- Hi, YouTube.
I'm Laura and I'm a paper artist and an illustrator.
So in my new Skillshare class
we're going to learn all about paper art.
We'll be making a full scene
with lots of detail, color, and lots of paper techniques.
Join me in this exclusive lesson
to learn more about paper art.
(upbeat music)
So we're going to start with your scissors.
Whatever pair of scissors you're using,
I really want you to focus your paper
in the middle of the V of the scissors.
So note where they kind of overlap.
You want them to really be sharp,
so you can buy scissor sharpeners
or you can just buy any pair of scissors
that should be quite sharp.
And with that,
you should note that
the paper should do more moving than the scissors.
You should be quite kind of still
with your scissors in your hand,
but moving the paper to guide it
into the shape that you want.
So if I'm just cutting a wiggly line here,
I'm going to need to shuffle my scissors along quite often.
But you'll see the paper is moving more than my hand
and this is a really rough shape.
But the beauty of working with paper
is you can go back in and neat some things up.
So at this point, I'm just going to round off those edges
that I'm not very happy with.
And this isn't meant to be neat at all.
This is just a practice.
So just cut a random shape to begin with,
and practice neatening it up.
So likewise, if you're using a knife,
you want to get your paper on your cutting mat,
and use a nice sharp blade.
It's quite similar.
You just want to practice gently taking the knife
into the paper.
Getting the right pressure
takes a bit of time to figure out.
I mostly use my knife for cutting straight lines.
So in any sort of piece I'm making,
if I need a straight line,
then my knife comes in in that point.
I'll cut every other shape out
with my scissors more or less.
So for that, you're going to need a metal ruler.
I've got a very small one here, but you can get bigger ones,
and just spend some time practicing cutting a straight line.
It's very simple.
You just have to make sure that you're lining up properly.
It can be really helpful at this point
to have a cutting mat with squares on.
So if you're trying to get a good right angle or something,
you have that mat to practice from.
So I have always used pins for applying my glue.
I used to use the end of a paintbrush,
which can also be a good thing,
or I even used to use a triangle of paper,
but that tended to get quite gluey after a while.
So I found the pins work really well.
You only need a teeny-tiny amount.
So I've just got a small dot on the end of my pin.
You just need to dot that
on the back of your shape really neatly.
Don't use a lot,
because otherwise it'll come off at the side.
You can even like brush a little bit of it off,
if you think you've got too much,
or sometimes I dab it on the back of my hand
to get any excess off,
and then you can just stick it down like that.
I tend to guide the piece of paper down
to the paper on the pin,
as a way to not get your fingers in the way
when you're making something.
And as well, clean off the end of your pin.
And if you've got any glue on the edge,
you can just run it along there
and it will pick up any excess glue.
This is quite a large shape,
so you probably just want to dot a small bit
along the edge of each bit of the shape.
You can dot it and then sort of pull it along as well.
That will stick it nicely to what you're sticking it to.
It's always better to use too little than too much.
You don't want to overdo it.
If you've got an edge that is maybe sticking up a bit,
you can always go in with some more glue
rather than sticking it down originally with too much.
You can just go in like that and stick that edge down.
If you do have a sort of gluey problem,
if there's a bit of a mess,
you can get a wet paint brush
and just kind of lightly brush along
any kind of gluey surface to get rid of it.
But don't do that too much,
otherwise you'll upset the sort of fibers of the paper
and it will end up tearing a little bit.
So a nice way to add texture, which is completely optional,
is using a bit of gouache paint.
So for gouache paint,
you want to water it down just a little bit,
so it comes onto the paper smoothly.
What's quite nice is just to directly paint onto the paper,
let it dry, and then cut it out.
That's kind of the thing I tend to do.
So here, I'm just doing some rough lines.
I'll show you a finished piece, which is quite handy.
This little old man,
I've used quite a lot of painted details,
so in his face you can see his eyes and his mouth,
and I've added a bit of color on his face.
So he's got sort of a little bit of color
to his cheeks, and his nose, and his ear.
And then on his turtle neck jumper, that he's got,
these sort of lines that I've just cut out
from painting onto a piece of paper with that gouache paint.
And as well you can see in his jeans and his shoes,
you've got some details there
that have been added with paint.
So sort of little features like this
are really nice to add in.
They're not necessary at all.
You can totally do things just with paper.
So now it's your turn.
If you grab a sheet of paper and start cutting out,
just start playing around.
Try some wiggly lines, some straight lines,
either with your knife or with your scissors.
You can try cutting out circle
and then going and neatening it up.
Circles are notoriously hard,
so don't worry if it takes you a few goes to get it right.
With the shapes you've got,
if you stick them down, figure out the glue that you need,
figure out how to apply it neatly with the pin.
And then you can play around a bit with textures,
with some paint.
If you don't want to use paint, you can also use pencils.
You can do whatever you like.
Just experiment with one sheet of paper,
so we're not wasting a lot,
but try some of these techniques out,
just so you're warming up to them.
Thank you so much for watching.
With Skillshare,
you get access to thousands of courses,
but you're going to want to start with mine.
You can get started on Skillshare for free,
and you can come and join me for this course.
We'll play around with paper.
We'll really explore the medium,
and create something amazing at the end.
You can find the full course
that I've made with Skillshare, linked below.
I look forward to what we'll make together.
(upbeat music)