I’ve got some healthy amount of rage in my heart today. That’s why when I happened upon these “Animal Gangs” images illustrated by Mostrico!, I was totally pumped up. Mostrico is a very talented illustrator that hails from Medellín, Colombia, and also goes by the name Alejo Giraldo. These animal heads are part of a set, as many fantastic projects are – a set that includes a Cat, a Zebra, a Panda Bear, and a Fox, each of these with their own animal pack to run with them. Stay hard!

Each of these images is a pencil/pen and ink drawing turned to digital illustration and coloring image. Also they are each of them completely bad ass. Gangs are as follows:

The Lower East Side Bandana Foxes

The Downtown Roller Bears

The East Village Zebra Punks

The Upper East Side Dagger Cats

Which one would you choose to affiliate with? You know good and well which one I’d have to run alongside.

This whole project reminds me of the classic gang-battle action film The Warriors. In that movie, it’s not long into the future and all the gangs of the 5 boroughs of New York are called in for a meeting by the leader of one of the baddest of all the gangs. This leader’s name is Cyrus and he rocks a speech about how if the gangs, diverse as they are, as disparate as they are, rolled together, well then they’d run the city. All of them so strange.

All of them so wild.

These gangs reflect that. Each of these animal gangs is super fabulous for their own unique qualities and skills. Each one of these illustrations is amazing on its own, but without the power of the rest of the animals, they’ve just got so much to work with. Together, in this set of colors and lines, in this new collection, the powers each of them creates is more powerful than the sum of their parts — synergy!

To find more info on the designer / illustrator / artist Mostrico!, just head on over to his flicker account and do a little dance. To send him a message, head on over to his Behance message center.

ALSO, BONUS – included below the animal gangs images is a set of other images from the portfolio of Mostrico! I’m sure you’ll grow to love them as I have. They are all cute and have faces prettier than a mother could love.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies category.

What lies beneath this paragraph is an epic tale of heroism in the face of almost-certian guilt-tripping. That’s right, it’s a designer dude who was asked to do a free job. And not just any free job which he should, be all means, tell the asker to go eat a candybar to, nay! This was the secretary from the business this designer worked for and yes, she needed a “LOST” poster for her cat who had escaped out her door – as fast as possible.

This story originates at 26b/6, where the real David (designer David) lives, and you might end up seeing it on DIGG via the webpage Catster, which is basically cat-tastic. But this story is for everybody. Everybody needs to know about this life lesson. Dont you ever, ever, ever tell a designer that the job they did needs a couple changes – they will flip out on you, either out loud or in their mind. Eventually you’ll know about it. Really dude, really for real.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster


Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.





This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.

Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster


Dear Shannon,

That is shocking news. Luckily I was sitting down when I read your email and not half way up a ladder or tree. How are you holding up? I am surprised you managed to attend work at all what with thinking about Missy out there cold, frightened and alone… possibly lying on the side of the road, her back legs squashed by a vehicle, calling out “Shannon, where are you?”

Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster


Dear Shannon,

I never said I don’t like cats. Once, having been invited to a party, I went clothes shopping beforehand and bought a pair of expensive G-Star boots. They were two sizes too small but I wanted them so badly I figured I could just wear them without socks and cut my toenails very short. As the party was only a few blocks from my place, I decided to walk. After the first block, I lost all feeling in my feet. Arriving at the party, I stumbled into a guy named Steven, spilling Malibu & coke onto his white Wham ‘Choose Life’ t-shirt, and he punched me. An hour or so after the incident, Steven sat down in a chair already occupied by a cat. The surprised cat clawed and snarled causing Steven to leap out of the chair, slip on a rug and strike his forehead onto the corner of a speaker; resulting in a two inch open gash. In its shock, the cat also defecated, leaving Steven with a foul stain down the back of his beige cargo pants. I liked that cat.

Attached poster as requested.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster


Dear Shannon,

It’s a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster


Dear Shannon,

Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don’t come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I am willing to overlook this faux pas due to you no doubt being preoccupied with thoughts of Missy attempting to make her way home across busy intersections or being trapped in a drain as it slowly fills with water. I spent three days down a well once but that was just for fun.

I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww


Dear Shannon,

I don’t have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend’s cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter, I kept the cat in a closed cardboard box in the shed and forgot about it. If I wanted to feed something and clean faeces, I wouldn’t have put my mother in that home after her stroke. A week later, when my friend came to collect his cat, I pretended that I was not home and mailed the box to him. Apparently I failed to put enough stamps on the package and he had to collect it from the post office and pay eighteen dollars. He still goes on about that sometimes, people need to learn to let go.

I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww


I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says “I haven’t seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?” you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.

I knew someone who had a basset hound that had its hind legs removed after an accident and it had to walk around with one of those little buggies with wheels. If it had been my dog I would have asked for all its legs to be removed and replaced with wheels and had a remote control installed. I could charge neighbourhood kids for rides and enter it in races. If I did the same with a horse I could drive it to work. I would call it Steven.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies deconstruction category.

Master of oddities Michael Gaughan had an amazing idea. He said to himself, “self, you know that movie Spinal Tap and how in the movie they never produce the original artwork for the album Smell the Glove? You should have an art show about that.” And thus he initiated it. To be held at the relatively new (1 or 2 shows deep so far, max) CO Exhibitions gallery in NE Minneapolis.* This show is to be known as the “Smell The Glove” show and is completely open for submissions. That’s hot. That’s amazing. There’s going to be so many submissions that it’ll be a stench of glove by the time the doors open.

*This location is literally one floor above Burlesque of North America and First Ammendment art gallery. Read these words written by Mike of Burlesque Design:

CO Exhibitions is located at 1101 Stinson Blvd at the corner of Broadway & Stinson in beautiful and historic Northeast Minneapolis. We are open weekdays 12-5pm and admission is always free.

