Papercraft: Minecraft in Real Life

Meatcraft is a real world art installation shown in March at San Jose State University.  Created by Jeffrey Kam and Cody McCabe consisted of a minecraft themed gallery, two crafting tables, tools, working 8-bit LED torches, and a fully interactive grass block world at the center of it all.

The centerpiece of the gallery is a to-scale grass block, filled with 1500 smaller cubes. Each cube is 6.25cm, or 1:16 scale (The default Minecraft texture is 16x16 pixels, so at 1-meter scale, each pixel is 6.25cm, hence the 1:16 block scale)

Coverage of the installation has already been featured on rockpapershotgun, KOTAKU, and Joystiq, and theminecraftforum.net thread. Check out more details at the Real World Minecraft website.

Quick Pic: Street Names

Bucket of Blood Street in Holbrook, Arizona

Via: Reddit

I think that I'd check that if I moved into a house on this street, I'd triple check that it hadn't been built on an Indian graveyard... and I'd sleep with a shotgun.

Mash-Up: Mad Men / Portal

The Mad Men opening redone with Portal by Mat Recardo.

Recardo writes: "Having played through Portal 2 a number of times, and just seen the end of Season 4 of Mad Men, I had an idea! The models were grabbed from Portal 2 directly and the music is of course from the Mad Men Intro."

Lego Creations: Portal

GLaDOS (with better eye color) by Brandon Bannerman

Oh, it's you. It's been a long time. How have you been? I've been really busy being constructed of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. You know, after you murdered me?

Fortunately the Aperture Science Emergency Recreational Building Element Reconstruction Initiative has provided me with a new body. Consequently, testing can recommence immediately.

For Science.

You monster.

Posters: Harry Potter Recaps

"Book 1 Poster" and "Book 2 Poster" by Lucy Kinsley (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) The last Harry Potter film hits theaters July 15th, and if you happen to need a recap of the story to date, Lucy Knisley of The Burrow Studio has just the thing for you. She's recapped the plot of each book in an easy-to-browse comic for quick reading. Her series isn’t finished yet, but if you bookmark the site, it'll be posted soon enough. Source: Lucy Knisley's Livejournal

Link Round-Up: April 25, 2011

Portal by McGibs

45 Stunning Examples Of Bird’s Eye View Photography That Captured The Beauty Of Earth

Carolyn J. Martin is an artist who makes "art" by igniting gunpowder on canvas with interesting results

Children's drawings painted realistically with horrific results

Fandomania has posted a gallery of Portal Fan Art

How Genius Works: The Atlantic asks artists like T.C. Boyle, Tim Burton, Paul Simon, and Frank Gehry (and others who aren't so well-known) to describe their creative process.

Sculpture: VHS

"VHS" by David Herbert
Foam, plexiglas, latex paint 2 x 4 x 8 feet

Sometimes a single image speaks volumes.

Link Round-Up: April 27, 2011

 Aperture Science Warning Posters

The Airtight Garage (some images may be NSFW) is a blog that explores the artwork of Moebius (Jean Giraud), France's most acclaimed comic book artist. It is named after The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius, a comic loosely based on Micheal Moorcock's protean hero. Moebius was recently the subject of an appreciation in Comics Alliance.

Images of times past: abandoned monuments in the former Yugoslavia and Soviet era architecture in Bulgaria.

io9 takes a look at the unlikely graffiti of Chernobyl

Window Painting and What A Wonderful World from artist Dan Berglund.

Crafts: Plush Portal Turret

Interactive Talking Plush Portal Turret from Jonathan M. Guberman on Vimeo.
This interactive, talking turret plush made by Jonathan M. Guberman and Leigh Nunan is a huge tease, because it's not just awesome, it's also homemade and not for sale.

Via: Buzzfeed

Link Round-Up: April 26, 2011

"Fuck Science" by Emmy C.

Perfect for my mood after a solid week of Portal 2
Download as a desktop

30 Mudbox Tutorials for Beginners and Professionals

Mental disorders as minimalist posters

A Room-Sized Spirograph Machine: Amazingly, Swedish-born and Danish-based Rex had never heard of the Spirograph, the children's toy that produces remarkably similar art on a much smaller scale, according to a short profile by Wired UK. Instead, he was inspired by the harmonograph, a mid-19th century mechanical apparatus that produces Lissajous curves, a complex family of shapes studied by mathematicians.  

Twelve Astonishing Steampunk Monocles

Crafts: San Francisco in Miniature

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Artist Scott Weaver recently unveiled "Rolling Through the Bay," a toothpick Rube Goldberg machine of the Bay Area. A product of 35 years of work and over 100,000 toothpicks, the piece can be explored via a number of ball runs that take you through toothpick replicas of Bay Area sights and attractions.

