By: John,
on 2/25/2008
And speaking of candy-coated characters, here are some, uh… candy-coated characters. The Eugene and Louise Bakery make some seriously stylish-looking desserts, including a whole slew of crazy critters made out of marzipan that would look perfectly at home on a shelf alongside your designer vinyl toy collection.
By: John,
on 2/11/2008
I love the Dezeen design magazine website. Every day, you get glimpses into some stunning architectural and design ideas for the future. Many of them seem like something out of science fiction, while some are in production right now. Above:
San Francisco architects IwamotoScott (it’s an all-flash site, but worth it) have won a competition to propose a futuristic vision of their city, organised by the History Channel. Hydro-Net proposes a new, underground network of tunnels for hydrogen-powered, hovering vehicles plus a forest of new towers sprouting from lowland areas inundated by rising sea levels.
Check out the full set of images on IwamotoScott’s Flickr page.
[via Dezeen]
By: John,
on 2/8/2008
It’s no easy task to capture a likeness in a drawing, so it always amazes me when an illustrator can sculpt an effective caricature in three dimensions. Visit Karen Caldicott’s site to see her amazing and effective work.
By: John,
on 2/8/2008
Trembled Blossoms is a short animated Prada ad based on some mind-blowing designs from James Jean. Some of the stuff is rendered beautifully, while other stuff seems to miss the mark and land somewhere in the uncanny valley (see above).
Interesting to see Jean’s work in motion though.
(via Cartoon Brew )
Also of interest:
James Jean: Process Recess 2
James Jean Interviewed by Little Chimp Society
The Hundreds: James Jean Interview
By: John,
on 2/6/2008
CBC just published an article on a research team that is figuring out a way to make updateable holographs. Of course, they’re marketing it at the medical industry. But all I could think was, update those suckers at 12 frames a second and make them full colour! CBC does eventually make a reference to gaming further down the page.
The image above I swiped from the website of Joseph Perry, a professor working on the project. He describes the research in techno-speak, and lists the scholarly articles about it, for those of you ejjikated enuff to understand them.
By: John,
on 1/16/2008
It’s official: Glumpers is my new favorite stop on the web. Like many people, I’m a sucker for good animation, well designed characters, beautiful art direction, and chuckle worthy humor. Thanks to the visual effects and animation studio MAKE, Glumpers delivers on all of the above. The only negative thing I can say about the show is that currently there are only three episodes (they are downloadable) on their site. Yes, like I said before, I like Glumpers and so will you.
Link via Josh Burton.
By: Jenny Levine,
on 1/9/2008
…might just be based on the Nintendo Wii?
Check out Johnny Chung Lee’s Wii Projects and count how many times you find yourself saying “wow.” And if you own a Wii, see if you don’t want to try to doing all of these things yourself. I know I do.
Unintended consequences are often the most interesting ones. As I watched these videos, I found myself thinking about Allan Kleiman’s work at the Old Bridge Public Library, using the Wii to introduce seniors to technology, wondering if this type of setup would work better for those folks who have trouble using a computer mouse.
The head tracking video is really interesting, too, as it might be a precursor to a home version of The Cave. Imagine being able to walk into a book on your videogame console (Hotel Dusk for the Wii, anyone?). 3D gaming - and the literacies that would come with it - might be much closer than we think.
I really want some time to play with this stuff! [Thanks, Clare!]
3d, too cool, virtual reality, wii
By: Neil Gaiman,
on 12/5/2007
By some odd coincidence, these two came in back to back...
Hey Neil,
I've heard that with some prints of Beowulf there was a trailer for Henry Selick's Coraline adaption. Is this true? And if so, do you have it? Can you maybe link or post it? I'm sure many of us would love to see it. Thank you.
~Dylan
and
Hello Mr. Gaiman.
I was absolutely chuffed to finally see a trailer for Coraline when I went to see Beowulf. I'm really looking forward to the movie.
I cannot, however seem to find the trailer on the internet. Is it available anywhere? Do I simply have horrible Googling skills?
If you would direct me to a site with the trailer I will be most appreciative as I'd like to share it with friends who haven't yet seen it.
Many thanks!
