Chainsaw Carving is a Chip Off the Old Block

Chainsaw carving combines the ancient art of carving with the modern technology of the chainsaw, commonly used for tree felling. The artist uses the chainsaw to carve a wooden trunk or block, in a performance that is fascinating to watch.


As with most art forms, chainsaw carving has been used to create fan art of popular media characters from films and games. Most of these character statues are carved from several pieces of wood that are fitted together during the carving process.


Carving of Big Daddy from Bioshock
A chainsaw artist, Jason, creates a chainsaw carving of a Big Daddy from the game, Bioshock. The video below shows the process from selecting wood to completing the tiniest detail.

Above: A video of the chainsaw carving process, which shows a chainsaw artist called Jason carving a Bog Daddy character from the popular game, Bioshock.

Above: The finished sculpture. The large statue is highly detailed and beautifully finished.

Chainsawed Characters from Star Wars

George Lucas's famous movies, Star Wars, have inspired artists to create fan art of the movies' characters. Chainsaw carving lends itself particularly well to woolly and furry characters such as Chewbacca and the Ewoks.

Above: Chewbacca, with Jar Jar Binks. These chainsaw carvings were displayed at an extreme sports event. Apparently the artist won the audience's heart when he cut Jar Jar Binks' head off with a chainsaw.

Above: The Ewoks, a furry alien race from the Star Wars films. The artist has painted the wood to give the statues more character.

Lord of the Rings Characters in Chainsaw Art

JRR Tolkien's famous fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, has a cast of fascinating and unique characters.  A favorite character from the books and films is Gandalf the wizard, with his long beard and flowing robes, this staff-carrying warrior wizard is highly recognizable, even from afar.

Above: A flat panel chainsaw carving of Gandalf the Grey, from The Lord of the Rings. 

Above: A B-grade depiction of Gollum, mutated hobbit who lives underground and speaks in sibilant riddles.

Above: An ent, a tree character, carved into the trunk of a living tree. Ents can move, talk and have a culture of their own.

Read More on Art-Sci:

 Are QR Codes Replacing Barcodes?

 Beautiful Tattoo Designs for Girls

 Glass Sculpture Gives a Clear View on Design

 Mythological Creatures Displayed in Japanese Museum

 Rubik's Cubes Twist and Turn into Artworks

 The Ministry of Silly Walks

Creative Cartoon Chess

Chess sets are traditionally made up of characters found in a medieval royal court. Cartoon chess pieces still use the traditional labels such as king, queen, knight and pawn, yet the human subjects  have been replaced with the characters of popular cartoons and games.


Cartoon Chess Sets
Traditional chess set designs are based on the opposing colors of black and white, to distinguish each players' pieces and squares. The vibrant cartoon characters allow chess sets to be filled with color and personality, creating an appeal for younger chess players.

Above: Characters from the popular children's TV series, The Smurfs, are the subject of this cartoon chess set. Papa Smurf is the king and Smurfette is the queen.

Above: This chess set is based on Nintendo's famous console game, Mario Brothers. Cartoon chess sets are mostly made of plastic, which means that they are more child-friendly than the stone, glass or wood chess sets of the past.

Above: Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends become playing pieces for this character chess set set based on the cartoon, Peanuts.

Above: Marge and Homer Simpson play the part of king and queen in this cartoon chess set.

Above: This cartoon chess set boasts characters from the adult cartoon, South Park, with Kenny as the pawn.

Read More on Art-Sci:

 10 Internet Meme Tattoos

 10 Paintings by Adolf Hitler

 Calvin and Hobbes Fan Art: Tattoos

 Music Recycled into Art

 Paintings by Elephants

 Photoshop Turns Skinny Celebrities into Famous Fatties

10 Where's Waldo Puzzles Online

We're looking for a guy. He could be anywhere. He looks like this dude;

He's known by many names; Waldo, Walter, Wally or Willy, Charlie,  Valli, Hetti, Holger and Effy. Sometimes he's accompanied by his friends, Wizard Whitebeard, Wanda and Woof.

