In fact, today’s post just might make you appreciate flowers more than ever. Without the usual connotations that come with it. These flower pictures are the work of American photographer David Lachapelle, and while they might not be as geeky as the flowers Robin wrote about some time last year, they will certainly catch your eye and keep you hooked as well.

Lachapelle calls his work “Earth Laughs in Flowers”. Obviously, the photographs have flowers – all sorts – in focus, but it is the surrounding details that make the difference. And such a huge difference does the setups make!

Forget mushy and sloppy flower arrangements. Think vivid, dark, brilliant – all exploding in one image! Think cigarette butts, dismembered dolls, water guns, and ripe fruit that looks like the flavor is bursting out of them. Oh, and don’t forget the mobile phone and medication.

Lachapelle’s work is more than about the universal symbol of the month of February. It “explores the fragility of society and ideas of vice and vanity”. It might be difficult to internalize that concept without seeing the photos, but once you go through the gallery below, I trust that you will not walk away without getting the message.

Make sure to click on the thumbnails for the full Earth Laughs in Flowers experience.

In any case, this really might be the only classic cocktails chart that one will ever need. Created by Pop Chart Lab, the image puts together what looks to me hundreds of classic cocktails and breaks them down so that anyone who reads it has a reasonable chance of concocting each cocktail.

In the middle, you will see a myriad of liquors and spirits labeled accordingly. The classic cocktails are then arranged in a circle around the main ingredients, complete with the kind of glass to use, how many ounces, and name, of course. The main ingredients are connected to the appropriate cocktail via colorful lines. These lines will either confuse you or mesmerize you. Guess what they did to me?

It doesn’t end there. Other ingredients such as mixers (juices, sodas, condiments, etc.) and garnishes (fruits) are placed at the top and at the bottom of the chart, also with lines connecting them to the matching classic cocktail. The result is one comprehensive classic cocktails chart.

Classic Cocktail Chart

For $28, you can have a 27″ x 39″ print of the classic cocktails chart. Then you’ll only have to stare at your wall when you need to whip up a drink or two.

Today, I found something even more fascinating: a collection of geeky papercraft. These works of folded paper can be credited to ~homestah of DeviantArt, who seems to have a propensity for fiddling with paper to create gifts for friends. I wish I were his friend!

First up, we have a giraffe. Okay, it might not really be considered geeky papercraft by some, but it is still pretty impressive, isn’t it?

Giraffe Papercraft

Dragonite Papercraft

Another dragon, which comes from that wonderful animated movie I can watch over and over and over again!

Nightfury Papercraft

Howl's Moving Castle Papercraft

Anime enthusiasts will also love this geeky papercraft rendition of Inuyasha. Again, ~homestah made this one for a friend’s birthday. What a lucky girl!

Inuyasha Papercraft

BSG Viper Papercraft

The French designers are back, and this time, they have turned their attention to another thing that never fails to get my attention: the hamburger.

Zim & Zou have constructed a papercraft hamburger that will definitely turn heads. Their work is dubbed the “Future of Food” and is being featured as the cover for the magazine Icon. Gaze at this papercraft hamburger ensemble in full.

Papercraft Hamburger

Papercraft Hamburger Up Close

Papercraft Hamburger Pieces

Making of Papercraft Hamburger

And speaking of awesome, I just discovered a Deviant Artist who goes by name DrFaustusAU. This guy is doing his fellow Aussies proud with his artwork, and if you are a fan of Batman, you definitely will like to see this artist’s take on what would happen if Dr. Seuss put his touch on the popular comic series.

This guy’s work speaks for itself. It is a case of words will really do no justice to the wonderfully wacky images that you are about to see. Enjoy!

So what do you think? Brilliant or not? I love the Cat Woman drawing, but it seems to me that other details from Dr. Seuss’s story could have been added. I think that the best of the lot is “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Arkham Asylum”. Which one is your favorite drawing?

Thanks to Joey de Villa, we even have a silly rhyme to go with the images.

Find the bad guys
And knock them all flat,
I’m happiest
When dressed as a bat.
I’m not sorry
For the life I’ve led,
Because, you see,
My parents are dead!

Do you think you can do him one better?

For more of DrFaustusAU’s work, visit his page on DeviantArt. Don’t be surprised to see other eye-popping art, as he has already made a name for himself with his The Call of Cthulhu – Dr. Seuss mashup.

"Pixel Heroes" by Pablo Cialoni

The eighty superheroes on this art print may be tiny, but don’t let those itty-bitty pixels fool you. They could still take you down.

