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Google's AI can replicate your photos in the style of iconic paintings
There are loads of apps out there that use filters to turn your photos into works of art. You can give your selfie a delicate watercolor feel, for example, or ramp up the colors and composition to create a frenzied portrait of your pet. Now, thanks to Google, you can give your pics a makeover in the style of your favorite artist.
Apple's first Music Awards will be headlined by Billie Eilish
Not long after Spotify announced its upcoming music awards show, Apple has done the same. The Apple Music Awards is a "celebration of the best and boldest musicians of 2019 and the enormous impact they have had on global culture this year." The event takes place at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park this Wednesday December 4th, and will be live streamed at 9:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM PT.
Patreon’s 3 million supporters are good news for independent creators
Patreon has had one clear goal since it launched in 2013: to help artists, influencers and internet creators make money by letting them offer membership services directly to their fans. And that effort seems to be paying off. Today, Patreon announced there are now over three million people supporting creators on its site, of which there are more than 100,000 to date. What's also notable is that the company was able to accomplish this milestone in a rapid manner, going from two to three million supporters (aka patrons) worldwide in just one year.
How to get a coding job at Google with an art degree
I wasn't really aware as a kid that game development was a career that I could have, especially from an artist's perspective." That's Ashley Pinnick, a 28-year-old artist and game developer living in San Francisco. Pinnick is a VR Technical Artist for Google, where she's working on Playground, the company's augmented reality app. But three years ago, she was an art school graduate and self-taught virtual reality developer with an uncertain future at her feet. "I was playing games and I knew that there was art there," Pinnick said. "I just didn't put two and two together."
Lenovo's futuristic Yoga Book is a novelty item not worth buying yet
At a time when Apple, Microsoft and Google are pairing their new tablets with keyboards, Lenovo has done the unthinkable. It's completely ditched a true keyboard for a digital sketchpad, trading snappiness, travel and actuation for a smooth, futuristic touch surface. The idea is to offer a note-taking experience that's so effective you'd feel comfortable leaving the keyboard behind. The Lenovo Yoga Book, available in Android ($500) and Windows ($550) versions, is inventive. But Lenovo claims that the Yoga Book is the "ultimate tablet for productivity and creativity," and that's where the company is wrong. Despite plenty of well-intended enhancements, such as multi-window support in the Android model, Lenovo still failed to make device that truly facilitates productivity.
'Ready Player One' filmmakers want your 3D avatars
A bulk of Ready Player One takes place in a digital universe known as the OASIS, a utopian society filled with 3D models of people plugged into the MMO world. Steven Spielberg is directing the film adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel and he's looking to bulk out OASIS with 3D avatars from digital artists around the globe. Anyone with the right skills and determination can submit a 3D avatar via Talenthouse, and Spielberg and co. will choose at least five winners to place in the movie.
ICYMI: Far away haptic hello, birthing robot mom and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-3569{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-3569, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-3569{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-3569").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Haptoclone allows users to touch and interact with distant objects, in a way you have to see to understand. But basically, long-distance makeouts over Skype are coming. Cambridge University researchers designed a robot that can make it's own 'children,' then test them for the strongest features, to then incorporate for the following generation. And the FIA Formula E Championship (the E is for electricity-based power) just showcased its new cars for the start of its second official season.
Dear Veronica: Behind the scenes with Sirron Norris
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-304709{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-304709, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-304709{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-577847").style.display="none";}catch(e){} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-304709").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Sirron Norris is an incredible artist based in San Francisco. If you haven't seen his work spread across the side of buildings all over the world, then you may recognize it from the set of Fox's hit show, Bob's Burgers. I had the chance to chat with him this week about his artistic process, and what tools he used to create the background for the set of our new show, Dear Veronica (which premiers in two days on June 10th)! You can follow Sirron online on Twitter, Instagram, and on his website.
Artist convinces people to sell their private data for a cookie
There's been a huge debate about how companies use personal data, with Apple and Ello squaring off against data-driven companies like Google and Facebook. We place a lot of trust in these corporations, not bothering to read the terms and conditions before clicking agree. Of course, this was how one cyber security firm tricked unwitting Londoners into signing away their first born child in exchange for free WiFi. But it does raise the question of if we're walking blindly into a privacy nightmare of our own making, which is what Risa Puno sought to investigate. The New York-based artist baked 700 cookies in the logos of various social networks, but rather than selling them for cash, she asked passers-by to sell her their personal information.
