A Shellebration of Turtley Amazing Origami Turtles and Tortoises

Just as there’s a huge variety of different species of turtles and tortoises in real life there’s also a very diverse variety of origami ones too.

First up is Satoshi Kamiya’s awesome loggerhead turtle. The pattern on the back of the shell is fantastic.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by P. Colman

Diagrams available in the 16th Origami Tanteidan Convention book

Here we have a pretty cool design with a turtle made out of a tessellation pattern.

Turtle Tessellation, Designed and Folded by Melina Hermsen

Instructions not available

Here’s a fantastic baby sea turtle design. I love how it’s photographed here in mid-swim.

Baby Turtle, Designed and Folded by Nguyen Ngoc Vu

Diagrams available in Drawing Origami Tome 1

This is one of the best tortoise designs we’ve ever seen. It totally looks like a real tortoise and you can easily imagine it slowly walking there.

Tortoise, Designed and Folded by Nguyễn Hùng Cường

Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn

Having this snapping turtle climbing up onto a crumpled up paper rock is a nice touch.

Snapping Turtle, Designed and Folded by Phạm Hoàng Tuấn

Instructions not available

Here’s Nguyễn Hùng Cường’s tortoise again but this time folded by a different artist.

Tortoise, Designed by Nguyễn Hùng Cường and Folded by Philippe Landrein

Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn

Here’s another take on Nguyen Ngoc Vu’s sea turtle.

Sea Turtle, Designed by Nguyễn Hùng Cường and Folded by Luc MARNAT

Diagrams available in Drawing Origami Tome 1

This Galapagos tortoise is folded from a single sheet of paper. It perfectly uses a colour change in the design so the shell and body are different colours.

Galapagos Tortoise, Designed and Folded by Quentin Trollip

Diagrams available in Origami Works of Quentin Trollip

Here’s another really awesome turtle design from Satoshi Kamiya. The feet and the pattern on the shell are awesome. P. Colman also really knows how to stage a photograph!

Turtle, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by P. Colman

Crease pattern available from Satoshi Kamiya’s website

And here’s Satoshi Kamiya’s loggerhead sea turtle again but folded by a different artist this time.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by DebugMode

Diagrams available in the 16th Origami Tanteidan Convention book

Here’s an excellent “green” turtle.

Green Turtle, Designed by Gerard Ty Sovann and Folded by Luc MARNAT

Diagrams available in Pure Origami

This is Nguyễn Hùng Cường’s tortoise again folded by a different designer. It really is a fantastic design.

Tortoise, Designed by Nguyễn Hùng Cường and Folded by Alex Satsukawa

Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn

Here’s a new and quite realistic looking turtle design. The shiny paper used here really makes it look like a real turtle.

Turtle, Designed and Folded by Yoshimasa Tsuruta

Instructions not available

This is another new sea turtle design. Look at that tessellation pattern on the back of the shell!

Sea Turtle, Designed and Folded by Mauricio Flórez

Instructions not available

A lot of origami turtles use sort of a grid or tessellation pattern. Here’s another design like this but this one is a bit more round than most others.

Leatherback Sea Turtle, Designed by Pasquale D’Auria and Folded by Luc MARNAT

Diagrams available in Pajarita Magazine #126

This next turtle looks completely different from anything else so far.

Turtle, Designed by Eric Joisel and Folded by Andrey Ermakov

Diagrams available in Olympiad 2015

Here’s Nguyễn Hùng Cường’s tortoise again photographed out in the wild.

Tortoise, Designed by Nguyễn Hùng Cường and Folded by Phillip Curl

Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn

Here’s Satoshi Kamiya’s turtle again. I really like the close up on the face in this one and how it looks with the open mouth.

Turtle, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Alex Satsukawa

Crease pattern available from Satoshi Kamiya’s website

Robert J. Lang has another really awesome turtle design.

Western Pond Turtle, Designed by Robert J. Lang and Folded by Jaime Niño

Diagrams available in Origami Design Secrets Second Edition

And here’s one last tortoise.

Tortoise, Designed by Nguyễn Hùng Cường and Folded by Nguyen TuanTai

Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn

Our final turtle for this post is designed by the amazing Kei Watanabe. Look at the individually folded scales on the legs! This is probably folded from a single sheet of paper.

Okinawa Black-Breasted Leaf Turtle, Designed and Folded by Kei Watanabe

Instructions not available

That’s it for this post. Which one of these origami turtles and tortoises was your favourite? Let us know in the comments and then be sure to let the folder know as well!