Fresh Take: Demonic Totoro

"TonariNoTotoro-Bus Stop" by Sachsen

Papercraft: Translucent Origami

Oritsunagumono (things folded and connected) by Takayuki Hori

Hori of the Kanazawa College of Art lends the ancient craft of origami an extra edge by using translucent material printed with the skeletons of endangered species. You can see more examples of his work at the Spoon & Tamago (in two parts).

Sculpture: Howl's Moving Castle

Liz of the Artisan Cake Company in Portland, Oregon created this amazing raku-fired ceramic model of Howl's Moving Castle from the Hayao Miyazaki's film. It recently took first place in the Oregon State Fair Art Competition. She offers a fairly detailed explanation of her process at Instructables, though I don't think the article can quite be called a tutorial.

Source: Instructables via Craftzine

Quick Pic: Portal Egg

Portal Easter Egg Fun by Geeks are Sexy reader Martin M.

Quick Pic: Batman: Animated Series Eggs

Batman: The Animated Series eggs by Red-flare

Fan Art: Calvin and Hobbes Fan Art

"Calvin & Hobbes" by Tom Fowler

Via: Comic Twart

Check out more Calvin & Hobbes themed fan art under our Calvin and Hobbes tag!

Artist: Benjamin F. Guy

"Luke" by Benjamin F. Guy

Benjamin F. Guy is a painter living in Vic, Australia. Most of  his galleries are filled with this series, in which Guy presents a series of portraits of young boys and girls wearing giant helmets from popular anime, fantasy, and sci-fi pop-culture sources.

Lego Creations: Industrial Sorting Robot

Four Lego Delta Robots

The guys behind Tinkernology are showing off this incredibly elaborate robotic workcell with four delta robots built completely out of Legos.  The system is capable of sorting Lego blocks at a rate of 48 blocks per minute as they come down the conveyor.  They have an incredibly detailed description of the device on their blog, which I love.  Also, don't miss these photos of the Quad Flexpicker during it's construction.

Source: Tinkernolog

Link Round-Up: April 21, 2011

The Booth At The End is a drama about a man who makes deals. 62 parts, each lasting just two pretty fantastic minutes.

Little Girl’s Thoughts On Modern Art: Little Annabelle is not impressed with your contemporary art. Somebody take her to the American Museum of Natural History!

The Los Angeles Police Department believes one of two French nationals detained on suspicion of vandalism near MOCA's Little Tokyo gallery was the famed street artist known as "Space Invader."

Meatcraft: A Real World Minecraft

You thought thieves cutting Banksy's out of the wall was bad? How about thieves who steal a wall?

Illustration: Hand of Frahnknshtyne

"The Hand of Frahnknshtyne" by Kevin Mowrer

Sweets: Chibi Firefly Cupcakes

Vivian shares a few photos of the Firefly characters she made of fondant for her husband's birthday. They're incredibly cute and make me wonder if Firefly couldn't be resurrected as an adorkable claymation spin-off.

Check out more photos at Vivian's Blog-O-Rama.

Wallpaper: Droids Have Feelings, Too

"Droids Have Feelings, Too" by Chris Gerringer

Illustrator Chris Gerringer brings the unsung heroes of Star Wars to the forefront with a series of desktops that shine a spotlight on the long neglected issue of droid feelings.  Download the set as Wallpapers.

Photography: Abandoned Churches

Protestant Church

Matthias Haker shares a gallery of photographs of beautifully bleak "Abandoned Churches."  There's nothing particularly geeky about them, but I can't stop thinking how much fun it would be to LARP in one of these!

Link Round-Up: April 20, 2011

The Doctor Who redesign project by Niklas Jansson

Source: The Swedish Bed

Could you live in repurposed freight containers? How about a pig sty or a water tower? You can really fix a water tower up nicely. Folks can live in all kinds of things, including an old cement factory.

Lovely and haunting photographs of 25 Shipwrecks from around the world.

Kris Kuksi makes sculptures, paintings, and drawings. A time-lapse of his sculpting process and a walkthrough with details. He has a book and sells his sculptures. His most famous work is perhaps Church Tank.

Lego Creations: Atlas and P-Body Robots

ATLAS and P-Body by Legohaulic

Link Round-Up: April 19, 2011

Mario Propaganda by Fernando Reza

[ Victory! | The Enemy! | Power Ups! | The Boos! ]

30 Nerdy Wedding Invitations. You know what kind of relationship you’re getting yourself into when your wedding correspondence resembles movie posters, steampunk, comic books, or video games.

Achievement Unlocked: IT achievements.

Thirteen Astonishing Pairs of Steampunk Goggles

The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric.

