An artist has created hundreds of fantasy scenes using just paper cutouts and sunsets

He said he recently received a call from a teacher in Pennsylvania who gave their class a home assignment to create a silhouette at sunset. Marshall said he would love if people were inspired by his work to give the hobby a try.

"Sunset selfies are very old school, very hands on," he said. "It's something that's tangible. It's not a digital thing."

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The caption on this one reads: "After not finding any toilet paper for several weeks, I finally spotted a roll down on the rocks tonight at sunset. It was an adult male, soft and plump but heavily armed. I approached with nervous excitement.
 'One step closer and I'll wipe that smirk right off your face,' the toilet paper shouted in defiance. 
If anyone's gonna do any wiping, it's gonna be me, I thought as I lowered my net."

Speaking to Insider, Marshall said, "People during this time are looking for something lighter. Everything is just so heavy lately. I try to keep positive and upbeat and fun – just a little moment of something lighter in your day is something we could all use right now."

"I was going to go down to Florida to visit my folks but [I'm] not going to go during this time," he said. "I would hate to bring [the coronavirus] to them or endanger them in anyway."

The caption on this photo reads: "Hey, everyone! I think I caught it! We can come out now!"

Marshall's parents live in Florida, and he will visit them from time to time. Some of his larger projects become difficult to handle by himself, due to the wind pushing against the cardboard.

To create the image of a dragon on a leash, Marshall had to break it up into two shots. He took a picture of the dragon against the sun and then a picture of himself. To create the tension on the leash and the illusion of a dragon flying away, Marshall had his father tug on the other end.

"Most of the time I like to do it completely as a solo art project but I'm not against occasionally having a little help if I need it," he said.

Marshall had spent a lot of time in India working at an orphanage and missed being there. He spent a week slowly cutting out the intricate shapes of the Taj Mahal. When he went to the beach to take the photo, a little girl with a sand pail asked if she could be in the photo too.

Marshall said he loved that he was able to get his cutout to perfectly align with the sun as it set. "That one always feels kind of special to me," he said.

"That's the best because then you get the sky which is full of color and you get the water which is full of color," Marshall said, whether it's a calm lake or choppy ocean. "You really just have a blank canvas of color to work with."

The caption on this photo reads: "Coronavirus, stalling economy, no toilet paper. What else could go wrong?"

Sometimes Marshall will know right away that he has the perfect shot, but getting the silhouette of the horse jumping over the rock proved to be a challenge.

"I think I took 75 pictures to get the splash that I liked and just kept shooting and shooting and shooting," he said.

Marshall usually has half an hour to capture his shots.

"Some days it's amazing," he said of the sky. "It's better than you can possibly imagine. And some days it's not so good. Some days it's terrible."

He'll put his camera on a self timer, so he can act as both the cinematographer and subject of his work.

"I have to reevaluate, 'Am I close? Am I at the right angle? How do I tweak the picture?'" he said. During a single sunset, Marshall said he attempts to take photos of one or two silhouettes.

"I put an ad in the local paper, looking for fiddlers to play with. Maybe I should have been more specific," his caption reads.

He describes the experience as getting in touch with his inner child. When he posts his final photos to Instagram, Marshall will also include a funny caption.

The caption on this photo reads: "While I wait for lockdown to end, I decided to finally chop down the creepy old stump in my back yard. But as I approached it at sunset, I had a feeling it wasn't going to give up without a fight."

He approaches each picture as if it was a cartoon, and he carries around a notepad so he can jot down any ideas that come to him.

"Sometimes I'll just think of something I haven't done like an octopus. That might be visually pleasing," he said. "What could the octopus be doing? He could be in my glass. He could be on my head. Then I think as a cartoonist, what's the joke? What's the punchline?"

Marshall started creating cardboard silhouettes five years ago. He had been on an island in Maine watching the sun set when he noticed an empty beer box.

Getting a pair of scissors, he cut a crude alligator mask out of the cardboard and decided to take a picture of himself wearing it.

"My body and the box turned into a silhouette against the setting sun and looked like this alligator sitting on the rocks," he told Insider.