The actual show is going to have a screening of Spinal Tap, a Spinal Tap cover band performing, and will have surprises! I hope the surprises include asparagus like the last CO show, I saw they had some in the pics from the show.

Love to eat that stuff! It’s so smelly.

SUBMISSIONS
If you’d like to see yourself be a part of this show, you can submit your own work!
Deadline – July 15th, 2010
To be mailed or dropped off at

ATTN Michael Gaughan / Smell the Glove
CO EXHIBITIONS
1101 Stinson Blvd
#12
Minneapolis, MN
55413

Medium: whatever you’d like. Any doubt, contact Michael or one of the fine folks at Burlesque and I’m sure they’ll set you straight.

SMELL THE GLOVE
Opening party Aug 7th, 2010
7-10PM
Spinal Tap cover band, movie screening, and surprises
CO EXHIBITIONS
1101 Stinson Blvd
(at the corner of Broadway and Stinson)

Michael Gaughan has several internet connections: first, check his youtube channel out at michaelgaughanicerod, then go over to his hot online portfolio of magic and paint. Then if you want to contact him, michael.gaughan@gmail.com is his email.

NOTE: Michael Gaughan graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the same place I graduated from. You know what that means? It means he rocks, and it’s basically like we’ve go the same blood. But he has more rock and roll in his soul. I don’t go around saying that about just anybody.

DOUBLE NOTE: One of the greatest things MG has ever done is make a band with his sister, a band which you may have heard of: “Brother and Sister.” I once saw them perform at the Minneapolis College of Art and design with a candy guitar – during the set, MG asked people to come up to the stage and lick the guitar as he played it. The entire situation was magnificent. If that’s any indication of what’s to come, expect greatness. The kind of greatness that only comes around every once in a while. Believe that.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies album art category.

We’ve been submitted some anonymously-photographed photos from the empty BUNGE tower over in Dinkytown, Minneapolis. These photos are full of lots of fabulous (and some terrible) graffiti and other silly drawings. All on the walls, all on the trains. From the looks of it, the train photos were taken right next to the tower, and the dark photos were taken inside the tower, probably all on the first level. You’ll notice a couple pics of some writing up at the top of the tower – this paint was up for about a week or two in early June, 2010, and’s now painted over. This happens up there from time to time.

Pretty sassy. Pretty dangerous.

BONUS: since we got our BIGTIME gallery going, we re-uploaded the photos from this project as full-sized. Take a peek through the gallery below for some hotness.

Now like when we get any set of anonymously submitted photos, you’ve gotta note that we DO NOT know who took them. I’m certain that it’s trespassing being inside this building, so the photographer more than likely does not want to be tied directly to these photos. That doesn’t mean you can go around taking credit for them, but it does mean you’ve got free reign over using them. Feel free to print them out, for example, if that’s your bag, but be respectful. Even illegal work is still someone’s work.

NOTE that we do not advocate the taking of any photos where you’ve got to be somewhere where it’s illegal for you to stand, and will not post anything of the sort (unless, of course, they’re submitted anonymously.) Stay safe! And don’t go out at dark. Be smart.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies dirty category.

Surely you’ve heard of the merger that took place a bunch of months ago, the one where Disney corporation purchased Marvel Comics for 4 billion bucks. People cried, people laughed, people put mouse ears on every one of the Marvel Comics superheroes. But what about TRON? Who weeps for the forgotten combo? The best combo. The combo that just can’t happen, but definitely should because it’d be so light bright. I’m speaking of course of TRON meets Iron Man. Yes yes, how pretty the posters would be.

But the rest would be crap! Oh my god how horrible that’d be. But I love that initial image. Such greateness in glowing lines. There’s one more similar image in the gallery below, along with the tiny cross section of successful or mildly successful images created for the first B3TA forum Marvel VS Disney pic creator contest. No prizes, no official winner (I think you know which one it REALLY is though,) and no rules. Lots of crap. A few sassy moments of smarts. Lots of fun.

Fun for everyone! Take a peek through the gallery below, then feel free to show them up by making your own. Blow it up, put it on your wall, and break down, put mouse ears on it. I can tell you wanna, you dirty dogg you.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category.

In honor of Portugal beating North Korea in their latest world cup game 7-0, oh my god, here is an image of Kim Jong-il as illustrated by Sakkan (サッカン). I want Jong-il to see this and change his mind about his more than likely plausible decision to murder the entire N.Korean football team. I joke, but also seriously hope they don’t end up missing. The image above, by that wild illustrator Sakkan, depicts Kim as a Pokemon hunter, the characters around him referring to North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens. Weird! But look, the idea that Kim is a Pokemon master makes it all make sense. Gotta Catch Em All!

The following information comes from the crowd at BoingBoing from when they discovered the Kim image a few days ago:

The red text in the lower left hand corner seems to read
“Rocket Monster Kim (Gold)” And the Pikachu rockets are labeled “pika-don” which I think means “Boom!” The blue text looks like “Let’s go kidnapping!”, a reference to the North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens over the years. – gmoke

More specifically, pika-don is a reference to the bright flash (pika) and explosive noise (don) of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. – oepn

Fabulous. Now let’s also look at the extended works of Sakkan. He’s a humorist in his illustrations, basically all of them, a wild and crazy sensibility that generally comes standard with the anime-style way of executing stories and people and situations. Look at how cute! Also take another peek at how excellent Sakkan is at portraiture. That’s definitely Kim up there, and down in the gallery you won’t be mistaking Bruce, Sam, and a couple other sassy fellas and ladies. And don’t forget his take on the Twitter Overload image.

