I've been undertaking some fabulous courses from Make Art That Sells to improve my chances of getting more illustration work. Every year they run a Global Talent Search (GTS) competition. I've never entered it before but, despite not finishing all my coursework, I thought I might enter. There's some superb illustrators that take part and I can't beat them but I can join them. So I did. The brief was to design a gardener's journal including japanese anemones, staghorn ferns

1. FINDING THE RIGHT WORKSHOP FOR YOU OR YOUR CHILD What are your interests? What skills to do you want to learn and try? What date and time suits you? The Workshop Details page on the paperscissorsrock.net website gives all the up to date information on current workshops. There's also an article here about the Paper Art (5-8 yrs) workshop in particular. What's the workshop leader like? The workshops are run by me, Sam Hickman, an artist who primarily works with cut paper.

I've been looking to do an illustration course for a while but I specifically wanted to find one online which would teach me how to use and market the skills I've already got. I have dreams, you see, of becoming an actual paid illustrator with an agent and everything. I don't know how to get there. I found the Make Art That Sells website a couple of years ago but I was worried that it was aimed at a US audience. Since then I've seen a few of their videos and content from i

Here’s a little bit about what I’ve been up to this last year… A friend of mine, Sass (Sass Harding Photography) and I had spoken about working together a couple of years ago. Combining her photography and my paper art in some way seemed a pleasing idea. So when the opportunity for a project celebrating our village came about we decided that was the project for us. The village was to turn 50 in 2017 and being a uniquely designed place, architecturally and socially, it was

Papercut comic strips by Sam at Paper Scissors Rock. Come and meet Guyman and Starfunkel, the stars of this unique comic.

New Comic Day - a couple of days late..or maybe early... Inspiration for this one: my son has a habit of inviting his friends to do things and THEN asking me. Also, I think other parents (and introverts) can relate to that feeling of, quite frankly, inconvenience and panic. #papercutcomic #papercut #papercutting #silhouette #spyclub #introvert #parenting #kids #guyman #starfunke #clu #comic #comicstrip #art #inspiredby

I've had this idea in my head for a while so, although it's not topical or anything, I decided to comicfy it. (Yes that is a word!!) I've been to a couple of preview nights at exhibition openings and listening to critics does make me giggle - although I'm sure what they're saying is extremely viable. I am positively hopeless at art appreciation. Anyway, here is Guyman and Starfunkel's take on it... PS I probably should have outlined the speech bubbles as it's all white this

Earlier than predicted this time. There's just no telling, is there?, At least, as predicted, it has a suitably nerdy theme and an underlying kind-of-topical-and-sort-of-serious subject. I wanted to explore how the same subject can be seen in different ways - positive, negative, right, wrong....make up you're own mind. #papercut #comic #comicstrip #papercutting #guyman #starfunkel #feminism #genderequality #startrek #nerd #geek #papercutcomic #film

It's been a while since my last comic. I like to use topical themes (the recent rise in hate crime this time ) but seen through the adventures of young Guyman and Starfunkel (metaphorically I guess). The underlying themes have been a bit sad of late. The next one won't be quite so dark but is about gender inequality. Don't panic though - like this one (hate crime tempered with pokemon) it has a light side. Which one is the main theme is down to individual interpretation th

About a year ago I was asked by The Paperdashery to write a guest blog about the basics of papercutting. Not being one to put anything off I began immediately last week. They liked it and published it yesterday. It's not a definitive guide to papercutting but does show how I do things...if you're interested. If you are, or you know someone who might be then here it is: https://www.thepaperdashery.com/paper-cutting-absolute-beginners/ It also tells of a free printable cuttin