Discover the world of fine art papercraft with Canon Creative Park

There are thousands of papercraft ideas and templates to choose from on Canon Creative Park, ranging from architecture to seasonal decor. Simply choose your template and follow the instructions. But what if you want to take it to the next level? That's where artist and illustrator Zack Mclaughlin, of Paper & Wood, comes in to lend a crafty hand.

Zack has a longstanding love for the natural world and a particular interest in birds, both watching and photographing them with his Canon EOS 90D. He has created installations for famous department stores, museums and even Sir David Attenborough. Zack's attention to detail is what sets him apart and his admiration of nature comes through in all his creations.

It seems appropriate then that Zack, a bird enthusiast, should take on this 3D papercraft challenge and choose a kingfisher as his focus.

The first step of any creative process should be observation and preparation. Zack had spotted and photographed some kingfishers in the local marshes. "I love going out and photographing nature, especially on quiet, early mornings, just having that peaceful moment," says Zack. "I want to bring that feeling indoors."

Along with his own images, Zack will often study books and online drawings to prepare for a build. After choosing his kingfisher template on Canon Creative Park – which is available as a smartphone app and website – he printed it and other images for inspiration with the Canon PIXMA TS5340a printer.

To ensure he got a perfect print, with accurate colours and outlines, Zack followed a quick and easy printer maintenance process in Settings, working through all the required nozzle checks. He also switched the mode to Best Quality, rather than Draft or Standard Mode. Once that was out of the way, it was time for him to get creative.

"I love the challenge of using material like paper to recreate something so beautiful that exists in nature," says Zack. "There's so much you can do with paper, such as embossing, and the Canon Matte Photo Paper is the perfect material for it. All paper is slightly squishy, so by applying pressure, you leave an indentation. It's cool to take paper away from what people think of as something quite flat; it's got so much potential!"

Unsurprisingly, making the standard kingfisher template on Canon Creative Park was quite simple for Zack, but he added a few personal touches which underpinned his ultimate motivation – to bring his paper birds to life.

"I always strive to make my models realistic," he explains. "The magic is in the detail, it's only when you look really closely you can start to understand how they're made."

After Zack had printed all the flat elements and cut them out with a scalpel, he added the paper feathers before attaching the pieces together. Using 160gsm textured coloured paper, Zack cut a basic leaf shape and held it between his finger and thumb. Resting his scissors on another finger, he then snipped around the edge, fringing each piece. For all his projects, he does this with great dexterity. "I've never cut myself," he says. "I have a safety finger at the back so I can feel where the blade is at all times."

Zack estimates that he used around 400 paper feathers for this kingfisher, and advises to always start at the tail and then layer up. By adding all the extra plumage with the additional feathers, Zack knew he needed the beak and feet to be about 10% bigger, or else it would look out of proportion.

Once the bird was feathered, glued and dried, Zack used acrylic paints to add the detail. "Luckily, the Creative Park templates are really detailed, so they helped me with the colouring of the bird," he says.

He varnished the beak after painting to give it a shiny realistic appearance, and adapted the kingfisher's eyes to make it more lifelike, using acrylic balls and painting them. He then created a secondary eyelid from another template so the eyes looked slightly inset.

For Zack, the art of crafting and creating is meditative. "You just forget about everything else in the world, even when the making doesn't go as planned," he says. "You just can't think about any other problems in your life. There are no distracting screens because you're using your hands. It's really tactile and it takes you away from everything else."

Once it was near completion, a few more tweaks were made, such as angling the head to point slightly downwards so that it looked as though the bird was ready to swoop in on an unsuspecting fish. Finally, Zack decided to display it perched on a branch in a bell jar. "I attached a metal wire to the base and shaped it using modelling putty and a toothpick to create texture before painting it," he explains.

For many who see Zack's pieces, it might be their only way to get close and examine some of these birds. "I want to help make people more aware and appreciative of nature; I also aim to bring nature inside but leave it undisturbed in the natural world. What I do has been likened to vegan taxidermy before," he jokes.

If you've been inspired by Zack's striking papercraft creations, why not try your hand at any of the templates available on Canon Creative Park? Don't forget to share your paper art on social media using the #MadeWithPIXMA hashtag.

Written by Natalya Paul