Link Round-Up: February 28, 2011

The 8-bit City project created by Brett Camper

What would a real-world place like New York City look like as an 8-bit video game map?

Amazing custom Steampunk ‘Chopper’ Motorcycle, by Solifague Design, dubbed ‘Black Widow’ in all it’s photogenic glory

Check out this gallery of Nerf Gun Props - Nerf weapons repainted to look like video game weapons

The Coulor Clock represents time as a Hexadecimal value.  Downloadable.


Digital artist Cory Arcangel is best-known for exploring the crossover between video games and video art – and, even though his new show is called Beat the Champ, it's all about losing.


Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary unconventional buddhist and Hindu temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand covered end to end in scultptures

 You know the parents are geeks when the nursery has ninjas painted on the wall

In the Media: Dispatchwork Project

Dispatchwork Project by Jan Vormann

Started in Bocchignano, Italy in 2007 Vormann and his team have been going around the globe “reparing” crumbling walls and structures with Lego bricks. Since then the movement has grown and normal everyday people have started partaking in these “repair” projects. The picture above is from Tel Aviv, Israel.
More info and pictures about the Dispatchwork Project can be found at its official site Dispatchwork.info.

In the Media: The Horror Virus

"Bacteriophage Attacking" by Equinox Graphics 

One of National Geographic's choices for best science images of 2010

"Bacteriophage virus, computer artwork. A bacteriophage, or phage, is a virus that infects bacteria. It consists of an icosahedral (20-sided) head, which contains the genetic material (red), a tail and tail fibres, which fix it to a specific receptor site on the bacterium. The tail injects its genetic material into the bacterium, and this hijacks the bacterium's own cellular machinery, forcing it to produce more copies of the virus. Flagella from the bacteria can be seen, both near the site of infection and spiralling away into the distance."

Music Video: Tonight I'm Frakking You

Featuring the completely adorkable Alessandra Torressani of Caprica fame, this raunchy rap is sort of the geek's answer to a Ke$ha anthem.  It stars Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar (Raj), The Guild's Amy Okuda (Tinkerballa) and Caprica's Zoe. Admittedly it's not "Fuck Me Ray Bradbury," but it gets credit for the drool-worth Princess Leia cosplay.

Mash-Up: Drive Angry / Angry Birds

Dive Angry, in 2D! by Shane Parker

Link Round-Up: February 18, 2011

80’s Arcade Games (Pop-Up Book) by Ceyda Koc

Christopher Nolan Picks Winners of DeviantArt 'Inception' Contest

Class Of 2011: If Social Media Were a High School

Cthulhu Ski Mask is Full of Win, Cthulhu

Cubicle Bot has posted a gallery of The 10 Most Awesome Offices to Work In

Something about the photography of Christian Stoll makes me think of Brazil

Video: Shadow Sword Fight

In this Japanese theater production, a sword fight breaks out between our hero, portrayed by Taichi Saotome, and the shadows that lurk around us. Creativity, special effects, and precision choreography come together to make something incredibly engrossing.

Video: Pac-Man Poster Illusion

Amazing Pacman Poster Illusion by Brusspup

Brusspup has a whole YouTube page devoted to mind-bending illusions, but his latest applies Pac-Man to a tried-and-true design. He’s even included templates you can examine here, here and here if you want to build one yourself.

In the Media: Banksy in Los Angeles

As everyone know by now, Banksy’s film “Exit Through The Gift Shop” was nominated for an Oscar.  Although the smart money is on him not appearing in person to personally accept the award if the film wins, it looks as if he made the trip out to Los Angeles for the occasion nonetheless.  A piece of stencil work now dubbed “Crayon Shooter” has already been spotted in West L.A.  Perhaps the start of his Oscar campaign with more to come?

But he didn't stop there.  Another piece featuring Charlie Brown has been discovered on the side of an abandoned fire-damaged building.  Check it out in this second video after the jump…

Short Film: The Backwater Gospel

The Backwater Gospel from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.

This short animation has been making the rounds of Facebook and Twitter over the last week.

The Backwater Gospel is a fantastic macabre animation short from Denmark. Amazingly it’s a student-work, conceived and executed by a group at The Animation Workshop, a renowned institution in European animation circles. The story:

As long as anyone can remember, the coming of The Undertaker has meant the coming of death. Until one day the grim promise fails and tension builds as the God fearing townsfolk of Backwater wait for someone to die

Link Round-Up: February 17, 2011

Artist / photographer Todd McLellan shows us the depths of everyday objects

Doctor Who Infographic

Download Robot in Love as a desktop wallpaper

Freakish, otherworldly Soviet architecture: In his book Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed, Frédéric Chaubin documents 90 buildings in 14 former-USSR republics belonging to what he calls the 'fourth age' of Soviet architecture. These buildings represent a chaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Their diversity announces the end of the Soviet Union.

