Does Pepakura take the art out of being an artist?

[deepseaconvict]

This is the first time I have seen this stuff. At first I thought it was great. Then my alter ego kicked in and I thought wow this just makes its easier for others to do this... I realize everyone has their owns steps for manufacturing a product and I'm not knocking this at all. It kinda reminds me of building a model airplane from a kit. I think there is a big difference between recreating something you see or like and building something with designs already done... I have looked at a few builds here and have been fascinated with how fast some who, with little experience can whip out an Iron man mask after printing, cutting, gluing, etc... I realize that much is left to be done to have a finished product, still I don't see any similarity between those who use this method and others who sculpt (any material,-clay-wood-steel etc..) other then to have a finished product. For me an artist can create or duplicate something, with minimal support materials. For example: pictures, dimensional measurements etc. However from what i've seen (is some cases) what has been done using this method and then improved upon to some extent could labeled nothing less then recreated by an artist. Still after viewing so many negative comments on recasting I wonder how this would effect me if I start using this method. Its obviously vary efficient and in essence recasting another another product exactly with little interpretation... If said I was going to build an iron man suit then proceeded to download, cut and paste -how would that reflect own me as an artist? I honestly would like to know.

 

[docholiday78]

Pepakura is just the base. I think you should try it then you'll find out that is not easy at all. Pepakura is the first step. After you have to strengthen it by using fiberglass resin and fiberglas mat on the inside. After that is sanding the bumps left by resin cuz there will be some if you have no experience. Then the filling and smoothing of it and that takes a sculpters touch. So every helmet, armor I've seen are all different. It depends on your skills of finishing it. So what ever path you decide to go either it be sculpting, pepakura or foam you'll be pleasantly suprised of how challenging it can be. Good luck

 

[deepseaconvict]

Pepakura is just the base. I think you should try it then you'll find out that is not easy at all. Pepakura is the first step. After you have to strengthen it by using fiberglass resin. After that is sanding the bumps left by resin cuz there will be some if you have no experience. Then the filling and smoothing of it and that takes a sculpters touch. So every helmet, armor I've seen are all different. It depends on your skills of finishing it. So what ever path you decide to go either it be sculpting, pepakura or foam you'll be pleasantly suprised of how challenging it can be. Good luck

Thanks Doc, been watching your build looks great! Im looking forward to trying Pepakura out, just being a bit cautious.

 

[docholiday78]

Thanks and I totally understand This is a great community, we all help eachother. So say if theres a question I cant answer I guarantee you theres someone here that can. Looking forward to seeing what ya got in store for us

 

[EyeofSauron]

if you have no skills and patience, pepakura will get you a crappy replication, and neither will scratchbuilding

its the other way around with both

 

[IronNeoo]

Pepakura is just the base. I think you should try it then you'll find out that is not easy at all. Pepakura is the first step. After you have to strengthen it by using fiberglass resin and fiberglas mat on the inside. After that is sanding the bumps left by resin cuz there will be some if you have no experience. Then the filling and smoothing of it and that takes a sculpters touch. So every helmet, armor I've seen are all different. It depends on your skills of finishing it. So what ever path you decide to go either it be sculpting, pepakura or foam you'll be pleasantly suprised of how challenging it can be. Good luck

Amen!!! Diff not easy !! thumbsup

 

[Toxx]

if you have no skills and patience, pepakura will get you a crappy replication, and neither will scratchbuilding

its the other way around with both

!00% agree

Pepakura is still the first step on a long way to go


its like cuting a diamond



.

 

[flyaway]

To me, pep is no different then a sewing based costume that involves altering existing patterns, something that a lot of costumers do!

Or another way to look at it, an artist that paints doesn't have to make the canvas, assemble a brush and make the paint from scratch to create something.

We all have different tool boxes we like to work from, it doesn't make anyone less for prefering a particular tool and since coming here I've seen stuff nothing short of magic done with pep that I could never do myself.

