Gizmodo: illustrations

This Is How an Earthquake Propagates Through the Entire Planet

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST

Wired thinks that Roy A. Gallant's 1950 classic science books need to be updated with 21st-Century style and information. They're right, but while their artwork may be flashier and more accurate, it is not necessarily clearer. Take these two examples.

In the first one, you can try to see how earthquakes propagate through the entire planet in three dimensions. I say "try" because, while the graphic looks very cool, the interpretation of all those information layers is not easy in 3D space. In this case, a classic bi-dimensional cut—using the latest scientific data—would do a much better job at explaining what is basically a symmetric movement through the planet's core. The only better technique would be to add time through animation.

The slicing of Earth's atmosphere has the same problems. It may be fun, but not necessarily clearer than the old 2D version:

The crosscut would show distances more accurately, and the whole representation would be easier to interpret than the fake 3D video. Not to talk about one undeniable fact: I like the Flash Gordon spaceships better. [Wired]

The Art Of Crash Landing On a Terminator's Head

Sean Fallon — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:30:00 EDT

In the book The Art of Terminator Salvation, fans can find hundreds of examples of concept art, storyboards and illustrations from the film.

As you can see, one series illustrates, literally, how to pin a terminator down using a helicopter. Thanks to this storyboard, John Connor was able to pull the feat off in the film. Hit up io9 to check out the rest of the series. [io9 and Amazon]

Mad Men Vector Illustrations For Your iPhone/Computer Desktop

John Mahoney — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:00:00 EDT

Tonight is the season 2 finale of Mad Men. Will Don continue to revel in the shirtless, poolside-martini-sipping, Lolita-tinged free love of euro-riche California? Return to Betty's arms back home in the 'burbs? Or will everyone be stricken simultaneously with lung cancer and cirrhosis of the liver? While you wait to find out, dress your iPhone/iTouch or desktop in one of these beautiful vector illustrations by designer Dyna Moe—there's a new wallpaper for each episode of this season. Ah, when men wore hats. [Dyna Moe on Flickr]

2008 Science Visualization Challenge: Amazing Images Show Science Like You Should

Kit Eaton — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:00:00 EDT

The 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge has just concluded with some pretty astonishing imagery in the winning slots. This picture, dubbed "Glass Forest," is a scanning electron micrograph of diatoms (weird unicellular algae) clinging to a marine worm, and won the photography category: to my eyes it looks half like a palm tree and half like a Star Trek effect. The illustration category winner is even more amazing.

It's by Linda Nye from the Exploratorium Visualization Laboratory, and demonstrates the human bloodstream at a level that zooms from blood-vessel level all the way to oxygen atoms binding to hemoglobin, and everything in between.

I find science pretty amazing full stop: but this kind of competition really goes the extra mile to communicate how intricate the world/universe around us is. Check out the link to the National Science Foundation (who ran the challenge) to see more of the entries...you'll probably be amazed too. [NSF via New Scientist]

Steampunk LEGO TIE Fighter Beats the Crap Out of X-Wing, Shows Amazing Vision of Star Wars Universe

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:36:45 EST

This TIE Fighter, and the X-Wing after the jump, is what happens when you put together Star Wars, LEGO and steampunk in the title of a contest. That and a collective geekgasm. Truth is, as fun as the official Star Wars LEGO models are, home-made models like this steampunk TIE Fighter have a charm that the former can't achieve. The most amazing thing, however, is the source of inspiration for some of these:

The fascinating illustrations above, some of them extremely good, come from a thread titled "Star Wars: Steampunk" at the CGSociety forums. They were part of the inspiration for models like this X-Wing, which is one of the entries of the Steam-Wars contest being held at From Bricks to Bothan forums, a place dedicated to LEGO Star Wars enthusiasts.

But as nice the Alliance star fighter is, I think the reconstruction of the TIE Fighter definitely beats it in terms of design and sheer steampunking:

Although I'm sure some of you will disagree. So,

[CG Society Forums, FBTB Forums and Star Wars contest The Brothers Brick]