A perpetual motion machine based on the improbable physics of Escher's Waterfall.

X-rays show why van Gogh's yellows have darkened

Posters: Sci Fi Danger Awareness

Sci-Fi Danger Awareness (SFDA) series by Miles Donovan
From The Daily Robot and available at Etsy

Fresh Take: Corporate Cthulhu

Cthulhu by Michael Dashow

Take a good long look. There are some very funny details in there, like the brand of the printer,the motivational poster in the background, and Cthulhu's cufflinks.

Posters: Video Games as Movies

Fallout 3 by Ron Guyatt

Short Film: The 3rd Letter

The 3rd Letter from grzegorz jonkajtys on Vimeo

This little dystopian gem was directed by visual effects artist Grzegorz Jonkajtys of such feature films as Hellboy, Iron Man 2, Pan's Labyrinth, and Star Trek. The short is described as "a distinctive dystopian vision where humans utterly depend on bio-mechanical alteration to withstand the deteriorating climate."

DIY: Rearview Mirror Dice

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has posted a tutorial on making a pair of Fuzzy percentile dice, for your rear view mirror, and as with their other dice projects, they're offering a kit if you'd like to save a little time building one.

How much do I love Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories?

Cards: Video Game Valentines

Video Game Valentine’s Day Cards by PaperRockScisorz

Love and life are an adventure too dangerous to go alone. This Valentine’s Day, stick it to Hallmark and declare your affection with a card depicting Link with his princess Zelda (who as I will point out, was NEVER in another castle) or another tongue-in-cheek video game-inspired design. You can purchase the file to print your own by visiting the new Etsy shop of geekcraft enthusiast PaperRockScisorz. Keep an eye on the store, as she says she’ll have an Pixel Paramour card pack, featuring five Valentine’s Day designs, coming out soon!

Link Round-Up: February 14, 2011

Valentine’s Day Doctor Who DALEK cookies by Jenny Burgesse

Google's Art Project may allow you to visit London's National Gallery and Florence's Uffizi Gallery, but if you want to gaze at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel from your living room, you'll have to head to the Vatican's website. There, you'll be able to spend your whole afternoon staring at Michelangelo's masterpiece, rendered in a beautiful, high-resolution panorama. Your virtual visit will also be serenaded by choral music, which is more pleasant than listening to obnoxious tourists and clicking cameras, anyway.

Poster: Cause of Death

If you thought crab fishing or logging was a dangerous profession, try plumbing sometime!  This poor guy's been dying for twenty-five years!

So as you know, Mario celebrated his 25th year among us sometime in late 2010 (even though he was actually created 4 years earlier for the arcade game Donkey Kong... 25 years of independence would be more appropriate, haha, but I digress). I wanted to do something big for the occasion, but I technically missed the boat by a few months. Technically, but not practically, because well, Mario didn't turn 26 just yet.

So this poster-like illustration is my official tribute to him for the occasion. 25 years of video gaming, 25 years of dying in all sorts of crazy ways. I didn't cover everything of course, but the most important is there. If I get enough ideas for a 2nd part, I might just as well do a second one (hint hint, guys).

Yup, there's a BIT of blood here and there (hard to spot though, I actually painted it black, haha). So to those who might be offended by the picture, I ask you: how the hell have you been able to play Mario games this far??? There's some seriously violent deaths in these games when you think of it...

Source: TheBourgyman via Kotaku

Fresh Take: Tron in Real Life

Photos by Khuong Nguyen

 Amusement Magazine's Tronified feature

Sculpture: The Abyss

Josh Ellingson posted a bunch of photos from his trip at ILM, including this statue of the water creature from the 1989 movie The Abyss (one of my own personal favorites).  In this one, he looks a lot like that guy in the Verizon commercials.  You know, the one who asks, "Can you here me now?"

Cards: Gaming Valentines

Molten Core

Gaming Valentines by Alexandria Neonakis

Source: Deviant Art |  N&B:Art | Penny Arcade

Cards: Kirby Valentines

Source: Leah Culver's Blog

Cards: Iconic Fashion Valentines

Barbara Pala has created a gallery of Valentine’s Day cards featuring the fashions of iconic pop culture couples, including Black Swan, Bert and Ernie, and . See the rest at EveryGuyed.

