The Download Munkey : Download This, Download That :)

A stunning vexel illustration of a Heckler & Koch MP5 and definitely one of the best firearm illustrations that I’ve ever seen out there on the Net. According to Scottsdale Gun Club, it should be a MP5A3 with the “Navy” trigger group with full-auto and semi-auto firing modes only (the MP5A5 has an additional 3 round burst mode).

© John Norris

This beautiful illustration is also conveniently sized for use as a wallpaper on a 1280×960 screen

Illustrated by John Norris aka donbenni who also does a mean vexel Mitsubishi Eclipse (below) among the various car illustrations in his deviantART gallery.

© John Norris

Check out John Norris’ MP5, Mitsubishi Eclipse and his other artworks at deviantART.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Tracking Your Favourite Deviants via RSS
Masada ACWS Technical Drawing
Heckler & Koch Catalogue 2007
Russ Schwenkler (dangeruss) - Vexel & 3D Cars and Motorcycle Art
Wallpapers from JDM Option : Japanese Car Tuning and Modification Magazine

If there’s something that puts me in a better mood than listening to beautiful music by previously unknown electronic musicians or feasting my eyes on the artwork of newly-discovered artistic talents, it has to be chancing on glorious eye kandy related to music (and about electronic/club music no less )

Today, I present Andrew Jones who’s better known as Android Jones.

© Andrew Jones

This is my favourite piece - can you believe that Andrew actually did this piece live during Temple San Francisco where the Goddess Alchemy Project performed during the Touch of Truth event on 11 Nov 2007. While I’ve never been to a club, I find it simply quite amazing that anyone can accomplish any productive work in the darkness of a club and with the music blasting from the sound system

© Andrew Jones

Another three favourites - I love the contrast between the cool blue and warm red hues - makes the pictures look more intense and energetic while maintaining the cool, relaxed appearances of these practised, professional turntablists and DJs.

Not everything is about music though - there’s a couple of other non-music related pieces that I quite enjoy, mainly because I’m a big fan of skulls

© Andrew Jones

A more gritty modern re-interpretation of Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

© Andrew Jones

If you care to take a closer look at this piece, you’ll notice that besides the morbid skull and moth (or are those wings?), there’s a Mayan/Inca/Aztec mythological figure on the bottom left - there’s plenty of such intricate nitty-gritty details in his works that reward the careful or patient viewer.

Check out all these works and more in their original high resolution at Andrew’s blog or visit his official site at www.androidjones.com where a pillar of 1000 portraits done in a span of 2 years and 9 months (at the rate of one portrait per day!) is proudly displayed on the left of the website. Massive Black DVDs also sells several Android Jones video tutorials as digital downloads.

© Andrew Jones

And by the way, you might also be interested in visiting DEITRIX ArtWorks - I wouldn’t have discovered Android Jones without dear DEITRIX’s links

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Fabric CD Coverart
Hed Kandi CD Artwork & Wallpaper
Skull A Day
My Favourite Pepper Project Entries
startdrawing.org - Asia’s Drawing Portal
Tiger Translate 2007 - Asian Artist Showcase

Today’s art site of the day is the wonderful Skull-A-Day which promises a daily artistic interpretation the human skull using a very eclectic variety of styles and mediums, ranging from traditional oil painting to often surprising materials as in Skull #168, my No.1 favourite of the 300+(!) skulls on display at Skull-A-Day. As of today, there’s only 53 more to go before Another Limited Rebellion’s aim of making a skull a day is finally fulfilled.

On to my favourite 10 skulls (in ascending order).

1. Skull #168 - (Escape To) Skull Mountain

© Another Limited Rebellion

You’ll be surprised if you thought that this was simply an edited photograph. Head over to SkullADay and read the comments there on the actual materials used for this amazing skull.

2. Skull #221 - Lino Skull #2

© Another Limited Rebellion

Love the stark contrasting tones on this one

3. Skull #131 - Acorn Skull

© Another Limited Rebellion

Finally, we have convincing proof why playing with food is a good thing

4. Skull #55 - Scratchboard Skull

© Another Limited Rebellion

5. Skull #282 - Pinstripe Skull

© Another Limited Rebellion

Somehow it reminds me of Darth Maul

6. Skull #288 - Cold Skream

© Another Limited Rebellion

7. Skull #224 - Butternut Squash Skull

© Another Limited Rebellion

8. Skull #271 Evil Egg 2: Egg by Dawn

© Another Limited Rebellion

Coolest egg ever

9. Skull #285 Oil Paint Skull

© Another Limited Rebellion

10. Skull #66 Sparkler Skull

© Another Limited Rebellion

15 other favourites that didn’t make it into my Top 10.

