Rat

Designed in 2013 (bottom), redesigned August 2017 (top)

Paper: 25cm square of printer paper

This is perhaps my oldest design that I still have; I still vaguely remember showing it to my friend after school in 5th grade. I started by making horizontal pleats across the back and curving it into a sorta spike ball, then freefolded the bp to make the rest of the body.

Eventually, I came back and lowered the grid size (from 32 to 12) to make it less skinny and easier to fold, but I still didn't really know what exactly it most looked like so for a while I just called it "rodent" or something. I now think a rat is the closest, but it can definitely be shaped into other things.

At any rate, here's the bottom line: understanding design theory and advanced techniques is great, but you don't need them to start designing. All you need is the imagination of a child.