What if the characters of the digital world seamlessly merged with the real one we experience every day? I’m not talking about the high definition world of Tron, but something a lot closer to the Atari 2600′s Pitfall. That’s exactly what California based designer Jherin Miller has done with his recent Pixels and Polaroids series. He envisioned digital 8-bit characters coming to life through the lens of a Polaroid camera… it looks like one fun, chilled out world to inhabit. [Read more...]
Intergalactic battle isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you’re thinking about Reykjavik, Iceland… especially when you consider the governments recent precedent setting pushes for global transparency and freedom of speech… but don’t tell designer Sig Vicious that. He’s created a series of 10 images which capture the peaceful city under crazy assault by Snowspeeders, AT-ATs, AT-STs, X-Wings… just about all the war hardware from the first Star Wars movies. It’s all out war in black and white (bonus points if you spot the Challenger explosion in one of these images). [Read more...]
Inspired by Japanese traditional craftsmanship, Mikas Emil, who lived in Japan for a year, works with his paintings in a more dimensional way, but using modern techniques of today. The 29 year old Architect received his Masters in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Architecture last summer. For the project featured below, he started with a 2 dimensional drawing of a face, three-dimensionally modeled it in Rhino, then milled the 3D drawing using a CNC milling machine in plywood. [Read more...]
Julien Salaud’s animal sculptures channel the spirit of the astrologers of old, creating complex star like constellations on studded forms. He takes animal taxidermy and hand built sculptures, attaching long nails and pins to them in porcupine fashion. He then strings threads, sometimes covered in beads, between the heads of the nails, creating highly complex webs where the converging lines resemble stars. He calls the series Stellar Animals. [Read more...]
Often in life, what most fascinates us are the things we don’t completely understand at first… it’s the things that make us work a little bit that carry the most reward. Such is the art of illustrator/designer/artist Nacho Diaz of Spain. Each of his illustrations hold some hidden meaning, some underlying theme which doesn’t reveal itself until you look closer and ponder the possibilities of each element: zebra stripes become a bird cage, a rabbit gets its own lucky foot, or a certain letter of the alphabet marks the location of treasure. [Read more...]
Welcome to the warped digital world of Jordan Speer. His illustrations create a surreal environment full of robots and strange machinery with a distinctly humanistic twist… mostly, everything from drum sets to rockets and drilling machines come to life and grows gigantic eyes. It’s as if we have traveled to some alternate universe or distant future where technology is alive and aware of its environment. [Read more...]
The skin can become a canvas in many ways, from body paint to tattoos, and piercings to scarification… but what if you could simply draw using only your skin? Artist Ariana Page Russell has this talent, born with a skin condition called Dermatographia, any light scratch will raise her skin into rosy welts which last for about 30 minutes. [Read more...]
Picasso said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Indeed, many of us who are in the art field find ourselves here because as children we continued to paint when others stopped. Perhaps some parents tried to dissuade us — even prohibit the occupation we chose — in order to follow something more… ”serious”. Others more fortunate, had the support of family who, recognizing our passion, prompted to us to follow the profession that we now practice.
Most of us working as designers, have the blessing of being able to say we turned our hobby into a profession. We say that very often, but how conscious are we of that in our daily lives? [Read more...]
Passion for the old time mysteries of the sea is not a new phenomena, but creating beautiful art that captures these vintage vignettes and nautical themes is quite a feat. Derek Nobbs’ newest solo exhibition, Dead Man’s Tales, is set to open this Friday, May 11th at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, Washington. His watercolor and gauche paintings are interspersed with Civil War uniforms, frontiersman, deep sea divers, and bearded banjo playing skeletons — well, most of his work depicts skeletons — which is more than badass. [Read more...]
Do you ever wonder what happened to that kid in your kindergarten class who could make the Taj Mahal out of building blocks? These beautifully arranged illustrations are the handy work of that kid all grown up, Ty Wilkins. When you see his work it makes a lot of sense that he was first a designer, and then migrated into the world of illustration. His uncanny ability to create full illustrations with only the most basic shapes is a big indicator… and he made a note to mention that the same process he went through in making logos, he did for his illustrations. Despite the apparent simplicity, he is able retain a high level of sophistication in his work, which is what really is impressive. [Read more...]
