Montroll Book Recommendations

[sandy5280]

I have worked through both "Teach Yourself Origami" books by John Montroll (only through the intermediate level). I have "Origami Sea Life" by Montroll and Lang, but I find Robert Lang harder to interpret.

Could anyone recommend some Montroll books, in order of difficulty, starting with low intermediate?

I need a lot of practice.

[Baltorigamist]

Origami Sculptures has a variety of models at different levels. I'd recommend that as a good place to start.

[bethnor]

my favorite montroll books are:

animal origami for the enthusiast
origami for the enthusiast
prehistoric origami (though i like this for historic reasons, since it is probably the first origami book with intermediate and complex dinosaurs ever)

as well as the aforementioned origami sculptures.

while i like individual models in his other books, past these is sort of where he enters his "same base for everything" phase and so the designs all tend to look alike. for instance, though his mythological creatures book is probably one of the first books with fantasy designs, most of the "chinese zodiac" models are sort of throwaways, it feels like.

[roodborst]

Safari origami is also a nice book with intermidiate animal models, by Lionel Albertino. And you can download it for free at origamishop.com.
North American animals by montroll was also nice. He made so many.books.

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

north American animals and African animals are my two favorite books by him. i'd also suggest origami inside out

[Cat.]

Could I have some Montroll book advice too please? Having reached my limit 3/4 of the way through Origami Zoo, I'm thinking of getting my first Montroll book for a bit of a change. I don't want anything too hard (i.e. averaging a bit easier than Origami Zoo really), but a bit of a challenge and something that will help me improve would be good. I know a few have been mentioned above, but I'm thinking of maybe having a change from the animals. The books that have particularly caught my eye in terms of the content are:
Dinosaur origami
Sea creatures in origami (this, or its previous version, seems polpular?)
Origami gone wild (I said maybe a change... )

Are any of these particularly good/complex/boring/anything else for or against please?

[sandy5280]

I like the way you phrased it, "...reached my limit". That is exactly what happens to me, although the people on this Forum have been very helpful in helping me to get a little further.

[kareshi]

I've posted this stuff before, but I did lots of John Montroll throughout the 90's. Ones I enjoy-
Origami Sea Life
African Animals in Origami
Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami
Prehistoric Origami
Origami Sculptures
North American Animals in Origami
the Polyhedra books
the Stars book

His birds and bugs don't do it for me- and there are many other books that are just compilations of older ones.

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

@Cat.
for the sea creatures book, the first edition, origami sea life, is out of print and extremely hard to obtain. The second edition was actually split into 2 different books
Sea creatures in origami and origami under the sea
sea creatures focuses more on the complex models like lobsters, crabs, and super detailed fish whereas origami under the sea focuses on the simpler, more elegant models.

[Mir Numaan]

why does every beginner folder start with John Montroll's books?
Sandy, Cat: you both should try HT quyet's amazing designs. They are very simple to fold and you can learn a lot about shaping from them. You can find tons of photo diagrams of his models on VOG forum. And the best of all, they are free and they can be easily folded with cheap stuff like kami.
EDIT are some of them
http://forum.origami.vn/index.php?threa ... quyet.738/
http://forum.origami.vn/index.php?threa ... quyet.765/

[kareshi]

@origamifreak_1.6180339889
It's not worth much comment since OP has Origami Sea Life, but OSL has been through 3 editions in its original model lineup, and the other two split books are separate from those. OSL second edition is $3 on Amazon, and the third edition is $17. Neither are rare.

[kareshi]

@Mir Numaan
Montroll's books demonstrate many standard origami moves that I'm not seeing in your examples. He's a good introduction to double sinks, layer wraps, point splits, and you're more well-rounded coming off JM - his moves apply to a wider range of designers for you to try next, compared to authors whose keep to their own style.

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

@kareshi
there are other origami sea life books? I haven't been able to find anything on them...
also, I was not talking to the op, I was talking to the person who asked about origami sea life. its worth comment because it helps someone.

[bethnor]

to clarify:

origami sea life third edition, by all appearances, is the same as the first edition.

the second edition, as stated earlier, was split into two.

really, the preferred edition is the second, since you have additional diagrams not found not found in the third (which is the same as the first). why they did this is anyone's guess.

and the reason to do montroll, is that, in many ways, he IS one of the fathers of complex origami. origami for the enthusiast is the first book credited with having detailed models from one square, no cuts. many credit him with coming up with the modern style of diagramming which is so ubiquitous now. montroll books are also easily accessible, running around 10-15 USD, as opposed to the +50 which is required for anything from gallery origami house or nicolas terry.

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

@Mir Numaan
montroll's models are the perfect bridge between traditional origami and modern origami. quyet's models are very modern and focus on complex maneuvers like wetfolding.... john montroll is a much better place to start off.