The Origami Forum

I'd like to put together a blog post where several skilled origami artists each offer one tip or a bit of advice about how people can get better at origami.

I'd like to say that I'm at somewhat of an intermediate level in origami and I'd definitely like to get better. Aside from practicing a lot I'm not really sure what else you can do. I kind of feel like I've plateaued, I'm not improving anymore and I'm sure a lot of other people are in the same situation as me.

If anyone who is at a pretty high origami skill level wants to share with me their number one tip or advice on how they got better I'd really appreciate it. I think a blog post like this would definitely help other people get motivated and get better at origami.

Don't worry about how long it is and don't feel like you have to contribute either.

If you're interested please send me a private message with whatever advice you'd like to offer as well as a link to your website that I can put that link in the post by your name.

Depending on how much of a response I get and how quick that response is I hope to get the post done and online in less than a week. I'll post a link here too once its up.

Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to offer some advice and help us all out.

this is more of a general tip, but i found it very rewarding to try out different forms of origami, like tessellations, modular, and others. When i came back to do some representational folding, i found my skills were better. Though this might not work for people, it worked for me .

also, andreas rose (diagrams on alex barber's site) is great for improving neatness, i found.
Hope this helps

That does help. Do you have a name you want me to use in the article to quote you or should I go with Gfolder. And if you have a website I'd like to include that too.

You can quote me with my real name Chris Hone, but I unfortunatly do not have a website.

There is only one way to get better for me: that is to challenge myself an excessivly large amount. And Chris's idea is a very helpful one.

before you start designing, you should fold as many of others designs as you can. pay close attention to every fold and realize its purpose. you should also memorize their methods of folding diferent parts. i just designed a stag beetle and used robert langs kabuto mushi legs. the results were great! try different papers and find the different methods and tricks of folding with that paper. lastly, figure out what papers best suit your tastes and styles of folding.

Origamifreak that was great, do you have a full name that you're comfortable giving out to use in the post?

kavi wrote:Origamifreak that was great, do you have a full name that you're comfortable giving out to use in the post?

yep. Nicholas LaFleur

Thanks, I've got some excellent advice now from four people. I'm hoping to get at least 10 in my expert advice roundup post.

What I do to improve is fold lots of CPs and fewer diagrams. For me, Diagrams are more to improve folding technique, but they don't give much insight to design. CPs show exactly how paper is allocated, how points are formed, and how these points are all connected together (easily the hardest part of designing is adding creases between points). They also show how to use and incorporate multiple design styles.

heyyyy it's Zoraz! Haven't seen you in awhile.

Kavi, you haven't plateaued. You've just done the easy part... now the hard work begins. The only way to get better at origami is to fold carefully and keep at it.

Nothing worth learning comes easily.

this tip can be applied to anything really

if you can't fold something,

try folding another model that is 2x as hard.....even if you fail

then go back and try that model again.


I jumped straight into folding Phoenix (also my first crease pattern) and ANcient dragon because I couldn't do the wizard. Now I can do all of em.

I apply this also when I dance and other skills in my life.

Great advice kquan. Do you have a name you're comfortable giving for the post and a website you'd like me to link to?

I've got seven pieces of advice now from seven different people and I was hoping for at least ten bits of advice for this post. If anyone else wants to offer up any expert advice by all means please go ahead.

Andrew already said to fold carefully, someone said to try models that look harder than what you think can do...That's all the advice I had

yes I believe that folding all sorts of models helps, for example try some difficult old diagrams like Kirschenbaum's rock crab to help you in your diagram decription skills, some human figures by Hoyjo takashi to help the finesse of your folding and the ability to lay out crease patterns in the full paper, some tiling and tasselations to help the precision and quality of your folding, and some free folding to explore the techinques you have obtained and to help you build a larger repertoire of moves and effects.
I specially like the perfect division of a central point to test out my students when they want to start out with difficult subjects like langs insects and the like, I allways say if you can do the perfec division in a central point cleanly you probably have the skills to fold an easy one like the butterfly from insects 2
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