VW Bus photography

There are few vehicles as iconic as a VW bus… maybe the original mini, a classic Vespa. And of course there's that other VW, the Beetle.

I love these pics from Regolare on flickr. Really evocative.

The last one is not his though… he inspired me to take a tribute picture of our (Orckid's) own pet bus, Ned. (it actually belongs to Julia, one of our designers).

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Dessert Kestrel

Those nice people at Falcon Motorcycles sent me a video of their Kestrel bike in the dessert. So in case your were wondering, it doesn't just look great when it's standing still!

 

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Thomas Allen – an exclusive

What a lovely bloke Thomas Allen is. I was blown away when I came across his 'pulp' work, and I simply had to share it with you. Naturally, I dropped him a line to let him know, and check it was ok. I do this as a courtesy, and a matter of course, and usually, but not always, get a pleasant reply. (BTW, artists, illustrators and bikers seem to be genuinely nice people in my experience).

Tom not only took the time to reply, in a very nice way, but also sent me a gift. A 'lost' image in his pulp series. One that has NEVER been printed, other than as a small inkjet print to some of his former students. I don't think I've used the word 'honoured' on my blog before, but that's how I feel today. So here it is. Not only a first for my humble little blog, but the first time this image has been seen on the web. And the image… well judge for yourself. I think it's fantastic.

Oh, and Mr Allen, you are a gentleman, sir… a genuine gentleman. Thank you.

You really need to check out his website for yourself. You won't regret it.

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Thomas Allen – an exclusive

What a lovely bloke Thomas Allen is. I was blown away when I came across his 'pulp' work, and I simply had to share it with you. Naturally, I dropped him a line to let him know, and check it was ok. I do this as a courtesy, and a matter of course, and usually, but not always, get a pleasant reply. (BTW, artists, illustrators and bikers seem to be genuinely nice people in my experience).

Tom not only took the time to reply, in a very nice way, but also sent me a gift. A 'lost' image in his pulp series. One that has NEVER been printed, other than as a small inkjet print to some of his former students. I don't think I've used the word 'honoured' on my blog before, but that's how I feel today. So here it is. Not only a first for my humble little blog, but the first time this image has been seen on the web. And the image… well judge for yourself. I think it's fantastic.

Oh, and Mr Allen, you are a gentleman, sir… a genuine gentleman. Thank you.

You really need to check out his website for yourself. You won't regret it.

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Taking football stickers out of the playground…

And (not into the Art Gallery, this time), onto a scooter. A Vespsa PK 50, and over 1,000 stickers, over twenty years worth of previous World Cup tournaments in fact. Brilliant. More over at CopaFootball.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from CrocodileJock's Blog

Thomas Allen – an exclusive

What a lovely bloke Thomas Allen is. I was blown away when I came across his 'pulp' work, and I simply had to share it with you. Naturally, I dropped him a line to let him know, and check it was ok. I do this as a courtesy, and a matter of course, and usually, but not always, get a pleasant reply. (BTW, artists, illustrators and bikers seem to be genuinely nice people in my experience).

Tom not only took the time to reply, in a very nice way, but also sent me a gift. A 'lost' image in his pulp series. One that has NEVER been printed, other than as a small inkjet print to some of his former students. I don't think I've used the word 'honoured' on my blog before, but that's how I feel today. So here it is. Not only a first for my humble little blog, but the first time this image has been seen on the web. And the image… well judge for yourself. I think it's fantastic.

Oh, and Mr Allen, you are a gentleman, sir… a genuine gentleman. Thank you.

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Keep calm and…

There's a ton of stuff out there about the (now) iconic "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster… (The story of which you can find here) and also a huge amount of parodies/work inspired by it (Maybe there's a post there, but then again…). The original message seems particularly apt as the England team flounder in the group stages of the World Cup… and the "Come on England" messages seen of so many cross of St.George flags seem to start to take on a desperate, pleading tone…

This made me smile, as do a lot of the images on the Whimsy&Wonder image blog, which is really nice. I was always taught to avoid using the work 'nice'… but  some days, just 'nice' is just what you need.

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Pulp depiction

Every now and then I come across something outstanding. 

Remarkable. In the true sense of both those words, the work of Thomas Allen, Michigan based artist is truly outstanding. I stopped my in my tracks and a let out a mental "Wow!". I may even have said it aloud! These images are outstanding in more ways than one, of course… I've always loved that 40's/50's pulp illustration style, but Thomas has, quite literally, added a new dimension to the work. And remarkable? Well I had to share, and remark on them! Outstanding, remarkable work. 

More, much more, on his blog.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Exploded Andy

I love the little green robot character that has become the personality of the Android brand. (Remember the Android toys – sorry; mini-figs, I posted about previously? No? you better check back here). Well now you can buy an exploded (in a nice way) Android poster or t-shirt. Created by artist Gary Booth, you can buy them through this website. I think these are way cool… and I'm an iPhone fan!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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BMX inspired chopper

Love this. Just as BMX bikes were inspired by motorcross motorbikes, this crazy chopper is inspired by BMX bikes. Full story over at Bike EXIF

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Glasses… the ultimate image changer!

It's funny because it's true… Via Flowing Data

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Stuff no-one told me, but I learned anyway

Alex Noriega is an illustrator from Barcelona who "likes to draw things with small faces". I love these little 'life lesson' illustrations from his blog "Stuff no-one told me, but I learned anyways". Tiny little narratives that give us a peek into his ( I think he's a fella, although Alex could be a girls name, I 'spose… Well we'll settle for 'he' until he tells me different!) He's also got another blog of his sketches, (his sketchblog) which has all this stuff too, and much more. Nice stuff.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Custom Hello Kitty toys

My five year old daughter would love most of these… my five year old son would love a couple too!

Created by Joseph, an illustrator from Auckland, New Zealand, these 'virtual' (illustrated) Hello  Kitty toys are pretty cool. 

If you're lucky you might be able to see them over at his MySpace page, although when I visited all the graphics had a "Bandwidth exceeded" picture their instead, so maybe not.

I nicked these images from nicef***inggraphics.

I've spotted some Star Wars character in there, as well as Buzz Lightyear, Star Trek and even Ugly Betty. 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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The Joker – 50 artist's visions Batman's arch-rival

When it comes to baddies, you don't get much better (or worse) than the Joker. From the camp prankster played by Cesar Romero in the 60's TV series, and original 1966 movie… to the darker, more twisted character first brought to my attention in Frank Millers "The Dark Knight Returns" graphic novel… the evil genius played so memorably by Jack Nicholson in the first of the 'modern' Batman films in 1989… and more recently taken to the next level by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

It's not surprising that the character has inspired some great artwork. De Bango, a 'design addict' from France has curated an impressive collection of 50 artist's visions of "Le Joker". I've included a few of my favourites here, you can check out all 50 on his blog.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Balloon Animal font

 

I had to post this. Ok, maybe it's not the most legible font, but it's undeniably fun. Make your own message here

The wonderful @brainpicker alerted me to this on Twitter.

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