Awesome Art & Design

Artist Daniel Shankalonian takes old circuit boards and other electronics, and recycles them into desktop sculptures. Among his many creations are spaceships from Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek, as well as a model of NASA’s Space Shuttle. He also made an awesome sculpture of BioShock’s Big Daddy bouncer.

Freelance motion designer James Tupper presents a cheeky animated glimpse into a small piece of the world of a freelance motion designer, as he creates and programs digital imagery, waits for it to render, waits for his social media views to tally up, then does it all over again.

A pin tumbler is one of the simpler lock designs out there. But it definitely takes some skill to build one from scratch. Watch as FarmCraft101 puts his carpentry and engineering skills to the test with a working 10x scale lock made from wood, complete with a giant key to lock and unlock it. It’s way too easy to pick though.

Philip Lee and Classicbot expand their series of retro tech-inspired figures with an adorable take on the original iPod, named “iBoy.” This little guy comes with removable magnetic arms and legs, and a pair of headphones for him to wear. While there are no electronics inside of iBoy, he does have delightfully clicky buttons.

Fans of classic video games will recognize this guy as Blinky, the pixelated red ghost from Pac-Man. Here, he’s serving a useful purpose by giving your headphones a place to rest when you’re not wearing them. Handmade from baltic birch, sanded smooth, and painted by artist BalticPrime. Also available as a scared blue ghost.

Whether you’re looking for a bedside reading lamp or a splash of color to set the mood, Aukey’s stylish modern table lamp has got you covered. Its ring-shaped design casts a smooth glow of ambient light, and can be set to warm white in four brightness levels, or a variety of colorful modes thanks to its RGB LEDs.

Developed by software engineer sato_neet, this online plaything lets you upload a portrait, and then uses deep learning technology to transform your image into a renaissance painting. The resulting outputs range from artful to hilarious.

Digital musical instrument maker Roland introduces us to Jong Chan Kim, who came up with a hypermodern design for a grand piano. Since digital pianos don’t depend on acoustic properties, he was able to come up with this futuristic low-poly design. The Facet has powerful speakers built into its base, and a flat screen for sheet music.

At first glance, you might think you’re looking at imagery of some distant part of the cosmos. In fact, everything you see in this short film was captured in a single shot on a 0.3 square inch area of a chemical reaction. These microscopic visuals were captured to spectacular effect by filmmaker Roman Hill.

Joy Neon makes custom lighting that looks like neon, but is fabricated from flexible LED tubing, which isn’t fragile and runs on low voltage. Their most impressive work is this low-poly world map that would make an amazing centerpiece in any room. Available in three sizes: 21.6″ x 39.9″, 43.3″ x 78.7″ and 65″ x 118″.

Filmmakers Hugo Manhes and Madcow collaborated on the short film Trajectoires, which uses a simple concept to produce a dramatic effect. By dangling bright flares from a couple of drones, they created a unique source of illumination for their natural surroundings. Set to an ethereal soundtrack by Linky Larson.

In the midst of the COVID-19 shutdown, filmmaker Dan Denegre of Space Race Studio headed to the streets of San Francisco with his drone. There, he captured this surreal and disquieting footage of the normally bustling city all but shuttered. Similarly haunting footage is popping up all around the world.

As we’ve seen before, James Raiz aka TheBoxOfficeArtist loves to draw comic book heroes. In this time-lapse, he illustrates 100 different variants of the anger and adamantium-filled X-Man, from his comic book tiger stripe, to his look in the X-Men movies, to the rarely seen Hulkverine, and even Old Man Logan.

Driving around Los Angeles, it’s nearly impossible to miss the many diners, car washes, and other buildings with their kitschy and angular retro-futurist looks. Cheddar explains the origins of so-called “Googie” architecture, and why it became so popular.

While enjoying happy hour at home, raise a glass to Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka team. They make some fine hooch, but it’s the iridescent, skull-shaped bottle that’s so head-turning. Designed by artist John Alexander and manufactured in Milan by Bruni Glass, here’s an inside look at the heads being made.

Woodworker Matt Jordan takes us through the process of transforming a small log of apple wood into a beautiful coffee mug. We love the organic look of the burled wood, and the pewter-accented handle. He coated it with multiple layers of pure tung oil, which is both waterproof and food-safe – though each coat takes 4 weeks to cure.

You might recognize Boone Langston from his time on LEGO Masters. He’s also a contributor to the Beyond the Brick team, and is here to show off some of the very cool retro sci-fi ray guns he’s made using LEGO. The background is a space-themed baseplate from Slab Dream Lab.

Director Jack Antoine Charlot’s music video for S+C+A+R+R’s groovin’ dance track features a singular character with some mad dance moves. Because the motion is so incredibly smooth, it’s hard to tell where the CGI animation and live dancer begin and end. Remember, now is a great time to perfect your own choreography at home.

If you find yourself in Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, you might come across this unique timepiece. The video wall displays the current time using top-down footage of cars being driven into positions that form digits. The video was directed by Roni Azgad for the car rental company Shlomo SIXT. We’d love to see a 24 hour time-lapse.

Vietnam-based Woodworking Art walks us through the process of building an accurate wooden model of a 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser. We particularly love the details in the grille and the tires, though he should have left the windshield and lights exposed as wood.

Motion designer Eddy Koek likes to create cool experimental visuals, using computer code as his medium. Here’s a compilation of some of his hypnotic moving images that he typically shares on his Instagram page. He also licenses his patterns for use by VJs as background art.

Blending the appeal of a coloring book and a paint by numbers set, but without the mess, Paint by Sticker books are offered for both adults and kids, with images inspired by classic works of art, famous musicians, travel posters, animals, and more.

Looking for a way to pass the time at home? This enormous, 51,300-piece jigsaw puzzle features vibrant images from 27 amazing locations around the world, and measures a whopping 28.5 feet by 6.25 feet when finished. The biggest challenge? Where to put the thing.