Paperboyo is an artist with a school-boyish charm who has captured the hearts and minds of thousands across the world. Using Instagram, Paperboyo has collected over 540k followers with his witty reimaginings of iconic landmarks. And his weapon of choice? Paper.
Before he was a recognised artist, Paperboyo (aka Rich McCorr) moonlighted as a magician. Illusion, creativity, and charisma all feed into his art which has earned him over 540k Instagram followers and collaborations with some of the biggest brands in the world. Using little black paper cut-outs, Paperboyo has re-envisioned the world’s most famous landmarks and captured the attention of an international Instagram crowd.
“What could I do that’s a bit different?”, Paperboyo wondered to himself when first starting out. Striving for the new and the different is undoubtedly what has allowed him to develop such a unique style. He names Christoph Nieman and Salvidor Dali as key inspirations whose work “gave me permission to not feel like I needed to stick to some sort of formula”. He admits that there is some trial-and-error involved in his work, and satisfaction when he gets it right. “The first proper one was Big Ben in London,” he says, and as if it were a stroke of fate, clock bells began to ring in the background. “It was a wristwatch paper cut-out, and I held it up so that the clock face of Big Ben showed through the middle of the wristwatch. When that went up on my Instagram and it performed well, that was when I thought, ‘Okay, other people enjoy this as well’”.
But don’t be fooled by the simplicity of his work- his creative process is rigorous. He spends countless hours searching through the world’s best architecture and discovering “hidden gems”. With an international career, he often is commissioned to produce works for tourism and so a lot of his research is based online. Only pursuing ideas that follow his “gut instinct”, once he’s on a trail he’s meticulous. He uses Instagram, Flickr, Google Images, and even a digital ramble through possible locations using Google Street View to find a subject. After this, he “messes around with some ideas”. He doodles and sketches to work through ideas, trying to find at least ten he likes. Then he designs them on his computer, prints, and cuts them out by hand. The final step is to take his designs to the location, and he admits that usually two or three just don’t work in real life.
Our conversation reveals that Paperboyo’s raw talent, combined with passion and drive are the secrets to his success. Like any good magician knows, preparation is essential for a good performance. I think it’s fair to say that he’s still a magician, but instead of cards, his magic of choice is now little black paper cut-outs.
You can find out more at:
Instagram: @paperboyo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paperboyo
Website: https://paperboyoprints.com/