Derek Stenning creates great Sci-Fi illustrations for the likes of Endeavor Snowboards but with a really unusual angle. The artworks have evolved around research into ‘Entartete Kunst’ (Degenerate Art), a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art.

“I find these discriminating ideas absurd, but I have adopted the Judeo-Bolshevist theme in this work (the cosmonauts, the hexagram etc.) as a starting point to create these images. As mentioned in a previous post this project is about returning to a more expressive way of creating art (after 10 years as a production artist), and about overcoming my own discriminating views on expressive art.”

Visit: http://borninconcrete.blogspot.com/

Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art

All images copyright Derek Stenning

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’ve been working on the Star Wars branding with Locutio Voice Technologies and Lucas Film for the Yoda voice product launch. To coincide with the product launch TomTom have created a new viral video deployed on YouTube. The video features Yoda in the recording studio delivering his lines for the GPS, quite funny. Dagobah!

Visit: http://www.voiceskins.com/celebrity/yoda.html

A couple of weeks ago we were treated to a trip to the Silverstone Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit for some track time behind the wheel of  a Ferrari F430. Accompained by a professional race driver we got into 6th gear on Hangar straight and exceeded 150mph. An amazing experience in an astonishing super car, definitely an expereince we would recommend.

“The F430′s light, compact 4,308 cc engine that gives the car its name is completely new ; it punches out 490 hp and delivers a specific power output of 114 hp/l and 465 Nm of torque. Needless to say, performance is outstanding: acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in four seconds flat and a maximum speed in excess of 315 km/h.”

Visit: Ferrari F430 site
Visit: Silverstone Experiences site

Phil Noto’s fine art prints and comic book illustrations have a very nice aesthetic reflecting his past experience at Walt Disney Animation. His sexy vintage spy girls can be bought as prints on his website or you can try to pickup his out of print book ‘Jet Seven’.

“While attending the Ringling School of Design, Phil Noto began his career as an intern at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida. After two more years of illustration study, he returned to Disney Animation as a clean-up artist. His credits there include The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, and Lilo and Stitch.”

Visit: http://www.notoart.com/

All images copyright Phil Noto and respective clients.

Unfortunately Grafik magazine is no more. ‘The current owners of Adventures in Publishing (the company which publishes Grafik) have decided to liquidate the company, so unfortunately we are unable to print the magazine for the foreseeable future.’  It’s a shame that the magazine has had to stop but hopefully it will return.

Visit: http://www.grafikmag.com/

These illustrations by Dan McPharlain take me back to the book jackets and record covers I used to find in the local library. I love the grainy airbrush style and flat compositional elements that are slightly like cell shading.

Homepage: http://www.danmcpharlin.com/

Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danmcp/

All images copyright Dan McPharlin.

adidas has teamed up with  Lucas Film  to push their Star Wars Originals collection. They’ve just released this two minute advert which features Snoop Dogg, Daft Punk, David Beckham, Jay Baruchel, Ciara, and Noel Gallagher in the Mos Eisley Cantina Scene from Star Wars. Snoop Dogg reaching for his Light Sabre is definitely one thing I thought I’d never see!  The advert doesn’t feature any trainers, just a few instances of the Adidas logo on T-shirts. See the video over the fold.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zd_khk6zXo

Star Wars.com: http://www.starwars.com/vault/collecting/adidas_cantina/index.html

To seamlessly integrate new shots of David Beckham, Snoop Dogg and company into original Star Wars footage, a set was created to replicate the original dimensions of that bar featured in the film. This enabled the performers to work realistically with the props, make the correct eye-lines and so on. Where they were required to interact with Star Wars characters, stand-ins were used to ensure a realistic performance. The color palettes and lighting conditions of the new shots were also carefully chosen so they could be easily blended with the original footage. To bring the new ad up to date, television screens featuring a football match together with various pieces of football memorabilia were also created and added to the bar scene.

I just caught up with the content on The 99% and enjoyed some of the videos I’d overlooked. If you’ve not visited the site before it’s a great source for inspiration, productivity and creativity from a very diverse group of professionals. The talk given by Michael Bierut last year was really interesting (video below the fold).

Visit: http://the99percent.com/videos/6056/michael-bierut-5-secrets-from-86-notebooks

Renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut claims that he’s not creative. Instead, he likens his job to that of a doctor who tends to patients – “the sicker, the better.” Digging into the 86 notebooks he’s kept over the course of his career, Bierut walks us through 5 projects – from original conception to final execution – extracting a handful of simple lessons (e.g. the problem contains the solution; don’t avoid the obvious) at the foundation of brilliant design solutions.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Visiting Taschen’s website just broke the news that Dennis Hopper died yesterday at the age of 74 following a battle with prostate cancer. As a fan of Blue Velvet and Apocalypse Now I was sad to hear of his death but glad looking  at his obituary to see what a rich and varied  life he had as an artist.

Visit BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10191448.stm

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brilliantly eerie oil paintings by Austrailian artist Jeremy Geddes. The Cosmonaut series features suspended and drifting cosmonauts in urban and abstract environments. His style of oil painting on linen and board is very realistic and often slightly disturbing. A weird mix between reality and sci-fi.

Homepage: http://www.jeremygeddesart.com/
Blog: http://jeremygeddesart.blogspot.com/

All images copyright Jeremy Geddes.