Artist Uses Cardboard Cutouts to Create Fantastical “Sunset Selfies”

“Some moments are beyond words.”

Watching the sunset helps you slow down and appreciate the small moments in life. But for writer and Emmy award-winning TV producer John Marshall, it’s also time to let his imagination run wild. While living alone in a small cabin on Frye Island in Maine, he watched the nightly sunsets and was inspired to start a new creative project. He challenged himself to create cut-out silhouette art that incorporates the colorful sky every day for 30 days. By the time the month was over, he was hooked; so he decided to continue his daily ritual. Today, Marshall’s series, titled Sunset Selfies, includes hundreds of playful silhouette artworks that each have a story to tell, featuring the artist himself as the main character.

Marshall uses simple cutting tools to cut out each silhouetted motif from cardboard. “As a writer and a filmmaker, I like to get away from the computer each day and make something with my hands,” he reveals. “So I get a big piece of cardboard, draw something, cut it out fast with a knife and scissors, then go pose with it at sunset.” As he sets up each image, Marshall always manages to incorporate his own silhouette into the scene.

The crafty artist creates his own worlds, where he appears to play and interact with his silhouette characters in the most charming—and often hilarious—ways. From warming his hands on dragon fire to freeing a mermaid from a plastic net, each image has its own fantastical narrative. Marshall calls his practice “cardboard magic” and believes his images are like single-panel cartoons. He even writes funny captions on each one to reveal the stories behind them.

Check out Marshall’s latest silhouette art below and follow him on Instagram for even more.

Using the sunset a a backdrop, artist John Marshall creates whimsical silhouette art from cardboard.

“I'm not sure why you have to hold the tail of the guy in front of you. I'm just glad I'm last in line.”

His series, Sunset Selfies, features the artist himself playfully interacting with his handmade cardboard characters.

“The plan was to attack at sunset and so I prepared for the battle ahead. Astride my armored Corgi, I felt oddly invincible, not worried in the least that her stubby yet powerful legs would keep me low to the ground and thus in the middle of the melee. No matter. In my experience, there was no more reliable steed than my beloved Annette, and I had no doubt she'd win the day again. And so after a steadying pat to her trembling flank, I raised my sword high, let out a triumphant yalp and charged headlong into the fray. OK, “charged” isn't really the right word. Annette did that funny little hop-run thing she does. But the point is…the battle began.”

“My niece Emily is down visiting from Massachusetts, so I'm taking her on a few classic Florida adventures. First stop: Dolphin Riding! Anyone else want to come?”

“Hey! Who took a bite of my apple?” I asked the three Presidents. “I can not tell a lie,” George said. “I did not do it.” “They don’t call me ‘Honest Abe' for nothing,” Abraham said. “I didn’t do it either.” Then it was Donald’s turn. He swallowed what was in his mouth and simply said, “Obama!”

“I didn't ask how she got the plastic six-pack holder stuck around her neck. I was just happy to help.”

“At a moment when violence and deep hatred is literally burning across our country, I offer this image as a call for peace and a prayer that one day every black boy and girl will be able to grow up in the United States with respect, opportunity and safety.”

“It was a dark night; I didn't get out till well after sunset. And really, I couldn't see much. But on the bright side, I think I found the first firefly of the season.”

“Okay, little guy. You can do it. Just one word and you get the treat. Can you say: John? Jaaawwwn.”

“Are you ready to switch yet? I think I've had just about enough of the milk crate.”

“I'd never really given it much thought… but tonight, as my brothers chirped on and on about their favorite kind of worm and my sisters pecked mites out of their feathers, the idea occurred to me that perhaps I'd been adopted.”