Steampunk Star Wars Figures

jake on 2008.04.14 at 11:16 am

The art style referred to as steampunk has picked up momentum via the Internet. Merlin Mann even poked fun at the subculture recently with his steampunk penis pump video. Regardless how you feel about the movement it’s difficult to argue the end product cannot be beautiful. Go take a look at Sillof’s Workshop and the action figures he’s created. Including these reimaginings of Star Wars characters.

Purdy.

Via Gizmodo.

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Posted in: Art

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A bit of nostalgia: HBO's Intro from the eighties.

jake on 2008.03.25 at 11:03 am

When I was growing up and couldn’t afford “instant video cassettes” there was always the VCR and movies on HBO. It enabled my brother and I to watch Spaceballs every day for months. For years there was the familiar orchestrated intro panning over a city.

The following video is a behind the scenes look into how the intro was created. Enjoy the terrible 80’s music contrasting the original orchestra.

Originally discovered at goldenfiddle.

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Posted in: Art · Cool Info · Television

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The art of the goalie mask

jake on 2007.07.14 at 02:54 pm

Over the years the goaltender position in hockey has arguably had the largest change in equipment. Especially when considering the protection of the head region. From the days of Terry Sawchuk, when they didn’t even wear helmets, to the modern gear, that resembles ancient armor, the goalie’s quest for retaining teeth has constantly evolved.

Once your face is almost entirely hidden it only makes sense that you’d want to distinguish yourself in some other way. Like the ancient warriors who ornamented their helms most modern goalie’s have custom paint jobs on their masks.

Sports Illustrated recently ran a series of photos highlighting thirty-six various tenders and their masks. Along with many interesting paint jobs, like Giguere’s half robot duck, and Jason Bacashihua’s homage to Jason, you get Hasek’s continual use of a classic design, now with paint.

Via Digg

Posted in: Design · Art · Sports

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Art Is or Versus Design?

brian on 2007.03.05 at 07:41 am

My amigo and co-worker Josh Porter has made an interesting post about “Five Principals to Design By” which he’s added to the about page at his website.

These are for the most part great. But my interpretations of art and design differ significantly.

It matters very little what observers think or do: the practice of Art doesn’t require them. It is a necessary activity for the artist, and the artist alone.

The viewer of art is a critical role. I don’t know one artist who has ever made anything (that was going to be seen by any other human) that didn’t consider how someone is going to react to it. In fact, I’d say that the definition of art is creating something that people have a reaction to, thus predicating the viewer, or else art can’t exist. Oxford’s American English Dictionaries defines art in part:

…producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power

“To be appreciated” means there needs to be someone to appreciate.

There are people who only make art for themselves, but in that case, it is themselves who fill the roll as viewer. Without someone to experience art, it’s my belief that art ceases to exist.

Josh states,

We marvel at Michelangelo’s David even though we could recreate a million of them because it was the toil and expression of a single man.

“We marvel” means there’s an audience (the appreciators!). For the a great deal of art from David‘s era, artists made creations for benefactors. If the benefactor didn’t like it, the artist might not again get such a payday and thus couldn’t feed his family.

Tangentally, I disagree that we could make a million David‘s because art is not merely the physical craft of creating the form of David but its the act of determining the pose, the expression on the face, the materials, how far the work will be progressed (say a bust versus a whole figure). If we recreated the form of David, we’d only be reproducing a portion of the art that Michaelangelo created.

Again, how art interacts with humans other than the artist is often a critical factor to the work. A part of the work is the reaction that it generates within the viewer. H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds was good art. Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds was great art, extending upon the original work. The reaction is what made it great. Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds was neither.

Thus, based on my incredibly broad definition of art, design is certainly art. In fact, since the design is art that has an additional purpose beyond beauty or emotional power, I think it is thus a high form of art. Returning to Oxford’s, from the verb definition of “design” we extract that designing is done,

with a specific purpose or intention in mind

So, imo, design is art with a specific purpose, utility, or intention in mind…

A design would be then evaluated upon three factors, it’s utility (it’s ability to fulfill its purpose in being) it’s beauty, and the viewer’s reaction to it (be it emotional or other, for example, if the design is persuasive, does the viewer act upon the message?)

Take art, add more importance to information transfer and you get to design as a subset of art. That’s my take. After all, there’s a reason design is taught in art schools.

Posted in: Design · Art

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I hope you're having a Happy Halloween

jake on 2006.10.31 at 12:38 pm

It is very difficult figuring out if this is an awesome Halloween or a crappy one. I’m stuck at home sick today. This means I don’t get to dress up later and play Frisbee. It also means I get to watch scary movies all day and keep up the spirit in my Halloween pajama bottoms and a Halloweeny t-shirt.

Being healthy and playing Frisbee is probably the optimum choice. Especially since it’s a typical cold that lends itself to being feverish and sporting a scratchy throat. If anything I write today sounds silly, just assume it’s the cold medicine.

Here are some more Halloween themed links for any last minute preparations you might have.

Have a Super Spooky Halloween!