Wayne Dorrington gave us Star Wars Episode IV in icons a couple of months ago. Now he has completed the plot of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in the same manner, which he calls “Iconoscope"

Fresh Take: Impetuous

Impetuous by Jesse Lenz

Lego Creations: Chibi Serenity

Serenity by Junshi

Based on instructions from Reasonably Clever

Daily Links: April 18, 2011

Christopher Lee Makes Everyone From Wolverine to Stormtroopers More Dapper

A colorful portrait of Carl Sagan

The disturbing yet beautifully illustrated world of Anton Semenov.

Fandomania offers a gallery of Harley Quinn fan art

MC Escher as a Woodcut Jigsaw Puzzle

Propworx is selling the original blueprints used to build the Stargate gate room from the film on eBay, so now you, too, can build your own Stargate!

Event: Art in the Streets

Banksy's 23-foot high Stained Window piece is a collaboration with the City of Angels public school in Los Angeles. Students were encouraged to write tags on panels erected in their schoolyard before Banksy adapted them.

MOCA is opening the very first major U.S. museum exhibition of graffiti and street art, “Art in the Streets,” opens to the public this Sunday, and it will remain open through August 8.

My Modern Met took some photos during yesterday’s press opening which you can see here.  It includes some really amazing pieces.

Event: Edward Scissorhands Show

By Denny Khurniawan

Here are a few highlights from the Edward Scissorhands anniversary show at Gallery Nucleus. The show begins today (April 16th) and runs through May 9th. Here's a description of the event:

In collaboration with Sebastien Mesnard, Gallery Nucleus will be showcasing a selection of original works from the Scissorhands 20th blog. The exhibit will highlight the works of over 40 artists, including paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, etc. and unite enthusiasts and fans in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tim Burton's classic love story and its unforgettable characters; Edward, Kim, Peg and a band of colorful suburbanites.

Mash-Up: Peanuts / Doctor Who

The 4th Doctor is In by Adam Koford

Very similar to this Hijinks Ensue Comic

Link Round-Up: April 15, 2011

Super Smash Bros. Dinner Party

It all looks so innocent... until you notice Luigi.

Amazing pictures of people floating away by a 17 year old photographer.

Artist Jerad Marantz has posted a bunch of the Sucker Punch concept designs he created for the movie.

The Art of Tron Legacy

Double Secret Hotel Graffiti

PopSci's Most Lovingly Illustrated Cutaways

Videogame players die a thousand deaths, complete with appropriately nostalgic soundtrack.

Tech: Portal-themed Casemod

Portal-themed Casemod by ulyssanov
Source: Imgur via Reddit

The case used was a Cooler Master Cosmos 1000. I did a ton of stuff to it, worked on it for about half a year, on and off. If you care for the specifics, the worklog can be found here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1405650

There's also more pictures on Page 3 of the thread as well as 2 Videos.

Link Round-Up: April 14, 2011

Rubitone by Ignacio Pilotto

10 amazing transparent sculptures

An amazing bit of Photoshoppery transforms an extreme oblique view of a Wonder Woman poster into a straight on view.

Before I Die... One month and seven hours of intense stenciling later and it’s up! With a lot of support from old and new friends, I turned the side of an abandoned house in my neighborhood into a giant chalkboard where residents can write on the wall and remember what is important to them.

The Illustrious Omnibus of Superpowers: A taxonomic tree of over 100 wondrous powers and abilities, with over 200 superheroes and supervillains as examples thereof.“ Source: Comics Alliance

Link Round-Up: April 12, 2011

Angry Birds Assemble! by monkeyworks illustration

10 Ingenious iPad Self-Portraits

30 Nerdy Wedding Invitations

40 Amazing Papercraft Templates for the Geek Inside You

Architect Ricardo Bofill bought an abandoned cement factory in Barcelona and converted it to use as his business offices, creative studio, and home. He spent two years remodeling it into an inspiring and overwhelmingly spacious headquarters.

Artist John Martz brings us Trexels, a poster featuring 235 characters from the Star Trek universe in pixel form, all in one artwork. How many can you name?

Build your very own Printable Lightsaber Craft from paper, posterboard, and cardboard with these handy instructions!

Cary Norton discusses the Legotron, Mark I, a large format camera made entirely of LEGO bricks

Gallery: Mario Bros. Graffiti

Source: WeHeartIt

Fresh Take: ABC Superheroes

ABC Superheroes by Fabian Gonzalez

Fabian Gonzalez has alphabetized your favorite heroes from A to Z in his his latest illustration. Cheat sheet after the jump:Aquaman, Batman, Cyclops, Daredevil, Elektra, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Hulk, Iron Man, Justice, Kick-Ass, Lion-O, Mandrake the Magician, Nightcrawler, Orion, The Punisher, Quicksilver, Rorschach, Superman, The Thing, Ultra-Boy, Vision, Wolverine, Charles Xavier, Yuk, Zorro. Prints are available at his Society6 store! 

