Star Wars finger puppets

Some folks collect stamps, others collect vintage action figures. I collect finger puppets. It’s true. I have over 100 puppets ranging from dragons to faeries to the entire cast of Muppets. However, I seem to be missing an oh-so-popular set that would make my collection über complete: Star Wars. I never thought I’d write, “awe, Darth Vader is so cute!” You be the judge.

by jesscalator

by GollyGeeGeorge on Etsy

by GollyGeeGeorge on Etsy

by dingdongdesigns

by Vicki Wiltshire

by Heather (dollarstorecrafts.com)

by Little Knittles

by blackrose1151

by WeeKnit on Etsy

Oragami combines ancient art with fantasy and sci-fi characters

The Japanese art of paper folding, otherwise known as Origami, has been the vehicle for creating incredibly intricate creatures since the 17th century. These days, however, this traditional art form has merged with pop culture to bring us our favorite fantasy and sci-fi characters, including Yoda, dragons, robots, and even spaceships. Take a peek.

Dragon by Kamiya Satoshi

Yoda

Yoda

Fairy by Alicia Shafer

Oriland robot by Mammaoca2008

Cylon by NIshida Shatner

Alien by origamiwolf

Alien by EZ Origami

Designed by Satoshi Kamiya. Folded by Phillip West

Lord of the Rings by Eric Joisel

Vader by orixander

Optimus Prime by origami RXMAN

Gryphon by Andrey Ermakov

WALL-E by Brian Chan

Elf by Wizmatt

You know who this feline looks like!

Nekobus by Brian Chan

Designed by Satoshi Kamiya. Folded by Phillip West.

USS Enterprise by Won Park

Millennium Falcon by Won Park

Mermaid by childofsai

Merlion by Andrey Ermakov

Ogre by kittykatkards

The Vader Project: Interview with co-creator Sarah Jo Marks

For our first episode of Outta This World the show, we had the opportunity to interview Sarah Jo Marks, co-creator of The Vader Project, to discuss the ups, downs, and the process of putting together a pop culture-style art show.

After watching the video, check out a handful of some of The Vader Project helmets that are up for auction below!

To find out more about the auction or to purchase your collector’s catalog with all 100 helmets illustrated in vibrant detail (I have one and it’s incredible), visit the Freeman’s website.

7 inspiring motion graphics & animation projects

When I was in art school, I remember hearing a lot of buzz about the newest major to hit SU’s School of Visual and Performing Arts: Graphic Design. Ya know, learning how to design and develop websites. (I also remember wondering, “what’s a website?”) Those were the days when computers took up far too much space on our desks and the world of art still remained essentially 2D. 

Fast forward to the year 2010, and we can’t even walk down the street without seeing interactive, highly visual and engaging media. And for artists, it’s a chance to wander in the world of motion.

 Here are seven incredible motion design and animation projects (hint: click images to view videos).

The Mill NY: 2010 OFFF opening titles 

Read about the project on Motionographer.

Click image to play the OFFF Opening Titles

Psyop: Whole New World

Read about the project on Motionographer.

Click image to view Psyop: Whole New World

Bl:nd: Lilac Wine (music video) 

Read about the project and view storyboards on BLIND.

Click image to view Lilac Wine

Superfad: Preguntas Hermosas

Read about the project on Motionographer.

Click image to view Superfad's Preguntas Hermosas

Azureus Rising (Proof of Concept)

Azureus Rising by Black Sun Entertainment

Watch it here!

Seagulls Fly & Adobe CS5 Production Premium

Read about the project on Motionographer. 

Click on image to view Seagulls Fly

Nokta

Nokta by Onur Senturk

Watch it here!

Want more?

Motionographer does an incredible job of promoting expert and upcoming motion designers, along with discussions on the creative process. Check out their blog for more amazing work!

