All Posts in shading

February 4, 2013 - Comments Off on Machismo Manifest

Machismo Manifest

Sunday Sunday Sunday! Hope you all enjoyed the Superbowl. Even for someone so wholeheartedly disinterested in spectator sports as I, there is a certain charm to this most holy of American television events. I neither follow nor root for any team but I still had a couple of friends over for ribs, pigs in a blanket, potato wedges, and pints beyond count. We shouted and jeered during the match only to fall silent during the witty ads which vied for our attention. Long blackout aside it was a great game to watch with some ludicrous displays. Such a strong cultural tradition but kick off some inspiration.

This week I played around with a new set of grayscale markers I got. They bled a bit but I'm really liking them. Here the triumphant Raven sits atop the 49ers pickax.

This week I played around with a new set of grayscale markers I got. They bled a bit but I'm really liking them. Here the triumphant Raven sits atop the 49ers pickax.

The true beauty of football, or truly any sport, is in the skill and finesse of the players. Much like a dancer, it is an athlete's job to perfect their every movement. Last night, Jacoby Jones moved like water down the field, running through San Francisco's defensive line and returning a kickoff a remarkable 108 yards! It was a thing of beauty. Shinichi Maruyama celebrates such beauty of the body in motion in this series Nude. Made by compositing a series of photos, and not via a long exposure as one might expect, we peak into the stunning fourth dimension where movement has physical form.

Nude

Nude

Let us not forget that this is also the season for skiing. I keep telling myself this year will be the year I finally get back on the slopes but I still have no plans on the horizon. At least I can look at this marvelous website for Snowbird, a fantastic looking ski resort in Utah. The site is a wonderful showcase of clever interaction design with marvelous hover states largely based around the resort's V-shaped logo. Each page seamlessly transitions into the next with such fluidity it's like watching a master carve up the moguls on a double black diamond.

Snowbird

But where does the future of sport lie. Our pastimes have remained largely unchanged for the past few decades. Yet some think athletes are now approaching the upper limits of the human body as world records grow narrower and narrower. More than ever it has become apparent that large investments of time and money are required to forge champions. And from the inspiring story of Oscar Pistorious to the betrayal of Lance Armstrong, sportsmanship is clearly undergoing a turbulent time. Who knows what's around the corner but I like to think this fantasy-retro music video might be a sign of things to come, robots and all.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in The Internal Mechanism
Tags: , , , , ,