May 26

To Boldly Create…

To Boldly CreateAn amazing piece of artwork in stained glass.  That is AidanT‘s mission and it seems he’s accomplishing it with wonderful results.  The piece shown is easily recognizable to even the most casual Star Trek fan.  Starfleet’s insignia is worn on the uniforms of every member from the lowest cadet to the highest admiral, for while evolving over the years and various reboots of Star Trek, it has maintained a very recognizable form.  Aidan has created a beautiful depiction of it in stained glass.

Aidan also has crafted a 3D version of the insignia as well.

Category: Books, Craft, Movies, Sci-Fi, TV | Comments Off on To Boldly Create…
May 20

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live

This weekend my daughter, husband, and I checked out the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! convention in Kansas City. Spectrum publishes an annual art book featuring “a regular showcase for the best fantasy, science fiction, horror, and otherwise uncategorizable artwork”. This is the first year they have also hosted an art fair/trade show “for those who take delight in the worlds of What If?…”

According to the show guide book, “Fantastic art can be a slightly skewed, off-kilter view of reality or a full-blown creation of imaginary lands and the people–and creatures–that live there.”  Given that definition, the art fair definitely provided examples of the fantastic – from fairies to the macabre, there was a little something for everyone.

Click on any of the images to go to the artist’s site.

Continue reading

Category: Books, Comics, Craft, Geek, Sci-Fi | 3 Comments on Spectrum Fantastic Art Live
May 13

One Doll Painter to Rule Them All

Aragorn & Arwen dolls with creator Noel Cruz

Allow me to introduce you to Noel Cruz, re-painter of dolls. He takes dolls that are mass-produced to look like celebrities/characters and refashions them to look more realistic and lifelike.

While he has (re)created literally hundreds of dolls, from Bette Davis to Robert Pattinson, of particular interest to us geeks is his work on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s characters from Lord of the Rings. Behold Aragorn and Arwen, as recreated by his very precise brushstrokes.

Aragorn doll by Noel Cruz

Arwen doll by Noel Cruz

The Before and After shots are very impressive – the Before’s look so flat, and the After’s look like they belong in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

Which beloved characters would you pay big money to have recreated in doll-form like this?

Links of Interest:

Category: Books, Craft, Geek, Movies, Toys | Comments Off on One Doll Painter to Rule Them All
May 12

One Does not Simply Crochet Mordor….

One Does not Simply Crochet Mordor… But one can crochet Smaug, the Golden, the Dragon of Erebor, or as Bilbo refers to him, Smaug the Tremendous.  I have to say “tremendous” is appropriate for this crocheted version by ChrysN found on Instructables for it is truly a tremendous crocheted version of the famous character from The Hobbit.

Crocheted using yarn of the 3 and 4 weight categories, you could adjust the size using different weight yarn and needles.  Crocheted Smaug is indeed a faithful rendition of the depiction found in Tolkein’s watercolor entitled Conversations with Smaug.

Category: Books, Craft, Geek, Movies | Comments Off on One Does not Simply Crochet Mordor….