Escape Into Chris - Entry 2

Understand Still by Nick Lepard

February 2007 – Normal, IL

“…What I’m a finding overall is that this image I have of myself in my mind should not be taken so seriously. Who I think I am is an illusion. Yes, I’ve devoted myself to writing but there is nothing remarkable, nothing truly genius about my writing now. The only thing that separates me from the average person when it comes to writing is my obsession with it. I am always focused on what I have to do to improve my writing. It doesn’t matter what I write and perhaps it never will matter what I write. It is the journey I crave, I crave a place to go inside myself and not the neurotic hall of mirrors I’m usually in, but the mysteries of the unconscious. I am an explorer – some travel to different places, I travel inward to different places. I am not content staying in this mental dimension. I wish to travel, to see other domains, to experience other realities. Perhaps that is why I am so attracted to cultivation. By cultivating myself I become something greater, something more than what I had seen.”

via Escape Into Life

Miniature Paper Model TGV Trains

France's high-speed train service is known as the TGV. In 2007 a TGV test train set the record for the fastest wheeled train by reaching a speed of 357.2 mph (574.8 km/h). These mini papercraft models of TGV trains show some of the various paint schemes the trains sport. Free downloads of the templates for these and many other TGV trains are available from TGVweb.

Max Headroom TV Set Papercraft

Every once in a while it is nice to build a mindlessly simple papercraft and this Max Headroom TV set papercraft fills the bill. ^^ It is just a simple box based on the Cubee template, no glue required. Max Headroom is the lead character in the late 80's science fiction television show of the same name. Max is probably best known for his appearances as the spokesman in television commercials for "New Coke". The template for this papercraft TV was created by 7ater and may be downloaded here.

Escape Into Chris - Entry 1

Gustave Courbet, self portrait

In tribute to the life and works of Chris Al-Aswad, we, his family, are honoring his memory by posting regular excerpts from his writings here at his website Escapeintolife.com

Summer 2006 - Normal, IL

“… I worry that I won’t have enough time, once work starts, to read and write. But I also know there is always enough time. We just don’t happen to see all the time that is available to us because we are clouded by a fear of death.

My urge to read and write is a defense against death and its anxiety. I feel that I am finite and by reading and writing and by leaving a living record of my self, I believe that I can transcend my own death. I participate in the life that so many people lead without even thinking about it. That is, working a regular job, having a family, or having a wife for me is a burden, because by leading what most would consider a normal life I am “giving up”, in a sense, I am surrendering to my own mortality. By retreating into this world I have created with words and books, I hope to transcend my own death. But I need to make sure I live. I will never be able to transcend death until I fully live.”

Front Mission Evolved Papercraft: Zephyr Wanzer

Late last year Square Enix celebrated the release of its Front Mission Evolved video game. This Zephyr mech paper model was released as part of the celebration. Standing at a height of 12.5" (31.8 cm), the model can be posed with 40 different joints. Various accessories come with the Zephyr template including a machine gun, shot gun, a grenade and a shield. The photo above is from the designers of the papercraft, 3Dpaper. A download of the template is available at the Square Enix website here. Look for the link labeled "fully colored model" near the bottom of the page. Sorry, the contest to color your own Zephyr mech mentioned on the page is over, but a blank template is still available if you want to give it a try.

Escape Into Chris

The Musician by Fred Aris (1972)

A long, wintry six months has passed since EIL and Blog of Innocence's founder, Chris Al-Aswad, left life behind and stepped into the world of the Spirit. In addition to countless unforgettable memories, Chris also left us with dozens of journals brimming with his deepest thoughts and philosophical ponderings of existence on planet earth. Recently, my Father and I began exploring them in depth, discovering incredible, illuminated passages rife with prophetic, provocative insights and brutal honesty. While the quest to fill the space that Chris’ parting left in us will continue for our lifetimes, we’ve found solace and uplift in the notion of sharing these with the people Chris cared for most, his friends in the EIL community. Clearly, the spirit of Chris lives on in them, as well as in the eternal flow of the creative life-force, and so he would surely approve. We will start by posting one a week and are open and eager to hearing your feedback.

