Alex Grey: Metaphysical, Anatomical Illustrator

Meet Alex Grey, a superb artist-illustrator who combines detailed human anatomy with the concepts of metaphysics and spirituality. His works are amazing visual adventures that feature living things, their internal workings and the mystical energy that flows through them. Personally, I have seen his "Sacred Mirrors" series on display and it is quite provocative and fascinating. I'm sure you will look at his works in wonder.

www.alexgrey.com/

LabMassiv: Model Photography And Illustration Site

LabMassiv appears to be a website that features portfolios by photographers and illustrators that deal mostly with fashion, glamour and models. There are some very stylish and interesting images on display in the various collections. Click around.

labmassiv.com/gallery/main/

Be Inspired By The Artist "Sand Dancer"

New Zealand beach artist Peter Donnelly will knock you out. He spends a lot of time on beaches drawing marvelous patterns and illustrations in the sand with a rod and a rake. Quite a free spirit, his charm will infect you and draw you in. GEt ready to smile.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ZqKmaN2qw

Cute Animation From Kansas City Art Students

My friend Steve Mayse, an instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute, directed me to a great little video some students at the school had created. Their effort "Dried Up" is a professional-quality piece of stop-motion animation. I think Steve gave them some input on their set construction technique. You're sure to appreciate the thought and care the kids put into their production.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdCUvFXQzSk

Great 3-D Futuristic Illustrations

Think Syd Mead. Think Blade Runner. Think Jacob Charles Dietz. Jacob Dietz is a highly-proficient 3-D illustrator that has a fetish for futuristic, sci-fi scenes. The kind of stuff that belongs in video games, movies and book covers. If you like fantasy worlds full of flying cars, mega-skyscrapers and spandex-clad citizens, you should rush to his site right now. I think he'll sell you his models and textures. And maybe even some prints.

site.jacobcharlesdietz.com

Weird Dog Haircuts And Dye Jobs

Three sites showing the crazy ways people decorate their canine companions. Good Lord!

www.dogguide.net/blog/2008/05/no-im-not-kidding-15-photos-of-dogs-with-dye-jobs

declubz.com/blog/2009/03/26/weird-dog-award-or-it-seems

geniusbeauty.com/humor/bizarre-dog-haircuts

Awesome Snow Crystal Gallery

Photographer Kenneth G. Libbrecht spends his time doing something few people have the patience for: photographing snowflakes. Even more ambitious than that, he often manufactures the snowflakes himself. Go to his website and see the intricate array of snowflake forms, and read how he goes about his painstaking tasks. Isn't nature wonderful?

www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals

Sensitive Light - Beautiful Smoke

I fell in love with the images on this site the minute I saw them. You will too! So elegant and serene. We've all seen patterns like this drifting up out of an ashtray. But never has smoke been captured so beautifully. Once you've seen them, I'm sure you will hunger for more.

sensitivelight.com/smoke2

Links to other artistic smoke sites:

fireflyforest.net/firefly/2007/07/28/art-smoke-photos

Liquid Sculpture - High Speed Water Droplets

Here's one of those photography sites that is specialized and super-cool. Martin Waugh's passion is to capture water droplets immediately after impact with a super-fast strobe. To enhance the effect, he uses colored liquid and backgrounds. The result is a unique shape, frozen in time, that will capture your imagination. Very beautiful work.

www.liquidsculpture.com/fine_art/index.htm

Comic-Con: Bring Your Stormtrooper Costume

I've gone to the International Comic-Con 3 or 4 times now. It's super-incredible (if you like geeky forms of entertainment)! It fills up the San Diego Convention Center from end to end and is divided up so: 1/3 independent illustrators, 1/3 comic book memorabilia sellers, 1/3 publishing companies. Comic-Con is the place where fantasy fans can see all the latest stuff set to hit the shelves and theaters long before it does. Roaming the floor is really a trip, because so many people are in costume. It's like Halloween. If you're into pop culture creativity, this experience is for you!