Can you name all eighty heroes and villains on this print? (Click on the image to enlarge it.) I see tons of superheroes from the Avengers, the Justice League, the X-Men, the Watchmen, and many others, including a Thundercat and one notorious Star Wars character.

This 8-bit style print was created by artist Pablo Cialoni, and you can order a copy of your very own for $22.00. It’s also available as an iPhone case, laptop/iPad skins, a t-shirt, and a hoodie.

If you’d like to see all eighty heroes in extreme close-ups — where you can really appreciate the fine details of Cialoni’s work — head over to Behance.

Forget paint. Forget watercolor. Forget pencils. Just get some packing tape – the brown translucent kind – and flexible Plexi-glass, and a cutter, and you might just be able to replicate the packing tape art of Max Zorn. According to the artist, he got inspiration for his work from a friend who was working as a car designer. If you have experience in this area, you probably know that car designers use slim tape as a start to creating their sketches. The artist says that he was amazed at how quickly the designers were able to come up with beautiful sketches using the slim tape. The rest, as they say, is history. Packing tape art was born.

Take a look at some of his work, and I bet that you will agree just how awesome this guy’s work is.

Can you believe that is all just packing tape? I have to be honest and say that I have never given packing tape a second thought – unless I am moving and making sure all the boxes are sealed properly. The fact that this guy was able to take something that we all take for granted and turn it into wonderful works of art is simply admirable. I wouldn’t have thought that one could create the myriad shades and shapes you can find in the portraits using only packing tape. Can you imagine just how painstaking the work is?

If still portraits are not enough to impress you, check out this time lapse video of Max Zorn at work.

For more about packing tape art, visit Max Zorn’s web site where you can see even more of these impressive artwork.

via My Modern Met

Banksy fans will know his Biplane art, where a plane leaves a heart-shaped trail. In case you do not remember, or it is the first time you’ve heard of it, here is the original work by Banksy.

Banksy's Biplane

Banksy Biplane Up Close

Hanksy Apollo 13

Hanksy Tom Hanks

Doesn’t that make you want to see more of Hanksy’s work?

We still know nil about Banksy, but his art speaks for itself. Here are some of the most recent art that have cropped up.

So you are yearning for a certain lifestyle? Sucks to be you. Banksy says that the lifestyle you want is out of stock. Better buck up, and learn to enjoy what you have!

Banksy Lifestyle

How do you feel about surveillance cams all over the place? I guess that even if it’s only picking your nose or adjusting your bra that you wouldn’t want others to see, too many surveillance cameras still gets to you. Now what if they were disguised as ostrich heads?

Banksy Ostrich

In some parts of the world, planning and permission do not mean a thing, but even if you live in a first world country where you have to get permits for everything, you probably can get away with building castles in the sky. How to get to those castles – now that’s a totally different thing. I don’t know why, but I find this piece of work rather uplifting.

Banksy Planning Permission

So you think the rat race is all you’ve got, and you’re not letting anything stop you? I feel for this rat.

Banksy Rat

This is my pick of the lot. I love how the woman seems to be floating and how her shopping cart seems to be dragging her down, even though it is practically empty. It’s supposed to be a reference to shop till you drop, I think, and it is executed perfectly.

Bansky Shopping

Via Unurth

Here’s another set of illustrations which show a whole different side to princesses. For sure, many will appreciate the edge that the illustrations give these gals, but somehow, I am not sure that their respective fathers (or father figures) will have a lot to smile about. Take a look at these punk princesses.

Punk Ariel

Punk Ariel

Punk Cinderella

Punk Cinderella

CORRECTION: She is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Thanks to our lovely commenters for pointing this out!

Punk Esmeralda

Punk Esmeralda

CORRECTION: This one is Megara. Again, thanks to our readers!

Punk Pocahontas

Punk Pocahontas

Punk Mulan

Punk Mulan

So which of the punk princesses do you like best? Are they better than the originals or not? For more of these, check out Thaeger.

It’s a no brainer, what moneygami is all about. Instead of using just any piece of paper (although there is special paper used for origami), moneygami makes use of real paper money. There is no secret that money of any denomination is highly valued these days, especially with the economic situation all over the world, but I suppose that if you had a bill or so to spare, engaging in moneygami is a worthwhile endeavor. After all, your creations may even fetch more than the bill that was used!

Take a look at this koi that was created out of a one dollar bill, and tell me that isn’t fascinating.

One Dollar Koi

Don’t like fish? How about a spider made from a two dollar bill?