KH2 Aladdin Treasure Chest Papercraft

This is the first of numerous Kingdom Hearts 2 treasure chest paper models I hope to release over the course of the coming year. In the KH2 video game there are both large and small treasure chests to be found. This large treasure chest (which I call the "Aladdin treasure chest") can be found in the Agrabah area, a location taken from the Disney movie, Aladdin. The finished papercraft model of the treasure chest measures 3" L x 2.75" W x 3" H (7.6 cm x 7 cm x 7.6 cm). I found when I did my test build that the model was sturdy enough to maybe be used as a gift box (for something really small like a piece of jewelry). The image above is a 3D render to show the textures on the inside and outside of the chest. A download of the two page, six piece template is located here.

2008 Mustang GT500 Papercraft

In the 1960's automotive designer Carroll Shelby teamed with the Ford Motor Company to produce high performance Mustangs with the labels "GT350" and "GT500". These "Shelby Mustangs" ended production in 1970. It wasn't until 2007 that Shelby and Ford teamed again to produce a car with the GT500 label. This detailed paper model is of a 2008 Mustang GT500. A download of the papercraft template is offered by the GT Legends Papercraft blog here. Click on the red steering wheel below the picture to start the download.

Batman Papercraft

MarianoDG from imprime-recorata-pega.com has created another detailed comic book character papercraft! Mariano lists the difficulty of this Batman Papercraft at "hard" but notes that "it is not as hard as it looks". ^^ All the previous superhero papercraft models I have seen from Mariano have been Marvel Comics characters. So unless I missed one, this may be his first paper model of a DC Comics character. Batman, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, is one of the most popular characters in the DC Comics Universe. A download for this papercraft is available here.

Totoro Papercraft

Here is another another papercraft from the ever popular Studio Ghibli animated movie, My Neighbor Totoro. In the movie two young Japanese girls encounter three "forest spirits" known as Totoros. This papercraft is of the largest Totoro of the three. DeviantART member Studioofmm created this papercraft in 2010. A copy of the four page template for the Totoro is posted here.

Lady Gaga Just Dance Cubee

This cubee paper toy shows recording artist Lady Gaga in the costume she wore in the music video for the song Just Dance. Just Dance was the hit single that began Gaga's rise to stardom. This custom cubee is the work of 'Yamino at DeviantART. A download of the template is available here.

High Elf Tower Papercraft

Here is another great papercraft from the world of miniature gaming: a High Elf tower. There are several nice things about this tower model. First, the roof is removable. Next, it is constructed so that the interior has as much color and detail as the outside of the tower. Finally, the window shutters can actually be opened and closed. A free download of the template for the tower is offered by One Monk Miniatures here. There are also some nice 2.5D Elven Alliance military figure flats on the same page.

Tron Legacy Papercraft: Rinzler Identity Disc

I got the urge to create another papercraft from the Tron:Legacy movie. ^^ This is the identity disc of Rinzler. Rinzler is bad guy Clu's top enforcer and apparently the only program capable of wielding two identity discs in battle (see animation below). Like my earlier Sam's Identity Disc papercraft, this is a tough one to build. Lined and unlined templates are available here. A build of the unlined template constructed without folds is shown in the photo above.

Dog Illusion Papercraft

Here is yet another illusion papercraft to add to your collection. :) This happy dog is offered at the dogtrickacademy.com forum here. The above photo really doesn't do the model justice. The graphics are very high quality. As with previous illusion papercraft posted, the dog's eyes and head appear to follow you as you move about the room. Miss the previous illusion papercraft posts? They can be found here. :)

Halo Papercraft: Banshee Aerial Assault Vehicle

The Banshee (also known as a Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft) is an aerial assault craft appearing in the Halo series of video games. The Banshee is part of the arsenal of the Covenant Empire which has been described as "a religious hegemony of multiple alien species". This papercraft Banshee is the work of Brandon (aka z8-0) at DeviantART and may be downloaded from his profile here. Brandon also has several other papercraft Halo vehicles available for download including a Sentinel, a Ghost, and a Wraith.

The Last Airbender Papercraft: Aang

Illustrator Keith Allen calls his paper model of Aang the Last Airbender a "paper sculpture". The unique thing about this particular papercraft is it built from a single piece of paper (i.e. the template has only one part). Aang, of course, is the main character in the animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. A copy of the template in .png format is posted here.