Layered cut-paper depth

A stag standing among receding layers of pine forest and mountain ridges, composed as a self-contained cut-paper piece with an irregular hand-cut outline, in a palette of deep teal, rust and cream. Layered cut-paper construction built from many thin sheets stacked in receding planes, each plane with a crisp hand-cut edge casting a soft deep shadow onto the plane behind it. Fine painted grain and subtle fibre texture cover every sheet. Shapes are simplified and graphic, intricate lacy cut-outs trace the nearest layers, and lighter, smaller shapes recede with atmospheric depth. Strong value contrast separates near layers from far ones, and the stack reads as a tangible handmade relief. The subject is isolated on a fully transparent background: no background at all, alpha = 0, not white, not colored, no checkerboard pattern. No ground, no shadow, no reflections; any shadow shown is only the illustration's own internal drawn shading.