#089 - Le Cat Skull
#090 - Pastel Skull
#092 - Sumi-e Skull
#130 - Vegemite Skull
#136 - Skullplant
#149 - Cocoa Skull
#161 - Latch Hook Yarn Skull
#181 - Skullar Bill
#198 - Emerging (or Sinking) Skull
#202 - Rub-On Type Skull
#204 - 24 Karat Skull
#212 - Scribble Skull
#222 - Rorshach Skull
#278 - Untenskull / Skullverware
#286 - Pinata Skull

Don’t miss out on the cute (and free!) Skullphabet font that first led me to Skull-A-Day. Must have spent around 2 hours that day checking out all the skulls but it was time well spent

© Another Limited Rebellion

Visit Skull-A-Day.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Skull Movie Posters - Shrooms, Ghost Rider
CuteDeadThings Wallpapers
Matthew Woodson’s Los Ladrones Decorazones

Found Frank Frazetta’s (a fantasy artist whose uhm, fantastic work I recently got acquainted with over at The Lair of the Evil DM) marvellous painting of the Death Dealer, an armoured horseman with ominous fiery-red eyes (see below) purely by chance quite a while back. This particular painting from 1973 happens to have an article in Wikipedia which is quite a feat for any piece of fantasy art.

© Frank Frazetta

After seeing this particular artwork, I think I now know where the hulking armoured champions of Chaos in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy Battles might have been inspired by. As a sidenote, Warhammer Fantasy first came about some ten years after Death Dealer in 1983, this year 2008 being its 25th anniversary.

Here I present Adrian Smith’s depiction of Karrig Sturn, Despoiler of Tzeskagrad from the Warhammer : Hordes of Chaos page @ Games Workshop UK (more artworks) as a comparision. I would love to see a coloured version of this piece

© Games Workshop

While there are definitely many similarities between the two artworks, I list below the most significant ones.

• Both the Death Dealer and Karrig Sturn have sturdy warhorses (although the hind legs of Karrig’s mount seems to be buckling due to the combined weight of both its master and its own armour) in almost similiar poses with bowed heads and gaping mouths
• Both warriors are wielding vicious axes singlehandedly with their swords still in their scabbards. They also seem to be staring straight at the viewer but the Death Dealer seems more menacing due to his glowing red eyes.

View Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer (Google Images) and Adrian Smith’s Karrig Sturn in their original resolutions.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Adrian Smith - Illustrator
Andrea Uderzo - Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator
Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning Illustrations & Concept Art
Warhammer : Mark of Chaos - The Collected Concept Art
Warrior Knight Wallpapers

Haven’t been recommending much papercraft apart from Shin Tanaka’s Spiky Babies these days despite the glut of excellent models being showcased at two of the papercraft blogs, Papercraft Paradise and Papercraft World that I visit quite frequently.

Today I’m proud to present Chris Beaumont’s cool Cubee Craft series, mainly for the fact that he has made one of my favourite 80’s cartoon characters, the cute fluffy Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from The Real Ghostbusters, into an equally adorable paper toy.

© Chris Beaumont

Chris has also transformed quite a number of other characters from popular culture into paper toys, ranging from games - Master Chief from Halo, anime - Salchiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion, to comic superhero Rockeeter and movies such as the iconic Imperial Stormtrooper from Star Wars. There’s even a limited edition paper toy available for download until 20 March 2008 to commemorate Nine Inch Nails’ new album Ghosts I-IV. What’s even more amazing is that these toys are designed as snap together papercraft without the need for messy glue and adhesives

© Chris Beaumont

Imperial Stormtrooper & Salchiel templates

Chris also promises a new paper toy every week, so it’ll be pretty interesting to see what he comes up with, especially when his inspirations for new characters come from such a broad spectrum of popular culture influences. I think a Pac-Man paper toy would be a cool addition to the series

Read about Chris and his Cubee Craft collection at Urban Retro Lifestyle which is a wonderful place to visit if you’re into urban art, designer/vinyl toys and other cool stuff (who isn’t )

Download your very own Cubee Craft paper toys.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Shin Tanaka’s Spiky Babies Deluxe Series
Papercraft Paradise
Papercraft World
Gundam Papercraft Downloads