Sarah

Pancake Art

As it’s pancake day today, I thought I’d share with you some amazing pancakes that’ll put many of us who struggle with the simplest ‘tossing’ to shame.

Introducing Jim’s Pancakes, a website by… well, Jim, about… pancakes.

There’s doughy sculptures of everything from Tetris to a toilet. He’s even published a book called OMG Pancakes! so that we can all try our hand at pancake art. And probably fail miserably.

Matt

Iron Sky introduces us to Nazis from Space!

I may have introduced this before when it was in early development, but recently the film has been completed and shown at festivals and is on its way for a theatrical release!

If you don’t know what Iron Sky is about, below is an excerpt of the synopsis followed by a trailer.

In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During 70 years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Iron Sky is an independent film and still needs help with distribution. Visit their support page here and demand it get screened in your area.

Paddy

Just Add Wheels

The iPhone is subject to some nifty gadgets and novel approaches. This is no exception. The MakeGo app by Chris O Shea was created with childs-play in mind. Using the App and LEGO kits, you can turn your iPhone into one of 3 modes of transport currently available and interact with the drivers and their vehicles via the screen.

Makego from Chris O’Shea on Vimeo.

Check out the website and get the app from the app store.

In other news…

Cardiff Comic & Animation Expo 2012

This weekend, Cardiff hosts its second annual International Comic & Animation Expo at Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel and Spa. Doors open at 10am on Saturday and 10:30 on Sunday, but it’s a good idea to pre-book. Last year’s expo was packed out, and with even more exposure and some great guests attending, this year is set to be a hit. Find out more on the official page, or follow them on twitter @CardiffExpo. Sarah has her ticket!

Sarah

Valentine Mail Art

Just over a week ago twitter friend D’Andhra Bascomb aka DE’BA Designs (@DANDHRA) put out a call offering a Valentines Card featuring one of her illustrations, and I jumped at the chance. She must have put it in the post rather speedily, as came all the way from South California and arrived this morning – perfect timing!

I’ve become a bit of a sucker for Mail Art over the past few months, and am always on the lookout for new artists to swap with, so I shall be returning the favour soon. There’s something quite special about finding beautiful, interesting or strangely shaped mail in amongst the usual bills and junk, and I’m hoping to build up quite a collection.

If you’re interested in Mail Art, or would like to know more about it, I’ll be putting together a blog post over the coming weeks . If you’re an artist/designer/illustrator/craftsperson or talented pooch who would like to exchange Mail Art, then please get in touch and maybe your work will feature. On the other hand, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, let teacher Wiki tell you all about it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art

Matt

Horrible Cards for Valentines

The Oatmeal.com – you would have definitely come across a comic or drawing from this site at some point in your internet travels. I recommend following the site, he doesn’t update often, but when he does it’s usually worth the wait. To celebrate Valentines Day, the Oatmeal have designed some more ‘Horrible Cards’ to go with the other horrible, yet funny cards already in the store.

I nearly bought one of these for my girlfriend, but due to the long time it would’ve taken for it to be posted, I decided against it.

Anywho, visit The Oatmeal to see some of the other hilarious cards, maybe there’s a horrible card you can buy for your special someone next year

Paddy

Umm…

I couldn’t decide if this was inspirational or not, but nonetheless, it’s Valentine’s Day and love and affection is a curious thing sometimes, isn’t it? Well, Valentine’s day 2012 will see a marriage take place between… a ram and a deer. Yes, apparently these 2 love…mammals at a Zoo in South Western China are very taken with each other and zookeepers have reported very obvious, often aggressive changes in behaviour when separated. For more, read the BBC article below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17009359

In other news…

Google Love

Google’s Doodles have become iconic little pieces of daily art, celebrating notable dates and individuals with everything from static to moving images, both interactive and video. Today’s doodle shares a lovely little tale of love and skipping. Enjoy!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Sarah

Calling all super villains

For all hardcore gamers and bond villains alike, I bring you the Emperor 200– the ‘ultimate computer workstation with several exclusive features such as touch screen control center, air filtering system, light therapy, electric powered leather seat, 3 x 24 LED screens and breathtaking sound’.

This scorpion style pod would be right at home in any living room/evil lair, and at only $44,750 a pop who wouldn’t want one? I’ll have two.

Matt

Winscape

Fed up of the same boring view out of your window each day? what if you can change it so you can look out onto a sea view or even outer space?

