I've been working on a few templates in December, but because of the Holiday season, I've not got around to posting them. Until now that is. Here is the 1st of 3, the others will be ready in the next week or so.

If you feel you need for a bit more self advertising in 2011, then here is the perfect place to start. It's time to plug yourself.

Plugger came about because my good lady wanted me to make a Toy that she could print her Business card on, & place on a shelf in her Surgery. With that specification, I decided to make it sit down, & have the head/body as the business card. It took a few size efforts to get it right, or at least a size that will fit a decent banner.
Most business cards should fit into the banner sizing of 491 x 302 pixels. If not, a little bit of playing around with your image should work. As long as you keep to the Max size.

I've put together the Blank version as always & also there is a simple "Playing with Art" Version with my banner on it.
You can of course just design a face to go on the front, it doesn't have to be specifically for Banners or Business cards. If you find a very unique use for it, let me know.

Download your Blank Plugger Here

Any pics or customs, you can Share with me if you would like to see them on this blog. Enjoy as always, & have a great New Years Eve.

One of the things I did in the run up to Xmas, was to do some Art on canvas. It was for a gift, so I had to finish it before Christmas, but wasn't going to post until after, as I didn't want the recipient to see it before hand.
The symbols mean Prosperity, Longevity & Luck. Most of the paint was applied using just fingers & a stick. I wanted to try doing it this way, as this is an ancient chinese practise.

It was well recieved, so I was happy.

Im working on a larger project which I will post when I finally finish it, but I won't let you know what it is just yet. Part of the project includes the toy that features on my Logo. You may have wondered why that hasn't appeared on the site for download.

I just thought I'd share part of it for now. The Head works well on it's own, & decorating eggs has been a craft for a lot longer than I've been around.
Whether you do digital customising or a more traditional method of decorating, An egg has always been fun to work with. Creating the head of a well known character, or just giving it some patterns.

Download your Paper Egg Here

Please Share any templates or pictures with me, that you would like to see on here.

After seeing the design for Paper T-shirts by Rob Ives, I had to have a go at making a custom or two. I must say, the template is simple yet awesome. Definite thumbs up from me. Click on the link above & check out his site. Well worth the trip.
Im starting to experiment more with the digital art, but im far from being where I want to be with regards to skill. Practice makes perfect, or so the saying goes, so here are a couple of designs I did. Enjoy, & i'm sure i'll do more soon.

I was reading an article made by VinsArt recently, a very cool Artist & Paper Toy aficionado from Italy. He was talking about a holiday he had just taken. And while relaxing in a Cafe, decided to make Paper toys with whatever he had close by.

Being an artist he had some basic tools, cutter etc. with him. But, no planning, no software, just the paper & Imagination.

While I was sat in the Dentist waiting room last week (not as glamourous as a holiday), I was eyeing up the magazines, & thinking about improvising. I didn't have any tools at all, but the receptionist was very kind enough to lend me a pair of scissors & a marker pen. However, I did get a few strange looks.

After paging through a dental magazine, & finding inspiration on one of the pages. The scissors went to work. A few minutes later I had a paper toy. Basic, but a toy all the same.

I wanted to share this very easy toy, but being an improv. I had to re-do the design using digital methods, but it looks very similar. Named "The Imp", (After Improvisation) it's a 1 piece folding toy. No glue required. Below is a picture of the finished toy, then the templates. As you will notice, I added extra color to the template after building mine.
You can download the Blank or the custom template by clicking on the image to get the full size version, then right click & "Save as". Enjoy the Imp & keep following me.

Thanks to VinsArt for the Inspiration.

Hopefully you have downloaded the template for "Uber Leet", if not, you can still get it here, then you can add this nice new Upgrade to the Gear.

I wanted to give the toy something more, to give it that RPG Character feel. What better than two incredibly massive swords, to compliment the over sized shoulders. Gravity however had it's own plans.

The swords looked pretty cool attached to my copy of Uber Leet. Except that once both swords were attached, he hit the floor face 1st every time I set him down. Hence the Base that is also on this upgrade template.

The solution was to counter balance the wieght of the swords. I guess just like any good MMO, it has to be balanced. I printed my base & swords on red paper to see how adding different colors, affected the look of the model.

