Pop Culture Carved Crayons By Hoang Tran Will Color You Excited.

Although not the first artist to carve images from Crayola crayons, Hoang Tran of Sunnyvale, carves his in even more detailed likenesses than our other favorite Crayon carver, Diem Chau, and adds painted details. And since he is lesser known, his are actually available for purchase at an affordable price.


above: The Walter White Breaking Bad Crayon is even available with a little glass beaker

Characters from Breaking Bad, Star Wars, The Big Lebowski, Doctor Who and Game Of Thrones melt my heart. Also available are crayons carved into the characters from Futurama, Adventure Time, Disney characters and more.

Walter White Breaking Bad Crayon:



Big Lebowski Crayons:




Star Wars Crayons:












The TARDIS from Doctor Who:



Great House Sigils from Game Of Thrones:


Adventure Time characters:


Little Mermaid:


Donnie Darko:


The individual carved crayons range from $30 - $40 each and sets, like the Game Of Thrones Great House Sigils will run you $245. Custom crayons of Bride and Groom (which I just bought for a recently engaged fellow blogger) and other custom carved crayons are available upon request.

The Bride and Groom Crayons:


Wondering how to display them? A shadow box is an easy way:




Shop for them here at his etsy store

Non-etsy members can request a carved crayon by contacting Hoang via carvedcrayons@gmail.com

Vanhulsteijn Designs 9 Special Edition Japanese Lacquer and Gold Leaf Bikes for Sotheby's.

The Urushi Bicycle Project consists of 9 exclusively designed bicycles for Sotheby’s by Herman van Hulsteijn. Sotheby's approached the Dutch designer after seeing his unusual bikes on the internet with their distinctive curved frame. Herman van Hulsteijn suggested designing a tailor-made bike for them using an ancient process that had intrigued him for years.

Get A Load Of Artist Nina Mae Fowlers' Knockers.

Shoreditch-based artist Nina Mae Fowler's recent work includes these five black chalk drawings of Golden Era screen legends Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Jean Harlow, Marlene Deitrich and Lucia Carroll complete with cast brass "knockers".

Joan (Knockers I), 2013:

detail:

Black chalk and brass, (h) 136 x (w) 94 cm
$12,400 (available through Saatchi Online)

Marilyn (Knockers II), 2013:

detail:

Black chalk and brass, (h) 108 x (w) 142 cm

Jean (Knockers III), 2013:

detail:

Black chalk and brass, (h) 120 x (w) 158 cm
$14,5000 (available through Saatchi Online)

Marlene (Knockers IV), 2013:

detail:

Black chalk and brass, (h) 106 x (w) 138 cm

Lucia (Knockers V), 2013:

detail:

Black chalk + brass, (h) 95 x (w) 152 cm
$13,500 (available through Saatchi Online)

Gallery views:


above: Marilyn (Knockers II) framed in an acrylic box viewed from an angle

In the following promotional video for her show at the COB Gallery in London, you can see a time lapse video of her drawing of Lucia Carroll come to life:


Recently named Saatchi’s one to watch and Saatchi's Best of 2013, she has also been nominated for the BP Portrait Prize, as well as being shortlisted for both the Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Young Masters Prize in 2012. Both of Fowler’s previous installations have been archived in international collections. - See more here

Nina will have a solo exhibition with Galerie Dukan in January 2014. This show will mark the opening of Galerie Dukan's new space in Leipzig, Germany.


above: Portrait of Nina Fowler by Anthony Lycett for Harper's Bazaar UK

About the artist (courtesy of Saatchi Online)
Nina Fowler was born in London in 1981. She graduated with a first in sculpture from Brighton University in 2003. In 2008, she was nominated for the BP Portrait Prize with her painting of the Royal Ballet dancer, Carlos Acosta, and in 2010 her work was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize. More recently she was shortlisted for The Young Masters Prize 2012. She has worked as archivist and assistant to John Dunbar (founder of Indica Gallery) alongside being part-time Art teacher at South Hampstead High School. Her work is admired and collected by British film, music and fashion luminaries such as John Maybury, Jude Law, Sharleen Spiteri and Caroline Issa. She is included in private and public collections in Europe and the USA and is represented in France by Galerie Dukan.

Nina Mae Fowler

Happy Holidays - and a Personal Note - from If It's Hip, It's Here.

I want to take this moment to write something of a personal nature, which I very rarely do in my blog.

First and foremost, I want to wish a very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate the holiday and my warmest wishes to everyone for a happy holiday season. I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to thank all my wonderful faithful readers and especially those generous ones who have donated money to help me keep If It's Hip, It's Here going. A few folks went above and beyond, donating as much as $50.00! It warms my heart that anyone has enjoyed the blog enough to fork over even a dollar of their hard-earned money to support it.

I truly hope that this blog continues to inspire and educate you. It brings me great pleasure to expose others to all the artists, creative and interesting things I discover. I began the blog in December of 2006 and have since published over 3,900 posts and 40,000 images. I have never missed a single day since I began the blog and I will continue to try to provide you with unique content not found everywhere else - and yet still feature what is popular and current.