To contact Sakkan, visit him at his Sakkan webpage, a page full of Sakkan illustrations and lists and lists of his accomplishments. If you happen to find out more about him in the way of screenprinted posters, let me know, must have!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies custom culture category.

Who loves monster magazines? I love monster magazines. It must be a strange life, investigating and reporting on the world as it’s affected by monsters. As the monster turns toward the audience and says “people!” running away in a dash, the reporter takes a flash, another front page for Famous Monsters magazine. This post focuses on that, the Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine series, in particular the covers. So rip off your safety belt, jump out of the car, and run screaming into the woods, because it’s time for MONSTER MAGAZINE COVER MADNESS! Presented in technicolor!

Don’t move a finger, a hair, or a heart, cause this is about to get real wild. Creatures featured in any manner of ways, the covers centralized on one monster each. It’s like a portrait of the grotesque on most of these magazine fronts, only a few derivations for sneaky fantastic or otherwise cooky special editions.

Devour if you dare! The following collection begins with issue #1 from 1958 and continues on through the first 100 mags. For further Monsters of F viewing past this point, take a peek at MovieMags, Modern Fred, Inanimate Hitchhiker, Science Fiction Unleashed, Joey Von, Budhha Is, Alternative Cinema, Zombie Babe, VooDoo King Designs, Mark Berry, Martin Prine, Video Challenger, Alan E Robinson, Mad Monsters, Pengarift, and Gorilla Men. They’ve all got the nackering.

And never look away from a mirror then back at it again.

GUARANTEED MONSTER.

ALSO: These magazine images are under copyright, not only because they were made well within the confines of copyright rights, but also because Famous Monsters is basically restarted now, and are putting out new magazines as we speak!

Scary!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies covers category.

So. The internets hath provided the world with some nicely-produced movie footage of a Mortal Kombat story in short-film format. It’s meant to be spread virally, which I’m sure it’ll do, and is doing, and it’s meant to create EXCITEMENT – which it IS doing. The clip you’re about to see is made by a … dance video director?! Kevin Tancharoen, who, because he was tentatively signed on to do a “caught in pre-pre-production limbo” Mortal Kombat, decided to make his own short, teaser version of what the film might look like. This is that. Many/most of the people in the short donated their time (maybe to get the chance to be in the final version), and the entire thing cost $7,500. And it’s gruesome. Totally gruesome.

It’s gonna be like a police movie!

Or maybe like a kung fu… gore… MORTAL KOMBAT.

Now the MOST and MOST FACTUAL information on this situation you’re going to get, you’re going to get from an interview done the day after this clip was released between the entertainment news source Collider and mister Tancharoen.

In that interview, Tancharoen begins:

KT: No. They [the studio, or anybody involved with the video game] did not [know about the mini-movie]. (Laughs) This was something I did completely on my own. However, there is a little bit of a tie-in, because I happen to be friends with Oren Uziel. And since we’re friends, I just called him up and said “Listen, I want to do this. This is what I have in mind. I want it to be contained, because I am not a studio with endless amounts of cash.” Then we started storyboarding from there, and started calling my friends, and started pulling as many favors as I possibly could. And I was thrilled that they all said yes. (Laughs)

Collider notes that Oren Uziel wrote the short. He’s currently listed on IMDb to write the next Mortal Kombat movie at Warner Bros. Tancharoen continues:

Now like I said, because I am such a fan of the Mortal Kombat series, I know there’s a lot of concern about the mysticism and the special powers and all that kind of stuff. Well, like I said, this is really designed — the short so far is really designed like a prologue to the movie. Now, in a movie version, I am going to have that mysticism there, but it has to be done in a very tasteful way. I wouldn’t like it too campy or too cheesy. I know this is a weird analogy, but it’s the best one I can think of right now. It’s kind of like when in Harry Potter, there’s two universes that coexist with each other. There’s the real world, and then you get on the train and then you go to Hogwart’s, and that’s where all the magic is.

That’s all I needed to hear. Make it AVP quality (low) or better, and I’d even go so far as to see it in the theater! All I need is a tiny bag of popcorn and one of those GIANT GULPS of soda they have at the theater now, one free refill!

Oh and… and…

This clip features the following actors and actresses: Michael Jai White who I knew played “Gambol” in the Dark Knight, remembered played SPAWN in that one movie called SPAWN, but had no idea was in The Toxic Avenger Part II – wowie!, Jeri Ryan whom you MUST know as “7 of 9″ from the Star Trek series Voyager, plus about a million TV shows, martial artists Lateef Crowder who is going to be in a 2010 movie about the other hugely popular fighting game TEKKEN, Ian Anthony Dale also in TEKKEN, and Matt Mullins who has done lots of great stuff, but whose proudest moment should be, I think, having been an actor in the 1996 video game AREA 51.

So peek at the clip and peek at this gallery clipped out of the clip and clip your clip with a clip and GET OVER HERE and clip clop clip. Yay Mortal Kombat!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies ARCADE category.

So graphic design and poster printing team Aesthetic Apparatus is ten years old. …wait a second, weren’t they ten years old LAST YEAR? Yes, yes they were. That’s why there’s an exhibition at the MCAD gallery here in Minneapolis that’s going by the name “AAXI: A DECADE OF AESTHETIC APPARATUS, ONE YEAR LATE.” View MCAD-approved photos of the opening night below.

Words from AA/MCAD about what’s going on here:

The distinctive, hand-printed concert posters of Aesthetic Apparatus duo Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski have garnered international acclaim since 1998. In 2002, Aesthetic Apparatus became a full-fledged, award-winning studio, completing a spectrum of design projects in addition to the posters they loved to produce. “Aesthetic Apparatus: 10 Years, 1 Year Late” showcases their many treasured “artifacts” from the past 10 years as well as a collection of their acclaimed work.

