Artist Dave Styerd (of Geek-Lee-Tist) created this still life using R2-D2′s head as a serving bowl for some delicious grapes, bananas, apples and oranges. The blue Bantha milk is a nice touch too. I have to say it’s kind of cruel that Dave had to decapitate the little droid though. I mean, why not use R5-D4? He already had a bad motivator unit and was headed for the scrap pile. Besides, his flat head would be less likely to tip over and spill fruit onto the table.

Regardless, I’m sure this will inspire some Star Wars geek out there to make an actual R2-D2 fruit bowl using a stainless steel mixing bowl, and e-mail us a picture once they’re done with it. Right?

But I digress. This 16.5″ x 11.7″ Giclee print is the perfect thing for any Star Wars themed kitchen or dining room. Grab one over on Etsy for $15 (USD).

This unusual robot, designed by So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi serves a single purpose – to draw senselessly. Ok, it actually uses a can of spray paint, so it really should be called “Senseless Painting Bot”, but I’ll forgive them that one minor issue. Here, let’s watch the bot as it churns out some of its senseless art:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I love how its arm gesticulates wildly as it rolls its way along the wall, painting abstract images. I wonder how long it would need to keep going for before it actually randomly spelled a word. It’s amazing how something so senseless can still be so intriguing, don’t you think?

[via Vimeo]

California illustrator Tony Hsu says that he was quite pleased with the results and that he got the chance to work on these images, which he created with Corel Painter and Photoshop. I like them all, but Yoda and Chewie’s paintings are truly impressive.

And while Vader isn’t in the collection, and you’d like to see more of the Dark Lord, check out these concept pieces that Tony also made. I definitely need to watch the movies again, post-haste. It’s the perfect way to begin the weekend.

[via Thaeger]

I can’t think of a more appropriate video game character to decorate a bathroom. Mario is a plumber after all. And a doctor – remember that for your medicine cabinet eisley.

Awesome paint job. Eisley and her boyfriend are not quite done with their project – they also plan on installing other Mario and Nintendo related items such as towels, shower curtains and shelves – but they’ll try to make a video of their bathroom when they’re done.

[via Destructoid]

The Flow looks and feels just like a real paintbrush, but has special bristles which can “paint” on the screen of your iPad, Xoom or other touchscreen tablet or smartphone. I can see this working really well with applications like Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro or ArtRage for iPad.

Check out The Flow in action in the video below:

Looks pretty awesome to me, although I wish that our touchscreens could sense pressure and angle like a Wacom tablet can. Still, this is a step in the right direction for artists on the go, or just hobbyists who want to paint with something other than their fingertips.

The Flow brush you see above is still just a prototype, but if they can raise sufficient funding through Kickstarter, you can help get these into production. A basic aluminum brush will sell for $30 (USD), but you can get one for a $20 pledge. They’ve also got a limited-edition gold version just for Kickstarter contributors for $30, and various other bundles for larger contributions.

The project is called Take a Picture and it was created by Brad Blucher and Kyle Clements, two artists from Toronto. Their paintings are actually IR LED mosaics that are assembled behind blank canvases. This means that they are completely invisible to the naked eye. However, the IR light is detectable by the CCD sensor in your digital camera or your smartphone.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s kind of like augmented reality, since you can only see the image through the camera’s lens. I like the fact that they used IR LEDs to get this effect, not just IR paint so they can display different images at different times if they wanted to.

[via Make:]

The lonely astronaut is a sort of leitmotiv that comes up frequently in science-fiction. I remember it being used in Alastair Reynolds‘ Revelation Space series. The Captain of the Nostalgia For Infinity manifests himself as a lonely astronaut. The lonely astronaut concept isn’t new, but Scott has definitely put a unique spin on the theme in his paintings, including this one featuring HAL9000.

You can buy originals or prints from Scott via his website. My personal faves include The Parking Ticket with R2D2, 7-Eleven, and a few others.
[via Laughing Squid]

Check out the full sized pic of Mutant’s “This painting is not available in your country” (acrylic on canvas) on his Flickr page.

[via Neatorama]

The authentic music from the game really puts me in the mood to dust of my game disc and play through again. Only this time in God mode. Or maybe not. I prefer functional thumbs to bloody stumps.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And after you watch the video, grab the wallpaper for your desktop here.

[via gamefreaks]

Here’s a Van Gogh:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

How about a Caravaggio?

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And while I’ve never heard of Duccio di Buoninsegna (don’t hate me art history majors), this one’s pretty cool too:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

From what I can tell, these videos were put together for a Nintendo Spain promotion. Keep tabs on their latest creations over on their Vimeo page.

[via Go Nintendo]

And this is the birth of The Birth Of A Jedi:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Awesome. You can buy a 20 x 30-inch print of the painting at Burden’s site for $400 (USD); you’ll also get a smaller print and a hoodie for free. While you’re there, take a look at Burden’s other work. Be sure to pick up your jaw off the floor before you leave.