CG artists rereate mother nature’s peace and fury in The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender will release to the public a mere few days from now when mother nature’s powerful elements—Air, Water, Earth and Fire—will be handed to us in a way we’ve never seen. Creating a made up world full of CG elements wasn’t easy for M. Night Shyamalan and Industrial Light and Magic; yet regardless of whether the story unfolds as we expect, the special effects will certainly give us enough eye candy to gawk at (and talk about) for quite some time.

The Last Airbender TV Spot

Here are some of the the latest production stills released in the final press kit from Paramount Pictures.

Fire

“Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman recounts that he went outside and lit some stuff on fire, so he would have a bunch of studies of real fire to show to director M. Night Shyamalan. But when Helman showed the footage of actual fire to Shyamalan, his response was, ‘You know what? That fire looks CG.’ Even real fire looked fake.” ~ Charlie Jane Anders (io9)

Water

The Industrial Light & Magic crew used a NASA video of water in zero gravity as reference for how bending water could look.

Air

“The ILM team decided that what you want to see is what the air is pulling up—whether it’s dust or snow, depending on what environment Aang is in. They used the same algorithm for air that they’d used for fire, except that they didn’t render it as fire.” ~Charlie Jane Anders (io9)

Facial motion capture

“There are actually three Aangs in the movie. There’s Ringer, who’s an accomplished martial artist and actually plays the character most of the time. There’s his stunt double Jade, a girl who’s roughly the same size and shape as Ringer… And then there’s a CG rendering of Aang, who’s doing some of the crazy acrobatics and ultra-dangerous stunts that no actor or stunt-person can do. To put Ringer’s face onto the other Aangs, Harrington captured a closeup of Ringer scowling and grimacing, with a billion dots to capture every aspect of the performance.” ~Charlie Jane Anders (io9)

Creatures

For Appa, the six-legged flying bison, “The cool thing about Appa is that I kind of thought of him as a combination of the Millennium Falcon and Chewbacca…. We looked at polar bears, and we thought of the front two legs as arms that are offset slightly, and the back legs are legs… We looked at polar bears, bison [and] elephants to get kind of the physics and the weight right. We also looked at beavers. There are scenes where he actually swims and kind of uses his beaver tail in the water.” ~ Tim Harrington (ILM Animation Supervisor)

“Aang has a pet flying lemur named Momo. Harrington spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the light to scatter through Momo’s wing membrane. The mechanics of how Momo flies were based on the giant fruit bat, which Harrington figured was roughly the same weight.” ~Charlie Jane Anders (io9)

Environments

“In general, the team took a ‘less is more’ approach to layering in computer-generated details to all the scenes, aiming for the most photorealistic images they could create. The locations the film visits are based around the styles of the different tribes.” ~Charlie Jane Anders (io9)

Behind-The-Scenes footage

From The Southern Water Tribe Set

From The Northern Water Tribe Set

“I’m not the most techie guy in the world, so if I can keep coming from character, I can keep it grounded. When we saw the cartoon, the mythology was so well thought out and had Buddhism, martial arts and CGI, but the kind that is character-based and that’s coming from emotions. So I could tell ILM [Industrial Light & Magic]…and speak in terms of character point of view and be effective in that way.” ~M. Night Shyamalan

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The Creatures of “The Last Airbender” – An Interview with ILM Animation Supervisor Tim Harrington

Artists capture the world and characters of ‘The Hobbit’

Reports are flooding in that Peter Jackson will indeed direct The Hobbit in a two-movie deal, and I know I’m not the only Lord of the Rings fan who is jumping for joy at the news. Yet before we see this world once more through Jackson’s eyes, let’s take a peek at what artists have been doing for years: creating incredible art depicting Tolkien’s beloved world and characters.

John Howe

Alan Lee

Alan Lee

Justin Gerard

Justin Gerard

Justin Gerard

Iain McCaig

Andrei Pervukhin

Armand Dimitri

David T Wenzel

Andy Smith

wildlifehoodoo

Chris Mills

Nate Hallinan

Alanise

Gonzalo Ordóñez Arias

ritchat

Richard Whitters

Flynn the Cat

Alexandra Dubeau

Space landscapes celebrate the lunar and solar eclipse

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in exact alignment with one another, where the Sun’s rays are blocked from shining upon the moon by the Earth, which stands between the two. There is always a full moon during a lunar eclipse. A solar eclipse, from Earth, can be seen as a bright ray of fire as the Moon appears to cover the Sun. Now both of these astronomical events will be occurring within mere weeks of another (lunar on June 26, 2010 and solar on July 11, 2010), creating a huge shift in the electro-magnetic energy field that effects every Earthling.