www.comic-con.org/cci

JPG Mag - Put Your Photos On Display

My Facebook friend Laura Boston-Thek displays a lot of her location photographs on the JPG magazine website. The site claims to feature the work of close to 230,000 registered users. Why not take a look at some of their images and decide if you want to join as well.

www.jpgmag.com

FFFFound - Random Design Images Of Interest

FFFFound is a weblog that allows users to post various design images they find to be noteworthy. It's a random collection of shots regarding the usual design stuff: art, photography, posters, packaging, products, books, furniture, architecture, etc... A good place to spend some time browsing for new ideas.

ffffound.com

Graphic Design Tools Of The Past

Here's one for graphic designers of all ages. If you old-ish like me, you will instantly recognize these objects because you once used them. If you started designing after 1984, when the MacIntosh was introduced, you will probably scratch your head, wondering what these relics are all about. "The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies" is a collection of objects that designers, like myself, used on a daily basis during the 1970's and 80's. Looking back, it seems we worked in more of a Fred Flintstone world, than a George Jetson one. Anyway, have fun and see how many of these items you can identify.

www.drawger.com/?what=shows&show_id=32

Drawings of 700 Hobos

Okay. This is one of those art challenges where illustrators are given a description of something and then have to draw it. In this case, a list of 700 different hobo names was provided for artists to use their imaginations on. Monikers like "No-Shoulders Smalltooth Jones", "Lolly Hoot Holler", and "Sir Roundbelly DeDelight" were on the list of potential candidates. Got some time to kill? Go see what the art world came up with to put flesh on these fellows.

e-hobo.com

Dispair - Misery Loves (This) Company

Many of you have probably seen those inspirational posters from Successories that promote "leadership" and "teamwork" by using soaring eagles and guys rowing one of those really narrow boats. Well, for all the other woes that life brings us, we can turn to Dispair.com, a company that presents us with more reality than we'd like to see. Bugged by giant social issues, or small personal inconveniences? Put a Dispair message on your shirt, wall or mug and let the world know how you feel. Actually, you might feel better, when you say "I told you so"!

www.despair.com/index.html

Clever "I Want You" Scene From "Across The Universe"

If you haven't seen it, "Across The Universe" is a movie from 2007, which was directed by Julie Taymor (Titus/Frida). The plot is basically constructed around popular characters and lyrics contained in songs by the Beatles. The "I Want You/She's So Heavy" segment is one of my favorites from the film, especially in its use of clever choreography and symbolic imagery. Give this video a peak to see the trademark Julie Taymor style in action.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX6dHWyqwNo

Disney's Enchanting Fairies

Ever since I saw a promo video for the Tinkerbell movie, I have been mesmerized by Disney's beautiful fairy characters. If the long line of Disney's animated female heroines weren't attractive enough, these particular ones are deliciously gorgeous. I guess you have to give the parents something to hold their interest while they take their little ones to the show. In fact, Dad might be more motivated to see these films than his daughter.

disney.go.com/fairies/

Somewhat Frightening Walking Machine Demo

What is this? Robot monster from a Hollywood film? Advanced creature, part of an alien invasion? Bizarre nightmare from an evil genius? The form passing in front of the camera is yet another a work by kinetic artist Theo Jansen. It's steel and polyester structure is moved forward by the wind.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2KkGFuRLew

Fantastic Wind-Powered Walking Machines

A commercial for BMW featuring the jaw-dropping work of Dutch artist Theo Jansen. This highly-inspirational piece focuses on several of Jansen's multi-legged mechanisms moving along a beach. These other-worldly objects, now copied by numerous people, have a truly unique mechanical design. Take a look and see what happens when someone dares to "think outside of the box".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcR7U2tuNoY

More Amazing Contraptions From Theo Jansen

Here is a longer, more complete video of kinetic artist Theo Jansen's wind-powered walking machines. 9:55 minutes of awe-inspiring sights.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6fiGwmfzI