• Skullfest in Toronto (from Drawn)
• Web Zen: spooky scary zen on BoinbBoing
• Halloween 2006: Costumes for Little Ones
• Monster Halloween Roundup: Everything You Need
• Top 100 scariest movie scenes (from Lifehacker)
• Happy Halloween! — Hopefully this site will start being updated more regularly. I’ve actually noticed an uptick in traffic on here simple because people are searching for Halloween information.
• A super cool office.
• Grim by Dani Jones (from Drawn) — Some Halloween based Illustrations on her blog…
• Halloween Costume Greatest Hits: Headless Marie Antoinette Roams the Streets — An awesome costume. I think I need to think big like this someday…

• Top 13 Halloween Sites, Searches and Destinations — I’d link to the original post, but naturally Digg has some extra links and info in the comments.

So everyone have a wonderful day. Now that The Price is Right is over I can concentrate on relaxing and trying to scare myself.

Posted in: Art · Cool Info · Web · Recent Events · Holiday

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It's the most wonderful time of the year...

jake on 2006.10.15 at 03:59 pm

The leaves are changing, the air is getting crisp, and men with various sharp objects are coming to get you. Halloween is approaching and with it comes all sorts of pumpkin flavored goodies and people playing dress up. I don’t have any reason to dress up this year but I have a beard screaming to be utilized with a costume.

This year I have been trying to get more in the spirit like I used to. Getting scary movies from Netflix and watching Halloween themed television programming. When I was younger I used to decorate my house even though we were lucky to get ten trick-or-treaters. Now I just clip out interesting pumpkin based recipes.

Here are some recent links I’ve noticed to help you get in the mood too.

• How to hack LEDs into Lego minifigures for Halloween (from Firewheel Design) — Lego heads are the perfect size to shove an LED inside and make spooky, glowing characters. Too bad it requires a battery that’s difficult to hide.
• 30 Ways to Eat a Pumpkin (from Lifehacker, don’t forget to look up the comments on Lifehacker) — Yummy…
• Wanda’s Halloween Cookbook (more Lifehacker)
• Halloween T-shirt (BoingBoing)
• Weekend Project: Make your own Halloween costume
• Pseudopod 006: What Dead People Are Supposed to Do (BoingBoing) — Horror podcast
• Horror Newsletter (BoingBoing)

• Pumpkin Pantone Color

How is everyone else getting in the mood?

Posted in: Technology · Art

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Manipulating Pumpkins for Halloween

jake on 2005.10.26 at 11:16 am

I’ve always been a big fan of Autumn and Halloween. Naturally a direct result of that is pumpkin love. And cider, oh and dipping apples in caramel… but of course that has nothing to do with pumpkins. Here are some links that include pumpkin love.

• Zombie Pumpkins (discovered at skti journal) – Zombie Pumpkins has many different stencils from movies, television, unique creations, etc. It also has tips for carving up your pumpkin. Update: Apparently the owner of this web site lives a couple towns over (Meriden, CT) and was featured in the local town newspaper.
• Homestarrunner stencils – How can you not want a pumpkin that looks like Trogdor?

• Disney related bunch – Includes a bunch of decorating goodness. Including some photos of Disney themed jack-o-latterns. No stencils, but it can help with ideas.

Posted in: Art

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Hi-Fidelity Graphics and Music

brian on 2005.03.09 at 11:44 pm

This evening, I decided to investigate this group that Mike Gordon has been playing with of late, Benevento-Russo Duo.

Beautiful website. Has tables, but this isn’t a CSS-P rant. So I followed the “design by” link to davebias.org. Also attractive. No tables in sight. But what made me write this whole entry was the bio section.

That was worth the price of admission right there. He says he still wants to write a screenplay. I think he’s over looking some great material.

Posted in: Design · Art · Media · Web

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Tab cleanup isle 4

jake on 2004.06.04 at 12:03 am

I really gotta post things when I find them.

• justwatchthesky – A very pretty site that uses Inman’s Flash Replacement technique. It’s also themed, “I heart you.” awwww… From: Jeff Croft
• sinelogic – Another gorgeous site, Jeff linked to it too, indirectly.
• Was Michelangelo’s artistic genius a symptom of autism? – Trying to prove a point that Michelangelo might have been disabled. I think with his troubled childhood (which they mention in the article) along with just being a creative person, it’s not surprising he wasn’t a social butterfly, which is part of their argument.
• This Cosby show is undeserved – Interesting article from the Boston Globe. “we should be more concerned with finding resolutions, not lobbing recriminations.”
• Competition Is Heating Up as Projectors Go Digital – Not only do the projects cost theaters $150,000 but the studios want to send the content over sattelite. What assholes. Personally I’d just put the movies on hard drives and use a server setup to have them swap in and out. “Theater owners have refused to pay for the digital conversion, arguing that the studios stand to gain the most in the switch to digital delivery.” God I’m getting sick of all this…
• Flash 7 for Linux Released
• InstaSnow – From Boing Boing
• DoubleType – Typeface Designer

Posted in: Design · Art · Rant · Movies

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Nifty Lampshades

jake on 2004.04.13 at 08:48 pm

I mostly wanted to archive this for my own purposes. I have a nice lamp my grandparents gave me that could use a new lampshade. Moon Shine makes shades and scones and more to spruce up and beautify lamps around your home.

