January 16, 2012 - Comments Off on Mirage and Maelstroms

Mirage and Maelstroms

It's finally getting cold in the Big Apple after a few teases earlier in the season. I really need to call my building manager about our heat. Meanwhile enjoy this surreal wintery scene.

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Another fantasy artist this week for stills. Jean-Sébastian Rossbach has some graphic novels experience but I find his original work more interesting by far. Much of it still falls into the surreal-fantasy spectrum but his use of texture and pattern gives his pieces an antique feel I love. Combined with his graphic style, his work draws us into the dark lurid landscape of his imagination. My one critique would be that many of his compositions lack a physical sense of depth, possibly due to his experience in comics, Magic cards and other similar commercial work where scale and perspective are limited. As such I would definitely recommend going through his original works gallery (which I sadly cannot link to directly c/o Flash).

Abstract Dragon

Golden Doves

Its always nice to find a great example of art or design that also represents a message you can get behind. Such is the case with Slavery Footprint, a website of the Fair Trade Fund Inc. non-profit. The website is in essence an intricate survey with an emphasis on leveraging social networks to broadcast their issue: namely the amount forced labor and human trafficking still extant in the world. The site is designed beautifully and the process of taking the survey is practically enjoyable (a first for me in terms of online form filling). The clever animations and gorgeous design make for one great site. I only wish I could figure out how to reset the form and do it all again! Some of the menus are a bit unclear. Still, interesting to know my electronics obsession has netted me a few dozen slaves in China.

Slavery Footprint c/o Best Web Gallery

Its clear I consume too much video content since this last section's always the hardest to choose. However this week an animated music video came onto my radar early in the week and I knew immediately it was my video of the week: the music video for "Two Against One" is simply jaw dropping. The animator's use of line and shape to create silky smooth transitions throughout the video is genius. This near mono-chromatic parable on life and loss is made all the better by the chilling song it accompanies. Enjoy.

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 Sketching Mechanism

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