Seattle man creates true-to-life Lamborghini out of cardboard

Taras Lesko works as a graphics design artist for Forza Motorsport — the hit racing game for Xbox. And it was his love of cars, and an intense desire to express himself, that led Lesko to explore paper engineering as a hobby in 2008. Based out of Seattle, his latest piece cost over $1,000 in materials, and measures eight feet in length. Amassing more than 100 hours of manual labor, Lesko created a lifelike Lamborghini Aventador, made of nothing but cardboard.

Having dabbled in smaller models, the Lamborghini police interceptor -- named the Aventador A-E2 -- started as a dare by his wife. The idea was to create a large cardboard car that stands as close to real-life as possible, while still fitting through their home's front door. All in, the Lambo weighs 25 lbs., and needed countless hours of computer aided design before constructing the piece even began.

Watch Lesko's amazing time-lapse video as the Aventador goes from cardboard to car.

After creating the car, Lesko sells the kits on his website to help cover his costs: "If things work out, I would love to do my paper engineering on a full-time basis," Lesko told Yahoo Autos. Aiming to build his cardboard art for companies seeking out-of-the-box marketing schemes, Lesko also wants to share his passion with other fellow design artists: "Ultimately my goal is to continue expressing myself as an artist, inspiring people, and building a community of like-minded individuals who enjoy visual arts as much as I do," he said. His Facebook page displays images where others have utilized his kits and shared their success stories.

"I am very pleased with the final outcome of this experiment," Lesko continued. "I learned many new lessons and the artwork makes a great display on my wall." While it set him back $1,000, the creative experience, according to the man himself, "was well worth it."

Photo: Taras Lesko