       

His arch enemy Odlaw can sometimes be seen, up to his usual tricks, no doubt.

I don't know why we're looking for him, but have a go, it's good fun. Click on the image to open a large version in a new tab. Where's Waldo?

More about Waldo in

Where's Waldo? Where's Wally? Where's Walter?

The Waldo's on the Wall

Read More on Art-Sci:

 Best Photoshopped Man Animal Hybrids
 Incredible Tattoo Designs
 Internet Meme Graffiti
 Lord of the Rings Inspires Real Hobbit Houses
 Sam Spratt has PAINTED ALL THE MEMES!
 Street Art goes Skin Deep with Graffiti Tattoos
 Tattoo Humor: Mooning Belly Buttons

20 Arcade, Video and Computer Game Graffiti Artworks

Graffiti art is often an expressive, albeit illegal, way for street artists to express their opinions on social and political affairs. However, sometimes graffiti artist create fan art of celebrities, movies or computer games. This street fan art is simply a way of expressing appreciation for characters that have become a part of the artist's life.

Classic Arcade Games in Graffiti Art

Classic arcade games like Tetris, Space Invaders and Pacman have memorable, pixellated characters or objects that frequently find their way into graffiti fan art. The pixels can be created out of paint, tiles or painted squares of materials such as cardboard or wood.

Above: Fan art graffiti of the arcade game Tetris, made using colorful plastic packing crates.

Above: This gaming graffiti piece uses craft mosaic tiles to create a pixellated image of the alien characters from the arcade game, Space Invaders.

Classic Video and Computer Games in Graffiti

Besides arcade games, there are a number of classic computer games that have found their way into street artworks. Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, Lemmings and Worms were a staple diet for gamers back in the late 80s and 90s. With the advent of gaming consoles, gamers could play their favorite games from the comfort of their own homes instead of going out to an arcade.

Above: These tile mosaics show Mario from the popular Nintendo game, Mario Brothers, in a classic, pixellated style.

Above: This piece of street art uses beer coasters to create a pixel image of Link from the Legend of Zelda.

Above: Lemmings painted on a bridge over a busy road way. Several lemming graffiti pieces have popped up around the world, usually on bridges over freeways and highways. The artworks are often accompanied by the phrase, "Hello Lemmings!"

Above: A classic Worms character greets pedestrians from a street corner. The game's graphics changed drastically with the introduction of Worms 3D.

Recent Games

The current gaming industry focuses heavily on graphics. Computer games and console games now have highly detailed scenes and characters that present new challenges for game playing graffiti artists. Spray paint, however, can create a smooth, 3D effect when used by a skilled graffiti artist. Luckily there are many games that use a cartoon style for their characters, making a graffiti rendering of the characters easier for street artists.

Above: Graffiti artworks showing characters from Street Fighter.

Above: Commissioned graffiti depicting an image from the video game, Halo, followed by an artist's interpretation of a Halo character.

Above: Samus Aran, the bounty hunter from the video game series Metroid.

Above: The Sony Corporation commissioned several graffiti artworks to advertise their new product, the PSP. The googly-eyed cartoon characters are each holding a PSP.

Above: Bioshock graffiti art

 

Above: A spray-painted 22nd Century vehicle from the game R-Type

 

Above: Large graffiti piece of Starcraft's Typhus, smoking a cigar. Artists' mediums like spray cans and air brush canisters allow for a soft, smoky effect.

 

Above: Grand Theft Auto graffiti

Read More on Art-Sci:
 3-D Graffiti Sculptures Hit the Streets 
 Graffiti: Art or Vandalism? 
 Performance Artist or Just Another Weirdo?  
 Photoshop Humanoids
 Tattoo Humor: Mooning Belly Buttons 
 Tattoos That are Invisible in Daylight