Two Dollar Spider

I can only imagine just how much work this little spider took! Now if you are not into animals, this battle tank made out of a two dollar bill might be your thing.

Two Dollar Battle Tank

Not to say that those moneygami pieces are not impressive, but these two are the ones that really got my attention.

Queen Elizabeth 10 Pound Bill

Lincoln One Dollar Bill

So what can you say? Do these moneygami make you want to pick up folding paper again? If you think that you need a little more convincing, check out this coverage of moneygami, and gather some inspiration for folding bills of your own currency.

But as they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

If you think cheap ball point pens are akin to trash (or at least close), then artist Shane McAdams will tell you he has found a treasure in these taken for granted items. The Brooklyn-based artist has created something that you can actually call art simply by using a ball point pen or two.

McAdams’s ball point pen paintings are nothing but cheap-looking. Sure, they are abstract, and some might not get them, but even I can appreciate the results of the artist’s work. And yes, you wouldn’t believe that these are ball point pen paintings.

Pen Blow 69

These ball point pen paintings are dubbed “Pen Blow” due to the literal blowing that McAdams does when working on his art. He basically takes the tips off the ball point pens and blows the ink out of them onto panels.

Pen Blow 73

The work does not stop there. After blowing out the ink onto the panels and mixing them in the process, the artist uses UV resin and UV light to create even more astounding patterns, forms, and color effects.

Pen Blow 74

Pen Blow 75

If those few ball point paintings are not enough to awe you, then I don’t know what will. There are more of these paintings on Shane McAdams’s web site.

Enter the heavy metal coloring book which, while I have labeled it as “for grown ups”, will do very well for kids of any age. The cover alone is enough to get anyone who is into coloring books excited. Not to mention if that person is also a metal head. Now think about parents who love heavy metal and would like to impart that love to their children. Nothing more needs to be said.

Heavy Metal Coloring Book Cover

The heavy metal coloring book is not just about having some metal-looking drawings that need to be filled in with color. It does have some educational value as well! Take a look at this page.

Heavy Metal Coloring Book - Papa

Heavy Metal Coloring Book - Papa Colored

Of course, we cannot forget mama.

Heavy Metal Coloring Book - Mama

Heavy Metal Coloring Book - Mama Colored

The guy behind this brilliant idea is Christopher Tauber, and you can see more of the heavy metal coloring book pages in his Flickr account.

The artist is based in Boston, MA, and she has taken elements from different branches of science to come up with her posters for nerds in love. WARNING: Sloppiness left and right, up and down!

Now that you have been warned, let’s take a look at some of the illustrations.

Particles

Melt My Inner Core

The Earth Sciences have always been a source of fascination for me. There is so much in nature that can take your breath away, even if you do not understand a single thing. Especially if you do not understand a thing. This illustration for nerds in love – with someone else or the Earth – is something I find delightful. Sloppy, yes, but funny nonetheless.

Sweet as Pi

There is no doubt about the illustration that takes home the cake for me. This Sweet as Pi illustration touches on everything that’s fun – food, sweets, and Pi!

If you can take more sappiness, there is more of these illustrations for nerds in love where they came from. Check out the Daily Inspiration.

Artist Nick Georgiou is based in Tucson, Arizona and creates some astounding sculptures out of newspaper. When I first saw this photos of the sculptures, I didn’t even realize immediately that they were made out of newspaper.

The Scholar

This is The Scholar, and I assume those are books behind him. I think it’s brilliant how the eyes make him look like a mad sort of scholar. The teeth don’t help either!

Bon Papier

The Faun

On the Roof

These last two sculptures are of elderly people, and they are as brilliant – if not more – than all the others.

Elder

Elder with Newspaper

If you’re wondering what the defining concept of these newspaper sculptures are, it is rather simple (although I didn’t expect it): to place focus on the death of the printed word. We’ve all heard that before – technology will make books and other print materials obsolete. Whether or not it is going to happen, these newspaper sculptures are still awesome! Take a look at more of these newspaper sculptures.

Just when I thought that I would not see anything new and interesting about superhero art any time soon, I discovered the work of Grégoire Guillemin, a French artist. One of his collections feature superhero posters which are inspired by art deco, the artistic/design style that has its roots in Paris. If you know next to zilch about art deco (like me), this description from Wikipedia should help.

