En Derin

James Carmichael is a Freelance Web & Graphic Designer based in Cambridge, Ontario. He currently works as a graphic designer in a creative agency in Waterloo, but is always looking for interesting projects to work on. You can visit his website at jamesc.ca to see more of his work or to contact him.

Are comic books art? Do the aesthetic qualities of the artwork in a comic book outweigh the fact that it was drawn for commercial purposes, or vice versa? Can anything, no matter how beautiful it is, be considered art if it wasn’t created as art for art’s sake?

These are all good questions about the validity of comic books as art. Thankfully, we WON’T be answering them here — we’ll leave the debate to the experts. Because while the value of the art from comic book is often contested, artwork INSPIRED BY comic books and cartoons is art. And there’s no debating that.

Sketch My Portrait for a Nickel

(images via: ARTST.com)

You have to be a glutton for punishment if you get your caricature drawn at a carnival. Paying your hard earned money so someone can draw a grotesque version of you has tinges of masochism, doesn’t it? And
that’s because when you get your caricature drawn, you’re asking someone to point out all your flaws and your strange features and EXAGGERATE them.

While cartoon-inspired fine art is ages away from carny caricature, the common thread in both are these exaggerations. And nowhere are these exaggerations more pronounced than in cartoon-inspired portraits.

Pen… Paper… Action!

(images via: ARTST.com)

While many artists and critics look down on comic books, no one can deny that comics and cartoons have something incredibly special when it comes to action scenes. Years and years of super-heros have caused comic book artists to finely tune action sequences in a way fine art painters haven’t. When action is your bread and butter, it better be a baguette and Beurre De Baratte. Artwork inspired by comics and cartoons is no different — the brilliant way comic books depict action is part of the language with which these artists are using to speak.

Abstract ‘Toons

While you can’t really consider work with cartoons truly abstract, several artists who are inspired by the comics and cartoon mediums will use cartoon imagery to approach abstractions. And it’s in these works where artists INSPIRED BY comics and cartoons really start to shine, because it’s these works which most distinctly stand apart from the often mocked and looked down-upon comic book and cartoon source
material.

“All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures.
It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.”
-Walt Disney

I recently had the pleasure of branding James Mullinger’s new monthly film review series The Movie Show, where silver-screen trivia, exclusive interviews and previews are mixed with James’ unique take on this years biggest releases! It’s a must-see for any film enthusiast, and with each episode no longer than 10 minutes it’s the perfect way to catch up on recent releases and is sure to get you chuckling!

Hailing from the Stand-Up Comedy scene in the UK, James is one of Britain’s funniest, with awards and accolades a plenty! And as if touring the UK, Sydney and Toronto with his Stand-Up wasn’t enough, James also writes for many well-known magazines and newspapers ( GQ, The Guardian, Men’s Health, The Erotic Review, Bizarre as well as North UKn titles such as UMM and Toro), so it’s likely that even if you haven’t seen him yet, you may well have already read one of his articles.

Check out the first 3 episodes of The Movie Show right HERE

An ice bar, sometimes associated with a ice hotel is a drinking establishment primarily made of ice. The bars usually contain ice sculptures and other formations and are kept at low temperatures to hinder melting. Mostly a novelty, the ice bar is often considered a tourist destination. The ice bar is usually located in colder regions around the world, as it is easier to keep the ice stable in frigid temperatures. Some ice bars are also located in larger cities all over the world including London, Paris and Dubai, as the cost of upkeep can be sustained by its many patrons.The Icebar in Orlando is the first and largest permanent ice bar in UK.

Sweden, Stockholm

First Ice Bar at Sea on the Third Generation of NCL Cruise Ships

China, Harbin

South Africa

Dubai

Finland

Russia, St.Petersburg

Australia, Sydney

USA, Orlando

Italy, Milan

England, London

Denmark , Copenhagen

Canada, Quebec

France, Paris

Japan, Tokyo

The Zombiewalk took place this weekend in Frankfurt. German daily Spiegel covered most of the fake blood and brains.

Zombie parades are becoming more and more common, as they are held in different countries around the world. The first zombie parade was organized back in 2003, in Toronto and, in 2005, there 80 zombie parades, attended mainly by horror movie lovers.

Photos by Johannes Eisele/ REUTERS.

Pimp my bike? It’s more common then you think. Artistically <a href="http://En Derin.com/2009/03/03/futuristic-strange-concept-bicycles-designs/”>modified bicycles are the coolest things on two wheels these days. Here are 15 of the weirdest, wildest, most outrageous bikes ever to pop a sweet jump.

BMW Does BMX

(images via: MillionFace and Serotta)

The futuristic bikes above purport to be BMW concepts though only one bears the BMW roundel, another is marked “Ultegra” and most of the rest carry the “Specialized” label. No matter – let’s just hope they go into production at some point!

(images via: MillionFace and Serotta)

Above are a few more cool concept bikes from the Specialized group, a well-spoken selection though few actually have spokes in their wheels. Wonder where the baseball card goes?

Spinning Wheels, Got To Go ‘Round

(images via: Geekologie and BoingBoing Gadgets)

Any self-respecting bike rider wants to lighten up their ride, and MonkeyLectric gives them as much light as they can carry. Packing 32 full color LEDs and a bevy of visual effects, the MonkeyLectric Monkey Light fits almost any bike wheel and works in any type of weather. If looking like Miss Gulch from The Wizard Of Oz after a run-in with Nicola Tesla is what you’re after, the MonkeyLectric Monkey Light is for you, my pretties! Check out the Monkey Light in action right here:

MonkeyLectric bike lighting, via JadeAjani

Positively Ex-Static

(images via: MonkeyLectric and PaulTech Network)

Want to display static ads in LED light as you pedal through town? Anyone? Well just in case, MonkeyLectric has gone ape with what they modestly call “the most advanced rotating wheel display system in the world.” From the looks of the MonkeyLectric Video Pro M464Q, we believe them. Stabilized solid images, full color motion video and wireless control come standard and the folks at MonkeyLectric will custom-build a system to suit your needs. All this doesn’t come cheap – systems START in the £2,000 range – but for commercial applications it could be worth the expense to get noticed.

