Creative Director there, Monika Brandrup, gave me a chance to prove myself when I was first starting out in the field.”

BPUB – We think that pop-up cards are a great way to introduce paper engineering to the bigger audience. You have created the most beautiful pop-up cards for Up With Paper. Can you tell us more about how this started and how you work on projects like this?
BZ – I love working with Up With Paper. The Creative Director there, Monika Brandrup, gave me a chance to prove myself when I was first starting out in the field.  She and Yevgeniya Yeretskaya give great direction, and we have a wonderful working relationship. Their freelance illustrators create beautiful work. Monika and Yevgeniya send the illustrations to me for engineering, and I try to run with their vision to make the most interesting, fun pop-ups I can. There are a lot of great engineers doing this work for Up With Paper.

BPUB – We know that one of the things you love most, besides making pop-ups yourself, is to teach others how to make pop-ups. Have you ever thought about starting a YouTube channel for pop-up tutorials or DIY pop-up projects to share?
BZ – I do love teaching! I’ve had the chance to teach workshops at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Bank Street College of Education, and in several schools as a guest artist. I especially like teaching math and science concepts through pop-ups. I prefer teaching in person, and there are already some wonderful tutorials on YouTube by other folks. Check out Jess Tice’s Pop-Up Cards series by Howcast.

BPUB – During the workshops you give, you also focus a lot on the mathematical and problem solving part of creating pop-ups. Do you think it’s important for a paper engineer to have a good mathematical insight in order to design or create pop-ups?
BZ – I think all paper engineers have good spatial and mathematical ability, but some people think about it more consciously than others. I really enjoy that aspect of it because it brings math alive in a very tangible way. But if you only think about the math you can hem yourself in and not make creative new discoveries. You need to play around with the paper first to see what you can do. Then, if the art is going to be reproduced as a card or book, you need to make sure your measurements really work!

BPUB – You’ve worked for almost 4 years alongside paper engineer Matthew Reinhart in his studio in New York. Can you tell us what your work consisted of during this collaboration and how you divided the tasks while working on a pop-up book together?
BZ – I now live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, so I’m not a regular fixture at the studio anymore. I sometimes work for Matthew remotely, which I really enjoy. He’s wonderful to work with because he has incredible vision and the persistence to push past the challenges the paper presents. Matthew creates the prototypes for all the pop-ups. My job is to translate his incredible pop-ups into two-dimensional, digital files called dielines. I take his pop-ups apart, scan the pieces, and draw the cutting and folding lines in Adobe Illustrator. Then I cut the pieces out using a special cutter/plotter machine and tweak the dielines until everything works perfectly. Sometimes I make suggestions to help pops work more smoothly. I also help to lay the artwork into the Illustrator files so that everything matches up perfectly. At the studio, we laughed a lot while we worked and listened to great music!

Matthew Reinhart about Becca Zerkin:

Becca displays this uncanny ability to merge technical thought and emotional understanding. Not only does she know HOW to make a pop happen, but she understands WHY a specific construction works best with the the story and what it will make the reader FEEL. Working with her in the studio is a joy (even though I am not always a joy to be around). We talk about family, work, future projects, anything, and it’s always just easy. Becca is a peer who I continue to learn from each day we work together, and also, more importantly, she is my friend.

BPUB – What was the most fun book or pop-up for you to work on in Reinhart’s studio?
BZ – My absolute favorite pop-up to work on was Optimus Prime in the Transformers pop-up book. Matthew made such a complex piece of engineering. I studied it for a long time before I started creating the dielines, visualizing which parts could be all of one piece, and how the pieces would attach to each other. I was very excited when I built the first version from the dielines. Before I pulled the tab for the first time to see if the truck would transform into Optimus, Jess Tice, my co-worker at the time, put on the theme song to Chariots of Fire. The pull tab worked beautifully, and we danced in slow motion around the studio.

BPUB – You’ve recently published your first large-scale production pop-up book, the Walking Dead, along with paper engineer David Hawcock. The horror genre was new to us in a pop-up book, but we think that horror and pop-ups are a great combination! How was it for you to work on a project like this?
BZ – Horror was never really my thing, but this book brought out a whole new side of me! I became addicted to the tv show (try binge-watching 4 seasons of The Walking Dead!), and as a true fan it was important to me to capture its essence. It was fun to be set free from my tame self and just go for the goriest, funniest, most shocking pop-ups I could imagine!

BPUB – What do you think about our platform BestPopupBooks? Do you have any feedback for us to make it a better pop-up book platform?
BZ – I think the site is very impressive, and I’m thrilled to be featured on it. What an honor to see Walking Dead on your top ten list along with such greats as Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars!  Wow! The design of the site is appealing and accessible. And the content is excellent — the photos and videos are top-notch, your interview questions are generous but also insightful, and your fans are clearly a thoughtful, knowledgable group. I have only one bit of feedback: I love your Gift Guide, and I’d like to see girls and boys (and moms and dads…) share the same list of suggested titles. Girls like dinosaurs and bugs, too! And women like zombies.

BPUB – Thank you Becca! We can’t wait to see more pop-up books engineered by you that we can share with our followers!
BZ – Thanks so much for your kind words about my work. I look forward to learning more about the world of pop-ups from your website!

Website Becca Zerkin: www.beccazerkin.com
Up with paper: www.upwithpaper.com
Video review: The Walking Dead The Pop-up Book

Het bericht Paper Engineer Becca Zerkin (interview) verscheen eerst op Best Pop-up Books.