One of my projects over the last couple of months has been work on a couple of life-sized Pokemon papercraft creations. By scaling up the patterns provided by this site I’ve found an effective way to dispose of the many, many weeks worth of cereal boxes accumulating in our kitchen.
Bulbasaur was completed in January, and Charmander’s a work in progress. Here’s the back view of Charmander, showing the jar full of rice I’m using to attempt to make him balance on one foot.
Nathan castillo
Hi,I wanted to ask how do you do papercraft because I really want to build a life size charmander?
Alethea
Hi Nathan,
I get my pokemon papercraft templates from http://www.pokemonpapercraft.net/
They have lots of papercraft models available for free download and useful info on how to make them. I recommend you try making a regular sized papercraft following their instructions so that you understand how a papercraft model fits together.
For these life-sized constructions: I take the models provided by pokemonpapercraft and scale up each piece by importing the template PDF into Photoshop and then resizing it. I then print these out and transfer the printed pieces onto cardboard. Then it’s just a matter of putting together this papercraft like any other, matching pieces to fit together and gluing things part by part.
I hope that helped! Let me know if you manage to create anything.
Claire
Hey these look amazing, I’m trying to get a life size houndour or growlithe and i want to resize it like you said, but im new with photoshop and im not quite sure how to do it, can you help me with it please?
Alethea
Hi Claire,
This is usually quite an involved process, but you can also cheat and do a simple resize…
For example, with the Bulbasaur I think I copied the templates into Microsoft Excel and enlarged the images so they were to scale (eg 3-times the size they were originally, and I used the preview mode in Excel to confirm they were the right size) then printed out the sheets as images broken up over multiple pages.
With Charmander, I wanted to save having to deal with pieces broken up over multiple pages, so I put in a bit more time into getting the templates working right. This meant copying each page into Photoshop at their regular size, then upsizing each page. (Image -> Image Size, rescale to about 300%). I then create new files at A4 size (or use whatever size your paper is) and lasso each piece out of the HUGE file, and copy it into my A4 page.
Sometimes I need to rotate pieces to make them fit, or even break them up into multiple pieces. If you break up a piece then remember to add tabs so that you can re-make the original. I usually also give them new labels, eg if I break up piece 5 I’ll call the new pieces piece 5A and 5B. This helps me to put things together following the instructions from the original model.
This is a pretty broad summary of what I do, I hope it was helpful. Feel free to ask questions, I might even have some time soon to help you get started on rescaling a template.
Kenny
Hey I have a few questions of you. I have made halo armor out of papercraft before. Now I am trying to make a custom computer case and have it be one of the original pokemon, but I am unsure how to scale, and make the inside accessible.
Alethea
Hi Kenny,
I’m very curious to help out with your project as it sounds quite interesting. Maybe the Bulbasaur model would work best for what you’re trying to do, as the bulb could be made in one piece to lift away from the body. It’s also fairly balanced as it stands on four feet, unlike the Squirtle or Charmander.
To scale my Bulbasaur model, I took the models provided by the Pokemon Papercraft website and expanded each page inside Excel. This resulted in the template image spread across multiple pages. I can share these files with you if you like.
osvaldo sanchez
hello I’m amazed with your work I’m trying to make a mudkip with excel you could send me bulbasaur model to give me an idea please
yoyo
Hey, could you send me this papercraft to make them. Now i’m assembling a life size pikachu,
Wolvie
Hey, I love your work!
I am interested in making life-sized models, although I am not quiet sure about resizing. For example, if the original scale of the papercraft is 7.5cm, and I wanted to rescale it to 50cm, would i increase it by ~700%? (since 50cm is about 7x bigger than 7.5?)
Alethea
Hi Wolvie, you’re absolutely right! When you’re scaling up your models, take care to preserve all the edge flaps on the model and add extra edge flaps if you need to split a piece over multiple pages.
Good luck! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Bryan Vo
I was just wondering if you could put up your template of bulbasaur onto your page or send me the template. I really want to make one too! xD