Door Decorations Mario (Part 3)

To cut the door decs out I printed templates of all the parts that I needed for all the designs onto card stock.  I felt card stock would hold up to being used as a cutting template better then just computer paper.  The templates for this project are included in part 2 under attachments.  I then cut out the pieced and set those aside.

Next I readied all of the construction paper blanks that I would need for the project.  I did them all at the same time so that I only needed to do a single process at a time.  To cut the blanks I used a paper cutter.  The blanks were rectangle of paper a little larger then the finished shape.  It needed to be large enough to tape the cutting template onto the stack and staple 4 to 8 blanks together.  I only stapled on teh outside so that I would not have any hole on the finished product.

For most of my cuts I was able to use a scissors.  The outside curves that were not to complex I could cut 8 sheets of construction paper at one time.  For the more complex shapes I did four at a time.  I did notice however that when I cut more then 4 sheet my edge would come out a bit harry and raged.  I did have to use an X-Acto knife for tight corners and inside shapes.  On Boo I decided to cut out the eyes and the edge of the wing.  To do that I used the X-Acto knife.

After everything was cut I started my assembly.  I decided to use a glue stick because it doesn't wrinkle the paper like Elmer's glue does.  I think that maybe a different glue would be a good choice because it has already started to debond.  Everything on these door decs was cut out in construction paper by hand except for 2 features.  The eyes on the mushrooms I used a template and a large black Sharpie, and on the Goomba I also used a large black Sharpie to create the mouth.  The last thing I want to draw your attention to is that on my door decs I did not put the pupils on any of my figures.  I did this because I had a deadline for getting it tone and because it would add another step to the process.  If I were to remake them I think that adding the pupils would give it a more finished look.

This project was a large time commitment for me.  It took 2 or three hours of researching and designing and then an additional 9 hours to actually cut the door decs out and construct them.  I did it all by myself but with the help of a few people the time will be greatly reduced.

Below are the finished door decs.  If you want to make some of your own feel free to download the plans in part 2.  Just as a last not I made all my figures 7 inches in the longest direction.

Door Decorations Mario (Part 2)

After I finished my research I decided that I liked the Ideas that the other RAs had, but I thought theirs looked a bit crude.  To fix this I started out by designing the layout in of all the shapes in Adobe Illustrator.  I imported the picture I found on line then started to trace over or recreate the sections of the shape that I wanted to cut out of paper.  It took me about 2 or 3 hours to create all the designs.
Below are pictures of my finished computer drawings as well as the actual documents.

As you look at the attachments you will notice 2 things.  The first is that there are not 6 documents.  If you noticed Mario and Luigi are the same figure just with a different color hat.  I did this to make it easier to create.  The second thing you may notice is that there is a shell document.  I originally thought I would create a shell as well.  After spending a few minutes on this I decided that I did not like the look of the shell and so did not finish the design.  As a side note I also considered making a Bullet Bill and a Yoshi but also did not think they would work out.  The Bullet Bill is to complected to make it look good and Yoshi had simular problems. 

Attachments:
Boo
Goomba
Red/Green Shell (Not Completed)
Mario/Luigi
Red/Green Mushroom

Door Decorations Mario (Part 1)

My first project I want to post is a set of door decorations for my residents.  I did these a few weeks ago and am very proud of them.  As an RA (Resident Advisor) we want to create an inviting environment.  To that end we create door decorations for all the residents on our floors.  For this round I created a Mario themed set of door decs.

I have 32 residents on my floor including myself and 13 staff members to create door decs for.  In total that is 45 decs.  For this semester I decided to create 6 different designs and I made 8 of each of these designs.  That means I decided to make a total of 48 door decs.

I started out this project by researching images on the internet for images that I thought would look good cut out of construction paper.  I had the most luck with simplistic backgrounds and how to draw tutorials.  Here are some of the images that I took Inspiration from

Goomba

Shell

Mario

Boo

Mushroom

Here are some actual door decs other RAs have made with this same theme