I designed this model for Eric Madrigal's 2011 challenge “LA JUSTA DE LAS GARGOLAS: Dedicadas a Eric Joisel” [http://ori-justasyori-retos.blogspot.com/] (“THE JOUSTING OF THE GARGOYLES: In honor to Eric Joisel” [http://joustingandchallenges.blogspot.com/]). So this model is obviously dedicated to this great French artist passed away on 10-10-2010 after fighting against lung cancer for years.

I already tried to design one for the same challenge in January-February 2011 but did not succeed as the pleats needed for creating the fingers and toes interfered with the other parts of the body. During the summer I had an idea on how to solve it, producing wide wings and all other body parts as I had in mind for the finished model. And here's the result.

I discovered that putting the pleats diagonally allowed me to fold all the other parts without being affected by these pleats. And most of all, the whole crease-pattern fit nicely in an 8x8 grid, with the right proportions of the main features and enough “wasted” paper for working on other details.

After having placed the pleats, I added two half-bird-bases for the wings (they then became two half-frog-bases) and two bird-bases for connecting the left and right arms and legs. The head is simply made using a frog-base in the corner and the tail just by thinning the opposite one.

In the end I used the paper wasted in the pleats for creating some spikes around the body, and the paper in the middle of the crease-pattern for creating scales on the belly. I'm satisfied with this model as it can be seen from every angle, even from the back. For folding it, start with a big square sheet (50cm or more) of quite thin and strong paper. You can use sandwich-paper, or treat it with methylcellulose, as the model needs an accurate shaping in the end.

The collapsing of the crease-pattern is not as complex as it seems, since, as said before, all the main creases are based on an 8x8 grid. Good luck!