Before you try to build a paper model of your character, you will design and build a box to help you understand moving from a silhouette to 3 dimensions.
Here are a couple of screenshots of different box templates in Illustrator.
This is a pattern for a cube.
A skinny rectangular box.
A six sided box, this has 8 faces altogether.
A truncated pyramid
A slanted box
Work with pencil, paper and scissors first
How do you get started with this? First, sketch a simple form you would like to make. Don’t overcomplicate it. Ir is best to start with a cube. A cube will have six sides and tabs that you can use to attach the sides. After you sketch, get some paper and scissors to start thinking about how you could put that type of box together. To start, you might want to cut out 6 squares the same size and use tape to put them together. or you can use a pencil and ruler to mark out the sides of the rectilinear form you want to make and cut it out with scissors or an exacto knife.
When you have created a shape that you works, take it apart. You can use the unfolded box as a template to use as a model to create your box in Illustrator. After you make a cube of some sort, you might want to try to make another, slightly more complex form.
Working in Illustrator
Grids and guides can make it easier to work in Illustrator. Think about how the sides have to match up, and where to put the connecting tabs. Pathfinder can be a very helpful aid in this process.
When you have created a form you think can work in Illustrator, upload it as an ai and a dxf file to the course site in Blackboard.
There are many sample ai files for boxes on Blackboard in week three and four. We will also show you some boxes that have been cut and taken apart in class.
