Manhole Cover Art Photographed by S. Morita

Numerous manhole cover art examples

Japan-based Photographer S. Morita has taken scores of photographs of manhole covers throughout Japan. The manhole covers were designed by artists entering design contests, and there are now more than 6000 of these colourful and artistic covers.

SEE ALSO: Stunning Street and Sidewalk Chewing Gum Art.

Apparently, there are loads of these that feature trees, along with landscapes, birds and floral designs, too. Check out the rest. My favourite is the one with the Panda, what’s yours?

Gallery // Manhole Cover Art

This is an example of manhole cover art which shows a tree next to some water

On this manhole cover there are flowers and the word Takahamar written

Jill metric pattern on manhole cover which is square

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25+ of the Best Man Caves Ever Imagined!

Man Cave Idea - a batcave

Ah, the ‘Man Cave’, a place where men can sit down and relax. A place to get away from some of the many hassles of life and enjoy a movie or game of pool. In this selection of man-caves, there’s a range of styles to see, from Batman and Star Trek-themed basements to posh elegant-looking secret rooms. I’m sure that the wives’ regularly use these rooms, too! Check them all out below… [above image via]

See Also: Top 17 Secret Compartments.

Gallery // Man Caves

man-cave for star wars

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dream mancave image

Stunning Dog Trash Can Ad Campaign

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I love this set of poster ads for “Dog Chow” pet food. The strapline ‘Stop treating your dog like a trashcan’ explains this series of bin/dog hybrids rather well, don’t you think?

See Also: Wonderfully Clever Bench Advertising.

The way that the dogs’ eyes are fixed upon their owners dumping leftovers into their mouths is a nice touch. However, didn’t anyone doing market research tell ‘Dog Chow’ that dogs actually like leftover food? See the rest of the images below…

image of a dog trash can

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Coloured Fishing Nets Suspended in the Sky by Janet Echelman

These wonderfully-intricate coloured fishing nets are created and constructed by artist, Janet Echelman. Drawing inspiration on a trip to India as a Fulbright Scholar, she saw that some fishermen in the village of Mahabalipuram were using nets of high quality of strength. For some reason, she had a creative idea to somehow suspend nets like the ones she saw, in the air — in the sky!

See also: Carpark Drenched in Color.

Since this trip to India earlier in her career, Echelman has travelled around the globe installing these net sculptures at varied locations. Take a look at the gallery below, I think you’ll be pleasantly amazed…

Gallery // Coloured Fishing Nets by Janet Echelman

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Exclusive Interview with Illustrator Andrew Denholm

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This amazingly-colourful work is created by Scottish freelance illustrator, Andrew Denholm, who loves to design illustrations that are fun, bold and outlandish! Apart from ultra-colourful creations, he also enjoys working with monotone prints as well (check out his Behance profile for more work).

★ Here’s a set of 12 questions I asked Andrew about his work, including his Top 3 design tips at the end. There’s a selection of his work scattered throughout this article for you to view. Here goes…

1. Tell the Design Soak Magazine readers about yourself. What motivates you?

My name is Andrew Denholm and I am from Melrose in the Scottish Borders. I studied Illustration at Edinburgh art college and have worked as a freelance illustrator for the past 4 years. I currently live in London as I believe it is the best place to be to promote myself as a illustrator.

I love making new designs and illustrations. I think self satisfaction has to be a major thing for any artist. If you stop wanting to create then that is a problem. As long as you are motivated to keep doing what you enjoy most then it is a pleasure to work.

colourful mask

2. When did you first start illustrating? Where did it all begin?

I started illustrating as soon as i could pick up a crayon. I would copy pictures my older brother had drawn, trying to make them as similar as I could to his. I would be very happy to sit down at home and draw for long periods and as i got older i began keeping sketch books full of cartoons and different characters. My parents always had paper and pens for me to use and this really helped fuel my passion for drawing as they where very encouraging.

3. How did you ‘find your own style’? Have you always used the same illustration methods?

I would copy a lot of cartoons characters when i was young from the Beano, computer games or TV shows. This then developed into me trying to make my own cartoons and slowly I found a style I was comfortable drawing in. When I was in art school I made huge leaps in how I would draw as I ditched the cartoon style and tried to make my work look like wood cuts and lino cuts. I really liked the textures and patterns that could be created with these techniques. My drawings started to then merge the two styles together becoming quite textured and detailed but with cartoon elements, trying to keep as much humour in the illustrations as possible that reflected the cartoon roots. I have tried many other ways of drawing with different mediums but feel happiest with pen and paper. I do most of my colouring on Photoshop now though as I love the smooth finishes it gives compared to colouring pencils or pens.

Andrew Denholm Illustration

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Brett Kern Ceramics Are Deceptively Stunning

Brett Kern Ceramic green Dinosaur

Brett Kern Ceramic Blue Dinosaur

Take just one look at these wonderful ceramic creations, and you may think that they’re inflatable. In fact, these pieces of art are just made to look this way. It’s part of the allure that this selection of work, by sculptor and creative Brett Kern, display.

All the objects displayed here are made from — wait for it — clay. I think Brett has done a wonderful job, and they look nearly identical to the objects that they represent. I’m impressed—what about you? Check out the rest of the gallery…

Brett Kern Ceramic green Dinosaur

Brett Kern Ceramic Blue Dinosaur

Brett Kern Ceramic back of spaceman

Brett Kern Ceramic Spaceman

Brett Kern Ceramic Pink Dinosaur

>> SEE THE FULL SET OF IMAGES HERE <<

See These Secret and Intricate Fore-Edge Paintings

See These Secret and Intricate Fore-Edge Paintings

These secret and intricate Fore-Edge Paintings are from the Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa, which were provided by Colleen Theisen. She shared stunning gif animations that show fore-edge painting. The technique used shows painting on the sides of old books, that can only be seen when the pages are spread out (as shown in the images below). The Fore-Edge Paintings shown are based upon the four seasons:

Fore-Edge Painting: Summer

Secret Fore-Edge Painting for Summer

Book animation gif

Further Information:

All images and Gif animations displayed within this post are copyright © University of Iowa. Found via Thisiscolossal.


Like this post? Then see Realistic Oil Paintings of Wet Windows.

See the rest of this Amazing Post on Design Soak Here