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Colorful 3D Paper Designs Beautifully Showcase Emotion

In 2006, then-graphic designer Yulia Brodskaya abandoned the computer in favor of paper art. It always held a special fascination for her, and she now draws with paper instead of on it. The artist's unique images are no doubt eye-catching; she utilizes the relatively simple technique of quilling to carefully cut and bend the material into lush, vibrant 3D designs.

Brodskaya's illustrations have graced the advertising campaigns of companies like Target, Sephora, and Starbucks, but she's also created a series of portraits that celebrate her love of the craft. These heavily-detailed works are colorful representations of people and fantastic characters. Using bended paper strips, she forms patterns that translate into the wrinkles on someone's skin or the folds in their sweater.

Brodskaya also uses paper as a way to show emotion and the passing of time. In an especially poignant piece, we see an older woman wearing a scarf around her head. The image features a black background, and the delicate curls of the white-colored paper seem to fade into it.

Yulia Brodskaya website

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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