Sketchbook Advice

Some great sketchbook advice from Austin Kleon

...fill a page every day, even if it’s with grocery lists or scribbles or collages. At the end lf the year your sketchbook will be full.
Also: carry it everywhere, and instead of long at your phone or the computer when you’re bored, start making marks.
Also: remember that a sketchbook is a tool for thinking, a place to work your thoughts out on the page. It ain’t precious.

Great advice!

Friendvengers

Once again proving that with the right music and a little bit of clever editing you can turn any movie's genre on its head; Avengers as Friends!

Pantone Delights

Pantone delights

Willow Animated

Never Ending Story, Krull, Dark Crystal, Princess Bride I'm a big adolescent fantasy fanboy from waaaaay back... So it was quite exciting to see these new images on i09 from a failed Willow animated series just released by the buyer of the originals. Also check out i09 for some great concept art by the recently passed Moebius for Willow (the movie) among many others!

D's Poker Face

Every now and again, while working at THQ, I had one of those crazy, challenging but really fun briefs. This was one of them...

As part of an internal 'promotional' video, I had to create a set of mock, giant playing cards using our 2011-2012 lineup as the suites (though of course a 10 and an Ace don't usually have a picture associated with them).

I wanted them to be easily recognisable (both the game and card type) and readable on the small screen. I decided to try and make the style as close to traditional playing cards as possible, including the palette, the mirroring of the image and line style. In fact, the line style was the hardest bit to get right- It looked easy, but there is a certain element of naivety you have to capture in order to make them look 'right'.

Anyways, I was pretty happy with the result, and so was the CEO who had them made up into an actual set of playing cards to be handed out as a promotional gift! I was pretty excited by that...

Movie Trailers

Another of these trailer, trailers, for a movie that doesn't need a remake... But it does look pretty awesome so far: Total Recall.




Jason Statham: The Movie

Skyrim Hoarders

Fallout For Dummies

With so many great RPGs out at the moment like Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim it's interesting to read a few articles on the Fallout series that have srung up lately, which actually changed the dialogue options if you created characters with sub standard intelligence! I had no idea; I will definitely play the next Fallout game with as low intelligence as I can... Checkout Rock Paper Shogun for an in-depth recount!

Digital Skin

New Samsung Galaxy advert paints a live digital skin onto it's subject, a very cool idea, nicely executed.

Playground Photography: Ward Roberts

Shooting on a Hasselblad 503CW, Australian photographer Ward Roberts breaks into schools around the world and photographs their playgrounds... Which now that I write that down sounds kinda creepy, but it does make for some interesting imagery...

Exhibition: Threat

New exhibition called Threat; asking artists to design for the home with a mind for self defence.

Birth of a Book

A short film doing the rounds at the moment showing the age-old art of producing a book at the Smith-Settle Printers in Leeds- With paper and everything!

Fancine's Fallen Hero Campiagn

 As featured on Super Punch; a rather graphic but effective promotion for the Fancine Film Festival by
Tapsa using a tortured Superhero as its foundation.

Publishing Design: Jon Wong

Some stunning publication design from Jon Wong

Eagle Cam

The Raptor Resource Project runs 12 webcams, including the Decorah eagle cam. The organization, established in 1988, takes care of more than 40 raptor nests and nest sites. The project has used birdcams since 1998, when it launched the web’s first, a peregrine falcon cam known as Mae’s Internest in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota. The project also has birdcams of falcons, ospreys, hawks and owls.

Stop Animation Lavazza Commercial

Great to see some traditional stop motion animation (especially when this could easily be done 3D (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Check out Dadomani's site to see details of the actual process behind the commercial.

Star Wars Continual Line Drawings

Star Wars Continual Line Drawings by Sam Hallows

Science & Art: Sam Hallows

A gorgeous 'conceptual' project exploring 'Science and Art' by designer Sam Hallows

Zero Hour V Airplane

I had never heard of Zero Hour until seeing this, but 'Airplane' or as we antipodeans know it 'Flying High' (which is still funny to this day despite a long trail of deteriorating clones since) was actually based very closely on this original film! A very interesting study (and a few chuckles along the way...)

Game of Thrones Season 1 Recap

If you're new to the series or just want a recap, here's a great special doing just that! And if you aren't watching Game of Thrones- Get onto it!

With Mad Men set to return very soon, Co.Design has featured some nice Excerpts from the book
 Mid-Century Ads: Advertising from the Mad Men Era.

 

Board Games

I thought this was a parody when I saw it at first, but as a Pictionary & Lego fan, this looks pretty bricktastic: Lego Creationary. 

Check it out.

And a couple of board games that ARE a parody... The first is Rated MA+ for course language (the title should give it away)...

F**K YOU the Board Game




The Hunger Games Board Game

D's Lunch Bags for Loula

My daughter started Kinder in 2010 and inspired by this guy, I wanted to provide her with a little reminder of home; so each week I'd draw a set of characters on her lunch bags.
This is a small selection of the better (and less lunchified) ones.
They were meant to be (and had to be) quick and simple but it was a fun exercise. She loved it (keeping them to colour in) and so did her Kinder (I even had to take a few requests).

