CatherineC

So, I was lately wondering what kind of models did you have or still have the biggest problems with? I'm rather asking people with a few years of experience in origamis and already pretty advanced skills, but of course beginners are free to chip in with easier projects. Basically, we can keep this discussion at most difficult models ever, that only a handful of people are actually able to do properly, but that would heavily limit us, so we can expand to what creations were the hardest for you in particular? When I was a beginner I used to have problems even with simpler projects like a Chick, so I'm not gonna mention projects of this level and rather focus on what has proven to be especially troublesome for me now.

I was recently trying to do an Antique Dragon from Satoshi Kamiya's book. He is the absolute legend and I'm sure you are all familiar with his art and skills already, hard to not be actually, if you have even the slightest interest in origami. Back when I was starting, I was mostly focusing on things, that can be achieved with origami. Like what creations are there possible to do - what kind of level is possible to achieve and who is the best. I quickly realized that this is an art, and as it is with art, it's impossible to name somebody who's best at it, as art is different for everyone, but we can all agree upon certain names that had the biggest influence on origami's development and those, that all the time surpass our expectations. Satoshi Kamiya is definitely one of these people. As for potential in Origami - in my opinion, it's pretty much unlimited. I mean, everything can be achieved and its solely dependent on our very imagination. This is the limit - we ourselves are the limit, not origami, origami offers much more than we can imagine and only what we imagine is the limit that we currently see. During my attempts to create Antique Dragon I realized just how much I still need to learn in Origami. I have eventually managed to complete it, but even with step-by-step instructions it has surely took me a bit. Now imagine creating something of this level without having a book with detailed instructions? Just coming up with the idea in your head and creating it in paper. Insane if you ask me. I'm pretty sure I will never reach this level, no matter how much I will try, but I will sure keep trying :)

So yeah, Antique Dragon was definitely a hard nut for me to crack. As for others very complex models, that I have struggled a lot with I can name:

- Sitting Rabbit by Hideo Komatsu - as long as it may seem to not be that hard, I was kind of getting lost in the middle of the intruction all the time. Definitely it's a pretty complex one, we can say so just by the look of it, but I still thought it will be easier for me. Compared to Antique Dragon for example, it definitely looks like the easier one, but while I was actually in the process of creating, it surely didn't seem so anymore. Maybe it was just me though.

- Violonist by Hojyo Takashi - ok, this one got me good. It was so far the hardest model, that I have created. I managed to do it in the 5th try, but still it was pretty far from the perfection. I could have been able to do this one, but I will definitely give it a try again in 6 months or a year, when I polish my skills a little bit more. For now it just seemed like it was a little bit too much, yet I have not given up and I carried on my duty as I intended to.

There were others, that have given me a lot of trouble as well, but not as much as those 3 mentioned above, but they were also done on a different skill level. Projects that I was struggling with as much as with Violonist 2 years ago were fairly easy for me to do now, so I have sure improved. But those 3 were done quite recently (last 6 months), which I consider to be my peak, so I believe it's more relevant to list only those that were the hardest for you when you were in your best shape :)

Looking forward to an fruitful discussion :)

Coffeegirl

Wow, then you must be really good if you were able to complete those models. For now, they all seem to be impossible for me to do - totally out of reach unfortunately, but maybe in a few years... :P I'm a beginner, so my opinion here isn't as relevant as what I struggle with you guys must be doing in your sleep, but I have been recently trying to do Augustar Star and well, it took me a while to get it right - 6 tries in total, but managed to get it done eventually. It's looking really beautiful by the way, so if you haven't done that, I urge you to do that :P Really amazing for some decoration.
I also struggled a bit with creating Totoro - it's kind of like a square cat with a big smile, very cute once you actually do it. I totally couldn't get it right at the beginning, but then swiftly created a very nice one in a third try.
I also found a nice tutorial for a crown box over the internet - the box itself was quite tall and as long as it seemed really easy, I have struggled a lot with getting it done. I mean, I have completed it in the first try, but it was far from what it looked like on the picture, so I kept trying until I got it right and felt satisfied from my work.
And now the one, which have given me the most problems despite it being fairly easy to do, at least for most people - Puffy 3D Heart. As long as I have practiced 3D origamis a little bit and suprisingly I was doing pretty much okay with that, getting this hard to indeed be puffy and a little bit pushed forward was literally a nightmare. I spent a lot of time on that, but giving up was never my intention, so I have eventually gotten it right, but still there is room for improvement if you ask me.