Music Video: Eye of the Storm

EYE OF THE STORM | Lovett from Lovett on Vimeo

Posters: Dark Knight Concept Art

Los Angeles based graphic designer, Fernando Reza (@frodesignco) of the Fro Design Co Store created two very rad fan-made movie posters for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’ Conceptual different from each other, but both are brilliantly executed. I especially love the “Breaking the Bat” version (right) as it features an x-ray of Batman with a broken back - an allusion to the fact that Tom Hardy is signed on to play Bane.

If you want a print to call your own, Reza is offering these as 11×17” giclee prints on archival paper in limited runs of 50 copies. Price: $35

Mash-Up: Girl With the Triforce Earring

Girl With the Triforce Earring by Clint Wilson

Part of the ‘reNESsance’ series. This video game mash-up with the classic Johannes Vermeer painting is an 18" x 24" screenprint, signed and numbered by the artist.  Price: $20

Video: Jim Lee Draws Batman

This is pretty incredible. Jim Lee kind of reminds us why he is who he is. Using the Apple iPad and Sketchbook Pro app, Jim decides to just randomly doodle (the word “doodle” is used very loosely) Batman. What was awesome is that someone films Jim in action!

This is a very sped up clip of me messing around on my iPad. Original video was 20 mins in length; it usually takes me about 60-80 mins to get one of these pieces done using @sketchbookpro. I prefer using my finger to a stylus of any sort–makes it more fun. I honestly have to say this piece was not going in the direction I wanted so I stopped and got back to real work : ) but you get a general sense of how I layer on colors and work positive and negative shapes back and forth to get edges…like in painting.

What makes me crazy when I watched this video was the fact that he does this with his finger! His FREAKIN’ finger! People would kill to be able to do work at this level with just a pencil, but Jim Lee can pull this off with a iPad and his finger. Whats even worse is based on his description, this was not “work” and he thought it wasn’t good. I’m pretty sure 99% of all artists in this world would kill to have something at great in their portfolio. Thank you Jim Lee. You inspire us and bring us down at the same time!

Cards: Geeky Valentine's Day Cards

Law and Order-themed Valentine by Brandon Bird

8-Bit Valentines by Kira Cards

Crafts: Scrap Metal AT-AT

What do you do with your old computer parts? Well, why not make an Imperial Walker? Hulmeville, Pennsylvannia native Sage Werbock (aka the "Great Nippulini") built this pretty awesome AT-AT out of old scrap computer parts and sheet metal. Sage bills himself as an expert welder, blacksmith, and a man with “the world's strongest nipples.”

Link Round-Up: February 11, 2011

Steampunk Valentine by Rsandberg

10 Recycled Versions of Pac-Man!

11 Amazing Artistic Depictions Of John Hughes Movies

Share Your Love (And Probably Ruin Your Relationship) With these 11 Comic Book Valentines from Comic Alliance

Toccata and Fugue as played by floppy disc drives [SLYT]

The Underground Graffiti Art of Paris' Catacombs

Wall scratching as an art form. Alexandre Farto (aka Vhils) is a Portuguese street artist living in London. This is his art project called “Walls – Scratching the surface”. He makes impressive portraits by scratching the surface of old walls in Moscow, Rome, London, New York and Portugal.

Merchandise: iPhone Coasters

Looking to spruce your pad up a bit? Hardcore Apple enthusiasts might want to look into these iPhone coasters available from Meninos. Make your coffee table look like an iPhone!

Price: $59.99

Crafts: Zombie Valentines

A dark take on Lisa Simpson’s classic valentine.  Click through to the creator’s page to download a larger, printable version to to paste your Valentine's photo onto for a deliciously funny holiday greeting!

FUN FACT: Did you know that if Saint Valentine was alive today he’d be a ZOMBIE!? True!

I’m a romantic. I’m sure that comes as no surprise based on my body of classically inspired romantic art-styled works. And yet I feel it necessary to confess to you all, as the greatest of all Hallmark holidays approaches - so that you may all be encouraged to stand up and confess your unhealthy infatuation with those who you stalk from afar.

So, with that said – in honor of the 1,515th Valentine’s Day, and cheap bastards everywhere, I present to you a gift from mine own hands – NAY! From my hearty place! … use it wisely!

