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Steph Blakey

@manifestephanie.bsky.social

500 followers 140 following 210 posts

Storyboard supervisor, director, papercut artist, comicker, video game player, animation lover, just shoutin' to the void http://manifestephanie.bigcartel.com #paperart #comics

manifestephanie.bigcartel.com

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Thank you! 😭🙏💕 I finished this a long time ago but hadn't gotten around to documenting it online until now, wahhh

Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

And the video tour!

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Framed! It's really tough to get a good photo of it framed so I might try again later, but here's what I got for now.

The paper illustration framed inside a large, simple gold, frame.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

I decided that when framed, I would add LED lights between the wall and the window to add a spooky glow to the area with the Big Daddy. Here's the back of the piece where I've attached the lighting.

A photo of the background, turned over, to show the wiring of the lights attached inside.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

And here's the piece after I cut it down to frame it. I removed one of the splicers in the foreground (the bunny ears) because it looked too busy.

The artist holds up the completed paper illustration, now cut down around all sides to fit in a frame.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

After I took my illustration photo, I had to cut the piece down to fit in a frame. It's always a really stressful part of the process. Here's me cutting the background down to fit in the frame.

Red handled scissors cutting off just over a centimeter of the paper illustrations background.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

The completed background!

Photo of the illustration's background on its own- the cracked tile wall, marble floor with gold detail, art deco doorframe and wall decoration, and the view of Rapture behind.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

The art deco door took a huge amount of concentration and effort. I wanted to keep the pieces as whole as possible and it ended up working out great.

Closeup of the geometric gold detail above the door in the artist's hand.

A closeup of the completed doorframe detail.

The completed top of the doorframe displayed on a cutting mat.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

This one's boring but still needed a lot of work. Here's the template for the cracked wall background before I cut it out, and after. Because I don't know exactly where I'll place the splicers on top, I cut it all out to give myself the freedom of position changing later.

Black and white printouts of wall tiles with cracks in them sitting on top of a grey cutting mat.

Photo of the completed cracked wall tiles.

Closeup photo of the cracked tile background.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Here's the view out the back window of Rapture. I messed up a little with a glue smudge on one building, but left it because I knew that the Big Daddy's body would hide it. Also, there's my signature on a neon sign- SB!

Simple blue skyscrapers with yellow lights and red neon details for the Rapture background outside the window. There are spotlights even further back.

The artist's signature, a stylized "SB" on a neon sign on one of the buildings.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

As I built the characters, I would lay them on top of my main template to see how I was coming along and if I needed to make any adjustments.

Overhead photo of 7 completed splicers, the big daddy, and little sister overlaid on the full template

Similar photo as before, but now with all of the completed splicers and weapons added over the template.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

The splicers in the foreground were pretty big and simple, so I don't have many behind-the-scenes photos of them, but here's the bandaged splicer. I made sure his paper was textured enough for visual interest. I love the bandage paper!

The back of a splicer's head to be seen in the foreground of the final illustration. It's a dark-haired man with a bandage wrapped around his head.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Some little guns for one of the male splicers!

The artist holds two paper revolvers between her fingers with the crafting setup visible behind- including the cutting mat, template, glue, and most of a male splicer who will be holding the guns.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

The final female splicer, who won't be crawling on the wall, but hiding around the doorframe to try and hit the little sister.

A female splicer, in a crouched position and a torn red dress. She wears a rabbit mask and holds up a lead pipe in preparation to attack.

A closeup photo of the female splicer's head.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

All of the completed female spider splicers.

Three paper figures of female spider splicers. One on top wears blue and a spider mask, the middle is in green with a rabbit mask, and the bottom is in a yellow dress with a rabbit mask. They all hold a hook in each hand and are smiling menacingly.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

The completed splicer!

The fully-assembled female spider splicer in her torn green dress and bunny mask.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Here's my favourite spider splicer, all cut up and being put together.

The female spider splicer in a green dress is seen with all of her pieces cut out but not glued together. The pieces are on a cutting mat and part of her template is visible.

A closeup of the female spider splicer, upper torso now built, being held by the artist.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

All of the splicer masks were built with as few pieces as possible. I tried to keep all of the gold trim cut out of a single piece of paper for each one, and succeeded! The worst one to do that with was the spider mask!

8 sparkling white masquerade masks inspired by rabbits, cats, a bird, and a spiderweb, with gold trim, overlaid on a dingy blue piece of paper.

The spider mask that gave the artist a heart attack to cut out of a single piece of gold paper

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

A test layout of the Big Daddy with the Little Sister!

An angled photo of the Big Daddy figure with the Little Sister paper figure below it. They are on a light blue piece of paper with tweezers visible in the background.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

And the Big Daddy, finished.

A close-up photo of the completed Big Daddy's torso.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Here's a little video of me turning the Big Daddy around in my hands to show off the depth and textures!

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

When I attached the copper tubing to his helmet, I made it stand out to give it a 3D effect.

The Big Daddy metal torso piece, now with the copper tubing attached to the front. It has lots of depth to it to give a 3D effect.

The same Big Daddy torso, turned to the side, to show the depth between the added copper tubing and the body.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Here's the Big Daddy in progress. I used a single type of gold paper for this piece except for the sparkling red light in his helmet and the copper piping. The gold paper has lines on it, so by turning the paper vertically or horizontally, it captured the light in different ways.

The Big Daddy's helmet and main metal body piece being held in the artist's hand.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

And here's the final template! It drove me crazy!

Black and white digital line drawing of the splicers, big daddy, and little sister in Rapture, to be printed and used as a template for cutting out the paper pieces.

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Steph Blakey @manifestephanie.bsky.social · Aug 22

I drew and cleaned up the background first, since it was going to be the most elaborate one I'd have ever made, then I did a rough overlay for the characters.

Black and white digital lineart of the background- a cracked wall, art deco doorframe, and underwater city of Rapture.

The same black and white background, now with the characters drawn on roughly in red and pink to figure out the layout.

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