Art Deco is characterized by use of materials such as aluminium, stainless steel, lacquer, Bakelite, Chrome and inlaid wood. Exotic materials such as sharkskin (shagreen), and zebra skin were also evident. The use of stepped forms and geometric curves (unlike the sinuous, natural curves of Art Nouveau), chevron patterns, ziggurat-shapes, fountains, and the sunburst motif are typical of Art Deco. Some of these motifs were ubiquitous – for example, sunburst motifs were used in such varied contexts as women’s shoes, radiator grilles, radio and clock faces, the auditorium of the Radio City Music Hall, and the spire of the Chrysler Building.

Now on the good stuff – the art deco superhero posters. Guillemin has included the many of the usual suspects, although the absence of Superman and Spiderman cannot be ignored. That being said, the posters are, if not exactly my kind of thing, very attention grabbing. See for yourself.

So what do you think of the art deco influence? Does it take anything away from the “superhero-ness” of the characters or does it work otherwise? Which one grabs your attention the most? (It’s Silver Surfer for me.)

See more of the art deco superhero posters on Guillemin’s page.

Kugel Memorabilia: CPU

This might be the ultimate in geek chic art. Kugel Memorabilia creates, among other things, framed art pieces suitable for hanging on walls or placing on desks, that are made of old computer parts.

Owner Brian Kugel offers a complete line of hand-made CPUs, expansion cards, and motherboards that have been framed in wood and are available for sale, intended to “geek up your office.” Prices range from $49 up to $249. They’ll even take your old computer parts and frame them, if you prefer.

You may assume Kugel just takes regular old frames and slaps them onto computer parts, but not so fast. Kugel happens to be an excellent woodworker, and he makes every frame as a customized creation that he cuts, sands, and finishes himself.

But wait — enter the crazy twist. Kugel’s framed motherboards are available in an “AK-47 Special Edition.” Which means exactly what you think it does — the motherboard is shot full of holes by an assault rifle before being framed. Why? For no other reason than that it looks cool!

I’ve heard of people getting attached to their computers, but might this be taking it too far? It’s art, so that’s for you, the beholder, to decide.

Take a look at some of Kugel’s work below, and then head over to his website to see more and order an art piece of your own.

Kugel Memorabilia: Expansion Card

Kugel Memorabilia: Motherboard

Thanks to tipster TNorman for sending this our way!

Chain links

Dalton Ghetti is no ordinary sculptor. He’s an artist who’s chosen a remarkably unique medium: the standard wood-and-graphite pencil. And you won’t believe he can carve out of them.

As you can see from the pictures above and below, Ghetti creates incredible intricate sculptures out of pencil graphite, and sometimes the wood, too. He says that he does it as a form of meditating on patience — which is a good thing, since his work is painstaking, requiring that he move so slow that only tiny specks of graphite are removed at a time. He works primarily with a sewing needle and a special triangular blade that’s triangular and super sharp. Ghetti says that it’s taken months to finish most of his pieces, and even years in some cases.

Ghetti’s work is not for sale, though you can buy postcard-sized photo prints of most of them for $2 from his online store. Take a look at some of his amazing work below (I’m partial to the saw myself, because of how it uses both the graphite and the wood), and then head over to his website to see more.

The 1st Place winner, a man named Lucas, scored $10,000 cash, along with a limited edition Xbox 360/Gears of War 3 console bundle. Here’s his winning entry, entitled “Bring It.”

"Bring It": 1st Place winner

William Wu was awarded 2nd Place for his piece, “Passage to Hell.” He received $1,000 cash, a 4GB Xbox 360 console, and Gears of War 3.

"Passage to Hell": 2nd Place winner

Landing in 3rd Place was Jeremy Mohler with his piece “Final Stand.” He won the same Xbox 360 and video game as Wu, along with $750.

"Final Stand": 3rd Place winner

The 97 semi-finalists each received $200 and Gears of War 3.

Skin Art

I remember the first time I saw images of the result of scarification and other rather disturbing ways of decorating one’s body. I really don’t want to see them again as I am particularly squeamish. I think I will stick to the “normal” ink tattoos any day.

Then I ran across a different kind of skin art. Not exactly your run-of-the-mill tattoo, but not as painful to see as scarification either. This is how I think of the art of Ariana Page Russell, an artist with an MFA in Photography from the University of Washington, Seattle.

To give you an idea of what she does, here is her own description of her unique brand of skin art.

My skin is very sensitive and I blush easily. I have dermatographia, a condition in which one’s immune system releases excessive amounts of histamine, causing capillaries to dilate and welts to appear (lasting about thirty minutes) when the hypersensitive skin’s surface is lightly scratched. This allows me to painlessly draw on my skin with just enough time to photograph the results. Even though I can direct this ephemeral response by drawing on it, the reaction is involuntary, much like the uncontrollable nature of a blush.

