How do you make your little paper turtles? I like the idea and I think my brother's fiance would love them i may also want to make them for myself cuz they're amazing
They're not too difficult! I use a cardstock-type of paper and draw a thing first, and then outline it. My usual go-to has been an 02 Micron, and I use an 01 for line shading here and there. I go over some of the lines again for some weight variation, and then we get rid of my mess of sketch lines!
Then it's time to color~ I use alcohol markers since they blend pretty nicely so you don't get those streaky marks that show where you've colored.
I could've probably done it earlier but I went over the outside lines with a thicker Micron (05) just to give me something of a space for when I trim. Don't know if you can see the difference...
ANYWAY then we cut! Usually I use scissors but a craft knife does make it a lot easier for cleaner cuts, especially around the corners and the blank space in between colored sections when you have them. Whichever method you opt for, I've found it easier to cut in sections, trimming away bit by bit rather than trying to cut all the way around.
Laaaastly is maybe the most important part to really sell the illusion of integrating them into the background of wherever you decide to hang or stick them. It's kind of like when you do digital and 'stroke' the external lines of an image with a transparent background (do people still do that anymore...) so there aren't any white artifacts that show up when they come up over dark backgrounds. Same idea here.
I go over the edges with black. This helps blend your cutout in with wherever it is. You can also touch-up your outer lines if there's any bit of white from when you cut things out. But that's all there is to it!
And now....we stick this boy somewhere.
You could do this digitally too if drawing and coloring it directly on paper isn't your thing. The main step to follow would be the last one with the black edging.
