PixelJam makes all kinds of crazy 8-bit goodness, including games like RatMaze, where you must hunt down various types of tasty cheese as a pixelated mouse, Gamma Bros, where you help the 21hard-working duo of Buzz and Zap get home in an award winning space shooter, and Dino Run, a multiplayer game where you must run, jump and claw your way to survival.
They also host a rather cool collection of 8-bit art, let you download their original 8-bit music, and have a shop if you’d like to sport some 8-bit gear.
Plus, Format Mag has a nice little interview with the creators if you’d like to read about what inspires their pixelated creations.
This weekend, grab your camera (or your friend’s camera), set the timer, and toss it in the air for a new style of photography called Camera Tossing.
The results are often a beautiful art piece that is less about documenting a moment, and more about creating an emotional picture that is filled with color and motion.
Check out COLOURlover’s article on Camera Tossing for a brief history of the technique, and some fantastic examples that should give you more than enough inspiration to get going.
Well he’s back, and this time, his art dives into the insides of a gummy bear and a Dunny, in pieces he calls “Immaculate Confection” and “Visible Vinyl”.
I emailed Jason to find out a little bit more about his work, and asked him, “What inspires you to create these amazing pieces of art?”
He replied:
You pose a question I have been asked before and one that is not easily answered. I could give you a long dribbling artist statement on all the symbolism and meaning I am trying to portray to make the world a better place but the simple fact is, these pieces are mostly a combination of my interests, 3D modeling, pop culture, illustration, surrealism, cartoons and a taste for the off center. Ultimately I create these images for me to enjoy as well as my 5 year old son. I also enjoy releasing them into the wild (internet) and see the reactions people have to them. I am thrilled that people enjoy them and that keeps me making more. I actually get a bit down when they don’t go over well, but that makes me try harder the next time. Its become a challenge for me create work that tickles the small piece of the brain that enjoys these twisted guilty pleasures.
If that’s the case, then check out LifeDev’s list of 19 Online Destinations for Boosting Creativity. It’s filled with sites that are sure to inspire, and ought to help you think outside the box.
CommandShift3 is “like Hot or Not for web design”.
(In case you’re wondering, the name comes from the keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot on an Apple.)
On CommandShift3, you are presented with the screenshots of two websites side by side. If you click the screenshot of the site you think looks best, the page reloads and you start all over again. It never ends.
There’s a best & worst page where the winners and losers are gathered up, and you can browse winners by tag, week, or month, so there are plenty of options if you just want to look around for some inspiration.
(And if you’d like to check out and hopefully vote for DidntYouHear.com on CommandShift3, go here.)
Threadcakes is a site filled with the results of the Loves Threadless Cake Contest.
The premise of the concept was pretty simple: Bake a cake and decorate it to match your favorite Threadless shirt design.
With over 900 cake pics received, the results speak for themselves, and dough masters showed what was possible with a little bit of patience and a lot of inspiration.
36 Exposures wants to find out, and has created the 36 Exposures Challenge to put photo and creative skills to the test.
Unlike a digital camera, where you can shoot away and then just pick the ones that you like later, film cameras had an element of choice involved that meant each photo had to serve a purpose; thus, creating “conscious intentionality”.
To bring back that idea, FILE challenged artists to articulate a concept, project, or theme, and then use a camera to photograph the images to accompany it with only one roll of film.
Though the contest deadline has passed, it’s definitely an interesting idea that could serve as inspiration for your own ‘one roll story’, and I’m sure the submissions will be impressive, so bookmark the site and be sure to go back, because you never know what one roll can do.
Sure you’ve posted a story that got Dugg a time or two and you’ve got a few friends following you on Twitter, but have you really done all that there is to do on the Internet?
Probably not, which is why Webware’s Web Achievements 101: Things To Do Before You Die is a great source of inspiration.
The bucket list includes skill, repetition and egosphere cred categories, and with goals like Get on Flickr’s interesting picture wall, Acquire Elite status on Yelp.com, and Get publicly slammed by Dave Winer, you’ll be busy for quite some time.
Think you’re ready for the challenge?
Then head on over to Webware and scope things out, because you’re going to need a plan if you plan on conquering some of these momentous achievements.