Winscape allows you to do just that. I love it when technology from films becomes a reality.  Winscape can be seen in films such as Total Recall, Aliens and probably more that I can’t immediately call to memory. The website supplies the software to help you get started to making your own, but enough of reading this, check out the video below to understand why we want one of these in our office.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Paddy

Simply Noise

Ok, this one won’t be everyone’s cup of tea! But I, like lots of people can get distracted or have a sensitive focus when working on something quite trying or mind intensive. Simply Noise is an app to effectively neutralise aural awareness to help you work, relax or even sleep. It’s not exactly Ludovico Einaudi or Mastadon, but that’s exactly the point. The app comes with a range of settings to adjust tonality and oscillation to suit you personally or your needs.

Get some headphones (although it’s not necessary) and give it a try: http://simplynoise.com/

In other news…

Ffresh Festival

Ffresh is the Student Moving Image Festival of Wales taking place at the Newport Film School and the Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre from Feb 8th-10th.

So if you’re looking for a spot of inspiration and to see some fresh creativity, then this is the ideal event to attend.

The programme of events and online box office can be found on their website.

I’m a lover of anything with a strong graphical element to it, and one of these in particular is Street Art or Graffiti. These two terms have very different connotations; ‘Graffiti’ implies vandalism and asbos, whereas ‘Street Art’ (or ‘Urban Art’) recognises the pieces as works of art.

Dictionary.com defines Graffiti as:

markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, wall of a building or public restroom, or the like: These graffiti are evidence of the neighborhood’s decline.

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/notblu

In Reverse

The South African group Dutch ink have been making a name for themselves with what has become known as ‘reverse graffiti’ (there’s that word again!), stenciling their artwork by scrubbing dirty walls with steel brushes. This ‘clean’ form of street art is just as temporary as most ‘traditional’ street art, which is forever being whitewashed or tagged, but the artistic statement is made in a more palatable way for those who actually own the walls and buildings that become their canvases. Dutch ink‘s recent project, called Flight 101, depicts the flight of hundreds of birds; a kind of eco-art making a statement to and about the community.

Video source: http://www.facebook.com/DutchInk

Exploding walls

Alexandre Farto aka Vhils is a Portuguese street artist, a little younger than myself, who works in a variety of mediums including wall carvings, billboards, prints and metal. This video shows him, with a rather harsh and violent process, creating graceful and elegant portraits within the wall’s surface. I’m fascinated by this technique, and the notion of putting the art into the wall instead of simply on its surface.

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/vsplisbon

3-Dimensional

Shaka, the alter-ego of French artist Marchal Mithouard, has slowly emerged onto a whole new level of three-dimensional street style of art. His distinctive use of colour and strong visual effects jump at us, almost literally, with an underlying theme of revolt and rebellion. These days a lot of Shaka’s work is created on canvases, not walls, but his style is still more than deserving of a mention here.

Source: http://www.shaka1.fr/

Tape

The final style I’m going to show you is my personal favourite; Tape Art. Max Zorn creates amber portraits using nothing but packing tape and a scalpel, before scrambling up lamp posts to let the light bring them to life with an almost film-grained effect. Zorn’s gallery is full of recognisable and atmospheric portraits, and if you fancy seeing one for real there’s even a handy map to show you where the nearest works are shining away. Unfortunately, that would mean me traveling almost 500 miles to Amsterdam, so I’ll have to make do with his website.

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/MaxZornTapeArt

I hope you have enjoyed this little collection. I wanted this post to be about sharing artwork that you may not have seen before, which is why I haven’t mentioned the well known artists like Banksy, Invader and Shepard Fairey (until then!) I’m sure it’s a medium that inspires many people around the world, so I don’t doubt that I have missed out countless forms of Street Art, but if you know of any I would love to hear about them.

Sarah

Typewriter Art

Having recently rediscovered (or rather, hunted down) my old typewriter for use in my Mail Art packages with friends, I thought I’d share the work of London based artist Keira Rathbone with you all.

As her website will tell you, she’s ‘known around the world for her extensive explorations into the artistic potentials of typewriters, and as someone who often struggles to type in a straight line, I think she does some pretty cool stuff.

Matt

Flying people in New York

I’m very much looking forward to seeing Chronicle. What’s also exciting is this marketing promotion for the film involving remote controlled flying people over New York. At close up you can see it’s easily a remote controlled device, but imagine glancing up and seeing one of these flying over you so high that you can only make out the shape.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Paddy

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine

Using a TED talk seems to be a bit of a cop out for Tuesday Trifle, but this talk is certainly one of my favourites. It’s a great take on the idea that our views on the environment and industrialisation must stretch far beyond the more developed world. Han’s analysis of population and energy consumption are very intriguing. My favourite quote? “Whaaaap! they will say…”

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In other news…

Newsletter Sign Up

Our monthly Newsletter is going out today, we’re holding back to give new people a chance to join up. Our Newsletter contains highlights from our blog, any upcoming news and events you should be aware of as well as updates from the world of Jammy Custard Studios.