Those models, that I have struggled with must seem easy for you, but well, everyone was a beginner once ;)

Flying Deidara

Don't worry Coffeegirl. I haven't done any of those you listed apart from a 3D Puffy Heart few years ago and I'm not sure if we followed the same tutorial, but it gave me some troubles as well. I, on the other hand was actually pretty much horrible with any kind of dimensional origami, so both pushing it forward and maintaining a 3D structure was quite of a problem for me. But yeah, don't worry about that, just keep trying. For example, now it is relatively easy for me, but just a couple years ago it was really hard. As with everything else, you improve by practicing, so worry less, create more!

Now, as for hardest models in my career, that I have been doing in my very best, so fairly recently I could name: Mantis from J. Langa - ow, how much time I have spent to get it right, F-18 Hornet Plane (you can easily find a tutorial on the internet just by googling this phrase) - at the beginnign it seemed to be fairly easy, but getting the wings and the tail right was extremely hard. Just creating one is intermediate at best, but to give it a nice and real look, well, that's whole other level! Elephant, but the advanced one, that looks just like a real Elephant - really hard, I believe it took me 3 or 4 tries and I was extremely focused on every single one of those, completing every single one and then throwing them away when I didn't like them. I also done some sketches during the process to get the better evaluation of what I'm looking for in general. But, it was extremely fun and it was one of my most satisfying models, that I have ever done ;)

Last one, that definitely deserves to be mentioned here is Crab - just a simple crab, but looking very real, I have obviously used a paper of the right color too and hands down, that was the most satisfying work I have ever done and also I believe, the hardest one. It could be because I felt like I have never done anything of this sort. As it's a crab, I had to keep it pretty much flat, but then again pretty dimensional so it resembles the real crab. Besides, I couldn't find many instrucitons towards doing this one and out of 5 books I have, I didn't find it any of those, so had to rely totally on the internet. But I told myself, that this is what I'm doing, I have motivated myself and eventually pulled it off. I believe, it took me around 10 tries to finally get it right - sure, I have had many drafts that were 'okish', but they were just okish, they weren't good enough to satisfy me and I'm sure most of you would have done the same. I had to do one looking exactly like the one I saw on the picture. Period. And I have achieved my goal, what has made me tremendously happy :)

I never tried any of those, that seem to be even more complex like Violonist or Antique Dragon, but I have seen them many times already and I believe it's finally the time to get it rolling. I will let you guys know how it went for me and judgind by the complexity, it will be most likely posted here :)

Catapult

Nice thread. I have done Antique Dragon as well - very fun model, but extremely hard to get it right. No wonder that you had problems with completing it, even if you are advanced in origami and have completed a lot of different arts, to really get it right, you have to do it at least once. After that everything gets easier. As for my top 5:

1) Gryphon by Kade Chan, done about a year ago and by far definitely the one, that I had to spend the biggest amount of time on. Very satisfying effect though.

2) 3D Peacock with Fanned Tail - isn't that hard once you actually understand how dimensional origami works, but as I still didn't have enough practice with 3D, it was extremely hard for me to get it done.

3) Bull - seemed fairly easy at the beginning, but definitely gave me a hell. I'm looking forward to do it again though as it was extremely fun and quite unusual in its own way.

4) Antique Dragon - as I said already, quite hard, but very satisfying effect. The instructions included in the book are great though and frankly even though it's probably harder than some of those I have listed above, perfectly written instructions made it much easier

5) Complex Bear - I already had a couple of Bears done before, much easier one though and I frankly thought, that this one will go much smoother for me.

Albatrose

Well, suprisingly the hardest origami for me to complete so far was... an Albatros. No, I didn't make a spelling mistake in my name, I wanted it to be Albatros"e". But yeah, this one was pretty hard, sure, for your it's probably pretty easy, but I'm a beginner and only had a couple of projects completed so far. Another one that forced me to focus a lot was Traditional Rabbit - it was actually more intermediate than a beginner level, but I'm glad that I have eventually got it done. As for the others - well, I still didn't do much and I was starting right from the very easiest ones, so I guess nothing more to mention here, for now.. :P

Leonard

Wow, you have done pretty complex models guys. I have actually done most of them. Antique Dragon sure is hard, but after a few completed, it's getting pretty easy. The Violinist though is on a different level. I have done a couple of them and even then I feel like I didn't get it right exactly. Surely the one, that I would put on my list without a hesitation. I will probably give it another try this week, we will see if I will be able to achieve satisfy myself completely this time :)

Gryphon by Kade Chan is hard too. No wonder you have put it as the hardest on your list, it's definitely in my top 5 as well. I have only completed it two times, I wonder if I will be to do any better now as it was some time since I have last created one. Will need to give it a go to.