Tree Wheeler

(image via: Cnet)

A-frames are made of wood; so are picture frames, so why not bicycle frames? Well, plenty of reasons… but none of them stood in the way of German timber technology student Jens Eichler. Applying his knowledge of wood along with a heaping helping of phenol-resorcinol glue, Eichler crafted one of the most beautiful bikes anyone’s ever seen. Renovatia is made of Beech plywood and is, of all things, a tandem bicycle.

Bike Riding Mowers

(images via: MAAC, Bikemag and Harley Heartbeat)

What do you get when you cross a bicycle with a reel mower? A reel strange bike… but not so strange that more than a few folks have cobbled such a beast together. Though these bike-riding mowers may look all wrong, they do have a lot of positives: they’re eco-friendly, exercise-inducing and never fail to provoke a grin (or a look of extreme puzzlement).

Divine Recline

(images via: TrendsUpdates and Coroflot)

Recumbent bikes are typically form-follows-function designs that leave little room for artistic expression. Not so this sleek & sexy design prototype by College for Creative Studies graduate Mathew Zurlinden, which shatters the stereotype by pushing the envelope as far as it will stretch. The Legato GT features hubless wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace brakes and an Infina-Gear CVT Transmission that makes mountains into molehills. Definitely not your grandfather’s recliner!

Not Just Another Tequila Sunrise

(images via: Oddity Central and Tuvie)

Jason Battersby has created a couple of wheeled wonders he calls Tequila Sunrise and Eye Candy. The former, pictured above, is a retro-futuristic throwback to the fabulous fifties complete with cyclops headlight and a skirted rear fender. Malt shop, here we come!

Eye Candy, You Candy
(images via: Oddity Central and Tuvie)

With Eye Candy, Jason Battersby takes a different design tack that recalls sixties Mustang bikes, metal-flake dune buggies and the original Batmobile. These bike designs aren’t your typical “look but don’t touch” fragile fabrications, either. Confirms Battersby, “Both bicycles are fully ride-able. I have rode both bicycles without any problems.” Surprised Torontonians, not so much – these beauteous bikes have the power to induce instant whiplash in onlookers.

I’ll Be Bike…

(images via: Tech Chee and Gizmodo)

Jud Turner put what seems to be an obvious Terminator obsession to work when creating the Bio-Cycle. The 60-inch long bike was built expressly for the February 2008 “Different Spokes” invitational sculpture show in Salem, Oregon and is made of welded steel, found objects and mixed media. An earlier version had rubber skin, we spotted them easy… OK, not really but you see where I’m going with this. As for Termin… that is, Turner, he’s revisited the art of bare-bones bicycle building with the R-evolve bike. So easy even a caveman can ride it.

Sole Bike

(image via: Maxknight)

The Walking Bike by Max Wright Design is a shoe-in for weirdest bike honors – and for garnering the most bad puns. Each of the bike’s wheels feature 8 pairs of assorted athletic shoes, which should leave very confusing footprints in snow or sand. The following short video of the “Superted” walking bike proves that when it comes to long-distance running, one should just run:

Superted Walking Bike, via Yorgodzilla

Vicious Cycle

(images via: Treehugger and Robert Wechsler)

Even extra-strength Midol isn’t enough to cure the Vicious Cycle; circular reasoning of the bicycling kind. The ride to nowhere was crafted by UCSB design student Robert Wechsler for no apparent reason except that he had 9 bikes lying around and didn’t want to just junk them. Wechsler likes to assemble the 12-foot diameter mega-bike at different locations and leave it for passersby to amuse themselves, recorded merry-go-round music optional.

Spoken Sie Deutsch?

(image via: Team Tentakulus)

Sven Fischer from Team Tentakulus whipped up the ominous, jet black Shocker Chopper bike, probably using the Hammer of Thor on an anvil stolen from Satan himself. Info at the Team Tentakulus website is in German and that’s somehow appropriate as this is Der Götterdämmerung of bikes – ride this to school and even the meekest nerd will command instant respect.

Art Dekochari

(image via: M0d Schm0d)

Japanese kids have been doing up their bikes dekochari-style for decades, and they’ve got it down to – literally – a fine art. Dekochari (deko = decoration, chari = bicycle) involves pimping a bike to the max, often to the point where it’s hard to know where the decoration ends and the bike begins. Sheet metal, lights (and lots of them), wild paint jobs and even chromed bumpers make the wildest dekochari bikes look like shrunken semi-trailers. Which is the idea, actually.

(images via: M0d Schm0d and Telstar Logistics)

Here’s a video of dekochari bikes after dark, backed up musically by “Ichiban-boshi Blues” (by Bunta Sugawara and Kinya Aikawa). This theme song from the Torakku Yarou movie series helped ignite Japan’s dekochari craze way back in the 1970s:

Dekochari, via Pink Tentacle

Bicycles are looking better than ever in more ways than one. In fact, compared to gas guzzling, bailout bankrupted, ever more expensive automobiles, their appeal has never been more timely. Even so, a little (or a lot) of artistic customizing just makes a good thing better. Yes, wheelie.

What’s next? A toothpick with MP3 that uses your teeth as a sound amplifier?

[VIA]