Recently, I’ve rediscovered art. It my sound odd to hear since I constantly work on an array of designed communication vehicles for clients, but this is different. What I like about it most is the process. First preparing the canvas for paint, sketching (old school I know), applying the first bit of color by hand, and then constantly stepping back 10 feet to look at the progress. I will admit that it is a relatively slow process, but I think there is something to be said for things made by hand, verses produced with a printer.

Below is my latest piece –  nearly finished at the stroke of midnight thursday after about 30 hours of painting and listening to hours of Black Sheep, A Tribe Called Quest, Hepcat, and Desmond Dekker. I’m not sure whats next on my list to paint, but I will gladly share it when its finished.

Indie filmmaker gets ALS. Begins to document his life as he becomes a character of his own work.

http://www.transfatty.com

http://www.patrickobrienfoundation.org

There’s a lesson here – several.

An ornament stuffed with cake sprinkles | photo by Alan Sailer

I stumbled across this photo gallery on Flickr of photographer Alan Sailer, who appears to favor shots of various objects captured mid-explosion after hit with a bullet. First of all, just the technical skill and timing required to achieve such shots is amazing. But the real fascination for me is how the different materials react – fruit splits open with a weird symmetry, ornaments shatter, and jello looks like a colored wave from one of those old Juicy Fruit commercials.

View the gallery here.

Photo by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre | http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/

TIME magazine recently posted this collection of photos by photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre of Detroit’s economic cityscape. The photos are incredibly haunting and beautiful, and some look like the the relics you’d find if you were living 100 years in the future, post-apocalypse style.

View the slideshow

©2009 Scott Leisler

We were commissioned by a gentleman to illustrate a scene from a movie that still stands as an icon of the 80’s  – Roadhouse, starring Patrick Swayze. We had a great time doing it and look forward to more work like this in the future.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluejake/2140742518/

I’ve always been interested in street culture and how it translates into art. As a former “graffiti artist” gone legit, it’s cool to see how the art form is constantly evolving and finding its ways into mainstream marketing. Whenever I drive to work and see some new graffiti on a building, I instantly go into critique mode. Usually the graffiti is absolutely horrible and it makes me mad because it makes the neighborhood look run down, but sometimes, it can be really cool. There is a difference between vandalism and graffiti art. Check out Smashing Magazines “Tribute to Graffiti: 50 Beautiful Graffiti Artworks” and let us know what you think.

Unfortunately for all of us, people’s visions for the future are often much more exciting and interesting than what actually happens.  During the first half of the twentieth century, people’s opinions of the future were optimistic, to say the least (flying cars, robots that do your housework, rayguns). Now that we’re past the time when these things were supposed to be reality, they’ve become a sort of nostalgic vision of the future. In the 1980’s someone coined the term ‘retro futurism’ to describe this genre.

In the future, you have to lay down to drive your car.

Syd Mead, a conceptual retro-futuristic illustrator who also helped design the sets for the movies Tron, Blade Runner, and Alien, has created some of my favorite visions of the future. His illustrations are sleek, saturated neon landscapes that often feature some sweet rides that sort of reek of the 80’s. See more of his work here on Flickr.

I’m still waiting for my flying car.