Ashley
You can't find the pre-Beowulf trailer for Coraline on the internet, because as far as I can tell, it isn't there yet -- probably because it's only a 3D trailer (and it looks so much better in 3D than flat, especially the poking needle going through the buttonhole).
I've got a copy, though, and I've asked The Folk At Laika how they'd feel about me putting it up. Let me see what we can do...
...
Here's today's dog-bounding-through-the-snow photo, because he looks a bit wolfier or doggier and a bit less ice-weaselly.
Right. Back to proofreading.
By: Sevensheaven.nl,
on 11/23/2007
Stylized, pictographic 3D illustrations.
More at Sevensheaven.nl
By: John,
on 11/19/2007
Aidan Chopra, the author of Google SketchUp for Dummies has an entire series of accompanying videos on YouTube that help show you how to use SketchUp, Google’s free 3D drawing program. I’ve tried SketchUp, but found it unintuitive, and these videos (and I’m sure the book, too) truly help. The program has the potential to be invaluable to illustrators and cartoonists, as it allows you to quickly (and cheaply!) create models to work from — especially of different views of imaginary interiors.
By: Sevensheaven.nl,
on 9/20/2007
Style experiment between 2D and 3D.
More stuff at Sevensheaven.nl
By: John,
on 9/5/2007
ABOVE: “Spaceship to the Moon” by Jack Coggins, 1952 (courtesy of Leif Peng’s Flickr sets)
From the boys at Mondolithic Studios (previously), who will be among the judges:
A new NASA contest encourages university art and design students to partner with science and engineering departments to create art representative of living and working on the moon. The goal is for students in the arts, science and engineering to collaboratively engage in NASAs mission to return humans to the moon by 2020, and eventually journey on to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
The Advanced Planning and Partnership Office at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., is sponsoring the “Life and Work on the Moon” contest. Winners will receive cash prizes up to $1,000. Winning artwork also will be exhibited online and across the country. Entries are due no later than December 1, 2007, and results will be announced in February 2008. A high school version of this contest is planned for the spring of 2008.
For more details about the contest, including NASAs resources about the moon, visit: http://artcontest.larc.nasa.gov
(…)
Why is NASA sponsoring this contest?
Once humans establish a presence on the Moon, the arts will be a desired facet of life there, as they are here on Earth. It is our intention to provoke non-science and engineering students to think about the science and engineering required to achieve the conditions suitable for humans to live and work on the moon. It is also our intention to help the science and engineering communities appreciate valuable contributions from other communities, particularly the arts.
Art and Science together. I always like that. AND the thought of living on the moon! (Does this mean we FINALLY get our flying cars too?)
By: Sevensheaven.nl,
on 8/31/2007
Stylized 3D illustration about the different faces of a supplier towards his customer.
More imagery at Sevensheaven.nl
By: Sevensheaven.nl,
on 8/23/2007
Stylized 3D illustration about the view upon the same subject by two different persons.
More eyefruit at Sevensheaven.nl
After the last post, I was reminded of James Maidens and his once-daily collection of silly and adorable images called Boring 3D. The comparison between the two seems strong enough that I should point to both.
By: John,
on 8/8/2007
The 3D characters of Yann Le Coroller are, in a word, totally awesome. Okay, that was two words.
By: John,
on 8/7/2007
If you’re familiar with any of Björk’s pre-Vespertine album covers, you’ve seen the inventive handiwork of London-based design firm Me Company. Their site has a portfolio of recent, mostly non-Björk, creations.
Pete Wagner, aka Polygon Pete, is a 3D artist and videogame modeler for Smartbomb Interactive, and shares some of his work on his blog. (via Jim Woodring)
I’ve used this for drawing backgrounds. I found it frustrating to use… but I see now that I wasn’t using the tools to their potentials. These tutorials will help a lot.
SketchUp used to offer similar tutorials for free, back when they were owned by @Last. I guess those disappeared when the company was bought by Google; it’s nice to see they are back in some capacity (I taught myself to use the program four or five years ago mainly using these online tutorials). I find that this is the easiest and most intuitive modeling/rendering program out there; it particularly shines when I have to make fast, last-minute changes to a design. It might not be the best in its field in terms of image quality, but it certainly is better than its analogue equivalent: the cardboard sketch model.