 

[Tigerblood]

these are Pepakura based helmets.

This is someone's "finished" work.

This is RJ's unfinished helmet

I think those two pictures will give you a good answer.

 

[Robmcn]

Don't forget some people make their own pep files too..from their own 3d models...on the computers they built!
(not saying I am one...am working on some pep files tho)

 

[deepseaconvict]

I think those two pictures will give you a good answer.

Point taken, thank you! Great examples, well at least one of them lol....

 

[Grave]

3D printing and CnC machines take the, well everything out of the artist.
you still need skill for pepakura

 

[Hotrodled]

I have watched a few videos of pepakura, seems that the scaling is the hardest part. If you dont know what scale to make you could be waisting you time whaen you find it doesnt fit.

 

[Grave]

bondo or body filler is one of the main failures people have if they can get that far. that is the main problem on the picture posted above. if the person would have filled it properly and sanded it properly, it could have been a decent low def helmet.
past that, painting is the thing that makes or breaks anything built. you can make something crappy look good if you do an amazing paint job, but you can also make something look like garbage with a bad paint job.

 

[pRoJectEarth7]

these are Pepakura based helmets.

This is RJ's unfinished helmet

I think those two pictures will give you a good answer.

Hey that's my helmet...behave

 

[Protocol]

3D printing and CnC machines take the, well everything out of the artist.

I guess that depends entirely on what you are making, now doesn't it?
And if you're going to be throwing words like artist around, maybe you should use it in its proper form?

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The word Art in itself is referring to a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities. So being a practitioner of cnc-milling is just as much being an artist as say... a musician or a sculptor.

I get that your are proud of your pepakura-creations, and I've made my share of pepakura aswell, but I would not say pepakura is in any way a "greater" art than CAD-modeling. Neither is old school clay-sculpting, though being able to sculpt will, in most cases get a greater response from the general public, due to it being a "natural" art.

As a Industrial Designer, I'm absolutely dependent on being able to both use CAD, 3D-printing, CNC, and clay sculpting. You making a joke out of any, or all of these arts is quite frankly offending, and makes you come of as a arrogant guy and somewhat of a stuck-up.

 

[Grave]

fine if you want to be that way. i couldnt give a crap.
the reason why i say cnc takes away is because it can make the model perfect. part of art is the human element. just using pepakura as an example, you need to be able to build it with your own hands. smooth it out and paint it.
my view is that a computer prints or grinds out something for you and all you have to do is prime and paint it. i see it like CGI graphics in movies. it isnt the same as the practical effects artist who creates something by hand.

 

[XRobots]

fine if you want to be that way. i couldnt give a crap.
the reason why i say cnc takes away is because it can make the model perfect. part of art is the human element. just using pepakura as an example, you need to be able to build it with your own hands. smooth it out and paint it.
my view is that a computer prints or grinds out something for you and all you have to do is prime and paint it. i see it like CGI graphics in movies. it isnt the same as the practical effects artist who creates something by hand.

The 3D modeler who makes the model to be printed/CNC machined has to have the same eye for proportions and scale as a person sculpting in clay. There's an art form which requires talent in either. You can still make something with CNC which looks wrong if you can't model it correctly in the first place.

 

[Grave]

that is true. a computer does what you tell it to do.

 

[Protocol]

Well, that escalated quickly. I simply can't see your point. There are still human skills involved in every single part of the production. Have you ever done any CNC-work?
How about the art of actually maintaining the machine? Running the machine(a 3 year education by the way)? And as you pointed out, after CNCing, you only have finishing the pieces left. That's also not an art? Its only an art when you carved the piece with nail and tooth?

CNC or 3D-printing is a tool, just like your knife, or hammer, or glue-bottle is a tool. How you apply these tools in your art shouldn't have anything to say for the "value" of a finished product. By your standards anything made using something else that your own two hands is bad then?

You have some very black & white views on this. I can understand why, but I simply can't agree, and I would think a lot of other people here agree with me. I'll leave it at that.