Ibarra and Byzewsk have created for such clients as Blue Q, Stella Artois, Harper Collins, The Economist, and Criterion Collection and for such bands as Cake, Frank Black, Spoon, The Hold Steady, The New Pornographers, Dinosaur Jr., and Grizzly Bear. Their work has been featured in Print, Step Into Design, Communication Arts, Creative Review, HOW, Rolling Stone, Swindle, Jane, and ReadyMade Magazine, along with heavy handfuls of design book publications and the rock poster bible The Art of Modern Rock.

Start Time: Friday, May 28, 2010 at 6:00pm
End Time: Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 6:00pm
Location: Minneapolis College of Art And Design – Main Gallery
Street: 2501 Stevens Avenue
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN

Ohh and there’s an audio guide! I wish there were an audio guide for every big (and tiny) event I attend in my life. Think of the possibilities!

AAXI: Ten Years of Aesthetic Apparatus audio tour available for download here: www.aestheticapparatus.com/AAXI.zip

Slap it onto yer MP3 player and bring it to the event!

OR

Call 612.435.3316 to listen to the audio at the event!

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY MAY 28TH 2010 • 6PM • MCAD MAIN GALLERY

Below you’ll find a small collection of photos taken by MCAD photographer Amalia Nicholson on the night of the opening. Highlights: the big moosey, original hand-written business plan (not pictured), and the big huge GIANT wall of prints – one that goes up several stories into the school.

Go cheque it out!

BONUS: Also included below (first in the gallery) is the postcard used to call the city in to have a nice opening party. It uses a nice photo of the fellows also shown in the show.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies celebration category.

Perhaps you live in a house. Perhaps you live in a home. Do you live in an apartment? Do you live in a ramshackle abode? Surely one of these things must be true. But does your house have the ability to roll around? The folks houses in this set of photos doth have the ability to do as such. This is a set of photos taken by Alan W George that goes by the name “Wheeled Estate.” All of it’s below.

Here’s a few words from the artist / designer / photographer / collector extraordinaire Alan W George, on the subject of the set that we’re talking about:

San Francisco, California has the highest per capita rate of homelessness of any city in the United States. This fact can be attributed to many factors, including but certainly not limited to, the predominance of social liberalism, the year round reasonably mild climate and the relatively high cost of housing in the region. Homelessness manifests itself in a spectrum of living conditions, from living on the street with shopping cart and cardboard boxes to endless couch surfing. With this series of images I examine one of the more affluent homelessness conditions, vehicle (car/truck/RV/van/bus) camping. Specifically I typographically examine the vehicles which function as homes.

Isn’t it interesting how lowered the sense of worth becomes when a few wheels are attached to a house? On the other hand, when you take a peep at this whole set of photos here, they become definitely worthy of your eyeballs and mine.

Look at that green bus. Wouldn’t you like to drive it in the video game Twisted Metal? It would be such a fantastic adventure! Not to mention halve these other ones would be well-off containing hell of weapons and traps to blow up opponents.

Or to live in.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies On The Street category.

British Petroleum’s oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, now called the “Deepwater Horizon” oil spill is currently the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. In response, the fine folks at Draplin Design Co., North America have whipped up some alternative identity marks for the gas company. You can see three above, and several more below. I think they’re wonderful. Of course any company that uses fossil fuels that will some day be completely run dry of our world would like to remain the color green in the eyes of that empty jar of a planet, but here they are just in case they change their minds.

Since these marks were released, I did a little bit of reading about Draplin, and it’s a lovely, hilarious read of a history that’s gone on in their history. It begins with

Bred from the loins of the proud Midwest, this little fucker was squeezed out in Detroit, in the year 1973 to the proud parents of Jim and Lauren Draplin. Growing up on a steady stream of Legos, Star Wars, family trips, little sisters, summer beach fun, stitches, fall foliage, drawing, skateboarding and snowboarding, at 19 he moved west to Bend, Oregon to hit jumps “Out West.”

And rams into a fact that made my day: he went to the same school as me, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (aka MCAD). Below you’ll find an image of an OBEY-esque poster project he printed and pasted all over campus in the year 2000.

Also below you’ll find a selection of works done by Draplin over the past howevermany years. Enjoy them all thoroughly and contact the fellow Draplin at draplin(at)draplin(dot)com or just visit him at his fabulous webpagespace: http://www.draplin.com/.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies environment category.

Yays the fellow called Kaws, also known as Brian Donnelly is in this month’s edition (May 2010) of Interview Magazine. The cover has Madonna with a red painted cross on an image of her face. In celebration, it’s time for a master-blaster of Kaws-related pics. Blaster. Master. A collection right here and now, below, in no particular order, for the greater good of understanding the simplicity of his genius superstrokes. It’s all in the single line. The one that goes from fat to thin. Doubled up, placed on the face. Placed on the glove. Perfection.

You see the x x eyes? They are key. Elements to also look for are the teeth, the row of the teeth, and the sharp, black curved line. Outline. Below you’re going to find photos that span the whole art career of Kaws, from when he began spraying that name, “KAWS,” to now, when he’s doing very well for himself with his own brand and lots of artshows and toys and products. Everything a design-minded artist individual could want in this modern world.

If you love Kaws, and are unaware of how to find the continued works of him and his companies, take a look at this limited list. It’s super fabulous:
http://www.kawsone.com/blog/ Donnelly’s blog on Donnelly’s site.
http://blog.honeyee.com/kaws/ Donnelly’s blog on Honeyee’s site.
BBCIceCream Kaws tag archive at blog written by Pharrell Williams and crew.
http://fuckyeakaws.tumblr.com/ infinite updates of random KAWS images

Now take a hefty set of clickings through this vast* set. *Vast, yet limited, when compared to the true group of Kaws creations that are in the world. Variations on a theme, and hundreds and hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. At least hundreds of variations, thousands of items. Domination of the street art conscious world. This planet anyway.

