Kaneda's Akira Ride

Found this on Deviant Art by an artist called Diablo2003 and it's his interpretation of one of the all time great vehicles ever animated.

"You ever do a sketch that you plan on doing as a doodle and it ends up taking on it's own personality and causing you to spend WAY more time on it than you planned? This is one of those times. I love Akira and decided to try and draw Kaneda's bike just for the hell of it. Next thing you know I'd draw Kenada as well and colored it complete with digitally painted background. Guess that'll teach me to draw something I'm really into.

I should note that I drew Kaneda in a different style than in the cartoon on purpose. I wanted to go a bit more realistic and the cartoon version was very...well...cartoony. I know he doesn't look exactly 'asian' but then again, neither does the cartoon version."

Collage Injection

Spotted this on Abduzeedo and being a lifelong collage fanatic thought I'd post to the blog. It's some wonderful work by an artist called Derek Gores who hails from the also wonderful NYC.

Very conveniently there is also a link to his portfolio here so go check out some more of his 'cut up and stuck' works of art if you get the chance.

Time to break out those old mags under the coffee table and start cutting.

Boat Still on a House

Decided to try out my new Wacom Bamboo tablet and pen with my tsunami scene drawing. Tricky on my 13" Macbook Pro but better than I thought it would turn out. Need to seriously practice with the brush types and pressure flows though.

Boat on a House

Second drawing I've created based on the images coming out of northern Japan. This time a boat resting on top of a house from today's press. Plan to finish this as a half collage to add colour and the surrounding scene.

Japanese Tsunami

Woke up to the news this morning that 20 minutes before my alarm went off in London, on the other side of the world there occurred a massive earthquake off the Japanese eastern seaboard. When I was there in Tokyo August 2008 I witnessed first hand a short lived 6.8 and that was pretty scary, but this 8.8 is apparently the 6th or 7th most powerful in recorded history.

This has subsequently resulted in a rapidly moving tsunami, and being the technological country it is, for the past 12 hours the rest of the world has been witness to scenes of chaos and destruction as the water moves its way inland and the aftershocks continue.

I can honestly say it's some of the most devastating and helpless imagery I have ever seen. With world leaders pledging support and rescue assistance, the full impact isn't yet evident but it's not going to be good and I'm sure there is more eyewitness footage to come.

Amongst the video footage reported on here in the UK, one image that had most impact on me was the swirling seas just outside what I presume to be Sendai. Like some weird sci-fi event it almost seemed too setup; with it's contained, lone, trapped fishing boat slowly circling and trying to break free. I've created this piece based on that footage of the seawater vortex. Truly astounding scenes.

Extreme Light Painting

Found this on one of my regular creative trawls; this time on Abduzeedo. Extreme Light Painting photography by Janne Parviainen. It's a technique used a lot but there seems to be some additional lighting methods being used to get the final results. Check out Janne's Flickr page for more of the same.

Hey Mickey

Steamboat Willie Poster by Tom Whalan. 18" x 24" screenprint with metallic inks and limited to 200 signed copies.

Unfortunately for me [yet again] these were all sold out on the Mondo website within minutes of going up.

Highly recommend checking out Tom's site, Strong Stuff too.

Alternative Pantone Colours

Thanks to Becky for sending this through to me. Clever Pantone moments in time piece.

Guy Allen • Motoring Illustrator

As a gift promised to myself back in early December, I've finally got around to buying myself a Guy Allen print.

Limited edition and one of 100, it's gorgeous in the flesh and I can't wait to find the perfect frame to house it's A3 sized dimensions.

Decided to go for the Octane Magazine character Felix, driving a safari rally in an Mk1 Ford Escort Mexico. Should make a fine addition to the home collection.

Hopper's Horror Bar

Found this trawling the Deviant Art website. By an artist called x-gaki-x

Ultra Realistic Illustrations

These illustrations are stunning. No photography, just a Mac, good hand-eye coordination, bus loads of talent and a few hundred spare hours.

Below is an illustration of Megan Fox (can't understand quite why I gravitated towards her), by an artist called Jordi Joruji.

Click here for more examples and click through to check out each artists portfolio.

Abduzeedo.com

Thanks to Stephen at work for passing me on this link for all things art and design at website Abduzeedo. And what a great source of shiny aesthetics it is. Below features an image taken from the 'daily inspiration' section.

Plus, there's a while host of tutorials on there to sharpen up your skills [that pay the bills].

Joe Black

'Eat My Lies'. Sublime mixed media from NYC artist Joe Black.

Archival Giclee 308grm print with 2 colour silk screen and hand finished with oil paint, stencil and Karisma pencil detailing. Limited to just 12 signed and numbered prints.

And I want one.