'Alien' designer HR Giger dead at 74
Yesterday the world lost the man behind one of the most memorable movie villains of all time. HR Giger, the Swiss-born artist who designed the "Xenomorph" monster for the film Alien, passed away at age 74 after suffering injuries from a fall. While he'll be best remembered for visual effects in Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece, Giger was also a prolific surrealist painter and sculptor -- one of his large-format paintings was even the inspiration behind the famous Alien character. Giger's received numerous awards throughout his career, including induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame last year. Sci-fi, cinema and art fans won't be forgetting his work any time soon, but now's a better time than ever to check out this documentary about the making of Alien. [Image credit: Cinephelia and Beyond]
Artist Omocat's surreal RPG Omori channels its inner Earthbound
Omori, a "surreal, exploration, horror RPG" from webcomic artist Omocat bears fleeting similarities to popular games like Nintendo's Earthbound, which may be what pushed it past its $22,000 goal on Kickstarter in just over one day. Omori has players traveling between two worlds, exploring their own memories and uncovering some "hidden truths" between turn-based battles, which are listed as "traditional," though they feature untraditional player statuses "based off real human emotions and conditions." The game is written, directed and illustrated by Omocat with a soundtrack courtesy of chiptune artists Slime Girls and Space Boyfriend, the latter of which directly cites Earthbound, Animal Crossing and Persona as inspirations for the game's music. It is in development for PC and will come to Mac if the project crosses its $50,000 stretch goal. Omocat expects to deliver Omori to backers by May 2015 according to the project's reward tiers, which includes a $15 level that grants donors a copy of the game. [Image: Omocat]
Sonic the Hedgehog box art illustrator Greg Martin passes away
Prolific video game cover artist Greg Martin has passed away, a personal friend announced at the NintendoAge forum this week. Martin illustrated many iconic video game covers throughout the 1990s, establishing distinctive looks for Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series characters and Namco's Pac-Man, in particular. Many Sonic the Hedgehog games released stateside during the Sega Genesis and Game Gear era bear Martin's cover art, including Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic Spinball, among others. Martin created cover illustrations for several Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes-licensed games during his long-running industry stint, and his art also adorned the covers of acclaimed classics like Landstalker, Shining in the Darkness, and Little Nemo: The Dream Master. Several examples of Martin's work can be seen at NintendoAge.
Peripheral Vision 001: Eric Staller
You've never been so popular as when you're riding around the streets of San Francisco in a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle covered in 1,659 flashing lightbulbs. As the pulsing hum of electric generators comes barreling around the corner, it's enough to put a smile on the face of even the most jaded SF resident. "I'm Eric Staller," he introduces himself, as we stand outside the car for a interview, "and I just can't help but answer to my deepest subconscious impulses." Trained as an architect, the New York native soon found his calling as an artist, dabbling in sculpture and performance art at the University of Michigan. By the 80s, Staller's impulses began manifesting themselves as "Urban UFOs," strange apparitions like the Volkswagen Lightmobile and the spherical Bubbleboat that leave the casual city dwelling on-looker wholly unsure of what they've just seen. It's a strange and wonderful sort of electronic magic. Staller also created the ConferenceBike, a seven-person vehicle that has appeared all over the world, most notably becoming a mainstay on the Google campus. We can't think of a better way to kick off our new show Peripheral Vision than a ride around the City By the Bay with Eric Staller.
Check out a day in the life of a KingsIsle artist
What's it like to be an artist working on one of the more visually imaginative MMOs out there? Just ask Melissa Preston, the art lead for Pirate101 who wrote an article looking at what a typical day entails in her job. She says that one of her favorite parts of the day is reviewing the art book to see progress being made: "All of the pieces have to work together to tell a story and they need to be believable in the same world." Much of Preston's job is coordinating between departments and her own team to make sure that everything syncs up. She also provides a few pieces of concept art with explanation as to the stories behind each. It's an interesting job that doesn't always get the spotlight in the way that other developer positions do, so check it out and learn a thing or two about what artists do for MMOs!