Link Round-Up: April 7, 2011

The Pit by Ryan Coleman

Ever wondered what really happened when you fell into the Super Mario Brothers pit? Artist Ryan Coleman has the answer and prints for sale at Etsy!


Access Main Computer File is a collection of (often preposterous) graphical user interfaces culled from dozens and dozens of films

Aled Lewis illustrates clever puns and jokes with pictures of toys. See more at his blog Aled Knows Best

How to make a stempunk Mr. Potato Head Even if you don't want to make a Potato Head, you should read the tutorial for some ideas on painting techniques.  You never know when it might come in handy.

Killhouettes are classic Victorian-silhouettes with a murderously macabre twist.

Link Round-Up: April 8, 2011

Iron Gentleman by Florent Bocognani

Florent Bocognani put a more distinguished / steampunk look to the old Marvel hero Iron Man. Get it on a t-shirt at Threadless. Found via Behance.


Paper Extravaganza and Phone Book Sculptures

TARDIS hat - A tutorial for making your own TARDIS knit hat!  I know nothing about knitting, but according to the comments, the instructions are decent.

The Secret Life of Toys - This Etsy seller photographs action figures in a variety of situations for your enjoyment.  Superheroes, Star Wars, cartoon characters - if it's an action figure, it's fair game.  The images are guaranteed to make you smile.  High quality prints are available!

You Are Not A Photographer is a blog full of snarky comment on photographs that are supposed to be professionally done. Mean? Yes. Funny? Very much so.

Link Round-Up: April 6, 2011

"Mushroom" by OSKUNK

5 Of The World’s Weirdest Cameras

10 Spectacular Woodblock Prints of Dragons

The 50 Most Stunning Wall Murals From Around The World

Jeff Martin produced the largest indoor photograph ever: a 40-gigapixel, 360-degree image of the main hall of the 868-year-old Strahov monastery library in Prague, Czech Republic. Almost 3,000 images were shot over five days and then stitched together to make the mega-picture.

Retro Handheld Games Collection

Posters: Harry Potter

Minimalist Harry Potter Poster

Via: Stealing from Thieves

Link Round-Up: April 5, 2011

Retractable gun-themed dog snap leash 

Art Lebedev’s April Fools gag

14 Sculptures made of Tires - Oddee.com (tire sculptures)

Environmental Graffiti offers this gallery of Spectacular Flowers Made Out of Glass

Holi: Festival of Colors

New augmented reality app unleashes your inner artist

Top 20 Ultimate Ways to Use a Disposable Camera

Posters: Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick Et Le Web is a Collection of Re-envisioned Stanly Kubrick movie posters

Crafts: Zelda Treasure Chest

Sculptor/Modder Zachariah Perry Cruse built this music box for gaming enthusiasts. When you open this Legend Of Zelda Treasure Chest, it busts out an mp3 rendition of the sweet treasure chest opening muzak.  Build your own 8-bit trunk with these instructions.

Lego Creations: Great Ball Contraption

This is the The Great Ball Contraption (GBC), a Rube-Goldberg style contraption built entirely out of Legos and consisting of a record breaking 93 modules. This video was shot at the February 2011 LEGO World competition in Copenhagen, where it took home the prize.

In the video, one of the builders intervenes a few times, but only for the sake of shortening the video.

Gallery: April Fools Products

GMail Motion: The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Introducing Gmail Motion — now you can control Gmail with your body.

Event: Star Wars Miniland Grand Opening

The Star Wars Miniland exhibit at Legoland California opened this week.  If you live too far away to see it in person, make sure to check out the live webcam they've set up at the Model Shop.  I guess if I lived in L.A., I'd drop by to check it out, being an AFoL (Adult Fan of Lego), but it doesn't look like there's anything on exhibit that can't be captured in a few snapshots.

To that end, I dug up an awesome Flickr gallery of photos of the exhibit taken by Amy Ratcliffe of Geek with Curves.

Link Round-Up: April 1, 2011

PLAYMOBIL(TM) Apple Store Playset
ThinkGeek's April Fool's Joke

Data as Art: 10 Striking Science Maps from Wired Science

Evolution of Video Game Controllers -  Video game controllers have come a long way.  Check out this poster (you can zoom in for details), and see how many controllers you recognized and how many you've used.

Learn how to make your own Mynock window pet

Weethulhus For Japan – How better to help Japan than by buying a baby Cthulhu?