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PeteriDish — Eurypterus
#animal #eurypterid #origami #paper #prehistoric #scorpion #sea #eurypterus
Published: 2017-08-17 11:30:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 1728; Favourites: 46; Downloads: 7
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Description
It's done! Had trouble with the legs again, but I think it turned out alright this time.Related content
Comments: 33
Amazing! Origami from one single piece of paper?
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One single (large) square of paper with a sheet of alluminium foil glued to one side.
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Turned out alright... This turned out fantastic, dude!
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Well, I never said I don't like how it turned out, but in context it only turned out being marginally better than the original version I made years ago, which makes me slightly disappointed all at the same time.
Something went awry in the planning phase for this model as well, the last two pairs of legs look much shorter on the model than I had expected, even though I picked a straight top down image of this critter and I specifically chose an exact species with the proportionally longest legs, I did this specifically to create a stark contrast with my old eurypterus model.
I also took the time to measure the legs in that image along their curve, so I wouldn't lose any length like I would if I had taken a straight shot with a ruler from the base of the leg to the tip, but the legs still turned out looking one or two units too short even though I planned the crease pattern for this model to have precisely the same leg lengths relative to te body as my reference picture did, yet things still did not turn out as planned on the actual folded model.
I guess I will have to start to preemptively overestimate every measurement from now on in any future model... XD
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Marginally better is already an improvement though...
But yeah, I reckon adding a bit more length to it in planning might help as it is bound to shrink when being folded. Plus, I reckon it is better to have a bit too much rather than too little as this can be fixed more easily... easier to remove some length than to add it.
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Yeah... can't argue with that, although it didn't exactly meet my expectations... XD
I can always make another one which is gonna be marginally better than this one
You've got it right though. Paper is not clay where extra length can be conjured up simply by pulling on tbe stuff. As pliable as paper is, pull on it and it tears. Lengths in origami models are indeed fixed.
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Well I think that’s kinda what art is all about. Art is not something static... the works of art might stop time or retain it in the moment and yet it is a constant process of improvement, change and trial. This process does not necessarily take giant leaps but it is something gradual and marginal that might not even be seen in the moment...
The next iteration will be marginally better than the last, and the one after that will be marginally better as well... The improvement between one and the next might only be very minute but the improvement from the first to the last will be enormous.
I reckon that’s part of the beauty of it though... One has to be very precise and calculated and when a mistake shoes up, it is very hard to cover up. Now one could argue about the parallels to life but i won’t get into that now
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Yeah, you're right again. Looking at my first models, I really have improved over time. Sometimes progress doesn't come about as quickly as I would wish, but that's just my perpetual impatience showing up.
speaking of art in motion, I have just been to an art exhibition earlier today as a sort of small school field trip of sorts and some of the paintings I've seen there were borderline magical. There have been some abstract pieces that struck me with the meticulous arrangement of color which was in stark contrast with the rough final look of the paintings and the seeming anger that the artist put on the canvas, but what really struck me were some of the photorealistic pieces. (all by the same artist)
I really do gravitate towards realism in visual art, because painting realistic representations of people and landscapes is much tougher technique-vise than just arranging colors aesthetically. I was absolutely captivated by one painting in particular, a clouded sky looming over rough seas during a storm. The clouds and the water seemed to flow when you walked past the painting, you could genuinely see movement in the f¨waves and the tufts of clouds even just by gliding your eyes over the painting (it was really big) and it was probably the most realistic representation of water and sky I have seen to date. It looked like an optical illusion. that's the most in awe i have been in a long while.
*!WARNING!TANGENT INCOMING!*
Origami is strange. It really is. Models like this sea scorpion require me to be pedantically exact in the planning stage just to ensure the finished product looks as intended, and as you can see in this same model, any slight discrepancy between my initial vision and the resulting crease pattern creates unremovable, literally "designed in" shortcommings of the folded model, and the only way how to get rid of them is redesigning the model. Of course, sometimes compromises need to be made, and some times they are more obvious in the model than I initially planned for and are more visible than expected.
No ammount of planning is going to remove the necessity of going by trial and error completely, and in some ways, that's actually a good thing. I really can't know how good a design is until I can look at the finished model. Designing and folding will always be a learning experience for me. Allowing myself to make mistakes now gives me a chance not to make them in the future. If anything, the element of surprise only makes origami more fun.
Getting the design right is just half of the battle though. As evidenced by my recent iteration of pterygotus (the blue one), even if there is nothing that had to be compromised in the design itself, just choosing the wrong thickness of paper can cause the entire project to go south. and there is no magic wand to magically make the paper thinner, so back to square one when something like this happens.
I usually don't really worry about this, because most of my models are grid-based, but some people even take the time to design their models in such a way that there are no unnecessary creases shown on the outer surfaces of the finished model, and that adds another thing to worry about - in that case every fold needs to be doubly considered whether it really needs to be there or not, sometimes the paper is only pinched in very specific areas to create guide marks instead of making complete creases that run from edge to edge. So far only very few of my designs actually take this in mind, but sometimes creating a purposely clean model like this can be equally as rewarding as making something really complex and detailed, just because there really is something neat about minimalistic-looking models as well. It's also fun because even an otherwise simple model can be turned into an interesting mind game by trying to use the fewest folds possible to get the intended shape.
despite the obvious constraints and demands of the design process, which in many ways stems from the physics of paper, there still are ways how an origamist can cut corners (pun intended :lol) when folding. And now I mean ways of camouflaging inadequately precise folding. There even are models which need to be folded slightly off the mark to produce a clean-looking result, such as the traditional crane, believe it or not.
