 A Note from Will: I love working with paper. It offers so much flexibility and creativity. I do have some tips on glues, adhesives and tools when working with paper. Right here
I do however use one of my paper cathedrals in this tutorial. This is the Leon Cathedral. It is a gothic cathedral in Leon Spain. Here are two pictures, one of the actual cathedral and one of the paper one I made.
One of the most astonishing and beautiful things about gothic architecture is the use of flying buttresses. You can see a whole series of them in this next picture.
If you are specifically interested in making this Paper Leon Cathedral I have the tutorial here.
LET'
S GET STARTED
STEP ONE: Do some online research of your intended project. Grab and download a variety of pictures of your castle or cathedral. Try searching for aerial views. These are often superb for seeing the overall layout of the building. The more pictures the better.
STEP TWO: Download the floor plan. I am pretty sure that every major castle and cathedral in the world has a floor plan readily available online. This will be instrumental in the making of your paper castle.
I have a large selection of castle and cathedral floor plans for you right here. Here is the floor plan of Leon Cathedral. I got it off the wikipedia page.
If you can't find a floor plan of your castle or cathedral you do have another option. Try google maps. I made a paper version of the Knights Templar Castle in Ponferrada Spain and I couldn't find a floor plan so I used google maps and look how great it is!
Strip down the floorplan, (optional) Look at pictures of the building. You can probably eliminate most of the internal lines and walls. Simplify the design. This is what I came up with for the Leon Cathedral.
STEP THREE: Do some initial building of general structure sizes and shapes.This will help you develop the overall building and get the dimensions and ratios correct.
At this stage you are only making rough geometrical shapes. It's about the rough shape of the building and it's major structures. Pay attention to the relationship of sizes between the different building structures. That's what really makes a difference.
Remember, for now it is all rough shapes. And, make pieces, try them out, change the size and shape and take another look.
As you add more pieces you may need to change some of the earlier pieces. That is okay. This is what it is all about. This is a prototyping process. You are developing it in increments and things will change. You will refine it and continuously make it better.
Once you have a piece just the way you think it is right I recommend you make a copy of it and set the copy aside. - An unfolded copy just on a flat sheet of paper. This way you can build your final version with clean pieces. And you can colorize them before using them. Here are two example pages of parts. I have colorized them.
 
Tips and ideas on making copies of your parts
 Tracing paper is a great tool for making copies of your parts. If you don't have tracing paper you can make some with baby oil, or just about any other type of oil. I have a tutorial for it right here: How to make tracing paper
A light box is also an excellent way to make copies of your parts. They are inexpensive on Amazon. But I also have a tutorial on how to make one right here: Make a light box
Would you like to really add some pizazz to your castle design? You can add stone wall textures to it. For my Ponferrada Knights Templar castle I used a picture of the actual castle wall to make a texture that I can photoshop into the project.
 Okay, let's continue on with the building
|
