Katniss Art Nouveau

I haven't seen Mockingjay yet, but here's a beautiful Art Nouveau styled piece by Megan Lara:

Available at Society 6

Most of the story elements shown are also Katniss' identity. The fiery dress from the 1st Hunger Games movie falls down, and Katniss is in her real image (from the 2nd movie Catching Fire).

I'm assuming the flower is the one her father named her after. More obvious elements are the silver parachute and the split mockingjay pin. The symbol of her home, Distract 12, is tucked in the upper right corner. In the background, the hexagons represent the force fields from the games. Maybe because Katniss pops out of the shapes, we're suppose to see her as free from the boundaries. Of course, not after hard efforts. 

Katniss, both the girl and flower, even overlap the French titles for "The Girl on Fire," "District Twelve Tribute," and "The Victory Tour." I think the message is that Katniss' real identity is beyond the games.

Thanks, Megan Lara for this beautiful piece and all the thought you put into it! :)

Monster Love

I was thinking the other day how picky I am for designs of Frankenstein's monster. Then TeeVillian released some that pleased me. :)

"The Bride Dollmaking"

One of my new favorite artists, Medusa the Dollmaker, created a cute and elegant design for The Bride of Frankenstein.

I'm not sure who the green buck-tooth monster is, but did you see Frankenstein's monster? He looks like he's hugging his bride. :)

The design is available as a tee and tank top until July 5 for $11.

Another design I enjoy on TeeVillian is the mashup with Calvin and Hobbes below by Mephias.

"My Fiendish Friend"

It captures the monster's innocence even though the scene becomes tragic.

The design is available until July 5th as a tee, v-neck, and tank top.

Mephias' design encourages me even more to connect Frankenstein and the image below of Groot. Did anyone else think the same when watching the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer? Groot is innocent too.

Groot hands a flower to a girl.

And I'll end on an image by Teo Zirinis of two figures settling their differences.

"Newlyweds"

Art Communication

Neal Adams

The trading card company Upper Deck interviewed Neal Adams, a famous comic artist.  I was pleased by this statement he gave, 

"I believe that a drawing is a communication between 2 people: the artist and the person who receives the artwork."

I think almost everything has a story.  Sometimes it takes a while for a viewer to come along to join the conversation.

Below are a few sketch cards by Neal Adams.

Iron Man

From Guardians of the Galaxy

Here's the second trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy with more details about the movie:

 

Vote For My Shark!

Hey guys, my first shirt design on Threadless is open for votes for 7 days! Please help me by voting and sharing my shark design. Click HERE for the link.

The rain makes the shark related to more than the summer season. I also chose 2 shirt types and shirt colors for "Rain Swimmer":

Thank you! :)

Disney Princesses Redrawn

"Snow White" by Chad Sommers

I found a great art book at the library called The Art of the Disney Princess. The Disney Princesses were redrawn in different medias including digital art. My favorite images are the simplistic ones, especially if they require a longer glance for meaning.

The book cover itself is breath-taking. Can you see the hidden image on the right? Artist Chad Sommers said he was inspired by Salvador Dali's surrealist art.

"Snow White" by Eli Trinh

I have to share the Snow White piece down below because it goes with my post The Monster and The Victim on how dead or sleeping woman are depicted as beautiful. At first glance, you think Snow White is standing up, but Eli Trinh must have drawn Snow White when she's unconscious/dead from the poisoned apple. The frame then represents the glass case she is placed in for all to view.


I recommend this book to artists and Disney Princess fans. I'm going to buy my own copy. :D The images will be inspirational for my horror poster parody project and even shirt design.

In fact, the last image I'll show is a Sleeping Beauty one that looks a bit like a horror poster.

Here is Eric Tan's "Sleeping Beauty." I like how the hair looks like fire. :)

And here are 2 old horror posters from my Pinterest board. 

Eric Tan made poster-styled art for other Disney Princesses too.

Free Shipping

In the last post, I shared an art piece on RedBubble and Society6. Well, both sites have free shipping for a few days.

RedBubble

Free shipping until Sat Dec. 8 6:00am.

I have only "Night's Kiss" on RedBubble so far, but I wanted to share a clever tee (on the right) I found for Buzz Lightyear fans. ;) 

My tee again, "Night's Kiss."

The title gives it away, but here's the link.

Society6

As for Society6, purchases will have free shipping if you click on the artist's promo link for it. Here is my free shipping promo link: http://society6.com/Inque?promo=1cee54 . Free shipping on this site is until Dec. 9.

And here are two other artist's works and promo links:

Artist Terry Fan

http://society6.com/igo2cairo?promo=e4d86a

"Autumn Song"

"Your brain on video games"

Artist Martynas Pavilonis

http://society6.com/MartynasPavilonis?promo=d2c1ef

"Martwood Wolves" as a phone skin.

"Village"

Redesign a Book Cover

Original cover

I have entered a short story contest at Figment.com before, but I just noticed the book cover contests. You redesign the cover of a new young adult book. Entries have to be original work. You must own any photos used; So no stock photos. The first chapter is provided on the website to get a sense of the story.

Judging: The author chooses ten finalists, and then the public votes for those ten.

Prizes: Finalists get a signed copy of the book while the winner gets a signed copy and recognition for his/her winning entry as the new book cover.

Last month I entered the False Memory book cover contest. My entry was not selected as a finalists, but you can vote here until November 9th if you have a Facebook account. I root for four finalists. The winner will be announced on November 12.

Here is my entry done on Photoshop.

My entry

Factors I considered:
* How to play with title?
* How much of the story to tell? (I researched reviews.)
* How to target both genders?

