On the heels of the life-size elephant Taro’s created for the Cannes Lions Festival, was this little gem of a project.  A life-sized monkey isn’t quite the same scale as an elephant, but the level of detail provided a fun set of challenges for senior artists Frank Ling and Ben Friesen.  The model was used by the NY marketing agency Manifest as a part of the Effie Awards in 2018.

To begin with, computer-whiz Frank got to work creating a wire-frame three-dimensional representation of the origami sample that the client provided.  Some quick internet searching resulted in the knowledge that a full grown chimp is about 4 feet tall, so that was the starting spot.  You can see the stance on the computer monkey was also taken from the origami model, and some more cartoonish features were added as it has a longer face and larger ears.  Frank also spent some time playing with the lighting in the computer render program so that you can better see what the model would look like under the lights.

These first few renders were then sent off to the client and resulted in a new round of edits.  First- even though the monkey needed to be made entirely from cardboard for the project, they suggested finding a way to bring in the two-toned aspect of the origami model.  Second- they asked about making the face a little more realistic, so Frank added the mouth, nose and eyes.  Third- they asked a bit about adding some small details like the front thumbs and other assorted items.  Have a look at the final reference image to see all the amazing tweeks the studio was able to add to make everyone happy.

And with that adorable chimp approved and everyone excited, Frank and Ben got to work putting the guy together in time for the client’s deadline.  To start with both the traditional brown cardboard and black foamcore were all machine-cut into the precise pieces needed for the model.  Then through a series of slices and dices with rulers and blades, Ben was able to get all the parts folded with the proper valley and mountain creases.

Once all the parts were cut and folded, Frank took them over and began the assembly process.  Using a rather absurd amount of glue, the different parts of the monkey were assembled in smaller sections (like the arms, and ears you can see Frank “monkeying around” with below) and then brought together to start building the figure.  Finally, the main body was completely assembled.

The most labor-intensive part of the model was the face though and it took about 3 hours of work to complete.

Ben then had the honor of holding the head and body together for about 10 minutes while all the glue dried.

Frank here can be seen beaming with pride over his finished full-sized cardboard chimp.  All told it was about 15 hours or total construction time.