This is the first time I have heard of the condition dermatographia, but that’s nothing. What boggles the mind is how one turns such a condition into something creative and “sell” it as art. Awesome, really, but disturbing nonetheless. Sure, she says it is painless, but the mere thought of scratching your skin so that welts will form…well I told you I am squeamish (even though I do seem to like zombie stuff).

Wallpaper

For more of Ariana’s work, visit her web site.

Via Nerdcore

So why write about it? Because Jirka Väätäinen has done such a jaw-dropping job of drawing some Disney characters. Jirka’s work is no ordinary depiction. Quite far from it. The idea was to draw them as they would appear if they were for real. The title of the gallery says it all: “Envisioning Disney Characters in Real Life”.

No need to tell you who this pretty girl is supposed to be, right?

Real Ariel

This one’s an image of Ariel’s nemesis, the sea witch Ursula.

Real Ursula

Now I am not 100% sure about this next drawing, but I am willing to bet it is Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Real Belle

This last one, I can’t figure out.

Who is she?

In any case, don’t you think that these pictures are wonderfully rendered? I am crossing my fingers that Jirka will go back to the drawing board and feature other characters in the future. The near future.

This browser war is far from over. Even with more browsers coming into the picture, the main players just hog the limelight pretty much all the time. And for some reason, people tend to liken the browsers to the fairer sex.

Enter artist Moie Preisenberger (also known as Eskimoie, how cute is that?) who has put a different spin on the link between browsers and women. (Oh the things you find on Reddit!) His creation is a drawing that gives us a visual representation of how browsers would look like if they were women who are always on the cutting edge of fashion. The result? Browseristas. Not exactly the most creative term, but I think it works pretty well given the words and ideas involved.

Browseristas

Once again, we have the five main players: Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Safari. As browsers go, I will continue to stand by my usual suspects – Safari, Firefox, and Chrome (in decreasing order of preference). Looking at Eskimoie’s lovely ladies, though, I have to admit that Lady Internet Explorer seems to be the most alluring of the five, with Chrome coming in a close second (except I don’t like her dress).

Then again, I am no fashionista, so I might be seeing it all wrong. What do you think about the Browseristas?

Check out these time-lapse videos of Bashir Sultani’s salt art interpretations of Link and Mario. The Mario one is in color, but I think the Link one is by far the better piece.

The artist: FredoART from DeviantART. He goes by the name Fredo, although his real name is Wladimir Inostroza. This guy is only 20 years old, and he is from Santiago, Chile. He loves rock music and loves playing with reality with his art. All these details kind of fade into the background though, when faced with the artist’s talent.

Basically, he draws 3D images on paper, making the end result look anything like drawings. To add to the realistic effect, he also incorporates real objects in his work. Just take a look at some of his 3D drawings to see what I mean.

I suppose anyone can draw a bottle. Heck, even I can draw the outlines of a bottle. But how many people do you know can make a drawing of a bottle look like a real bottle placed atop a sketchpad?

Bottle by FredoART

It gets better, though. A bottle is simple, but how about an animal?

Owl by FredoART

Fredo is not content with small animals. You know that proverbial elephant in the room? You can literally have one if you have this drawing.

Utero by FredoART

Lana by FredoART

For more of Fredo’s awesome 3D drawings, visit his DeviantART page.

In the case of French artist Edouard Martinet, however, scrap metal is the source of inspiration for art. Let me correct that. Scrap metal is more than inspiration for Martinet. It is the the heart and soul of his work.

For Martinet, everything has value. He takes what he finds from flea markets and car boot sales, such as kitchen pans (and pots, I suppose) – the rusty kind; typewriter keys; car lights; and God knows what other kinds of scrap metal to create something totally different. Something that you might even want to use as a conversation piece in your living room or dining room. Things called scrap metal animals.

Take these things, for example.

Scrap Metal Fish

If you don’t like creatures from the sea, maybe you’re okay with fowl? Check out this scrap metal rooster.

Scrap Metal Rooster

Scrap Metal Wasp

Scrap Metal Beetle

You know what’s even cooler about these scrap metal animals? The artist does not use solder or anything like that to put the metal pieces together. He painstakingly fits them together as if the entire creation were a puzzle! I guess you can look at the scrap metal animals as puzzles of a different sort. All I know is that Martinet has one heck of a mind to come up with these.