Awesome Art & Design

The Mandalorian is a pretty damned fine series as-is. But it’s still fun to envision variants of the show, like this fun anime style opening put together by Malec, Martial Coulon, Antoine Bertrand, KronoMuzik, and Kenny dozo. Kawaii Baby Yoda is just as adorable as his live-action inspiration.

Animator Zohar Dvir’s short film takes us inside the mind of a perplexed millennial who seeks answers to life’s questions. When she turns to her Magic 8 Ball, she ends up pulled deep into a hallucinogenic dream world that starts between her couch cushions.

Artist Salavat Fidai is best known for his intricate pencil tip carvings. He recently pointed his sharpened knife blade at something a little more edible than graphite, transforming an ordinary carrot into a series of connected chain links. Now how do you link multiple carrots together?

Meticulously made by Blue Star Crafts, this walnut and brass briefcase is perfect for artists, writers, architects, and designers. Its top half holds pens, pencils, and other small objects, while its bottom is great for notebooks and other everyday items. A hidden stick props its lid up, transforming it into a writing surface.

Fine art with a Chicano heart. Roberto Munguia expresses his love for L.A. in “A Todo Corazon,” a vivid serigraph measuring 11″ x 10″. The limited edition of 150 is handmade, signed, and numbered. The modest price belies Munguia’s gallery credentials and studies with prominent artist Roberto Gil De Montes.

Burls Art has built some pretty interesting guitars. His latest creation incorporates a series of LED lights and mirrors into its body, creating a disco-inspired infinite mirror effect. It really gives the guitar the illusion of a tremendous amount of depth.

Ever wondered why modern buildings don’t have exterior fire escapes? Who gets to name streets? What are those cryptic spray-painted markings on the ground? Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt’s book delves into the fascinating stories behind the important but subtle things city-dwellers experience on a daily basis.

2001: A Space Odyssey evokes quite the sense of isolation as HAL 9000 picks off the Discovery One’s crew, then Dave Bowman has a quiet, hallucinogenic trip. Filmmaker Lydia Cambron’s dark parody explores the parallels between Kubrick’s universe and the one we’ve been living in since the pandemic started in 2020.

Photographer and FPV drone pilot Ellis van Janson takes us on a series of breathtaking flights through the beautifully rocky coastline of Madeira, Portugal. The footage elicits a tremendous sense of speed, while the color grading, direction, and editing give it a truly cinematic look.

Designed by artist Panisa Khunprasert, this reversible chess and checkers set features a bold color scheme and modern, minimal iconography. Both the playing pieces and board are made from sustainably-grown rubberwood, and the board slides open to provide storage. Measures 8.75″w x 8.75″d x 1.75″h.

Tired of the plain old boring walls in your workspace? Get Hands Dirty shows us how to use cut pieces of ReFelt recycled plastic felt panels to create bold and modern patterns for walls or ceilings which not only look amazing but can be used as a pushpin board and to improve acoustics.

This gothic serving set pours on the charm with tea for four. Portland’s Angioletti Designs kiln-fires porcelain fine china with Victorian, baroque, and rococo images, including this moody black-and-gold set that invites a bat, cat, eye, and crow to the tea party. Foodsafe, durable, and wear-resistant with hand-washing care.

The grinning ghosts in installations by artist Roberto Cambi have won awards for playfully haunting European landmarks. Cambi also makes mini versions as tea light holders to decorate not-so-haunted houses everywhere. Artemest and Pasadena’s Gold Bug sell them in small, medium, and large. No two are alike.

It wouldn’t be Halloween without some creepy, crawly spiders, and when it comes to scary arachnids, the bigger the better. Paul Jones of Dead and Daughter shows us how he built a massive spider for his lawn using PVC pipe, bendy hair rollers, a bike helmet, duct tape, and wig hair among other things.

Animator Michael Marczewski presents an exceptionally blocky short film in which e-mails manifest themselves as tiny cubes that walk between computers. As the messages cross back and forth between two co-workers, things go off the rails when objects get in the way and corrupt their communications.

Created by illustrator Katheren Belle for Schoolhouse, this elongated wall calendar charts the waxing and waning cycles of the moon. It serves as both a unique piece of wall art and a useful reference for those who need to know moon phases like farmers, fishermen, and surfers. The print measures 30″h x 10″w.

With a price approaching some 3D printers, the 3Doodler Pro+ isn’t for everyone, but it does feature big upgrades including a powerful dual-drive system, precision temperature controls that enable more intricate and consistent drawings. It can print with ABS, PLA, FLEXY, wood, copper, bronze, and nylon filaments.

Like many inventions, pharmaceuticals are a double-edged sword. Some have saved and improved millions of lives, while others have caused terrible side-effects and dangerous, deadly addictions. Patrick Smith’s rapidfire short film offers a satirical commentary on our obsession with drugs without saying a word.

Inspired by two previous Instructables projects, maker Wolspaw came up with the idea of building a truly unique calendar. Their machine uses a series of three rotating gears to display the current day and date, which appear as if by magic out of a bunch of seemingly random symbols.

Do you suck at decorating cakes? This oversize pencil makes it easy to write words and drizzle icing on pastries and plates. Simply fill it like a syringe, then gently squeeze the pencil to draw fine lines on cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more.

Shane from Stuff Made Here has a thing for robots. For Halloween, the engineer repurposed parts from his terrifying haircutting robot into a CNC machine that can automatically carve pumpkins based on images he uploads to it. Along the way, he got to play with a fancy new Tormach plasma cutter.

This bumpy computer mouse from HedgeHog Health is designed to provide kids with learning challenges like ASD or ADHD with physical stimulation. But one look at the colorful and tactile surface of these pointing devices, and we want one of them on our desk too. Pre-orders start shipping in December 2020.

If you watch The Boys, you know that Homelander is a serious egomaniac. So we imagine that he’d be thrilled that artist Dr. Garuda decided to make this picture-perfect clay sculpture to show off his Aryan good looks, all-American costume, and killer red eyes. Though Homie would prefer a towering 30-foot-tall sculpture of himself.