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Join Paper Stories: Crafting 3D Dioramas for Illustration and Children’s Books!

In this three-week workshop, you’ll learn how to transform simple materials like paper, paint, and foamcore into a miniature theatrical stage for storytelling. Together we’ll build a 3D diorama set, photograph it, and turn it into a beautiful portfolio-ready illustration.

Perfect for illustrators, picture-book artists, and curious creatives, this workshop will show you how tactile, handcrafted scenes can become powerful storytelling tools for children’s books, portfolios, and visual narratives.

Want to start building tiny worlds that tell big stories? Scroll down for full details and materials.

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let’s build a tiny world together

paper stories schedule

Week 1

Lessons

  • Building the Theatre Stage

  • Idea Generation and Sketch

  • Prepping Illustration

  • Color Palette

  • Creating Your Paper Library

  • Paper Techniques and Mixed Media

Homework

  • Theatre build with downloadable files

  • Color Palette Exploration

  • Creating Seaside Paper Library

Live Sessions

  • Sat June 6th 11am PT - Kickoff

  • Tue June 9th 9am PT

Week 2

Lessons

  • Building the Cottage

  • Shaping the Cliffs

  • Adding Seaside Details

  • Creating Trees

  • Crafting Clouds!

  • Designing Ground cover &Florals

Homework

  • Cottage build with downloadable files

  • Cliffs build

  • Trees, clouds and floral construction

Live Sessions

  • Tue June 16th 4pm PT

  • Thu June 18th 9am PT

Week 3

Lessons

  • Lighting the Set Intro

  • Light and Atmosphere

  • Cottage Lighting

  • Camera Basics/DSLR

  • Focus Stacking/Helicon Focus

  • Final Photoshop Touches

Homework

  • Photographing Set

  • Lighting Set (So Fun!)

  • Editing and Finalizing!

Live Sessions

  • Tue June 23rd 4pm PT

  • Fri June 26 9am PT

  • Sat June 27 4pm PT - Final Party

ELLY MACKAY VISIT!

Meet Elly Live As We Chat About Her Work with Q&A! Date and time to come.

here’s what you’ll get

live studio sessions

Throughout the workshop we’ll gather for relaxed live sessions where you can ask questions, share what you're working on, and get guidance as your scene takes shape.

Guided Video Lessons

A collection of thoughtfully paced lessons you can return to. We’ll move through the full process together, from sketch and painted paper to building, lighting, and photographing your finished diorama illustration..

A Visit with Elly Mackay

We’ll also welcome a special guest artist whose work in dimensional illustration has inspired many.

She’ll join us for a relaxed live conversation, sharing her creative process, how she approaches storytelling with physical materials, and answering questions from the class. We are so excited!

A Community of Makers

You won’t be building alone.

Inside the class space you’ll be able to share progress, exchange ideas, and cheer one another on as everyone’s paper theatres begin to grow. Often the most magical part of the workshop is seeing the completely different worlds that emerge from the same simple materials.

Student Gallery

  • Reinete Orr

    “One of the most enjoyable and satisfying art courses I’ve taken. The sheer joy of creating on such a tactile, primal level is life-changing.”

  • Daphne Liu

    “Samantha Cotterill’s Paper Stories class was a game changer for the way I look at my illustration work. I feel like I’ve unlocked new options that give my illustrations so much more depth and life.”

  • Torgeir Karlsen

    “This was a really nice experience.”

  • PJ Lyons

    “Over the years I’ve taken at least ten online art courses. Paper Stories with Samantha Cotterill was hands down the best I’ve ever taken. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and the class felt more like an in-person workshop than remote learning.”

  • David Montalvan

    “Samantha’s encouragement to let go of perfection and embrace the unique character of human-made work really stayed with me. She’s a talented educator whose passion and curiosity inspired me to take on something completely new.”

“One of the most enjoyable and satisfying art courses I’ve taken.The sheer joy of creating on such a tactile, primal level is life-changing.”

— Reinete Orr/ Paper Stories Student 2025

Paper Stories Workshop

‍$399

• A hands-on 3-week workshop in 3D paper illustration

• Step-by-step lessons from sketch to finished diorama

• Learn to design scenes using layered storytelling

• Build a sturdy theatre-style stage for your set

• Paint, cut, and construct expressive paper elements

• Simple techniques for lighting your miniature world

• Photograph your set with natural light and DSLR basics

• Focus stacking and light Photoshop polishing

• Helpful printables for tools, materials, and construction

• Live sessions for questions, insights, and feedback

• A welcoming community of illustrators creating together

• Create a finished seaside 3D illustration for your portfolio

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Sometimes the most beautiful thing you can add to an illustration is simply the evidence that a human hand was there…

Meet Samantha

Samantha Cotterill is an award-winning picture book author and illustrator known for creating richly layered illustrations using painted paper and handcrafted 3D dioramas. Her work brings stories to life through tactile sets, cut paper characters, and carefully lit miniature worlds built right in her studio.

Her books have been featured in The New York Times (as illustrator of Just Add Glitter, written by Angela DiTerlizzi, and A Grand Day, written by Jean Reidy) and in The Wall Street Journal for her artwork in The Jinx and The Doom Fight Crime! by Lisa Mantchev. Samantha’s distinctive dimensional illustration style has become a hallmark of her storytelling, blending traditional painting with sculptural paper techniques.

In addition to creating books, Samantha is a dedicated educator who loves sharing the joy of building tiny worlds by hand. Through her teaching, she guides artists step-by-step through the process of designing, constructing, lighting, and photographing 3D paper sets for illustration.

Samantha is also a host on the popular illustration podcast 3 Point Perspective and an instructor at the School of Visual Storytelling. She works from her studio in Upstate New York, where she continues to build miniature stages for stories—one paper world at a time.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We are building a tiny world, so some building supplies would be helpful! For this workshop, we’ll need Foam Board (or sturdy cardboard), tracing paper, a variety of papers such as watercolor paper, various glues, tape, cutting tools like scissors, rulers, paints, wooden craft dowels, floral wire, a DSLR camera with tripod (or phone camera), Photoshop, possibly Helicon Focus (which offers a free trial!). Plus a few optional extras like tweezers. You probably have a lot of this stuff hanging around at home!

    A detailed list will be available upon registration to allow adequate time to purchase. But I am a FIRM believer in working with what you have.

  • Once registration is complete, Samantha will review the participant list and offer a selection of live session times to help accommodate as many students as possible. The goal is for everyone to be able to attend at least a few live events. If schedules still make that difficult, all live sessions will be recorded and available for playback. Samantha will also remain active in the class chat throughout the entire three-week course, answering questions and connecting with students along the way.

  • Yes! This workshop includes multiple livestreams, where the instructor will answer questions and discuss common challenges students face. Sam will be very present in the community as well to answer any direct questions between live events. Think of this as shared studio time together for three weeks (the course will remain available for two months post class, enabling classmates to continue discussing work together).

  • You'll have access for 2 months to use the instructional videos and chat room for continued dialogue with other classmates once the three week course concludes.

  • The class is structured over 3 weeks, but you can work through it on your own schedule. Some sections may take longer than others, so the overall pace will vary from person to person. You'll have access to the content for 2 months after the class is over :)

  • If you are not already a member of SVSLearn, a student account will automatically be created for you once you enroll. This is where you will find the class content, the livestream details and private group chat. Please note that the main course content will be released weekly once the course officially kicks off. You'll also have multiple opportunities to join a livestream with the instructor to ask any questions you may have.

  • 100% refund if you cancel by Day 1.

    50% refund if you cancel by Day 3.

    No refunds after Day 3.

    But you’ll love it so much you won’t need one!