Megan, who studied 2D animation and illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and spent some years working in television, is a paper sculptor, a profession she describes as Zen-like. “I love the focus now,” she says. “I can get into this great zone where it’s very peaceful and almost meditative, where I can just focus on making something pretty.”
More than 20 of Megan’s sculptures, including Ariel, Sebastian, Alice, Cheshire Cat, and Chernabog, will be featured in World of Color, a spectacular 25-minute nighttime water show that will open this spring at Disney’s California Adventure and will combine hundreds of fountains and a kaleidoscope of audio and visual effects. Her finished sculptures have been photographed, Photoshopped and animated on a computer and will be projected onto the water using stop-motion animation. Even though the actual sculptures are projected on a screen that’s 380 feet long and 50 feet high, in person, at no more than 12 inches tall each, they are truly remarkable little pieces of art to behold.
Now you can follow Megan’s easy-to-follow steps and try your hand at paper sculpting the iconic kitty from Alice in Wonderland, who returns to the big screen this spring in Tim Burton’s adaptation of the classic tale and as one of the characters in World of Color. What better way to salute spring and to whet your appetite for the arrival of two soon-to-be-classic Disney park and cinematic experiences?
MATERIALS:
X-Acto knife (please be careful with this sharp razor!) or good pair of scissors
Glue dots (commonly used for scrapbooking)
Acid-free liquid glue
Hole puncher
Pencil
1 3D dot or a small piece of Styrofoam (found in crafts stores)
4 sheets of Bristol paper (one in pink, purple, black, and marigold)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Draw the Cheshire Cat’s mouth on a piece of pink paper. Think of it as kidney-bean shaped.
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2. Draw where you are going to put the smile in the shape of a crescent moon inside the mouth.
3. Cut out the mouth using your X-Acto knife or scissors. When cutting with a knife, lead with your elbow, as opposed to your hand. Use your whole arm and cut from point to point. You can then go back in and clean things up if they don’t look just right to you.
4. Sketch the top of the cat’s head and fur on the purple paper, using the mouth to figure out the correct proportions. Make sure the fur is slightly wider than the mouth and that you leave enough room for the eyes. Cut it out.
5. Grab the mouth and curve it slightly using your forefinger and thumb. Put a glue dot on each corner of the mouth and adhere to the cat’s fur. Because of the mouth’s curve, it should not sit flat on the fur but should be slightly elevated.
6. Now draw the teeth by tracing the crescent moon inside the mouth as your guide. When you cut them, cut them slightly bigger than the mouth. Don’t cut all the way to the top of the teeth, so they will all hang together.
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7. Curve the teeth slightly with your fingers to add a little character. Then put a glue dot on both sides of the teeth and attach to the backside of the mouth so they are peering through.
8. On black paper, draw the nose in the shape of a chubby triangle. Cut it out. Pinch the sides of the nose in, as shown, to create dimension. Cut out whiskers by creating a triangle shape and then cutting out two smaller triangles from the center of that piece so you are left with a skinny “M.” Pinch one of the sides to create whiskers. Repeat for a second set. If the whiskers are too long, trim them down to the right size. Anchor the whiskers to opposite sides of the backside of the nose using glue dots.
9. Adhere the nose to the face using a 3D dot or a tiny piece of Styrofoam and glue. This will make the nose stand a little, elevated from the face.
10. Cut out two oblong eyeballs in marigold paper. Glue them to the head.
11. Hole-punch two black pupils from black paper. Glue pupils to eyeballs.
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12. For your final step, cut out two little purple triangles that are connected together at the bottom. Cut and glue two smaller pink triangles inside. Fold them down the center. This will create a pair of ears. Glue them under the top of your lovely Cheshire Cat’s head.