Just when I think the blog is consuming my life (which, for the most part, it does) and I am about to give it up for lack of sleep, lack of income and lack of a life, I receive a nice note from some random person somewhere in the world who tells me that they look forward to reading the blog every morning with their coffee and that it makes their day. That reminds me why I do it. And why I will continue doing it.

This year, I intend to overhaul the blog with a redesign and direct url. Making it easier for you to search the archives and delve into the posts via categories. I may have to stop blogging for a few weeks to get it right, so I hope you will stay with me and be patient and return once it's up and running again on a new platform. I will be sure to give you a heads up at that time.

I hope you and your loved ones have a happy, healthy and fulfilling holiday season.



Sincerely,
Laura

Artistic Animated Alternatives To That Boring Burning Log - Yule Log 2.0.

First off, I hope you are having a very Merry Christmas. To add to your festive day of good cheer, egg nog and annoying relatives, here's a charming project that encompass the holiday Spirit.

Yule Log 2.0 re-imagines the traditional Yule Log through a collection of short films by illustrators, animators, directors, and creative coders. First televised in 1966 by WPIX-TV as a gift to viewers, the Log has since burned itself into our hearts. Curated by Daniel Savage and built by Wondersauce, the site features the imaginative work of many artists. I have chosen to share most (41) of them with you here.

Andrew Stubbs Johnston - Eames Yule:


Bianca Meier, Michael Fuchs and Daniel Leyva - Candy Christmas:


Brian & Brad Hasse - Splash:


Brett Renfer - Web-Log:


Cesar Pelizer & Ganz Toll - Anybody Home?


Chris Lohouse - Poly for Pyros:


Conrad McLeod - Yule Bonfire & Forest Friends:


Colin Hesterly & Yassir Rasan - Cozy Christmas:


Damien Correll - Reruns:


DIA - History of the Yule Log in 30 seconds:


Emory Allen and Alicia Reece - Cold Night, Warm Light:


Erica Gorochow - 2013 Roast:


Eric Epstein - Virtyule Reality:


Erik Karasyk & Benjamin Gray - yuLED:


Frank Chimero - Christmas Spirit Fingers:


Greg Gunn - Yule Log of Love:


James Curran - Yule Jog:


James Zanoni - YULECRAFT:


Jeroen Krielaars - Open Haard:


Jesse Benjamin - Vince Guaraldi's Living Room:


Jerry Liu - TBD:


Joe Russ - The Cabin and The Woods:


Joshua Catalano - Orange is the Warmest Color:


Joshua Goodrich - Deer Seer:


Julian Glander - Yule Globs:


Laura Alejo - Tio & Flames:


Lee Gingold and Jordan Bruner - Thermophile:


Mathew Lucas - Swissmas:


Matthias Hoegg - Yule Log Gate of Consciousness:


Patrick Finn and Patrick Macomber - Tis The Season:


Paul Windle - Lords of Logtown:


Philip Sierzega - The Luna Park Hearth:


Robert Loebel - Octopusmas:


Ross Philips - Technicolog:


Salih - LogOS 7.0:


Seth Hulewat & Matt Delbridge- Broke Ass Christmas:


Shane Griffin - Orestes:


Skip Hursh - Untitled:


Tricia Desjardins and Daniel Savage - Shhh I think I see santa...:


Will Anderson - L O G:


Yussef Cole - Battlefield Hearth:


To see the animated Yule Logs created by Animade, Charlie Whitney, Chris Kelly, Hush Studios, JK Keller, Josh Parker, Jorge R. Canedo Estrada, Keetra Dean Dixon, Kyle Sauer, Leta Sobierajski, Lucas Redfern Brooking, Lucas Zanotto, Matt Delbridge, Nick Hum, Script & Seal and Yvonne Romano visit here

Suck UK Gets Creative And Builds SantaBots For Their Clients' Christmas Gifts

Here's a fun example of a creative corporate Christmas gift. In an effort to send a big thank you to their favorite partners and distributors, Suck UK of London took the chance to send out Christmas gifts with a difference.



This year they decided to send a present that demonstrated the fun, creativity and interaction users have with Suck UK products. Taking a break from sending typical chocolates and wine, they used one of their own new products as inspiration: the Robot Nutcracker!



The office became a real Santa’s Grotto as staff sanded, painted and prepared the robots by hand, transforming each into a Nut Cracking Santa-bot.




The robots were given beards, shiny red coats and topped with Santa hats; creating a bright red army of festivity.



Along with a special gold-sprayed walnut, each Santa-bot was placed inside a black gift box and tied up with red ribbon- ready to send in the Christmas post!





Once delivered, the recipient is invited to follow Alice in Wonderland-style notes like ‘Crack me’, to twist the nutcracker key and break the Willy Wonker-esque golden walnut. Inside the walnut shell is a miniature USB stick with a note to ‘Watch ME’, enabling the receiver to view their video Christmas card with a difference:



Well Done, Suck UK!