Paper Cutting

Cut paper art is used commonly for scrap booking and construction images. It is great for giving a textured and assembled collage look to a piece. Such techniques are also great for pop-up book art and can incorporate interactive elements either for children or adults. Artists today use this method for landscapes, flowers, and animals. It is usually placed in with the craft category as it is more hands on than other methods.

Important to remember about cutting paper is that it is all about texture and edges.

Paper trimmers are the most efficient in cutting clean and straight lines. They are used most commonly for cards in scrap booking. In recreating this digitally, one can use marquee tools or vector lines to make a refined edge along with various embosses to give a lift to add highlight and shadow.

Scissors will give a slight bend and give to the paper depending on the type, design, and strength of the blades.

Tearing will give a feathered and uneven edge which can be great for more organic creations.

Crumbling will give a wrinkled and organic texture to the paper, that can be a good use for many shadows and highlights along the surface and edge of the paper.

Folding will also give creases and add highlights and shadows to various pieces.

In creating all of these digitally, it is important to use illustrator for edge and line to help with vector lines and patterns that can be transferred to photoshop for texture and painting, etc.


Florindamaria (www.apapercutter.com/papercuttingportfolio.html) uses paper cutting for animals and celebrities, only using one color.

Peter Callesen (www.petercallesen.com) uses paper cutting to creat 3d works of art.

Hina Aoyama (www.designrelated.com/inspiration/view/Karen/entry/2976/paper-cutting-art-by-hina-aoyama) uses paper cutting for fantasy images such as foliage and fairies.