Peeks!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies celebritarianism category.

A little under a year ago was the last time I or we wrote anything about the artist / designer / wild animal known as AJ Fosik. Well I’m here to tell you: AJ Fosik rain in blood wasn’t over. It isn’t done. Last time you saw AJ Fosik there were mass amounts of beasts made in bright colors of painted wood over at White Walls. This time there are no walls. There are only bodies covered in what I can only describe as the most kitschtastic sweaters ever knitted. Each of them represents it’s own classic brand of beer. What a collection.

Fosik is slightly unclear on how these were attained, but each of them seems to have been a real in-production sweater knitted for the company by the company. For the beer drinker.

A word or two from the artist:

Promotional knit beer sweaters from the 70s and 80s. All of these sweaters were unearthed by me, rescued from moldy basements, plucked from dingy backwaters and ripped from the backs of greasy shitleopards. Unfortunately none of these trophies are for sale.

Please take a moment to inspect these massively appropriate for nowhere sweaters. They are fabulous, they are miraculous. To promote one’s favorite beer with their own clothing is one thing, wearing a bit of promotional material in which each stitch had to be well-layed-out in order for the logo and message to be clear, well, that’s a devoted fan of the genre.

I credit AJ Fosik at this moment to be one of the greatest design collectors I have ever seen. This collection of sweaters is fantastic, and shall go down in the record books as one of the most excellent design collections there ever was. Truly AJ Fosik is a design junkie if ever have I seen one.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category. Also this post can be found in the vintage, wearable, and Pizza Party categories. Go hang out at any of these and you will have a genuine time.

Let me begin this post be suggesting that perhaps you were a child once. Let’s just go on that assumption. When you were a child, did you read books? I’ll go ahead and say yes. When you were a child, did you happen upon Golden Books? Probably you did. I’ll tell you someone else who had some Golden Books, illustrator designer Josh Cooley. He is a nerd, a movie fanatic, and a fantastic draw-er. He’s taken the time to mash up two utterly disparate items for the enjoyment of all: Golden Books for kids, and a collection of movie stills that couldn’t possibly be more inappropriate for that same group of kids. Check it out!

In a fabulous act of brilliance, Cooley, Story Artist at Pixar Animation Studios, has taken the Golden Books aesthetic and applied it to his favorite scenes from action, science fiction, and horror films. As many super ideas go, this one began as a joke, something to spend some time on, something to get a few chuckles outta, something even to post on these internets.

But lo!

People yelled at Cooley, HEY! These are really rad! If I saw these all bound up in a book at a comic convention, I’d throw my money at it faster than I’d buy an original chunk of fossilized Alien goo! And you can take that to the bank! And so he did. Cooley took that idea to the bank, pulled out a few bucks, and made a book.

The book, having just been announced yesterday, goes by the name “Movies R Fun!”, with, as you can see, the word MOVIES being in kiddie play blocks, and the R being the same R as in R-Rated films. Clevah.

This book, as Cooley says, this book, will be available soon, at Comic-Con California this year, probably at the Alternative Press Expo (APE), and on Cooley’s lovely blogspot blog if you’re lucky. Inside you’ll find probably, more than likely, everything you see above and below, PLUS MORE.

Joy!

Take a peek and don’t hesitate to flip out over the radical nature of the images.

BONUS: Also included are a couple of the golden patterns used for framing of the single-page versions of these fabulous prints. Can you say CPU background time? Yessir.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category.

Here at this headquarters for fabulous artifacts and non-facts and ideas we like to call World Famous Design Junkies, there is a great big love for the continued proliferation of the pop symbol bangin’ Mickey Mouse. You know who else feels that way? Designer Todd Proctor. He’s part of an excellent breed of designer functioning in today’s world using his wits as well as his skills for arrangement. That’s how you get some sweet exposure. That’s how you get some sweet mula. Maybe.

Above and below you’ll see a couple Mickeys and a whole lotta other amazing things. Lots of digital work here, but in the spirit of antiquity*, you can feel that Proctor’s payed his dues. He’s payed the cost to be a pixel boss. *And you know when I say antiquity I’m speaking of the absurd notion that analog design is passe. One cannot become a skillful designer without the ability to draw pictures in sand.

These images make Todd Proctor “internet famous.” But take a peek and see, many of them have reached fruition unto the physical realm of our real world. Our real world where, of course, it is at. You get born there, you die there, and if you’ve never printed or seen print the ink to a piece of paper the poster you’ve designed, I dare you to die a satisfied individual. I say thee nay! Dirty hands made these.

Devour these works by Todd Proctor and check him out on his own network or contact him and hire him directly, you lucky dog, at: Email:todd@toddproctordesign.com or Phone: 0414 452 284 or Skype: Todd777

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies deconstruction category.

I was thinking about bowling. Thinking about it, thinking about how awesome bowling alleys are, how the environment is quite the uniqueness in our society. Thinking about lanes. Thinking about the carpeting. Thinking about balls. And then I came to it. The screens! Look at them! They’re designed to work, to be understood, and to facilitate you having fun while you’re playing about the most thunderous rolling sport of our times. But by god, I’ve never seen two the same. Where we’re in a world where so many things come standard: pop machines, cars, newspaper dispensers, this program run by thousands of alleys is different in each of them. And the container on each has it’s own charm as well.

