Awesome Art & Design

Become an expert in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator with this extensive series of online courses in the world’s most popular photo editing, layout, and digital drawing tools. In all, there’s nearly $1200 worth of lessons here, so it’s quite a bargain.

Ash Thorp and XiaoLin “Zaoeyo” Zeng are huge fans of Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic anime, AKIRA, so they did what any superfans with the time and artistic talent would do, they created an eye-popping animated tribute to the film. It’s way too short, but still amazing.

We love the look of these unique cast metal desk accessories, each of which is inspired by natural terrain. They’re perfect for bringing order to glasses, keys, coins, phones, jewelry, pencils, paper clips, and more. Choose from raw metal or white finishes.

To prove just how versatile cardboard can be, Houston-based Victory Packaging turned up to a tradeshow with a 16-foot-tall gear-driven sculpture reminiscent of the space travel portals from Stargate. This isn’t the only time they built something awesome with cardboard.

Architect Michael Bidner and designer Elke Adam-Bidner’s unique chess set looks like something out of a modern art museum’s collection. The LED backlit board is crafted from 64 varied height cubes in alternating red and white, along with a set of minimal chess pieces.

Beyond Object’s sculptural metal writing instrument is the perfect pen for fidgeters. One of its sections is misaligned by default, and must be rotated back into position in order for the pen’s tip to emerge. Choose from champagne, gunmetal grey, rose gold, or silver.

Most of the builds we’ve seen from The Q are small enough to carry, but the serial maker’s latest construction is substantially larger. It took over 400 hours to put together this 1.5:1 scale model of a Formula 1 race car, made entirely from soda cans and glue set onto a PVC chassis.

Ash Thorp and Christopher Bjerre’s animated short film is light on plot by heavy on style and visual impact. The 2-1/2 minute film is about “finding yourself amidst the noise around you.” Best watched fullscreen, and with headphones.

During a recent event over the City Wall of Xi’an, China, a team of engineers from EHang launched a whopping 1,374 illuminated quadcopters, transforming the night sky into a dynamic and colorful airborne light show. We wonder if any of them bumped propellers.

Motion graphics artist Andreas Wannerstedt creates kinetic sculptures in the digital world. His designs feature satisfying and hypnotic movements which echo real-world physics, but would be challenging to build as physical models. Watch more on his Instagram page.

Google pays tribute to one of the first artists of moving pictures, George Méliès, the man behind A Trip to the Moon, among other early films. This charming 360º video which uses animation to commemorate the life and creativity of a true innovator and artist.

A gruesome replacement for the logs in your gas fireplace or fire pit. Each skull is made from heat-tolerant ceramic and lava, layered over a steel structure. They’re not cheap, but they are certainly awesome. Also available in white, or with hollow eyes, or a demon’s head,

Everyman based its upcoming mechanical pencil on its proven refillable pen as well as customer feedback. The pencil has the same durable anodized aluminum body as the pen. It has a replaceable eraser and interchangeable reservoir so you can use 0.5mm or 0.7mm lead.

Designed by Studio Nine for Moow, Stüda is a pair of cabinets that are minimalist yet can be turned into a loud and bright centerpiece. That’s because their outer surfaces are covered by Corian that’s been machined with LEGO-compatible studs.

Tattoo artist Georgie Williams specializes in making all black tattoos inspired by circuit boards and technology in general. From single lines to thick blocks of ink, her surprisingly versatile style looks like the mark of a society from the far future.

Enter a richly textured and beautifully lit world in Ged Sia and Pet Punk’s animated short film about two children and their first exposure to death, after they find a deceased rabbit by the side of the road. Despite the dark subject matter, there’s a sense of wonder about it.

Acme Studio’s ballpoint pen is the perfect addition to any architect, contractor, or designer’s toolbox. It got an ergonomic, roll-proof triangular design, and rulers in various drawing scales, ranging from 1/2 to 1/500. Available in silver, black, or pink.

Brett Ryan Bonowicz is making a three-part documentary series about the largely unknown artists who created concept art for NASA projects. Artist Depiction will feature interviews with the artists as well as high-resolution scans of their work.

Director Douwe Dijkstra presents a transportive short film in which a man travels the streets and beaches of Brazil carrying a portable green screen. After capturing the vignettes of modern life, he replaced the contents of the screen with other scenes from around the country.

A new take on building blocks, the uniquely-shaped NoilzBox are made from colorful bits of silicone, allowing them to be stacked and flexed into shapes that would be impossible to create with traditional squared-off bricks. Also, they won’t hurt if you step on them barefoot.

Artist Josie Lewis created this satisfying time-lapse video of her painting a colorful map of the United States using watercolors. We’re impressed how she was able to keep the colors from bleeding across state borders. Prints available here for $30.

While we’re not too sure of the practical uses for this technology from Disney Research, there’s no question that the idea that entire walls can become capacitive input devices for about $20 per square meter is really intriguing. What would you do with this tech?

Artist Rene Eisenbart demonstrates Ebru, a wonderfully-satisfying technique which uses paints floated in liquid suspension. After dropping colorful pigments into the vat, she uses a giant comb to create marbled patterns for printing. Learn more about Ebru here.