Just fill in your name and email address to sign-up. We’ll then send you a message asking you to confirm that your friend hasn’t played a joke on you and signed you up without you knowing.

Sarah

Colourizing the past

Young Swedish artist Sanna Dullaway , aka DeviantArt’s Mygrapefruit, has made quite a name for herself lately. Using good old Photoshop, Dullaway colourizes and restores old black & white photographs featuring everything from babies to weddings, with fantastic results. But it’s her colourization of iconic photographs that’s really made the media take notice, with her work being featured around the world from The Discovery Channel to Italy’s La Repubblica. She’s done an amazing job, creating realistic skin tones, clothing and scenery that look straight out of a camera, adding a depth to the photographs that only really hits you when comparing them to the originals. Dullaway’s own website isn’t the easiest to navigate, and certainly isn’t the best showcase of her work that I’ve seen, so I’d recommend taking a look at this Daily Mail article or this Whudat collectionof images (German text) to really get a feel for her talent.

Matt

Odyssey Films and the language of the moving image

We had the pleasure of meeting Simon of Odyssey Films recently, he is a camera grip who has worked on the likes of Dr.Who, Merlin and Sherlock. On his website he has been blogging about the language of the moving image. Any filmmakers be it pro or amateur, or any film/camera enthusiasts in general may get a kick out of this blog as Simon explains and illustrates well the various techniques that go into creating a shot.

The image on the right is taken from his most recent post for ‘Crashing In’. He uses the penultimate scene from Aliens of Ripley in the power loader versus the Alien Queen as an example to explain the technique.

So if like me, this is your kind of thing. Make sure to keep an eye out on his website and blog for more updates – as well as his Twitter.

Paddy

January is hard

Ok, Christmas is long gone and we’re nearly at the end of January but lets be honest, February is normally just as hard so hopefully this should still count. That lovely little-big company Innocent are always a great source of warm and fuzzy inspiration and January is no exception with the launch of their mini campaign to help people ‘unleash their Akabusi’. They’ve released a 3 min ad showing athlete Chris Akabusi in the fallout of Christmas….

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In other news…

Dorkbot  Cardiff #6

The next Dorkbot meeting is taking place 26th January at Milgi’s Garage. We have featured Dorkbot in the past, it’s a fun and inspiring event albeit sometimes overwhelming if you have no idea about Arduino.

This meeting has an interesting line up with lightning on aircraft, electrographs, sounds from Hong Kong and more. You can find more details about the event here.

Sarah

Aqueous Fluoreau

I find Mark Mawson‘s work inspirational. His photographs have a graphical style that really appeals to me, and his Aqueous Fluoreau series is the perfect example.

Inspired by graffiti, vibrant colours, and watching milk being poured into coffee, the series was shot in the South of France using coloured paints, a water tank and strobe lighting.

Mawson has given fluid formations of colour a life of their own with a dreamy ambience, with many of his creations resembling some kind of psychedelic sea creatures.

Matt

The Artist

The first film I saw in 2012 was The Artist, and what a way to start the year! If the awards it has won is not enough to go see it, then maybe a personal recommendation from me is enough.

It’s a silent film, it has all the traits of a silent film including intertitles, credits at the start, black and white and it’s even in 4:3 ratio – that’s right, no widescreen. The Artist is about Silent Film actor George Valentin coping with the transition from silent film to the new ‘talkies’ that he believes won’t catch on. The film is entertaining, amusing and emotional with some of the best composition camera work I’ve seen.

Watch the trailer below then go order your tickets to see why this film is winning awards.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Paddy

Sweden’s Twitter Experiment

Sweden (the whole country – well not really, it’s just the Swedish Institute and Visit Sweden) has launched a great little experiment in which select members of the public are invited to take control of the nations twitter account for a week and provide insight into their daily lives and converse with its following.

What I love about this is the idea of how diverse it can be. Of course, the great advantage is it opens up dialogue between people across the globe, not to mention those interested in an individual’s lifestyle or career. It’s also just a clever tourist strategy and as I’ve always loved Sweden and it’s design and engineering culture, it’s swaying me a bit more to make the trip soon.