This situation reminds me of a cardinal lesson in economics: if two grocery stores have bread, but one has the bread priced 25¢ higher, you’ll still go to the other store because it’s closer by. While there might be a brand-name bowling system out there that would be universally easier to understand, it doesn’t matter because there’s no big demand for that kind of system from the bowlers. One bowler does not go to all sorts of different alleys asking for the same system enough for any alley to switch from the one that was originally most convenient for them.

Thus, this! Hundreds if not thousands of different setups and systems.

Now there might be some bowling systems out there trying to dominate the market, and good luck to them! But bowling is and always has been a sport that’s basically just for the love of it – there is no gigantic market or popular sporting event for it, thus happy mediocrity.

And thus the uniqueness of each alley.

Now behold these screens.

The following images are from the following contributors: nertzy, Jos, Abs44, Karen D, V&N, 2H Design, Adele, Razif H, Drew Makepeace, notMargaret, Lergik, Xiaming, Lucaskt, Miahz, Kevin H, Philipreid, Kirkala, Rick Spine, Mrs. Chardonnay, Real Blades, Ivan Tortuga, B Mune, Arksiel, Project BS, Orac808, Hupthur, Davers, Light Star Angel, Danny Huff, Alan Rappa, Optimum Inline, Primamag, Quiet Dangst, Moon Cowboy, Heather & Tom, Kenoir, Mika, Espelina, Elizabeth PS, Eats Dirt, buck82, idolector, Mr. Wright, Ben Sutherland, Joshua Mauldin, Jima, RonyyG, Kus Kus, nonKompliant, Jared Zimmerman, SGT Fun, Scuddr, Scotticus, Ryan W, Series Premiere, eatdog888, funnyliberal, Abby T, Love it Madly, TheNotQuiteFool, Carolina P, KingBeej, Cash and Carrie, Ariel Waldman, Geeky Artist Librarian, Kooop, Brian Bruchman, DarrenXYZ, Jannygirl, Andrastia, Little Dynamite, AbbyLadybug, Espelina, Dan 4th, Ario, PocketDora, Vicious Bits, Jaybert, Mixed Feelings, Skonen Blades, Girl of Bats, Lia, Sarah and Jason, and CindyLi.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies environment category.

The unbeheld. This is a photo set of the covered up works of glory all around the city of design. That’s right! This set of photos is called “Graffiti Cover Up,” and it takes place in urban Minneapolis. This project is executed by a friend and colleague of mine, also former classmate of mine at the MCAD, photographer Nicole Kuntz. She’s traveled the mean streets of upper, lower, left and right Minneapolis, searching for glorious works of art, finding them blocked out. But in that comes another form of loveliness, just another step in the evolution of a wall. A canvas, a wall, privately and publicly owned, for everyone to see, shown and covered up.

This is a set of five photos from a much larger set that will be shown soon at a fabulous show shown in the source! A group show by the name “F.R.E.S.H.” taking place at Altered Aesthetics in MPLS, MN.

Guerrilla art, hip-hop, punk rock, murals and more, F.R.E.S.H. will take a look at the origins, expressions and effects of street art as it has occurred in and beyond the gallery walls.

Opening will feature a LIVE PAINTING! by Rogue Citizen. Be sure to come and watch and place your bid on this silent auctioned one of a kind artwork!!

Opening Reception
Friday, May 7, 2010 – 7pm-10pm

Artists’ Discussion
Saturday, May 15, 2010 – 1pm-3pm

Altered Aesthetics
1224 Quincy St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413
The Q’arma Building in NE Minneapolis
612.378.8888
contact-at-alteredesthetics.org

I’m sure there’s other artists there too, but our loyalty is with the K! Covered up graffiti is a wild thing to photograph. What a wild thing to collect. Brief upon it here! Such excellence.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies destruction category.

Welcome to this ring. This post is all about it. It’s a Hell’s Angels ring, and it’s not about to kneel down to anyone but God. From the weirdest places on Earth, that’s where this is, that’s where it came from! Below have a hack at looking at it, inside of it, on both sides, upside down and rightside up. But you can’t have it. That’s the law. Also forgive me if there’s any references to hate or violence on this thing, I appreciate it for it’s aesthetics and craft, I’m not fully in on the symbols and their magical meanings.

I’ll tell you right now I’m not going to give a link to where I found this because while it’s for sale, and I support commerce of this kind for sure, it DOES have links to inappropriate content that I and we refuse to have anything to do with. But this ring is rad. Just look at it. In the blockquote here you can see all the text offered by the owner:

HELLS ANGELS HA AFFA 81 BRM SUPPORT OUTLAW MC CLUB BIKER RING

OUTLAW BIKER RING MOTORCYCLE JEWELRY FOR SALE UNIQUE & VERY RARE ~ ONE OF A KIND RING GOLD COLOR … BELIEVE IT TO BE BRONZE VERY HEAVY, MASSIVE RING SIZE 12 ~ WILL RESIZE AT NO CHARGE (WITHIN REASON) ENGRAVED “HANDGEMACHT HA 666″ = HAND MADE IN GERMANY

NOT NUMBERED … NO NAMES

THIS RING HAS SOME SIGNS OF WEAR & USE, WHICH ADDS TO ITS CHARACTER. IF IT COULD ONLY TALK! GOLD COLOR, WEIGHS ~ 30 GRAMS … BELIEVE IT TO BE BRONZE. CAN BE POLISHED UP, BUT IN OUR OPINION, IT LOOKS BETTER THE WAY IT IS. IF YOU BUY IT, WE’LL POLISH IT UP FOR YOU UNLESS YOU WANT TO KEEP IT IN ITS CURRENT “STREET USE” CONDITION. NEEDLESS TO SAY, NEVER SEEN ONE BEFORE … PROBABLY THE ONLY ONE OUT THERE AVAILABLE!