Source: Zombie Yeti

Quick Pic: Snow Dodecahedron

Snow Dodecahedron by Sushiesque

Photo taken in Porter Square, Cambridge, MA. Awesome job guys, now let’s roll it for D20 magical resistance.

Link Round-Up: February 9, 2011

Star Trek vs Dr. Who by Mike Mayhew and Rainier Beredo

The Coolest Locksmith Shop in New York City "From a distance, it looks like a bunch of golden squiggles and spirals have been added, snaking whimsically across the facade. But get a little closer and you’ll find the real magic… The new design is made up entirely of keys, literally thousands, and thousands, and thousands of keys, twisting into wonderful assortment of swoops and twirls."

Creating the Characters of Avatar & Tron: Legacy by Andrew Penn Romine

The Kingston Lounge is a photoblog about "guerrilla preservation and urban archaeology". Via How to be a Retronaut, which drew my attention to their excellent photoessay about North Brother Island.

Steampunk Map of New York, a commission for a 9 x 12 foot wall mural for a steampunk cafe, opening in Brooklyn later this year.

 Todd Klein Chooses Comics' Greatest Logos

Link Round-Up: February 7, 2011

"Intergallactic Super Bowl T-Shirt" from Redbubble

10 Very Creative Etch-a-Sketch Sketches

20 Examples Of Low Angle Photography ... and 7 Tips For Great Low Angle Shots

Check out Lloyd Birmingham’s Vintage SF Covers

A spectacular 24-hour photographic exposure of the sky transforms the Greek Church of Saint John into an island floating in space.  A technical explanation of the shot. Crescent moon and Poseidon Temple, by the same photographer, Chris Kotsiopoulos. Much more at greeksky.gr and Earth Science Picture of the Day.

ThinkGeek is now selling Minecraft Creeper Onesies

Sweets: Harley Quinn Birthday Cake

Source: Dance with Zombies

Link Round-Up: February 4, 2011

Gingerbread Companion Cube by IrkenIdiot

8 Awesome Videogame Cross Stitch Projects

A letterpress made of Legos used to create 8-bit prints. (more on NPR)

Hexadecimal color codes for every Crayola crayon

Liv Duval brings us this "Labyrinth" inspired Goblin Box carved from wood. I'm a long-time fan of Brian Froud's production design for "Labyrinth" and "The Dark Crystal" and an ornate case for Jared's crystal spheres fits right in with his sensibilities.

What would it look like if Apple designed a bathroom?

"Where’s Waldo?" is an amazing and funny photography project by Maxence B. Cardon and Charlotte Moulard, who recreated the famous illustrations of "Where’s Waldo" in reality.

Posters: Terminator

Terminator Poster by Tom Whalen

Posters: Old School Redesigns

The Shining poster

These epic redesigned movie posters are the work of Mark Welser. Make sure you check out the rest of the collection over at Deviant Art or purchase any of these as 11"x19" prints for $20 at Mark’s Shop.

Link Round-Up: February 3, 2011

Let the countdown to Valentine's Day begin!
Design: Masanori Sakamoto

Source: JPG a Day

19 Most Innovative Bus Stop Concepts

Funny "complimentary" email received by an artist.

Here’s another great SF and Fantasy artist, Jan Ditlev. He’s got a great eye for both scene and story, and is very stylish, too.

Video: Necronomicon

This great two-minute short film called The Necronomicon is a hilarious parody of those commercials released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Do you want to be a nicer person? Are you looking for inspiration to do good things? Well keep looking. But if you're into opening up terrifying vistas of reality then the Esoteric Order of the Old Ones and Cthulhu Cultists want to help.

Video: BUILD!

“BUILD!” is a brickfilm created by David Pagano and Matt Witham. If you like what you see, Pagano has made a bunch of other brickfilms, check out his YouTube uploads.

Fresh Take: Cthuluhusaurus Rex

Cthuluhusaurus Rex by Craig Simmons

Source: Reddit

It wasn't the comments that took the dinosaurs, but rather an ancient elder terror, the sight of which drove the great lizards mad...

Project: Google Art Project

In another sign that Google is taking over the world, they launched the Google Art Project today. Art Project, powered by Google allows users to explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.

Using technology similar to their “street view” feature on Google Maps, users can take a virtual tour of art institutions around the world like the MoMA (NY), Palace of Versailles, National Gallery (London), the Tate, and more. Also, each one chose one artwork to be photographed in 7 billion pixels, which means stunning details down to individual brushstrokes can be seen.