Paper Playground: Create a Papercut Picturebook

A course by Karishma Chugani , Artist, Illustrator, and Educator

Artist, Illustrator, and Educator. Madrid, Spain.
Joined August 2011

Create a paper universe full of possibilities using visual ideas from your sketchbook and paper cutting techniques to bring them to life

98% positive reviews (167)
4,738 students
Audio: English
English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch

Create a paper universe full of possibilities using visual ideas from your sketchbook and paper cutting techniques to bring them to life

For artist Karishma Chugani, the art of paper cutting is a way of connecting with a more intuitive sense of creativity. She believes that playing with paper cutting techniques–both inside and outside the sketchbook–helps reduce the fear of the blank page and discover a place filled with inspiring possibilities.

Learn Karishma’s entire creative process when developing an illustrated book for children. See how to use your sketchbook to explore ideas and play with a series of cutting and folding techniques to then create a dummy of your first papercut picturebook, ready to share with publishers.

This is Karishma’s third course on Domestika. If you would like to further explore the world of paper cutting, go to Paper Cutting Techniques for Storytelling. If you’d like to explore illustration techniques to develop your creative process, go to: Inside a Creative Notebook: Explore Your Illustration Process.

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What will you learn in this online course?

18 lessons & 43 downloads

What’s in Your Toolbox?
9 minutes, 8 seconds
Planting a Story Seed 1
13 minutes, 10 seconds
Planting a Story Seed 2
14 minutes, 46 seconds
Entering a Paper Playground 1
16 minutes, 50 seconds
  • 98% positive reviews (167)
  • 4,738 students
  • 18 lessons (4h 31m)
  • 43 additional resources (8 files)
  • Online and at your own pace
  • Available on the app
  • Audio: English
  • English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
  • Level: Beginner
  • Unlimited access forever

What is this course's project?

Create a dummy of a picturebook using simple paper cutting, collage, and bookbinding techniques; and complete an illustration for the book using the visual language developed inside your sketchbook.

Projects by course students

Who is this online course for?

This course is for illustrators and designers who would like to expand their knowledge on paper cut book formats.

Requirements and materials

Basic drawing skills and some experience with paper cutting are recommended, but not necessary.

As for materials, you will need a good quality sketchbook to experiment with mixed techniques and water-based mediums (between A5 and A4), a pair of scissors, a scalpel, piercer, a cutter, a cutting board, pencils or ink pens, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, coloring materials of your choice (watercolors, coloring pencils, or inks), paper for your dummy (not too thick), material for binding (stick glue, a needle and thread, bone folder, magic tape, a metal ruler), and some inspirational printed images, photos, and texts.


Reviews

4,738 Students
167 Reviews
98% Positive ratings

Karishma Chugani

A course by Karishma Chugani

Teacher Plus
Artist, Illustrator, and Educator

Karishma Chugani is an artist, designer, writer, and illustrator from Morocco. She has a degree in Fashion Design with Printing from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, and a Masters in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths University in Design Futures.

Karishma has worked as a fashion designer, published several books, and participated in collective and solo exhibitions internationally. She also teaches creative workshops to children, teachers, and illustrators at her mobile school L’École de Papier, as well as institutions like Institut Français Madrid & Casablanca, Casablanca American School, Colegio Santa Isabel Madrid, and Libreria Gil in Santander. Her clients include Jerraflore, Le Chocolat des Francais, Marketing Magazine France, Jamini Paris, and the toy shop Wonderland.


Content

  • U1

    Introduction

    • About Me
    • Influences
  • U2

    Inside Your Sketchbook

    • What’s in Your Toolbox?
    • Creating a World Inside Your Sketchbook 1
    • Creating a World Inside Your Sketchbook 2
    • Planting a Story Seed 1
    • Planting a Story Seed 2
    • Entering a Paper Playground 1
    • Entering a Paper Playground 2
  • U3

    Outside Your Sketchbook

    • What Is My Book Going to Look Like? 1
    • What Is My Book Going to Look Like? 2
    • Creating a Dummy: Collection of Folded Cards
    • Creating a Dummy: Pop-up Accordion 1
    • Creating a Dummy: Pop-up Accordion 2
    • Creating a Dummy: Tunnel Book 1
    • Creating a Dummy: Tunnel Book 2
  • U4

    Inviting People Into Your Paper Playground

    • Publishing Tips
    • Developing Your Paper Playground
  • FP

    Final project

    • Paper Playground: Create a Papercut Picturebook

What to expect from a Domestika course

  • Learn at your own pace

    Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.

  • Learn from the best professionals

    Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.

  • Meet expert teachers

    Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.

  • Certificates
    Plus

    If you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.

  • Get front-row seats

    Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.

  • Share knowledge and ideas

    Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.

  • Connect with a global creative community

    The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.

  • Watch professionally produced courses

    Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.


FAQs

Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.

All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.

The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.

You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.

If you're a Plus member, when you complete a course you've purchased, you'll instantly get your personalized certificate. You can see all your certificates in the Certificates section of your profile. You can download your certificates as PDFs and share the link online. Learn more about certificates.
Paper Playground: Create a Papercut Picturebook. Illustration, and Craft course by Karishma Chugani

Paper Playground: Create a Papercut Picturebook

A course by Karishma Chugani
Artist, Illustrator, and Educator. Madrid, Spain.
Joined August 2011
  • 98% positive reviews (167)
  • 4,738 students