“Robots are awesome!”
Robots are awesome! But they are nothing without the creativity! When I was a kid, er, when I was a younger kid, I would create these wonderful robot costumes out of all sorts of random things – cardboard boxes and tubes wrapped in tin foil, old vacuum cleaner parts, and some not so old parts (thanks Mom), wires and hangers, light bulbs and flashlights, batteries, broken toys, metal, plastic, wood, paper, Play-Doh… You get the idea.
As an adult, er, as a big kid I still love to create all kinds of wonderful things, especially monsters and robots, be they costumes or paper toys. Designing my robots for Papertoy Glowbots was a lot of fun. There’s imaging the robots and then engineering the paper shapes, illustrating the skins, writing the stories and bios, naming them; it’s so much fun stepping into the challenge and experience of so much creative play. Like being a little kid again, I can’t help but imagine my bots getting into grand three dimensional adventures beyond the flat pages of my books. In the hearts, minds and hands of kids of all ages, there can be robot dance parties led by Big Fun and DJ Waveform, sending Sparxy and Traxx into space to search for life in distant galaxies, pitting The Bionic Yeti against Glitch Hardware in the robot battle of the century! Oops! My imagination is getting a little carried away there. You see, there is never a shortage of creativity inside us, we need only let it out.
As you can see, creativity is key. It is the driving force behind everything we think, say and do and ultimately create. This is what is meant by the expression “thoughts are things.” And it’s what makes us human.
So what will you create today? Remember it only takes a single piece of paper to jumpstart your imagination. I suggest you roll up your sleeves and dig in. You can start by creating papertoy monsters and robots from my books – with your kids or even without them. Trust me you aren’t the first “big kids” to play with my books. It’s fun. And it’s good for you. Good for your brain and fine motor skills, and it’s good for your inner child. And even better for inspiring the same kind of playfulness for the kids in your life.
Whether it’s a papertoy or working on your own creation, don’t forget you still have so many wonderful gifts of creativity waiting to be unwrapped and shared with the world. Gifts only you can create. And you’ll never know what those wonderful creations are until you get started.
So get glowing and get creative. The kid in you is waiting.
Papertoy Glowbots
Author: Brian Castleforte
Published August 23rd, 2016 by Workman Publishing Company
About the Book: Origami meets amazing creatures in a book of paper craft fun!
Papertoy Glowbots introduces 46 robots that have the added cool factor of lighting up, whether using glow-in-the-dark stickers that come with the book or light sources like flashlights, Christmas tree lights, and electric tea lights.
The 46 die-cut paper robots are created by Brian Castleforte, author of Papertoy Monsters, along with the hottest papertoy designers from around the world. Meet the robots and read about their entertaining backstories in the front, then turn to the card stock section in the back to build them. The templates are die-cut and ready to pop out, fold, and glue. Bold, colorful graphics ensure the robots look as amazing in the daytime as they do with the lights off.
About the Author: Brian Castleforte is an artist and graphic designer who has created cutting-edge graphics for Nike, Sony, Warner Brothers, MTV, and others. He is the creator of nicepapertoys.com, the first and only papertoy social network, and also created Papertoy Monsters. His work can also be found at Castleforte.com and on Twitter @castleforte.
Thank you to Brian for his creativity-inspiring post!
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