Did you read that? Did you see the most important part? The part that makes it incredibly bad ass, totally amazing, and utterly hell-bent? NOT NUMBERED … NO NAMES. How much more elite can you get? You fucking can’t. That’s how much.

It would be fantastic to be able to smelt one’s own rings in their own image. Anyone reading this do that? Get in contact with me, we could make wonderful things!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies Custom Culture category.

Let me tell you about a man. A man who both had a lot to do with Liquor, and a little to do with 3 separate generations of Star Trek. Interested yet? Anyone still reading? You’d better be, this is the most amazing adventure you’re ever going to take in two paragraphs. Let me then bring you down by saying the man we’re about to talk about just passed away. He is dead, but his legacy is infinite. He was a voice actor and person actor by the name of Michael Pataki. The picture you see above is a tribute to him as illustrated by the creator of Ren and Stimpy, John K. Michael Pataki, a friend and colleague of K, did the voice for one of the most awesome John K characters ever created: George Liquor. George Liquor played the little known part of owner and master of Ren and Stimpy.

Of course you need to see him in action, so here’s a quick clip!

Then of course there’s the strange and wild journey of a born-again Klingon! Michael Pataki as an actor played a Klingon in the original Star Trek series episode The Trouble with Tribbles (1967!) He then played a completely different Klingon in an episode or Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988), and a re-mix of that same original series Tribbles episode, this time on Deep Space Nine (Trials and Tribble-ations, 1996.) Three series, three decades! He’s everybody’s favorite dimension-traveling Klingon!

And he did a whole crapload of other stuff like Family Guy and B.J. and the Bear. Check him out on imdb, and watch the motorcycle movie Easy Rider in his honor – see if you can find him, he plays Mime #4. No joke.

He lived to be 300 years old.

Also check out the RIP entry made by John K, it is very heartfelt and nice.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies Outer Space category.

Dearest world, he says, I’m wondering if you, since you’re all fans of the greatest television animated series of all time, have any artwork from this series? That’s right, boys and girls! John K, the creator and main mind behind Ren and Stimpy is looking for your contributions! He’s creating some sort of fabulous bible-like construction for Spumco! You don’t know what Spumco aka Spümcø is?! Come on in then! You like to see fabulous illustrations of Ren and Stimpy characters?! Yes! We’ve got that here too!

As you may be well aware, John K, aka John Kricfalusi, is the big brain behind Ren and Stimpy and he’s got one FANTASTIC blog. It’s informative almost constantly to EPIC preportions! You can find it at http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/ and I recommend you read it EVERY DAY!

Then there’s Spumco Inc. – it’s was an animation studio based in Los Angeles, California. They got their first big start when Nickelodeon shot a call out for new cartoons – one of the ones they chose was made by Spumco – Ren and Stimpy! After and before that there were a bunch of other works that were also pretty neat, take a peek at a list and get out your animation cells of those works too!

Now down to brass tacks. If you’ve got any original Ren and Stimpy artwork, that means hand-drawn, painted, otherwise, and would be so gracious as to let John K scan it at high-rez so as to print it in the up n coming Spumco book, that’d be great!

Contact someone named Dan at pictureboxinc@pictureboxinc.com for more details.

You will get an acknowledgment in the book and a big thanks from me! and I’m sure from the fans who want this book too

If you own an animation art gallery, I’ll be glad to plug it and link to it.

Thanks!

-John K

Hooray wee! Now let’s look at some of what he’s talking about. Pics!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies illustration category.

Dude. Bounty Hunters? I heard that we probably don’t even need their scum. But today what we’ve got here is a bounty hunter invention competition. Fabulous illustrators from the streets both inventing new bounty hunters and bounty hunting new pictures of the old ones. They’re all just the most excellent such stuffs of the most laser-shooting knife-weirding dirt-wearers in the galaxy.

Of course this competition is Star Wars based, and of course it was first started at the most excellent forums in the pixel universe, Unit 16, which is a forum for discussing illustrations and being an illustrator for those who love to do both things. You should check it out! And bonus! If you like the illustration above, and several of the very similar illustrations below, you’ll be glad to know we just did a whole post on the draw man!

Check him out at Stay Tuned for Scott Van.

Get shot! The following illustrations were done by the following codenames: mish mash with Bobafett, g-rag with Boushh, darkreaver – Baz Bahadur, dougbot – Scroat, asnmdirtehw – Greedo, French Duke – Joe Camel, DamselinDistress – Jawa, Teemu – Eastwood v Skywalker, garbage guts – Horny Babe, submarine captain – Hawley Mantu, submarine captain – Sai Koon-Da’a, DamselinDistress – Lobot, and Pentothal with Lee Van Tuco. Each of those is the name of the illustrator then the name of their hunter. Please love Lobot. He is a special man/robot, and it isn’t his fault that he’s terrible at bounty hunting.

If YOU want to make a bounty hunter, or have a bounty hunter to contribute to this already epic set, please feel free to post it below in the comments, or to contact me or us and email a pic so it can be posted here! It’s just bounty hunter magic.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies ink category.

Dear internets. While everyone basically in the whole of these nets see the video and videos of the group of two rappers and a DJ Hi-Tek, that group called Die Antwoord, let us not forget the other half. Yes, in the brilliance, the flasher of lights, the one who captured the first glimpses of these new-world visionaries, that man! His name is Sean Metelerkamp and he brought and is bringing it to your faces. He both took the photos and shot the videos that made you first see Die Antwoord, and he too, is a brilliant mind contributing to society 12x the internets that anyone else is.