[Robert Burden via Forever Geek]

The sagacity of Boing Boing‘s commenters shed more light on the painting. Made by a Japanese artist named Sakkan, the title of the painting reveals the pun: “Rocket Monster Kim”. The Pikachu rockets are labeled, “Pika-don”, which apparently means “flash-boom”, or something like that, and the blue text over Kim Jong Il’s hand says, “Let’s go kidnapping!” A much larger version can be found on Sakkan’s website.

Surprisingly, FederationLisa and KlingonLisa were created by two entirely different people, probably on opposite sides of the globe (or the universe). And most definitely, it was not the guy who created this masterpiece:

[via Fanpop and StrangelyDrawn]

This hilarious oil painting of the Dark Lord of the Sith envisioned as a Boston terrier was created by dog artist Brian Rubenacker. And if you’re more into Jedi mind tricks, you can always grab this one…

While the original paintings are long gone, you can get your hands on a 6×8 print (on 8.5 x11 archival paper) over at Rubenacker’s Etsy shop for $15 (Darth) /$13.99 (Jedi). Why not buy both?

For some geeks, it’s hard to throw out old technology-related stuff, kind of like how some fashionistas have trouble throwing out old clothes. Heck, I probably have 4-6 old computers in storage at home. I don’t know why, but I still do.

Well Nick Gentry decided to use those good old floppy disks for a purpose, other than just taking up space. Nick’s art portfolio includes some really cool mixed media paintings, most incorporating old floppy disks.

You can check out many more of Nick’s amazing floppy disk creations over on his website, where you’ll also find that he has a fondness for VHS tapes.

[via Design You Trust]

Leon Kennedy can apparently tear up unfortunate farmers even when he’s been broken down to his most basic elements. Also? His jacket remains chic and stylish. Is there nothing this man can’t do? Personally, I’d be more than happy to play the 8-bit adventures of Leon Kennedy, but for now we’ll have to settle for a painting instead of a game.

This particular painting was originally sold at a Child’s Play auction and now the prints–as above–are available at Etsy on canvas for $35. The charity goes on, though; half of the proceeds of each print sale goes to Child’s Play. Who says gore never helped anything?

[via Sprite Stitch]

These amazing photographs were made by strapping a colored LED to the top of Roomba vacuums and then capturing extra-long exposure photos (known as “light paintings”). It’s sort of like looking at a neon Spirograph and spider web rolled into one. I’ve posted a few of my favorites in the gallery below…

You can check out the complete archive of Roomba light art over at the Roomba Art Flickr pool. My Hoover definitely can’t do this.

[via New World Geek via Make:]

Pixel art is a funny thing: it’s both simple and complicated. Artist and Sprite Stitch forum poster Brit.knee reports that, in order to create these paintings, she found beadcraft images or old screenshots and blew them up so that she could count the pixels required to make each picture. After that, it’s a matter of creating a grid on the canvas and “sketching” the piece out that way.

Me, I always like the little details in work like this, and here it’s the hearts on Link’s “screen” that bring a smile to my face. I can picture that screen immediately to the right from the starting point in The Legend of Zelda, and my first encounter with the Octoroks. Good times.

[via Sprite Stitch forums]

Scott’s mini paintings (3″ x 5″ each) offer a whimsical take on the confrontations between classic video game characters and their various nemeses. Dig Dug tries to make friends with Pooka and Fygar instead of exploding their insides, while Frogger contemplates how exactly he’ll jump onto that damned log so he can make it home from work once again. Back in the day, I pumped so many quarters into Moon Patrol, that the moon buggy vs. happy rock scene is my personal favorite.

While the original paintings have already found good homes, for $100 you can get your hands on a set of 5 mini prints (limited to just 30 per edition), signed and numbered by Campbell over on A Paper Tiger If you want a set for your wall, you’d better hurry.

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2008/08/25/great-showdowns-of-the-8-bit-era-video-game-art/feed/ 0 http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/awesome-arcade-game-art-by-melissa-jones/ http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/awesome-arcade-game-art-by-melissa-jones/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:07:36 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/awesome-arcade-game-art-by-melissa-jones/ Looking for a way to make your game room really special? Look no further than these original 3-dimensional arcade artworks by sign maker Melissa Jones.

Melissa creates original wood carvings of classic arcade characters, then creates a resin casting of the original and hand paints each one with bold acrylic colors.

Her arcade designs include classics like Donkey Kong, Galaga, Robotron 2084, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Q*Bert and Burgertime among others.

Prices for individual castings range from about $20 to $60 a piece, but complete sets with a matching canvas backdrop run from $225 to $375. But for about $2000, you can deck out your entire room with this complete collection.

She’ll also do custom orders on request. Check out Melissa’s entire collection over on her site NiceCarvings.

[via Flickr]