Fantasy and Science Fiction artists have been enamored by the stars, planets, the Moon and the Sun for ages, creating such incredible depictions of the universe and faraway worlds that inspire even the most reality-driven man to use his imagination.

In honor of these symbolic elements that remind us just how small we are in this universe, here are some of my favorite pieces of art.

Cold Fire by Inga Nielsen

Wheel of Fire by Inga Nielsen

Space Scene by xcine

Age of Discovery by Josef Bartoň

Blue Moon by David Fuhrer

Fire in the Land of Shadows by Inga Nielsen

Broken Planet by Jordan

Another World Sunset by Gary Jamroz

Backdrop of Megamind by Patrick Jensen

Moment in space XCIV by Tuomas Pekkarinen

Eclipse by Sami Mattila

Obsequium by taenaron

Lux Aeterna by taenaron

Space by Mariusz Karasiewicz

The Beginning by Mariusz Karasiewicz

The Untitled Scenes CLII by Tuomas Pekkarinen

Space Lunar by Mariusz Karasiewicz

Just Space by Josef Bartoň

Paramount by Josef Bartoň

Landscape 3 by AnastasyaCemetery

Stonehenge made out of… foam? Foam and fiberglass art by Mark Cline

Mark Cline’s Foamhenge (and my mom holding down the fort)

I just returned from a visit back east, and one of our pit stops was a family reunion in Natural Bridge, VA. I assumed, like most small towns in Virginia, that we’d only find historical sights reminiscent of a colonial-inspired era. What I didn’t expect to see was a life-size replica of Stonehenge made from foam!

Mark Cline, artist and native of Virginia, produces foam and fiberglass pieces for attractions all over the state, including Foamhenge, Enchanted Castle Studios and Professor Cline’s Haunted Monster Museum & Dark Maze, a haunted mansion tucked back in the woods, complete with monsters and sci-fi inspired characters including a half Frankenstein half chicken.

Here are some photos of his work

Madame Tussauds immortalizes Star Trek, Wolverine, and more

My family is visiting from back east, so I took them to see the Madame Tussauds wax museum in Hollywood. We had fun posing with our favorite movie stars—of course, I had to sit in the captain’s chair!

Here are some of my favorites. PS. I only had my camera phone.

Kristen in the captain's chair with Picard and Kirk

A close up of Picard

Close up of Kirk

William Shatner with his own wax version of Captain Kirk

Oooops, Kristen gets carried away with Wolverine

Plaster mask of Hugh Jackman's face

Terminator

Spiderman

Sci-fi metal sculptures: Transformers, Terminator and Star Wars

Kristen with the Predator outside Titanic

While perusing the Venice Beach boardwalk, I stumbled upon an incredible metal sculpture of an old school Predator at Titanic Boutique. After snagging a photo of one of my favorite alien life forms with my camera, I checked out the huge collection of metal art which included fan favorites such as the Terminator, Optimus Prime, Boba Fett and Darth Vader—you can see them all below.

These pieces are highly detailed, well-made, and quite a unique addition to Venice, in comparison to the multitude of overly touristy hat, clothing, and jewelry beach-side shops donning the strip. The small sculptures will run you around $95, and I didn’t dare ask about the large ones!

Titanic is run by Antonio and Karina Rendon. I had the pleasure of speaking with Antonio, who was very nice and informative, and allowed me to take as many pictures as I wanted. Thanks guys!

Titanic Boutique :: 405 Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, CA 90291 :: (310) 392-9254

Boba Fett vs. Darth Vader

Close up detail of Boba Fett

Optimus Prime

Terminator