In this post we’re going to take a look at another excellent round of papercrafts from under the sea. We’re talking fish, crustaceans, cephalopods and more!
First up is an absolutely beautiful dolphinfish (mahi-mahi) folded from some of the most beautiful looking origami paper I’ve ever seen.
Dolphinfish (Mahi-Mahi), Designed by Winston Lee and Folded by P. Colman
Diagrams available in COS 2014
The Mantis Shrimp is a pretty crazy and amazing creature (pretty tasty too). This paper version is equally crazy and amazing. Just look at all those details along the bottom and believe it or not this is all folded from one sheet of paper!
Mantis Shrimp, Designed and Folded by Kota Imai
Crease pattern available in Tanteidan Magazine #156
Kei Watanabe somewhat recently designed a whole bunch of really awesome looking fish including this quite realistic looking Pacific Bluefin Tuna.
Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Designed and Folded by Kei Watanabe
Instructions not available
The coolest part of these manta rays I think is all those individually folded gills on the bottom.
Myliobatis Aquila, Designed by Manuel Sirgo Alvarez and Folded by ВЕРЕСТУН Игорь (Iver)
Instructions not avaialble
This is a very well-folded, nice and clean looking lobster. It’s a really excellent design as well. This is folded from a single 30cm x 30cm square of paper!
Lobster, Designed by Artur Biernacki and Folded by Damian Malicki
Crease pattern available from Artur Biernacki’s Flickr
Here’s a fantastic little shore crab.
Shore Crab, Designed by Pham Hoang Tuan and Folded by Luc Marnat
Diagrams available in Olympiad 2016
This is an excellent little seahorse model. It’s not too complicated but looks great and nice and clean. There’s a video tutorial available for it too.
Seahorse, Designed by Ta Trung Dong and Folded by Rui Roda
Video instructions available from Ta Trung Dong’s YouTube channel
There are a few really great sea turtle designs out there and I especially like Satoshi Kamiya’s design. The sort of plates down the back of the shell always look really cool.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Maxi Purewal
Diagrams available in the 16th Tanteidan Convention book
This next image is definitely the cutest little orca I’ve ever seen. It’s folded from two squares of paper.
Cube Orca, Designed by Yoshihisa Kimura and Folded by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Diagrams available in Origami no Hakodoubutsu
This next model is definitely something amazing. That whole Anemone as well as the Clown Fish is folded from a single square of paper. In this case Kevin Hutson used a 23 inch x 23 inch square on Unryu which is definitely a beautiful looking paper.
Sea Anemone and Clownfish, Designed by J.C. Nolan and Folded by Kevin Hutson
Diagrams available in Creating Origami: An Exploration into the Process of Designing Paper Sculpture
Ynon Toledano designed these awesome butterfly fish. The one on the left is a newer design with a slightly different body and tail.
Butterfly Fish, Designed and Folded by Ynon Toledano
Instructions not available
Here’s another phenomenal design by Kei Watanabe. From a distance you could definitely mistake this for the real life eel.
Giant Mottled Eel, Designed and Folded by Kei Watanabe
Instructions not available
This puffer fish is a really great design and uses almost a tessellation pattern for the part that puffs up.
Puffer Fish, Designed by Jang Yong Ik and Folded by P. Colman
Diagrams available in Raison d’etre 2014
Winston is a master at designing origami fish as you can see with this next model. I especially like the little folds and curves on all the fins. It was apparently difficult to design with the colour changes and 3D-ness.
Clownfish, Designed and Folded by Winston
Instructions not available
These Pennant Coralfishes are really beautiful. There’s technically no colour changes in this model but the folder cheated a bit and painted the paper. Each fish is folded from a single sheet of paper.
Pennant Coralfish, Designed by Yoshimasa Tsuruta and Folded by P. Colman
Crease pattern available from Yoshimasa Tsuruta’s Flickr
Here’s another bunch of amazing and realistic looking fish by Kei Watanabe.
Giant Trevally, Designed and Folded by Key Watanabe
Instructions not available
Kota Imai also designed a regular shrimp that’s just as detailed as that Mantis Shrimp. This model is also folded from a single square of paper.
Shrimp, Designed by Kota Imai and Folded by Kyoung Su Kim
Crease pattern available from Kota Imai’s Flickr
This next model is definitely a really cool and unique idea, even if it technically isn’t a real-life creature. This was folded for a French contest called “Under the Sea” so it definitely fits in with this post. This is folded from a single 50cm x 50cm square of paper starting with a Kite Base.
Dead Man’s Chest, Designed and Folded by Sebastien Limet
Instructions not available
Satoshi Kamiya came up with this awesome octopus design.
Octopus, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Video instructions available from Mariano Zavala B.’s YouTube channel
Here are some more of Kei Watanabe’s fantastic fish.
Largehead Hairtail, Designed and Folded by Kei Watanabe
Instructions not available
This is a great Swordfish with a very nice colour change on the underside.
Swordfish, Designed by Takuro Kashiwamura and Folded by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Diagrams available in Tanteidan Magazine #167
The details and individually folded scales on this Red Seabream are incredible.
Red Seabream, Designed and Folded by Kei Watanabe
Instructions not available
This hermit crab is folded from a single square of paper and you end up with different colours on the shell and the crab itself which is awesome.
Hermit Crab, Designed By Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Jaran Darra
Diagrams available in Works of Satoshi Kamiya 2, 2002 – 2009
Here’s a couple of beautiful Chinese-style goldfish.
Goldfish Ryukin, Designed by Ronald Koh and Folded by lichangzhenba
Instructions not available
This incredible shark was photographed at a display by the International Collegiate Origami Association.
Designed and Folded by Masato Kikuchi (Photo by Hiroaki Kobayashi)
Instructions not available (unless you can make out the crease pattern in the photo there)
P. Colman always folds such beautiful models and takes such beautiful photos.
Orca, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by P. Colman
Diagrams available in Works of Satoshi Kamiya 1995-2003
Our final model for this post is this absolutely phenomenal octopus by Brian Chan. I don’t know for sure but I strongly suspect this is folded from one sheet of paper.
The colour changes here and all the individual suction cups on the tentacles are incredible!
Octopus, Designed and Folded by Brian Chan (Photo by Michelle Fung)
Instructions not available
That’s it for this post. Let us know which one of these sea creatures was your favourite in the comments!
