Bored Panda reached out to the creator behind Paperboyo who shared what inspired him to start using paper cutouts in his art.
“When I started out, I came across other photographers in London who were creating amazing photos but I had no idea how they were capturing their shots. The frustration of not being able to emulate their results made me think "Well, what can I do differently to capture London in a photo?" and that's what led to me playing with perspective and eventually the paper cut-outs.”
The artist also shared how he comes up with ideas.
“Usually it's the landmark/architecture/landscape that inspires the idea—I'll look for a pattern or a quirk in the design and that will usually spark an idea. Occasionally, though, I have ideas for a cutout and I'll have to then find the right environment to make it fit.”
In regard to choosing a location, the artist commented: “I really like playing with well-known locations, I think it adds an extra element of surprise when you can add a twist to a building people have seen hundreds of times before. Sometimes the specific location I've chosen works really well for the cut-out design and other times I just choose the location as an excuse to visit because it's somewhere I'm keen to see.”
Paperboyo artist gave advice to people who want to try out paper cutout art as well.
“I've had a few people copy my style, and to be honest that's often the case with a lot of artists starting out—you start by imitating the work of someone you like. But my advice would be to quickly try and find your own style, and often that's found in the mistakes you make. When you make mistakes, you learn things about your work and you discover, by accident, things you like and want to do more of.”
Like any artist, Paperboyo faces some challenges when it comes to his art too. He wrote: “I travel a lot with my photography so all of the things that can go wrong while traveling have gone wrong—canceled flights, lost luggage, fully booked hotels, etc. Alongside that, I've occasionally had the situation where I've traveled somewhere and then it turns out the building I had been planning to photograph was covered in scaffolding or a large tree had grown in front of it. The biggest challenge, though, is consistently coming up with ideas and trying to keep the ideas fresh, exciting, and smile-inducing.”
Lastly, the artist shared which projects or collaborations he finds the most memorable.
“I really enjoy collaborating with talent, I've created work with Will Smith and also some of the Game of Thrones cast and those opportunities were incredibly fun. I also love bringing in my other passions into my photography such as Formula One—I've created some of my work at the racetracks and that's been a real adrenaline rush for me to do.”
