Olive and Sally, collaborative cardboard artists
Meet Olive and Sally — a crab and a seagull — best friends who like to make art together. They are creators of Cardboard Critters, a series seen on our instagram. It started during the lockdown as part of our 100 Days of Animals Drawing Animals (#the100dayproject) that we continued due to such a positive response. Here are a few of our favorites:
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Olive and Sally’s Cardboard Critters
We thought you might want to join the fun and can make the cardboard animals too. We’ve created templates to help you — we are sharing a few here and a few bonus ones in our doodle club (make sure to sign up above if you’re keen to make more.) You can make the following shown here: a snake, owl, frog or doggie. See below for the download link.
Instructions
Click here to download the Cardboard Critters. You can print them and then enlarge them on a copier if you want — sometimes it’s easier to cut a larger shape than a smaller one. You can use them in two ways:
- glue them straight onto a cardboard piece, decorate and cut, or
- use them as a guide to draw onto the cardboard before you cut.
We painted the cardboard with acrylic paints, but tempura paint, markers or crayons would also work.
Materials
You’ll need:
- cardboard or heavyweight card stock (see note below)
- good scissors
- glue
- paint, markers, crayons or paper to decorate your animals
Steps
- Print out the template. Use at 100% of size or enlarge on a copier.
- Glue the template onto your card or cardboard, or use it as a guide to draw onto your cardboard.
- If using paint, paint the main color of the animal before you cut.
- Cut out the shapes.
- Add details or colors, such as eyes, noses, or a smile.
Challenge level
We have four templates: snake, owl, frog, and doggie. Start with the snake to get a feel for your materials. The snake is the easiest, and can be made by all ages, even preschoolers (with cutting assistance). It can also be created using construction (cartridge weight) paper. The other animals will work better with heavier card or cardboard, and younger children may need some help with cutting and putting them together.
A few tips
Cardboard
This is a great way to recycle any boxes you have around the home. Choose wisely though; not all cardboard is the same thickness. If the cardboard is too thin, it will be easier to cut, but it will be flimsier when you put the pieces together, and won’t be as sturdy when you stand it up. If the cardboard is too thick, it will be harder to cut.
Cutting
Cutting cardboard can be challenging and it takes practice cutting a material that’s thicker than paper. Please let parents/adults help with the cutting. You’ll need (big) sharp scissors, not the (small) children’s scissors you find in school. You may have more control by using an X-Acto Blade or matte knife and a cutting matt. However, you’d need to use a metal ruler for the straight sides, and it’s easier to cut curves with scissors than a blade. I suggest cutting loosely around the subject to release it from the larger piece of cardboard, and then cutting into the subject for details. Also, don’t always cut in a continuous line — I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but you will get better results if you cut from opposite directions into the curves or corners, as shown below.
Standing the pieces
Standing the pieces may take trial and error. Two things to keep in mind:
- Make sure the piece is balanced (if not, you may need to adjust something).
- When you cut the slots, they will need to be about the same height as the stand or tab piece.
To cut the slots, make one cut, and then a second cut next to the first and tear off the thin strand of cardboard. Don’t make the slot cut too wide because the stand piece(s) will stay in place better if it fits securely into the slot(s).
Click here to download the Cardboard Critters. Please remember that by downloading, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.