So what’ve we got here, this video, first, is sort of the bigtime Antwoord promo video using their song Zef Side (which is much longer than the video suggests), this video was directed by Metelerkamp:

That’s the only video I know for sure is made by him, then there’s these photos, which, when I first tried to find any information on this crew, these photos were the only things on these interwebs. They are fantastic. Word is that when Antwoord were starting to get serious about getting recognized wordwide, which is I’m pretty sure the same time they basically started thinking about recording an album, they called up Metelerkamp who had just won some award for photographing other South-African cultural photographies. And he said yes, and these photos popped up!

Good news though, apparently, I read in one interview I don’t remember where, I read it today, that he’s gotten international calls for photos and such since Antwoord sort of blew up, all at the same time. So hooray Metelerkamp!

BONUS: Check out this amazing zone for fans of this group. The official site for Antwoord makes them look totally official: [http://dieantwoord.com/]. And oh my god they just signed with Interscope Records.

Look at this weird stuff going on! These photos represent the people in the musical group: vocalist NINJA, vocalist Yo-Landi Fi$$a, and DJ Hi-Tek.

Drop da beat box dogg.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad-taste category.

Oh my crap look at this awesome stuff. This guy right here Bill McMullen had a show from Feb 21st 2009 to March 28th 2009 and bam, if it weren’t just what you never expected to be there, but a genuine R2-D2 boombox. Does that sound familiar to you? It does to me, pal, it does to me hella familiar if I do say so myself. If you know what I’m talking about, you know I’m talking about the R2-D2 boombox that’s still on the World Famous Design Junkies front page as we speak! It’s a dead ringer for the one in this art show, and this is the perfect time to talk about it at the same time as talking about IT!

The show you’re looking at is the Hype Hustle Rip-Off by Bill McMullen, one that’s taken place around a full year ago.

The thing we just reported on a few days ago was a shirt design called Recycled Future.

Take that how you will.

At the same time though, let’s check out this show that happened, and totally get into Bill McMullen because his artworks are pretty fly.

Hype Hustle Rip-Off
Constant Gallery
Los Angeles, California
February 21st – March 28th 2009
[Gallery Info]

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies custom culture category.

I know you love burgers. Even if you hate the idea of chopped up cows, the burger is an idea that’s permeated this United States culture in a way that’s only rivaled by the hot dog. Lucky for you, there’s hotdogs in this project as well! This is a font called “Burgerlove” made by a few friendly designers that wanted to have fun with food and fun with fonts. Hand made fonts are generally what I would call a rudimentary sort of exercise, but here you see the time and effort and learning that comes with smashing bits of dead animal into letterforms. You’d better believe it! Those burgers aren’t mooing anymore!

This typeface was conceived in collaboration with Sarah Lamonde and Pascal Asseleh. We were looking at typical Québecois casse-croûte vernacular but wanted to created a handmade font while having fun and food.

This project is done in part by Denise Santillan Moreno, Sarah Lamonde, and Pascal Asseleh. They smashed the burgers, they took the pics. All hail the use of meat for the greater goodness of graphic design!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies 3D category.

Just when I need reminding the least, another reason why I love working on these internets comes up. This is a series of photos that goes by the name “Retail Careers” by Auckland, New Zealand resident Ill Domus. The following set is, yes! you guessed it, candid photos of people working in retail clothing sales environments. I’d like to mention that these photos were taken with great skill, but that when you take a set of photos with such a lovely command line as this, they could be half blurry and they’d still be super cool. Take em all!

*EDIT* oops not just clothing sales, crap sales too.

When the idea doth striketh, and striketh it shall, take all your photos as fast as you can. If you’re anything of a creative like yours truly, you’ve got to act fast or the idea slips away. Feel free to do badly at the craft if need be, as even if your project isn’t accepted widely, it might inspire someone to take that idea and expand.

Thus, modernity.

BUT let me reiterate in saying that Ill Domus has some skill with a blade, and that these photos were done with some amazing skill and deserve a showing in some high class galleriazz in New York and whatnot, make a million dollars.

To the best of my knowledge, these photos were all taken in hte Auckland area.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category. Not because the photos are done in any kind of bad taste way, but because retail gives me a bad taste in my mouth sometimes. Like after drinking some pepto.

What is the internets coming to? I’ve spoken about this before, and I’ll speak about it again, as it’s always important to take note of your surroundings, especially when you work in the environment you study. Now I studied film, movies, in college, which makes me a superior bullshit artist. Movies have lots of elements, lots of people working on the ton-load of pieces that have to be put together to make entertainment or art. And what, since we’re here, does these internets take away from all that? Screencaps. As the internet social scene shares, it is the most micro content, the perfect moments, that get the macro attention.

It’s just like when graphic design got smart, reducing your brand’s name from 5 words to one. Simple, perfect.

Now take a look at these. These caps from films are, on the whole, captured to convey the same feeling the moment did in the movie. BUT, in quite a few of them, a new intent is whipped up, usually for comedy.

On that note, when those perfect frames are assembled, they’ll sometimes make a canvas meme onto which many jokes can be placed. Take this cap from Race to Witch Mountain with Dwayne Johnson and that little girl there.

Those sorts of things, the “fill in the blank” caps, are popular on the messageboards, the reddits, the stumbleupons. On the dropulars, the blogs, and wow, really really on the tumblr, the direct transfer is tops. All this requires to make is a subtitle-capable screen and a movie that’s got subtitles available.

Sometimes no words are necessary.

Made a regular size so it can be shared on multiple networks.

Jpegs as jokes.

Jokes as jpegs.

And the plain weirdness.

All of these things fall into the destruction category, the deconstruction category, but the destructive urge is also a creative urge, and these, after having been broken down, become something different. Derivative. Below you will find a bunch more examples, picked based on their quality, and their applicability.

And their insanity.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies deconstruction category.