For my cutout I chose to do one that represented Asian culture. In this I decided the mainly focus on the cultures of Japan and China as they are some of the more well known cultures from Asia. To represent Japan I made a Torii gate which is predominantly featured outside some temples in Japan. To also represent Japan I made a rising sun in the background as Japan is known as the land of the rising sun. To represent China I focused on their dance of the dragons. This started out as its own design but was eventually merged with another design.
(Drawn copy of the final design)
One issue I had along the way was making the basic designs. I had a great idea for Asian culture (the Torii gate and sun one) but other than that I had no idea of what to draw. However I spent time debating it and eventually created designs based on the dancing dragons, Tanabata and the Tokyo skyline predominantly featuring the Tokyo tower. However the Torii gate design felt a little bland and after a suggestion from the teacher, merged the design with the dancing dragon. Later on while cutting the design out of the black paper I had another issue. I had failed to realize that when some cuts were made tiny structural bits would fall off and cause the dragons to merge with the poles of the gate. However I managed to make precise enough cuts to keep the more important ones intact.
(The initial designs)
Looking back on it I feel like I could've done much better if I'd though ahead. I would've realized that parts of it would've fallen off and merged. I also feel like I could've improved the design by merging it once again with the Tanabata design by hanging the dream slips off of the dragons. However while there is all this I would fix I still feel like the final outcome is good even if it could be improved and either way I'm proud of my work.