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| Death Star II Blueprint Makes It to Kickstarter Posted: 30 Oct 2015 01:54 PM PDT  If it weren’t for talented illustrators and graphics designers, sci-fi inspired gems such as this Death Star II blueprint poster would be even farther from reality. The crowdfunded Death Star II blueprint poster is the creation of Carlos Pardo, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Paris, France. Better known as Made, Pardo has been active in the video game industry, having worked in the past 15 years for such great names as Blizzard, Microsoft, Docomo NTT, Orange, Mattel, Ubi Soft, Mindscape, Havas, Ankama, and others. As a child, he was lucky enough to watch the original Star Wars trilogy on the silver screen, unbeknownst to him that this space saga would later influence both his creative universe and professional life. Here is how Made described his project: “My everyday work is about imagining and building new graphic codes, extending usability and improving the overall experience. Two of my many passions are typography and iconography, I’ve been building my own fonts and icon sets for years, using some for clients, and continuing to work on those tools on my own time. Two years ago I released a design side project that was the cartography of the roads network of France with a subway map stylization, it was the first part of an ongoing serie. It was a long, complex and a very instructive challenge that fueled my taste for maps. During the process of documentation for that project, I stumbled across a lot of interesting schemes, conventions, blueprints, and started wondering about maps of iconic places or objects that influenced and defined me, as a creative. At one point I was looking back for Star Wars, specially the Death Star that always impressed me by it’s monolithic complexity… and I found almost nothing that could go on my workshop walls, only small 3D schemes and a few screen captures… The idea grew and as soon as I completed my France roads cartography, I started documenting and designing my own interpretation of the Death Star, model II. 2 years of determination and more than 400 work hours later, the lost blueprint is almost complete.” The Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign has been a major success, as backers pledged almost 14 times the €4,000 ($4,400) funding goal, with 19 more days to go, as of the time of writing. The rewards range from being credited on the wall of supporters for €1 ($1.10), to 10 digital wallpapers for €5 ($5.50), 9 postcards for €20 ($22), or the Death Star II blueprint poster itself. Thirty early birds had the change to get one poster for €30 ($33), while regular backers could get a pack of 5 posters in A1 format for €170 ($187). Glow in the dark and A0 editions where also available, but those are gone, too. Had there been a corporation involved in this project, there probably would have been thousands upon thousands of posters, but Made likes to provide his creations as limited editions. After all, the artist has to sign all of the blueprints. Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Death Star blasting U.S.S. Enterprise into oblivion over San Francisco, or the laser-cut Star Wars R2-D2 and Millennium Falcon nano puzzles.         |
| 4 Excellent Sites For Geek Shopping Posted: 30 Oct 2015 12:51 PM PDT  The shopping season is just around the corner, and geeks along with everyone else need to start getting gifts for their loved ones. Here are a few suggestions on where to look if you feel like trying out something different, that showcases some of your passions too.
AmazonAmazon is one of the most popular online stores on the web, and you have probably bought stuff there before. What makes Amazon so special is its sheer size and catalog (you could get video game consoles like the PlayStation 4, a fridge, a Game of Thrones book and blu-ray set, and a geeky dress in the same shopping spree!), while also having some of the most incredible and competitive prices on the internet. As Amazon don’t need a physical storefront, they get away with many more discounts compared to many retail stores around the US, and if you’re clever and know what you are looking for, you can get some amazing stuff at cheap prices. Visit Amazon here. EtsyEtsy is a fantastic alternative when you want to shop for cute, fun or plain cool geeky props while supporting independent creators at the same time. Etsy is not much of a store itself, but a place where artists who create things can put them up on their own personal storefront within the site. Everything on Etsy was lovingly created by humans using their own skills as opposed to mass-produced goods, so you can be assured that whatever you wind up getting will be pretty, cool, and unique. Visit Etsy here. ThinkGeekThinkgeek is one of our favorite websites for being very focused, doing one thing only, and getting it just right: allowing users to browse and see geeky things, gadgets, apparel, accessories, toys, shirts and more in one website, at some highly competitive prices. This website allows user to filter by type of gear, by series, and by any other combination (clothes for men or women, stuff for children, and more) so you can be sure that if you browse enought, you will find something that suits what you had in mind just right. Red BubbleGood apparel is hard to come by, and especially good geeky apparel. Trying to find shirts with good designs, quality and in several sizes is an ordeal on its own, but one that Red Bubble solved for us entirely. Not unlike Etsy above, Red Bubble is all about letting individual artists and creators submit their designs which they later stamp on shirts, hoodies, tank tops, and other apparel. Now, be warned: when compared to other websites, Red Bubble initially comes off as slightly more expensive, but once you try out one of their products and wash it for the fourth or fifth time, you will realize where your money went, as it will be just as if you had taken it straight from the package. Seriously, give these guys a chance. Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at The Best Holiday Gaming Sales and 17 Geekiest Holiday Greeting Cards.    |
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