Mark of the Clones

I have a whole series of interesting paper crafts lined up for you, and thought I would start with a basic one that is easy to do, but looks great.

This would be ideal for younger children to make - it will help build confidence and get them interested in further paper crafts.

Bookmarks are a staple of simple classroom activities, and yet can be personalised enough to be great gifts, and quite frankly, who wouldn't want their books protected by the Grand Army of the Republic?

Firstly, I began by drawing the head and upper torso of a clone trooper. You'll notice that when I inked him in I changed some of the ratios, and only finished one side.


I could then scan this initial drawing and clean it up.


I then cloned (appropriately enough) the one half of the trooper, flipped him over and attached him together, filling in any missing bits.
(All done in Photoshop)


I then erased the features from the front, and drew the back of his head, plus the back plate. This ensured that the outline would be identical.


Next up, I attached the clones to standard bookmark templates, making them 7 inches tall and 2 inches wide.


I then used Photoshop to color in their helmets (although you could color them by hand if you wish).


I printed the bookmarks on thin, 65lb card stock and cut them out carefully. You'll notice I cut them out differently. I used small scissors and a steady hand to carefully cut out the red clone, but smaller children might want to use a simpler cutout shape, as with the blue clone.


Once the two halves were glued together, they looked really good and felt quite sturdy - good for a clone trooper.

And here they are being put to good use.


You might want to further protect your bookmarks with laminating film, and you could also add a personal message or a name to them - the galaxy's the limit!

Have fun!

** Feel free to contact me if you would like a PDF of the clone trooper bookmark templates**