So here it is. Just click on the image below to get the full size version, and then right click to "Save as". It should save as a .png image. Cut out & fold the swords, & glue to the inside face of his hands.
Thanks for following, & enjoy the toy. Maybe i'll try some more weapons & stuff at a later date.

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. If I followed that rule, I'd be done for. I'm still trying to get the software & hardware that I'd like, & also a take a course to see if I can get some pointers. But my rule is, if you don't try you'll never learn. So, here is my 1st attempts at producing an image using digital mediums.

Having been an avid MMORPG player for the last 4 years, I thought I should do my 1st MMO inspired toy. "Uber Leet" is a comical gaming term. A title generally bestowed upon a player that has the best Armor, Weapons, & skill. Basically the whole package.

Most of my MMO time has been spent playing Guild Wars, but I have played a few other popular ones such as World of Warcraft, & Requiem. One of my favourite things about playing MMO's is Upgrading your gear. Trying to get the best set of armor, & if upgrades are possible, getting as much as I can.

This is a few of my Characters that I play, & It does seem that a lot of these "Elite" armors have spikes, for visual effect, & to make you look tougher. This is where my toy comes in. I wanted the design to have massive shoulder pads, & lots of spikes, & look hard as nails. I was going to name the toy "15k" due to that fact that a lot of the armors in GW are 15,000 gold per piece to craft, but I decided Uber Leet fitted better.
It may look complicated but it's quite an easy build. The spikes & claws are the fiddliest pieces, but they are surprisingly easy. When I looked at the 3d Model, I was worried that this would be too hard to piece together, but after a few trial builds to iron out any problems, Im happy with it.

The head slots inside the helmet, & because the helmet grips it, you dont have to glue. This means you can make a few different heads with different eyes. Or even leave the head out for that ghostly warrior effect.

Download the Free blank Uber Leet Here
Weapons now available also, visit this post for the Image

As always I would love to see your builds & or custom templates you create from the blank I designed. Please email any pics or zipped templates to me if you want to share them, & I will list them here. Thanks & Enjoy

I previously listed a Customisable Desktop paper mug. You can still download the blank on that post, but here is a template for the mug with the Logo of Nice Paper Toys.

An awesome site where Artists & collectors hang out. Promote their new toys, discuss aspects of the Urban Paper Toy culture & Information on up & coming Artist shows & Conventions. Castleforte, the Artist & Designer who runs the site, also has a shop where you can purchase many NPT goodies, so I definitely recommend checking it out.


Download the NPT Desktop mug Here

I will list some more Images soon that can be applied to the blank template, so make sure you get it.

One of the things that 1st introduced me to papertoys was a Cubee template, but I came across this by accident. What I was actually looking for was a shape & dimensions template for the deck of a skateboard so I could play around with designs.

Instead, I decided I liked this so much more, I started to design templates for paper toys. So to take it back to the start, here is a paper toy template for a Customisable Skateboard, complete with wheels & trucks that can be customised also.

The skateboard culture epitomises Urban design, & this is something I was interested in exploring. There are a a lot of talented graphic artists working in this field. So, when I had a look around at the very colorful designs that are availabe for the wheels & trucks as well as the deck itself, it was just too tempting, I had to make this available for paper.

I tried to get the structure of the model to be very sturdy, because of the long flat area, I didn't want them to be too flimsy. There are a couple of tips on the downloadable template, plus I added some internal supports.


The model is a difficult build, due to the wheels & the edge of the deck that needs to be straight, but I hope you will think as I do that the end result is worth the effort.


So, all you skateboard designers that want to see your design on a model before it goes to the real thing, or you just wanna share your creations to the skating & paper toy world for everyone to enjoy. Then download the template, customize all the parts, then use the Contact Me page to email me your completed Templates & or Photo's & I will share it with the world.

Enjoy the toy, as this is why im here, & I look forward to seeing some awesome designs.

The Blank download contains PDF template for hand designs, or CS4 .ai for Digital Customising.

Download your own Fully Customisable Skateboard Here
Download Crush Custom by Dan Watson Here
Download Turntable Custom by me Here