Steampunk revisited

Why is it that whenever you hear of a new word or concept for the first time, you start hearing it everywhere?

The first I heard of "steampunk" was the beautiful steampunk laptop. So I looked around to learn more about it, and found it a popular genre that I'd never heard of before.

Then along comes another great steampunk site. Sillof has a wonderful collection of Star Wars characters, redesigned in the steampunk style.

This is beautiful work. The makeover is carefully designed, and meticulously implemented. Each figure keeps its individual character and is fully recognisable, but the style and detail is wonderfully steampunk.

Darth Vader, pictured above is probably my favourite, but I love all of this guy's work.

Other highlights of the site are a set of 1942 Star Wars characters and the Gaslight Justice League.

Credit: #wookieepedia

Image: sillof.com, used with permission.

Signs of the times

I've looked before at the way carefully placed two-dimensional art can be made to look three-dimensional.

Here's a very impressive example from a car park in Melbourn. In this image, the work looks like a rather abstract design of colours... attractive, but nothing revolutionary...

But as you move into the right position, the abstract reforms into signs that direct you around the car park:



Have a look at Axel Peemoeller's site for the other signs. Clever stuff.

Photos © Axel Peemoeller.
Reproduced with permission.

Ascii Sanncii

I've been looking at ascii art generators this evening. There's quite a few out there that will take an image and generate an image... I got the best results from ascii.ws - a nice interface too.

I tried photos of a rose and a Gatekeeper butterfly, but it seems that faces work best. So here's an image of me in ascii

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Worthy work

Worth100 is the best site I've seen for Photoshopping (are we still allowed to call it that?) Their contests showcase beautiful, and technically amazing work. I've often browsed and wished I could do that.

Probably my favourite is this minature kitten (cute alert!) As with so many of the images, the detail and care given to making this look right is very impressive.

The image here is my own best attempt at this sort of image manipulation. Most of mine are made for Uncyclopedia, and sometimes bad quality is actually intended. But still, I aspire to Worth100.

The mathematics of beauty

Or maybe the beauty of mathematics?

A link from Artur led me to complexification.net

The artist uses various algorithms to generate growing and changing images. These are fascinating as they change and get more detailed over time. The still snapshots of these animations can also be spectacular.

I can't say I fully understand what he is doing here, but these are definitely pictures I would love to have on my wall.

Image © 2004 Jared Tarbell
Reproduced with permission.

Three dimentional two dimensionality

Or should that title be the other way around?...

Julian Beever is an artist who works largely in chalk on pavements. His most fascinating work uses anamorphosis to give the illusion of three dimensions.

His gallery is wonderful, so many clever works. This pool is one of my favourites:


And this shot shows how the actual drawing is distorted to give the impression of 3D when viewed from the correct spot:


I would love to see one of these in situ. Fascinating.

Photos and art © Julian Beever.
Reproduced with permission.