BBC Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16534090

Account: @Sweden

(thanks to @Lobsterdm for sharing)

In other news…

Cardiff’s Startup Culture

A blog entry we think you should read and discuss this week is by DizzyJam MD Neil Cocker on his own website, titled “Cardiff’s Start-Up Culture – what can we do about it?”. It hits on a lot of great points that the local business community really should think quite long and hard about (so much so, Patrick has yet to write any promised feedback despite reading it on the day of publishing). But of course, taking action would be miles better and there are suggestions floating around the post and comment section. Do give it a read and most importantly, contribute and let’s see how far things can go.

Read the post 

Sarah

Eyebombing

Eyebombing isn’t a new thing, but I still love it. The rules are simple; take a pair of googly eyes and stick them on an inanimate object in a public place, then take a photo of it. ‘Ultimately the goal is to humanize the streets, and bring sunshine to people passing by.’

Eyebombing.com brings together a collection of the best unsuspectingly eyebombed objects out there.

If I don’t see a pair of googly eyes on my way home today, I’m going to be bitterly disappointed.

Matt

Pingu’s The Thing

I love John Carpenters The Thing and I love stop-motion animation. So when the two combine it makes a recipe for instant awesomeness. Behold The Thing re-imagined in the Pingu universe by Claymation animator Lee Hardcastle.

The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.

Paddy

SMART car website

Sillily small car manufacturer SMART’s website has been my most recent ‘design obsession’, but it is a fantastic use of CSS3 and HTML5, something I’m really looking to emerse myself in this year. The website uses high strength and succinct imagery to punch-press it’s pitch and messages into a sleek and clean layout and body, all nicely polished off with a few subtle (and less subtle) animated touches. There are of course plenty of great HTML5 examples, but do go and have a wander at this one.

www.smart.com

In other news…

Third Floor Gallery

This is the last week to catch the “Behind the Curtains” exhibition by Thomas Van Houtryve at Third Floor Gallery before the next exhibition starts Saturday 14th for “Somewhere There’s Music…” by Larry Fink. There is an opening night preview on Friday 13th at 7pm which will feature real ales by Otley Brewery and live music by Arek Mazurek Quartet.

Visit Thirdfloorgallery.com for more details.

Sarah

Charity Swear Box

I’m not one for New Year Resolutions myself, but if you are you might be interested in Charity Swear Box. It ‘does for tweets what the glass jar on your counter does for real-life speech’ by scanning your tweets for a user-generated list of ‘naughty’ words. At the end of the month your blunders are tallied up and you’re told how much you owe. They won’t hold you at gunpoint for it – it’s just a suggested donation – but your fines can be pledged to charities like 50/50, fighting famine in East Africa, or the aptly named F*ck Cancer (the mere mention of which will get you dropping the dollars in the Swear Box – clever that). There’s even a helpful Swear Dictionary on the site so you’ll know what to avoid.

So far the project has “caught” more than $39000 worth of profanities, and if only a fraction of those actually pay up then I think it’s a winner.

Matt

Asteroid Spacecraft Hayabusa Sound Novel

In 2003 the Japanese sent a spacecraft called Hayabusa to an asteroid to retrieve samples. In 2005 the spacecraft returned to Earth with its mission accomplished and thus becoming the first spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid.

So to honour the tale of the Hayabusa, it has been personified as an anime girl in a ‘cinematic digital novel’.  I don’t understand it either, but you can get it as an app on any iOS device and watch the heroic tale of Hayabusa’s mission of discovery.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Source: 148apps.com

Paddy

2012 – The year of code

The start of a new year is always an exciting time in the web development and design world. News trends abound and predictions come through thick and fast about what we can expect to see happen in the industry over the course of the year. This year, it seems we can expect to see a greater increase in those honing or learning code as the industry sets itself up to work across multiple platforms and formats – websites, mobile and tablet (I do believe mobile and tablet should be kept separately) being the primary set of platforms.

Code Year was developed as a coding development and e-learning programme which will send you lessons each week on how to build websites and apps. Riding shotgun to this is codeacademy.com with a lot of nifty jQuery language insights and a tracking system of your progress. I strongly believe schools should take notice of this sort of learning as these 2 examples have proven thoroughly engaging

http://codeyear.com/

http://www.codecademy.com/

In other news…

A Happy New Year We Wish You

Okay we’ll be stopping with the Yoda speak soon. For those who missed it or just want to see it again, we made a Star Wars Lego Christmas video – A Merry Christmas You Must Have. It was a lot of fun to make and a gift back to those who follow and support us. We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years, we certainly did! We are now back in work mode and ready to embrace 2012 with its wonders and delights it will throw our way.