Movie Trailers

Prometheus (Full and sexy trailer)



Chernobyl Diaries (Blair Witch Vs. Stalker)



Sound Of My Voice (Cult Story)

Melbourne Design Studio: Round

A Melbourne design studio with a pretty impressive and diverse body of work: Round

Cardboard Hellboy Costumes.

Cardboard Hellboy costumes.

Trailer: BSG Blood & Chrome

I am a SILLY BSG fan (all but the last 5 minutes of the final episode anyways) and much as Caprica kind of faded away, here's a trailer for a NEW preseries Blood & Chrome which WAS going to TV, then the web, then a TV movie... Now it's back as a web series... *sigh*
I do hate trailer's which reuse a track from a current popular trailer (Fincher's Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and it's really more of a video clip than a trailer... but this does look pretty cool!

Universal Construction Kit

Not useful unless you have your own 3D printing technology but:

"F.A.T. Lab and Sy-Lab are pleased to present the Free Universal Construction Kit: a matrix of nearly 80 adapter bricks that enable complete interoperability between ten* popular children’s construction toys.... Our adapters can be downloaded from Thingiverse.com and other sharing sites as a set of 3D models in .STL format, suitable for reproduction by personal manufacturing devices like the Makerbot (an inexpensive, open-source 3D printer)."

See the full article on F.A.T

Salvador and the Chupa Chup

From Co.Design

"Salvador Dalí, the wacky surrealist known for his signature pointy mustache and painting melting clocks, was also graphic designer behind the classic Chupa Chups--an enduringly sweet, bright rendition of a daisy."

More

Imagine- How Creativity Works: Jonah Lehrer

An examination of the new science of creativity explains how it involves distinct thought processes that can be tapped by anyone, revealing the practices of successful companies and creative individuals while considering how to use scientific principles to increase creativity.

I have not read this book, but the exert below piqued my interest; see a full review here.

On the creative processes that resulted in Nike's "Just Do It" campaign
"This is a great story from Dan Wieden at Wieden+Kennedy, the very honored Portland ad firm. ... He'd come up with seven videos for the new Nike ad campaign. ... He knew these different videos which featured different sports needed a shared slogan. But he just couldn't think of the slogan. ... At some point during the day, somebody must've mentioned Norman Mailer to him. And so Norman Mailer was in the back of his head somewhere.
"It's near midnight. His deadline's approaching. He's really, really frustrated at this point because he can't come up with this damn slogan. And then suddenly he thinks of Norman Mailer. He remembers Norman Mailer wrote this book called The Executioner's Song about Gary Gilmore. And he remembers Gary Gilmore's last words right before he's executed by a firing squad in Utah. His last words were, 'Let's do it.'
"And Dan Wieden thinks to himself, Geez, that's pretty brave. That's a pretty brave sentiment to have right before you die — to just get it over with. But he realizes 'Let's Do It' isn't quite right, so he tweaks one word. And there you get 'Just Do It.' ... But that's a perfect example of how, in a sense, that's an old idea. It was a line in a Norman Mailer book, and he tweaked it ever so slightly. He substituted one word and came up with one of the most influential advertising slogans of the second half of the 20th century."

Prolific, diverse, Popculture Illustrator: James Hance

This guy's website has a lot of pretty amazing, gorgeous work.

Light Saber Fighting and The (Totally) Phantom Menace

My HATE for the Star Wars prequels is on the record so it's no surprise I would share this... But it's the best kind of prequel rant, it peels back the layers of WHY the prequels aren't up to the grade with great insight AND great humour: The (Totally) Phantom Menace

Sweet & Disturbing Illustrator: Tony Sandoval

Kind of like Simon Bisley does Mark Ryden; Blog of sweet yet disturbing illustrator Tony Sandoval

Abstract Vector Illustrator: Robert M Ball

I've featured his 50 Goodies before but here's Robert M Ball's website of abstract vector goodness.

James Bond Pin Ups

James Bond Pin Ups by Michael Gillet available as prints.

Great Expectations

Speaking of classic literature, I'm yet to read a Dickens novel but I plan to now- I just finished the rather stunning three part BBC production of Great Expectations. Hopefully you've been watching it too; if I'd posted this earlier, those of you lucky enough to access ABC iview might have been able to catch up on it, though the last two episodes are still available...

It is a rich, textured and gritty production with an authentic cast and complex characters telling a brilliantly layered story; worthy of a Cohen Brothers farce... Or is that just me?... Check it out if you can!  

Zombie Shopping Mall Experience

Running around an abandoned shopping mall and shooting zombies with Airsoft fireams? All I can say is HELLS YEAH!

Orwell's Rules for Writers

After an enforced, brief and incomplete flirtation during High School, I recently returned to and read George Orwell's 1984 (as part of my 'Classics' catch up campaign)... Wow, I was pretty much blown away by this book; it is still timely, chilling and fascinating... If you've ever said 'I should read that' (and you trust me) then I recommend you get on with it... In the mean time check out:

 Orwell's Rules for Writers 

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

From this essay.

And amazingly, by coincidence, AFTER I posted this I discovered that there's a new big screen adaptation in the works! 

The Adventures of Kim Jong Un

Twisted Architecture:

Twisted Architecture: Victor Enrich

The Gentlemen's Rant: iPad

The Gentlemen's Rant: iPad