Blizzard spotlight on fan artist Dmitriy "Tamplier" Prozorov
I can't draw at all, so it is with a great deal of envy that I look upon works like those of Dmitriy Prozorov, also known as "Tamplier", who is the subject of a feature over on the official site. Winner of the Diablo III portrait of a champion art contest for his exceedingly cool barbarian, there are a lot of excellent works showcased, including an absolutely stunning Maiev Shadowsong, a brutal looking tauren warrior, and several Diablo III angels, including the Imperius shown above. Head on over to the official site now and take a look through Dmitriy's body of work. It's quite impressive. Seriously, check out that picture of Maiev.
Daily iPad App: Draw This App challenges you to refine your drawing technique
Aspiring artists may want to grab their stylus and check out Draw This App from Peter Hamilton. The app improves your drawing skills by practicing your copying technique and challenging you to do better each time you sit down and draw. The app is basic in its scope and is designed for beginning artists looking to improve their skills or more experienced artists who want to practice their copying skills. The app offers a handful of objects that are relatively easy to draw, including 3D shapes like cubes, body parts like eyes and different types of faces. Each object is drawn step-by-step and you are prompted to draw along with the app. You can choose to draw an ear, for example, and the app will draw the ear, one part at a time starting with the outer lobe. You must follow along with this drawing lesson, drawing the ear in increments. The app tracks your drawing technique and grades you based on how you closely you replicate the original object. Don't fret if you are a lefty, the app lets you select your handedness and will grade accordingly. Draw This App is a new app, and the number of lessons are limited. The grading is also easier than I expected. Every once in a while I was careless while drawing, and I still received a decent score (above 20%). Maybe I am a glutton for punishment, but I expected a bigger penalty when I was very sloppy with my technique. Hopefully, the developer will improve the stringency of the scoring, maybe by introducing levels of easy, medium or difficult, and add to the library of drawing tutorials over time. Draw This App is available for free from the iOS App Store. You can unlock the first group of drawing lessons via a 99-cent in-app purchase. It is compatible with iPad and requires iOS 6.1 or later.
Touring the Art of Blizzard at Gallery Nucleus
Earlier this month, Blizzard celebrated the release of its newly published book The Art of Blizzard by opening the doors to a new art exhibition in Alhambra, California. The exhibit, hosted by the local Gallery Nucleus, kicked off with a well-attended Saturday night reception that drew in visitors more accustomed to Fel Reavers than fine art. Attendees covered the full range of demographics, wearing anything from Horde hoodies to shiny stilettos (since people in costume were let in for free, it's important to note that we're referring to the shoes, not the daggers). Massively and our sister site WoW Insider were on hand to take in the spectacle. So what did we see?%Gallery-176765%
Apple settles Retina artwork lawsuit with Swiss artist
Apple has settled a lawsuit with Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald over the illegal use of his piece titled "Eye Closeup," according to CNET. The company and Liewald originally had an agreement in place to use the image, but Liewald maintained in a court filing that the only permission she gave Apple regarding the photograph was to use it for "layout purposes only." Liewald said Apple misused the rights to the image when it appeared on stage at the MacBook Pro's unveiling and in marketing material -- both of which fall under commercial use. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in October 2012 and as of last Wednesday was dismissed, according to recently released court documents. The reason for dismissal was because of a settlement between the parties. Terms of the settlement were not released.
Will work for Wasteland 2: inXile asks fans to create its Unity assets
Wasteland 2 is hosting a crowdsourcing experiment that feels more like a straight-up art contest: interested artists can create game assets in Unity, based on concept images, and inXile will review the entries. inXile will pay and credit artists to use any designs it likes in-game, with other creations that meet the requirements available for purchase in the Unity Asset Store.The first batch of concept art is live now, and artists have one week to create something beautiful and submit it to the Unity Asset Store. inXile has a special start-up artist pack available for free here. The concept art will update weekly until inXile has all the cheap labor assets it can handle.
Senior Artist for Blizzard's next MMO sure likes dieselpunk
It's always a good thing to know the sort of hands in which the art of an upcoming MMO rests. One of Blizzard's senior artists, Nick Carver, has got quite the excellent collection of personal works. As a senior artist, Carver is busy with Blizzard's tremendously mysterious Project Titan, the company's MMO-in-the-making. While personal works may not be indicative of which way an MMO's art team is leaning, these are still well-worth an appreciative gander.There are occasional speed paintings and one-offs, but many of the pieces belong to the world of the dieselpunk or Decopunk city of Dustrum, Carver's personal project. Head over to Kotaku to check out a fine sampling of Carver's work, or hit up his blog to wade hip-deep in the original source.