Awesome Art & Design

This mobile app makes learning to draw a lot easier and more fun. It uses your phone’s camera so you can overlay an image that you want to copy or use as a template and then sketch over that in real-time. It’s available for both iOS and Android.

Japanese artist Wakuneco shows us how she transforms wool into an intricate, nearly photorealistic sculptural portrait of a cat’s head. Anyone can learn the art of needle-felting, but it requires tremendous precision and persistence to get these sort of results. More here.

In animator Katy Wang’s Kingston University graduation film, a lonely and stranded astronaut sends a message into space in hopes of making a connection. Incredibly, his message reaches a kindred spirit, and he sets off in hopes of face-to-face contact.

Odin Makes shows us how to make Ant-Man’s helmet from Ant-Man and The Wasp. It’s made almost entirely out of craft foam and floor mat foam, and the lenses are from a plastic bowl. If your crafting skills are up to it, you can get Odin’s templates here.

Ever since Gran Turismo 4 first did it, dozens of games have added the ability for players to freeze-frame, compose, and snap eye-popping images of their gaming sessions. Polygon’s compilation video shows us why every game needs to include this ability.

Anyone who has every played Tetris knows that the game’s shapes are as straight-edged as they come. But animator C4D4U decided to see what the game might look like if the pieces were made out of Jell-O. We’d only wish we could play this bouncy, squishy version of the game.

If there’s one thing we can always count on from animator Felix Colgrave, it’s a mastery of the strange and wonderful. This clip he made for Adult Swim’s surreal Off the Air features at its center Trolval, a sea monster often found in the uncharted areas of medieval maps.

CeramicSpeed is working on Driven, a bicycle drivetrain that uses a pinion-style driveshaft instead of a chain and a derailleur. The company claims that Driven creates 49% less friction than chain and derailleur setups, leading to a more durable and more efficient system.

3D Sanago usually uses his skills to create incredible sculptures using a 3D doodling pen. But this time out, he decided to do something completely different, and crafted a piece of armor for his hand and wrist using soda cans and aluminum brads.

Lightform’s upcoming system allows anyone with a computer and a projector to create the sort of projection mapping visuals heretofore reserved for the pros. It can scan objects, then generate intricate projected images that perfectly match their surfaces. More on Tested.

Woodworker Frank Howarth has a thing for spheres, so it only makes sense that he would craft a wooden replica of the iconic, pixel-patterned adidas Telstar 18 football used in the 2018 World Cup. We don’t recommend kicking or heading this ball, though.

Minimal artist duo Differantly spent months trying to figure out how to make the Nike Air Jordan look like a doodle. The result is this sick optical illusion that creates just that effect when the sneaker is viewed at the proper angle.

LEGO enthusiast Finn aka Mr.MOCsProductions built a diorama of the Byers’ house from Stranger Things that comes complete with its Upside Down equivalent, which naturally is upside down and below the normal house. Check out Finn’s build log here.

Shunji Yamanaka and Takayuki Furuta are working on RiDroid CanguRo, a three-wheeled robot scooter. Aside from being a transportation device, it can also follow you, perhaps while carrying something else. It can also be set to go to a destination using an app.

LEGO Ideas members Valerie Roche and Matthew Nolan’s SpaceX Ultimate Collection consists of 1,583 pieces. It lets you build the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy and the launcher. It also comes with a cargo ship, the Dragon spacecraft and Musk’s Tesla Roadster.

A brief look at the Pocket NC V2, an amazingly compact and precise 5-axis milling machine that’s small enough to put on your workbench. This desktop manufacturing marvel costs just under five grand, tens of thousands of dollars less than most 5-axis machines.

Guardbot Inc. is working on a rolling surveillance robot that can be used on any terrain, and even on water. The eponymous robot can go up to 9mph on land and up to 3mph on water. It can be as small as 5in and as large as 7ft in diameter.

Digital art and design collective Universal Everything uses a series of human motion studies to envision a new sort of interactive modeling interface, which could allow multiple participants to sculpt objects from “smart matter.” It also doubles as a dance piece.

Designer David Beaulieu’s Today Is Art Day offers collectible PVC figures inspired by famous artists. The 5″ tall toys include Leonardo da Vinci, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, and Vincent van Gogh, and more complete with tiny masterpieces and other accessories.

Instructables member oliverb made an Arduino-powered digital clock that has a fun mode. It can tell the time by playing Pong with itself, updating the score to accurately reflect the time. It can also show the time in large digits or with words. Learn how to make one here.

Toymaker Cracked Hatchet is making an extremely limited run (just 8 pieces) of hand-painted figures inspired by Childish Gambino’s video for This Is America. Each one is being auctioned off for charity, though Donald Glover apparently snagged the first one.

Taiwanese artist Hank Cheng makes incredibly realistic dioramas and scale models. Whether he’s making vehicles, store exteriors or bedroom interiors, the finished work will make your jaw drop. Check out more of his work on his Instagram and Facebook pages.

HomeMadeModern combined an expensive material – walnut – with an affordable base material – concrete – to make a beautiful and relatively easy to create table. He cast the space on the concrete where the walnut panels would be using acrylic sheets.