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World-renowned, New York Times best-selling author and artist Matthew Reinhart studied industrial design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn before finding his calling as a paper engineer. His books include the best-selling Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs, Star Wars: Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy, The Pop-Up Book of Nursery Rhymes, and DC Comics Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, among many other award-winning titles. He lives in New York City.
We asked him questions about his extremely impressive career, his latest book Game of Thrones: A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros, and what’s on the horizon:
1. What was your first pop-up creation, and what gave you the idea?
Pop-ups weren’t really a big part of my childhood, unfortunately – my little sister tore apart the only one I had, which was appropriately about dinosaurs, within 24 hours of receiving it! That said, back then I was always building and constructing things out of paper and cardboard, whether I realized they were pop-ups or not. Back before digital music media and even CDs, we used to make mixtapes of pop music (prophetic, huh?) and I always included a miniature comic to go with each cassette. There was one person I was smitten with back then who inspired me enough to make a sort of pop-up comic scene for the mixtape package…amazing what puppy love will do, eh? I don’t know why I decided to make it, probably just wanted to enhance the scene a little. That little pop-up scene, the first pop-up I constructed, is thankfully back in my possession.
2. Did you have a mentor or artists that inspired you?
I’ve taken inspiration from countless artists, from ancient times to current young artists just coming out of art school (seriously)—there’s too many to name, really, but I’ll try.
•Paper Engineering inspirations: Vostech Kubasta, David Carter, Marion Bataille, and one of my former interns, Giovanni Iofrate
•Illustration inspirations: Peter Spier, Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, Will H. Bradley, Charley Harper, Raiph McQuarrie...too many to mention!
•Art movement inspirations: Art Deco, Grafitti – Urban Street Art, Photorealism, Impressionism, Superflat, Comic Book art (from the beginning to now), advertising artwork/graphics... even ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Babylonian!
3. Were there any creative challenges unique to the Game of Thrones pop-up that you hadn’t faced before?
Certainly, yes! The unfolding book/map concept was once of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever met. When I came up with the idea, I thought it would be appropriately awesome and so unique, but had NO idea if it would actually work. After many constructed concept models (most of which were tossed in the trash), I found a way to make it work, and our expert manufacturer, my friends at Sirivatana in Thailand, made the book’s mass production a reality.
4. How long did it take to construct?
The book took about four months to engineer from the beginning concept to final, although there was some lag time waiting to incorporate the incredible artwork of the uber-talented illustrator Michael Komarck.
5. Do you have a favorite pop in this book?
The pop-up for Winterfell I like quite a bit because it’s so intricate. I also love the Wall pop-up, because it becomes so large and impressive. The book/map transformation, though, remains my favorite paper engineering for this magnificent project.
