The Story of Papercuts

My name is Joel Eckert, 3D artist and founder of Big Little Pictures—a studio focused on high-impact 3D animation, design, and visual storytelling. For over 25 years, I’ve helped bring clarity to complex ideas through product advertising, technical animation, and visual storytelling.

As an artist and a visual, technical learner, I’ve always had a knack for connecting ideas in unexpected ways. So when I got into day trading, I assumed my analytical mindset would give me an edge. But being overly technical can backfire—you fall into analysis paralysis, overthink every move, and miss the bigger picture. Like many beginners, I struggled to find my footing in a market that often seems completely irrational.

Trading is like stepping into a black belt competition while you’re still a white belt. You might show up with big hopes, expectations, maybe even a strategy—but what you’re really up against is EXPERIENCE. The market is filled with seasoned pros who’ve earned their edge through time, losses, and discipline. If you don’t respect that, you’re bound to get kicked around. To stand a chance, you’ve got to slow down, learn the fundamentals, and earn your stripes—one trade at a time.

The name Papercuts reflects the small, stinging losses that ALL TRADERS MUST FACE—seemingly minor at first, but dangerous when they start to stack up. You can get cut up, or you can keep going—refining, adjusting, learning—until something finally clicks. The challenge for beginners is that you don’t yet know your own style or risk tolerance, so finding what works takes time, patience, and a whole lot of trial and error.

I explored countless tools, services, strategies, and indicators—often finding great ideas buried under clunky presentation. Most resources felt overwhelming, especially for someone with an already demanding job. Despite the frustration, I went deep—really deep—learning how things work, and was building my own custom market analysis tools just to make sense of it all. Over the years I’ve written hundreds of scripts for TradeStation and TradingView, gradually nudging my market and coding knowledge forward one day at a time.

Technical Trading is a seriously deep rabbit hole… but I actually enjoy the challenge.

Like many, things got more complicated before they got clearer. But eventually, I found a method that worked for me—something still intricate under the hood, but simplified on the surface. This was just like the work I do for my clients. That’s when I started to leverage my design sensibility with what I’d learned from the markets. Papercuts was born from the desire to make day trading more approachable—and even a little fun.

The card game, custom indicators, and market simulator that you’ll find on this site were all independently created with care and passion. Your support means everything. Every purchase helps sustain my small business and supports other aspiring traders on their journey.

Papercuts Trading tools and games mirror the spirit of Big Little Pictures: creating thoughtful, useful things that bridge the gap between complexity and clarity. Whether you’re new to trading or a seasoned pro, I hope this project adds value, inspires learning, and sparks a few memorable conversations along the way.

Special thanks to my trading friends, mentors and teachers. John Ehlers, Ross Cameron, Mike Herman, WarriorTrading, FusionEliteTrading, MattLarson, TechnicalAnalysisOfStocksAndCommodities, PineCoders , bjorgum, StratifyTrade, LonesomeTheBlue, ALifeToMake, schroederjoa

Curious about my other work? Visit Big Little Pictures to explore the visual side of what I do.

Thank You for Your Support!