Here’s some of the coolest wedding invitations I’ve ever seen. Artist and graphic designer Larry Quach recently crafted these one-of-a-kind invitations for his friend’s wedding. Seeing as the entire wedding was Super Mario Brothers-themed, he went out of his way to include everything from the actual invitations to the party favors and even threw together a custom seating chart for the occasion. I’m incredibly impressed with the amount of work that must have went into it, but Larry did a bang up job, and it really shows.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Oct 4, 2011 in Design, Fandom
A few months back, Chronicle Books published The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010, a collection of Al Jaffee’s award-winning fold-ins featured on the back of MAD Magazine over the past four decades. For those of us who grew up reading MAD, this special collection is an absolute must-buy. Though I haven’t personally subscribed to the publication in recent years, I have fond memories of purchasing issues and immediately flipping them over to see what Jaffee had in store for us. His brilliant designs are not only humorous and satirical, but constantly remain topical and are often thought-provoking.
I love Star Wars as much as anyone, but I’ve never really given much thought to the actual work that went into building its universe. I know the films like the back of my hand, but I really couldn’t tell you how to construct your own droid or build a sand palace. I simply wouldn’t know where to start. That’s where a copy of Star Wars: The Blueprints comes in hand. Literally 336 pages of content with over 500 photos, and illustrations detailing over 250 designs unique to the Star Wars universe. With a limited run of only 5000 copies at $500 a pop — the first 125 actually come signed and hand-numbered for $1000 each — I probably won’t be able to score a copy for myself but serious collectors will want to take note. The book itself comes hand-crafted with a special dyed-cloth case, along with the certificate of authenticity included as well. I can’t imagine many of you wanting invest in a copy, but if you’re crazy enough to buy one, here’s a link to the order form.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Jun 28, 2011 in Cinema, Design
The other week I stumbled across the works of Damon Bard. While many of you might not recognize his name, you’ll definitely recognize his work. Damon’s been involved with a number of Hollywood productions over the course of his career, with his sculptures and character designs having graced such films Revenge of the Sith, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek 2, and more. While his website might seem a tad unassuming, his online portfolio is filled with a plethora of beautiful sculptures, Marquettes and models he’s crafted over the years. While he might not be responsible for bringing these models to life on the big screen, Bards creations have likely fueled the creativity of animators who have. To find out more about Damon and his craft, check out his official website, portfolio and blog.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 12, 2011 in Design, Fandom
While many of you may recognize some of her work from around the net, you probably don’t know the name behind some of these nerdy Art Nouveau-inspired character portraits. Her name is Megan Lara, a 22 year-old aspiring artist and self-proclaimed fangirl and her art’s been turning quite a few heads as of late. Her art isn’t limited to these portraits either. Megan’s portfolio also includes fine art, general prints, and more. Currently, a large portion of her works are available on t-shirts via Level Up Studios, but her designs can be found everywhere from RedBubble to, most recently, ThinkGeek. If you’d like to check out more of her work, you can visit her official site or browse on over to her Deviant Art.
Beautiful isn’t it? This deadly insect was crafted by English designer, and steampunk enthusiast Tom Hardwidge. It’s one of many he’s created over the years – an interesting hobby to say the least. The components he uses to craft these wonders are merely used parts from pocket watches, a nut, bolt, or a piece of copper here and there — oh, and old ammunition. I’m sure something could be said for creating art so beautiful from something so deadly.
I’m not sure why it bothers me so much to see those vans with those family decals stuck on their rear-view windows. Something about having to advertise the fact that your family shares a mini-van just seems a little much. If, on the other hand, your family owns the Millennium Falcon, I think I’d be okay with it. That’s why I love this design by artist Steve Thomas. I don’t think you’ll be able to find the sticker, but you can head over to TeeFury and pick up this nifty design on a custom tee of your own. Like every other design that gets featured on the site, it’ll only be available for 24 hours, or until it sells out — whichever comes first. Read more…
Check out this fantastic little mash-up by writer & graphic designer Ben Huber. Anyone who’s a fan of Baccano! will recognize the characters but the image is quite clearly paying homage to a certain poster from Christopher Nolan’s box office hit, Inception. On top of that, you’ll really appreciate the attention to detail, as while you may be unable to see the text without enlarging the image, those credits are completely accurate. It sort of blows my mind that he had time to do that, but it’s certainly cool that he did.
It’s never easy crafting your own props, let alone attempting to recreate one from scratch. That said, artist Josh Jay did a fantastic job sculpting his very own Brotherhood of Steel power helmet from Fallout 3. That much is impressive, but what’s more is that he actually took the time to document the process through photos, posting several galleries detailing the techniques he used while constructing it. Had he actually taken the time to write out some instructions along with his photos, they’d make a fantastic visual aid. For more photos check out his galleries here and here.
