I was sweeping the yard yesterday and i spotted this little fella grubbing around under the deck chair. I could never quite figure out how you’d go about moving if you only had one foot, so i drew closer and had a gander. Suddenly i remembered i have a timelapse function on my camera. He seemed agreeable to a photoshoot, and so here he is in all his breakdancing glory - May i present … Snail! ( Extended version here ). I was thinking Benny Hill for music - whatdya think ?

Snail Stop Frame from Nicky Gibson on Vimeo.

Needed to look at something soothing and nice today after a renagade weekend away with the Pokers. Broken i am! Not sure we can show our faces in Devon again. Anyway, so here’s a little something from ljudbilden with some jolly faced monsters to take the pain away.

Minilogue - Animals from ljudbilden on Vimeo.

Lovable Kiwi character has a mission on the go… Brings a tear to the eye ;’) He’s got a lotta personality for an ‘armless little bird. Spotted over on my new favoutire blog Vecchio Bipede - years and years of good stuff to see. Not often that you sit and go through page after page of a blog but this is a rare exception! A fair sprinkling of monsters too.

Inspiration to a generation of creative people, today i learned the sad news that Tony Hart has passed away. Hours spent in front of the telle watching Take Hart as a kid no doubt fueled my desire to design and make things throughout my life. I had a giant bag of paper, card, glue and string that kept me happy for rainy day after rainy day. Genuinely sad to hear Tony’s gone. Rex of Little Big Planet sums it up very well in his tribute here.

Co stars Morph and Chaz above - of course created by Aardman Animations.

Cheers for the link Tom! Update: See the outtakes  ;)  Ad by Superfad.

“A love triangle between common kitchen utensils yields an epic tale of life and death. Told through the magical world of stop go animation, created by Jason Rosenberg and Jon Barth.” Visit Behind Closed Drawers and Jason’s blog.

Spotted here :)

Spotted this over on Poke NewYorker Tom’s blog. It whips through factoids about the future of technology and world populations, generally highlighting what a different place our world will become in the next few years. Worth a watch. Tom’s blog is full of interesting thoughts and finds like this one. Visit him here.

The video for Fujiya & Miyagi - Ankle Injuries, so much detail and amazing colours. Ingeniously done. I wouldn’t care if it’s modified in after effects. I wonder if they figured out the dice face tones by eye, pixel by pixel, or if they created an app to work it out. If it’s all done by eye/hand that’s extremely impressive. A lot of work however you look at it. By Director Wade Shotter of Joy Rider Films, see his work here.

Good News! International super star designer and illustrator Cookie ( of Made-In-England ) is up for grabs! Back from a brief 3,000 mile walk, a cup of tea, and a biscuit, his portfolio is up and he’s out on the mean streets of London. If you’re in need of a freelance touch of graphical magic, or indeed some in house talent, give Cookie a buzz. Loving the Monster City rampage at the top. Track him down here: Cookie{at}made-in-england.org

They’d be tricky to chop eh wriggling all the time. Nicely drawn veggie transitions! I’m mesmerized by a RaddishCarrot.

“A dirty nasty evil Witch, has entrapped the village, what a bitch!

To win some shoes, you must peruse, the forest but - be quick!”

Or something like that… It’s a little competition we’ve been working on here at Poke for Topshop. They launching their Gothic Christmas theme and we thought what better than a victorian inspired mechanical toy. A bit of Zoetrope action combined with a credit crunching Year’s Supply of Clothes or shoes to be won. Not bad.

The orange image is the Wisconsin Film Festival Marquee Kids poster by Planet Propaganda. Lush colours, and the always good combo of photocopy texture and fat pixel fonts. Check their work section and look out for the li’l monkey on the fluro green background - retro looking chunky pixel animation - worth a watch there.  On the right we have a great sketch by Lauren Nassef found over on Doodlers Anonymous. All sorts there. Makes you wants to get your pencils out.

I know this is an oldie but i only saw it for the first time the other day. Jason showed me this. It’s a really clever little installation comprised of web cam and abacus-like rack of swivelling wooden chips. A light positioned above reflects off the tiled chips to created a pixelated wooden image of the viewer. I love mechanical wooden machines.

A beautifully created, short monster animation here from the students at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg Germany. Some carefully observed expressions add so much warmth to these lovable creatures. Gorgeous! Watch it here. Cheers for the link Gav! ( Sorry Pokers you’ve seen this one before, but i couldn’t resist it’s monstery charms ;) )