Paper Cutting Techniques for Storytelling

Get to know Karishma Chugani, her career, and some artists that she considers “gods and goddesses of paper cutting”.

Start by creating a landscape of your theater book and then move onto character design by making a mock-up using the shadow puppet theater format.

Then, choose a color palette. Be mindful of the power of symbolism in color and learn how to use bright colors and neutral tones in your work.

Sketch the scenes of your theater book by using tracing paper and a lightbox. At this point, the concepts of open and closed spaces come in handy for hiding elements of the scenes and revealing them at the right time.

It’s time to layer the story. Introduce a curtain to frame the story and learn how to use a template for cutting the pages. Learn some tricks for cutting directly onto the book.

Add some final details by drawing and coloring to highlight the symbolic aspects of the story. Once the book is done, discover Karishma’s tips on how to perform the story and enhance it by seeing how to use your voice and gestures. Finally, learn how to care for your book by creating a cover.