Mantis is one of my favorite though and I definitely didn't have as much hard time as you did. But, I understand that it's extremely hard to get all those details right. I have completed Mantis around 5 times, last time in January. Possibly I will give it a go too soon, it's always fun to create one.

Haven't built the Crab that you mentioned. I mean, there is quite a few similiar crabs and as long as I have built one that fits the description in the past, I think we are talking about a different crabs. A picture would settle this, but still, those complex animals are always a pain - same with Elephant. Seems fairly easy to do, but once you get on it, there is just so many elements that are imperfect and that you could improve on. Besides, there is many patterns and many instructions, so it's actually better to always refer to a certain book from which it comes.

If I am to be honest, even if I have completed many, many different projects, I still have quite a lot of to do. Books of complex origamis by our masters are full of less-known and equally hard and satisfying models. Surely gotta do quite a lot of them before I give a try to my end-game Ryujin next year :)

Denzi

I'm slowly getting more and more into origami and I have noticed quite a funny thing. Coming from drawing to the origami, I realized that I have already done most of models. Well not exactly the same, but very similar ones, dragons, animals, it was all already done in this or the other way, so I feel like I actually have an easier time doing new models than a typical beginner as I already have a certain vision of how I want it to look like. Although, I still didn't try any of complex projects like those you guys mentioned here - I wouldn't stand a chance right now. Even if I didn't have any problem at all with drawing it, creating it with paper is an entirely different beast, so I'm trying to not go above the indermediate range, and even those from here give me tons of problems. For example a fairly easy (or so it seems) Swan by Robert J. Lang proved to be extremely hard. I still feel like I didn't get it entirely right and I have spent really a lot of time on it. Same with Frog by Jun Maekawa - looks pretty easy, but once you actually start doing it, it's getting extremely hard to get everything right. Drawing would be easy, but here feels like I really need to get the structure right and instructions are not always enough accurate for me to do that. Or maybe that's because I still have relatively very little experience with Origami. Two days ago I have also given a try to Butterfly by Robert Lang, but despite 5 tries I just couldn't make it. Even though when we look at the picture it look like a pretty easy one, once you actually start creating it, you instantly notice it's complexity and then I have realized, that I'm far above my current level. Of course I hate to give up, failing is part of the learning process and can be fun too if done in the right mindset, but eventually had to postpone it a little bit. Gonna do a couple of more easier projects and give it a go again.

Some day I hope to get onto stuff like you guys have mentioned here. Would be lovely to get on this level someday :)

SaraXK

Nice thread! To be honest, there were many arts that have given me a lot of trouble over the years, but as for my personal top 5, I will definitely have to put Icarus by Hojyo Takashi here - this one literally made me eyes water, but in the end it's extremely beautiful and brings you tons of satisfaction. Obviously the mentioned above Violonist deserves a spot in my top 5 as well. I definitely need to give it a go again, and now that you have made this topic and reminded me of it, I will definitely have to do it sooner than later :) Ryujin 3.5 by Satoshi Kamiya - this is one of the most complex origamis I have ever seen. Never got it right and from what I know, many non-professional origami makers have struggled with it a lot. Similiarly to Leonard, I wish I will be able to make one properly in the future. As for now, I am still practiing with many other projects and I will probably give it a go in the next few months to see how much I have improved since the last time I tried to complete it (I was basically 3/4 way done).

Another one would be Chi-Wing Fighter by Wayne Ko - definitely a very hard one, that has made sweat a lot. Basically completing it isn't that hard, but let's be honest - in the book it looks absolutely stunning, right? And in order to get one looking just like in the book, you need to be really careful and accurate, and this is what was the hardest part for me. Last one would be Sheep by Master Kawasaki - it's entirely different than most of the origamis I have done so far. Not only it looks different, but all the step you have to follow are like a total opposite of what you were doing so far. This one got me good, but eventually made it work (with a lot of tries!).