And it all comes back to the physics of paper. Even regular printer paper bunches up quickly and builds up into a layer that is so thick that paper bunches up in the centre of the "legs" and neck of the crane if you try folding it "by the book" as precisely as possible, because the opposing masses of paper have nowhere to go in the centre of these flaps, and the only way they have left is to spread out, which makes the crane look messy, but folding slighty less than necessary in a few key places leaves just enough space for the layers of paper to sit in neatly and the result looks much better.
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Well I think this impatience can be a good thing though... It pushes you to always keep improving yourself and finding new ways of doing whatever it is you want to do.
These paintings sound pretty incredible! Do you by any chance know the name of the artist?
I tend to prefer more realistic paintings as well but not necessarily the 100% photorealistic ones. While I am very impressed by them and I enjoy seeing the artistic prowess, my favorite pieces of art tend to be the ones on which the artist’s style and emotions are visible while stile making the subject of their painting clear rather than the completely abstract ones... kinda like it’s the artist’s personal perception of the world around them mixed with the world within them resulting in a sort of heightened realism.
My favorite movements in art are probably impressionism and post-impressionism (along with art nouveau but I like that one for different reasons) where the paintings are still rather pretty realistic but there is this sort of fragmentation due to the visible brush strokes that convey a sense of movement based on their application. Although these paintings are static objects, they are constantly in motion.
Because of these reasons, my favorite artist is Vincent van Gogh. In his paintings, colors, shapes, patterns all culminate in these masterpieces laden with emotion and motion where you can feel the atmosphere of the paintings and the feelings behind them.
(Check out the trailer for the stunning oil-painted movie about van Gogh btw www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8xcLd…)
I personally quite like to see artwork (including origami) that is not completely clean and pristine. I quite like seeing the the little details where the artist might have made some mistakes or needed to work over something, places where I can really see the artist’s work and his struggle.
For me, art is not supposed to be perfect, nothing in the world is. Art is not even supposed to be an exact representation of reality as this is not the purpose of art in my opinion. Art is its own purpose. Art exists for the sake of art.
Some people might see bunched up paper in origami as mistakes and flaws but I think it’s exactly those little imperfections that make them perfect.
I kinda went on a bit of a tangent myself but I guess what i’m trying to say with all of this is that you should not feel pressured to make everything perfect. Maybe you yourself want it or maybe you want it because other people’s origami sculptures look perfect to you. But even those perfect sculptures have imperfections that maybe only the person who did them can see. It is not necessarily about hiding imperfections or making them go away but balance them all out to make something perfect with them.
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That trailer looked absolutely amazing! I will absolutely go watch it if it's going to be in cinemas in my country.
The artist I talked about last time is Gerhard Richter. He really strikes me as someone who wants to encompass 2D art in its totality and has an incredibly wide range of ways how to express himself
and his view of the world and he's been called "Picasso of the 21st century" and he really deserves that title. Even from the little selection of works I have seen from him, it was obvious this man knows exactly what he's doing and he's doing it incredibly well.
Speeking of brush strokes, that's really one thing I noticed about his works. The photorealistic stuff is so unreal that you can't really tell where one brush stroke starts and another begins, but he's also made a "grey" series where the one thing he really exaggerates and emphasizes are the brush strokes. he then uses "too much paint" to make really bold and expressive strokes, and the tactile texture he creates this way is what makes the artwork. So one man, two extremes.
Of course, noticing little mistakes here and there really plants my feet back to the ground and realize we are all people, I guess imperfections are what makes us human, so noticing this in works of art is like noticing the reflection of humanity in a sense.
Truth be told, I have never been too obsessed with precise folding. I need to stay within a certain margin of error to be able to finish each piece, but I am nowhere near robotically exact unlike many other origamists. I finish my models by forcing the paper to stay where it needs to stay and thus most of them are definite cases of "this side up" because you really don't want to look at the underside of them 
Anyway, thanks for boosting up my ego a bit XD
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I know, right! Not only does it look absolutely breathtaking, it also seems to treat his life and his legacy with respect and with the attention to detail it deserves...
Oh yea, I think I have even seen the piece you were talking about!
Richter is indeed a very versatile artist who does not seem to be content with sticking to a single technique or aesthetic. His works are very contrasting, some are colorful and abstract, filled with passion and rage while others are very sobering and realistic.
I feel like his art is a lot more experimental than that of other artists as he does not just stick to the same technique but tries new things that are so completely different that they might just as well be from different artists.
Exactly! The little mistakes might not even necessarily be mistakes but just unforeseen properties of the material one is working with.
Art is something very organic and all the mistakes and other unforeseen elements just add to that. It adds some warmth and character that the robotically exact pieces sometimes lack.
Anytime! It’s always fun to get into these discussions with you
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I definitely agree with your analysis of Richter's work. Jis paintings don't look nearly as impressive on a PC screen though. In real life, on the other hand...
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Yeah, I can imagine...
The scale of his pieces probably adds a lot to the impact they have
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Scale is one thing, but I felt like the photos online didn't even match the originals color-wise, and I had the opportunity to see his artworks displayed inside of a beautiful renaissance palace in the old town and the juxtaposition of modern art in historical setting really added to my enjoyment as well.
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Alrighty
Yeah, modern art displayed in a historical setting always looks pretty cool...
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Whether it is looking at an artwork from afar or coming really close to really soak in the details, both are things which you can't do at home.
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Yeah, some artwork you just have to experience in its original size to really appreciate it and immerse yourself within
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