Thoughts after entering:
* The author's name needs stand out a bit more.
* Try altering faces more to look less like referenced faces.
* I tried a clean look, but next time try background texture, which most young adult books have.
* The contest was a good exercise for design and Photoshop.

Because contests are not just about winning, here is one of my favorite postmodern quotes from Sonmi-451's section in Cloud Atlas:

So winners, Hae-Joo proposed, are the real losers because they learn nothing? What, then, are losers? Winners?

Original cover

The current contest for Beta has been extended to November 26. The rules are the same except for ages 13-25. Here is the contest page.

I probably will not enter the Beta contest because I want to finish a few current projects. There is 11 days left if I change my mind. The book synopsis actually reminds me of Sonmi-451 .

In this case, I root for Ashley's "I am a Beta" entry. =) I left a comment on her entry. Voting for this contest is not open yet.

Ashley's entry

For any Figment contest, I recommend checking contest details at least weekly. In both of the writing and book cover contests I entered, details including the deadline were changed without an announcement or email. In the writing contest, the deadline change did not work in my favor. =/

Good luck if you enter. Make the process a fun learning one.

Cowabunga!

Along with Halloween, October is National Pizza Month.  So how about looking at some big fans of pizza, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT).

"Vote Pizza Party" classic 80s tee for $20

Hello, Raphael.

Nickelodeon promoted the more recent series with this chalk illusion in London. I am sure that everyone wishes the drawing was a permanent mural.

"Ancient Ninja Xenomorphs"

More and more TMNT printed tees are coming out probably because of Micheal Bay's TMNT film reboot.

However, On the UK website The Guardian, I read that the 2013 film pushed back to 2014 because of the fans' voiced disapproval of the mutant turtles portrayed as aliens. The Guardian believes the production may be dropped altogether.

An artist, Billy Allison, did a great depiction of the ninjas like Ridley Scott's Alien.  I linked the tee's title to prints and device covers, but he has the design available as a tee too.




Here's two tees that take after the turtles' names: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello.

"Renaissance Ninjas" tee for $22.50

"Heroes in an Art Shell" tee currently sold out.

"Ninja Rhapsody" print for $15

Did you know that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a comic before a TV show? How about that all four wore red?

Artist Hillary White knew. Her design on the right is no longer available at RiptApparel, but you can still get a $15 print. It is a mash-up of one of Queen's album covers.

Even when dressed the same, Raphael stands out.

Original TV show in the 80s

There are more TMNT tees, but don't forget to celebrate National Pizza Month.

I have always wondered if banana toppings tasted good.  Do you remember what other toppings these turtles tried?

I did not find a tee or print of this one,
but it is still worth sharing.

Using the Little Details

Click for a closer view of listed areas and details.

Johnny Cupcakes did a great job on the ice cream packages such as the sense of volume. Also, look at the suggested pressed lines in the ends. You get a sense of texture, making the image seem more tangible.

I appreciate that little detail because I do not enjoy reading descriptions that stray from the story too much and disrupt the flow.

For example, in I Robot: To Protect, the amount of detail given to food annoyed me most during a conversation. The narrator stated delight in the person on this date, but her attention was more on the food. Each described bite felt like a tree in my way as I tried to follow the conversation's direction.

Therefore, I try to describe to illustrate a character's feelings or to set the tone. If I describe to help the reader imagine an object, then giving tangible details like Johnny's pressed lines help the reader remember having felt the object before. Kudos to you if your readers feel as if they have held that object without having touched or seen it before.

The only thing I would change in Johnny's image is to make an edge of the package bend. This detail makes the representation less perfect, but more familiar. He wanted perfect symmetry though. Plus the package bend can draw your eye away from the main content.

Thank you to my sister for the Snickers ice cream bar at this moment. Now for ice cream that I can actually experience.

Umbrellas

It rained yesterday and I saw some pretty umbrellas. One umbrella that caught my eye was for its practicality:

The bubble clear umbrella

I have bumped regular umbrellas into branches. The bubble shape allows you to lower the umbrella for more cover without blocking your vision. Here's another clear umbrella approach for practicality:

I like the handle, but I worry about the strap around her neck.  What if you FELL?

The sight of umbrellas reminded of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, one of my favorite Fantasies, because the hero has an umbrella with a map of London Underground that he used as he walked. So as soon as I got on a computer, I searched to see if these umbrellas existed. They do. =)

London Underground map umbrella

There is also one for the Metro in Paris and a clear umbrella for the subway in New York:

New York subway map umbrella

Then I searched just clear umbrellas and saw some with designs like this one.

Fun in the rain!

My favorite is the one with fish, but three websites list it as unavailable.

Then I saw a blogger's cute umbrella that she decorated herself:

It's raining casts and dogs!

If I get a clear umbrella, I will follow this blogger's instructions. =)

I will end with one more umbrella:

Goggles Umbrella. Hahaha. Look at the top too.

Incredible Paper Art

You see simple-looking paper art, and you think, "I'd like to try that." =)

But then you see that the artist that made the bird made an image that you cannot accomplish in pencil or paint. 0_0

Yesss, each one of those lines is a strip of paper! 

The amount of detail and its rendering in these following pieces are mind-blowing as well:

Still paper...

Lay-erss of paper.

Do not be discouraged to try a new art medium though. Let works like these inspire you. The artists invested their time and effort to their work so at least dedicate yourself to the interest you first had. Let the works of others still be enjoyable to you. =)

For more paper work, check out this article, which leads you to the artists' websites when you click an image.