From Boing Boing

Posted in: Art

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Paper models

jake on 2004.03.15 at 04:39 pm

I found this cool link for paper toys over at Boing Boing. All you need is a printer, some glue and a pair of scissors.

Posted in: Art

1 Comments

"I love death" stick figure animation

jake on 2004.03.04 at 09:15 am

A bit crude but "I Love Death" is a well done Flash animation. I didn't have a problem, but it might not be work safe for you.

Posted in: Art · Music · Web

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Spider-Man Covers

jake on 2004.02.11 at 02:16 pm

Another great link from Cory at Boing Boing. The Spider-Man Cover Archive. Roughly 4000 covers have been scanned and archived. I have included one from an issue I actually own form when I was younger.

Posted in: Art

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Pixar and Disney Breakup, pull out the ice cream...

jake on 2004.01.30 at 09:51 am

I've always been a big Disney fan, but hated Michael Eisner. He helped bring about a revolution with Disney films form the early nineties. Then he got greedy and started the company down a horrible path. Now they look like chumps and Pixar is leaving their partnership once the current contract runs out. That partnership was arguably the strongest thing Disney had going for it. Now they not only throwing away their own animation studios, but lost the best 3D studio around. Good job Mike.

CNN

Posted in: Technology · Art · Movies

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Cool Perspective Chalk Drawings

jake on 2004.01.21 at 07:34 pm

A young lady has posted some photos on her livejournal of perspective chalk drawings. They look pretty amazing.

Posted in: Art

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Origami Creations

jake on 2003.12.19 at 04:53 pm

Boing Boing showed me to a web site with cool origami sculptures.

Posted in: Art · Cool Info

2 Comments

PS3 artwork making rounds as Sony concept

jake on 2003.12.02 at 02:50 pm

This is the first time I have first hand info that a concept piece is fake. It's more annoying than anything else. kanex at GFXartist created a 3D render with Rhino3D and Brazil of what he thought would be a cool looking Playstation 3.

In the last 24 hours his work has been published in a few different places as a concept image from Sony. Sorry, but this image was created back in July by Julien and I think he should get credit. gameindustry.biz thinks it's not actually a concept image, but I'd just like to prove that it's not before it makes the rounds even more...

Posted in: Technology · Art · Service Announcement · Media

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Interview with Linda Bergkvist about her work in EXPOSÉ 1 book

jake on 2003.07.10 at 02:39 pm

Interesting interview where Linda goes through her work in the EXPOSÉ 1 book. I especially found this interesting since I ordered one of these nifty digital art books myself.

interview [from Gfxartist]

Posted in: Art · Books

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Exactitudes

jake on 2003.06.06 at 04:09 pm

a contraction of exact and attitude

Begun in 1994 Exactitudes is a photo project where the artists were inspired by the concept of similarities within social groups.

I've always been amused by how even the social "outsiders" all look alike and act alike a thus are not actually as unique as they claim. When you can buy things that were obscure and commonly found at places like Salvation Army or made by your own hands at a store in the mall, the war is over. You have been assimilated into the Capitalist mainstream culture.

Exactitudes [from Boing Boing]

Posted in: Art · Photography · Rant

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Baghdad for next art field trip?

jake on 2003.05.09 at 02:11 pm

New Scientist is reporting that a bunch of artifacts have been returned to the National Museum of Baghdad. We mentioned about how the art was stolen a few weeks ago after the initial taking of Baghdad.

It is difficult to know exactly what has been returned and what is still out there. Many artifacts were never catalogued or photographed.

Posted in: Art · Politics

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Muppets are coming home

jake on 2003.05.09 at 11:09 am

The family of Jim Henson has put in a successful bid to get back the rights to the majority of his creations. Sold to a German firm in 2000 called EM.TV the properties were threatened when the company began collapsing.

article (from Boing Boing)

Posted in: Art · Cool Info

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Baghdad: looters destroy priceless art

jake on 2003.04.15 at 04:10 pm

I noticed in the Sunday paper an article from the Washington Post. The main topic of the article describes looters destroying priceless artifacts. Stealing and demolishing pieces of history that were saved from the many bombs going off around Baghdad.

"This was priceless," she sobbed as she pointed to two seated marble deities from the temple at Harta that had been defaced with a hammer. Later, after observing more damage, she broke down again. "It feels like all my family has died," she wept.

It is very sad that the troops are having trouble keeping the peace. However, the article also points out that with troops being scattered around a lot seem to be hovering around the Oil Ministry.

Some Iraqis, however, question the allocation of U.S. forces around the capital. They note a whole company of Marines, along with at least a half-dozen amphibious assault vehicles, has been assigned to guard the Oil Ministry, while many other ministries -- including trade, information, planning, health and education -- remain unprotected.

"Why just the oil ministry?" Jaf asked. "Is it because they just want our oil?"

Are we really that shallow as to spend so much time saying we don't just want oil and then we're letting history be destroyed just to get at oil?

Antipixel has also linked to a story by The Ney York Times on this subject.

Posted in: Art · Politics

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