The ice of lands and fallen dirigibles among the sands blended a jagged crust against the horizon. Five were there, ready with leathers and vorpal tinder scabbards trimmed in the glittering fury of these links. Timothée Mathon – Huge range of ability from exacting detail in character concepts to vast, amazingly lit medieval scenes. Blindsight…
Echos bellowed with a razor battered cut and clang against the steel rock-conveyor troughs. All was not what was heard and even less what was seen. Beneath the rumble a stretching screech, drawn from deep within the cavity between each breath that carried with it the odor of these links. Aw Anqi – Light and…
Dribbles of paint-infused light pushed through the cracks of its split-iron chin. We had stabuals upon stabuals of chin pickers and beast-arm blast batteries but nothing that would breach the bronze edifice of these links. A. Shipwright – A self-described ‘amateur’, he’s anything but. Sketches and water color of monster and beast, creature and knight,…
The hoards assembled, shoveling trenches, raising lush bean trebuchets to pull attacks to the five walls. Only the titans lying in respite beneath the towers would be able to deter their onslaught but we would need to reach the lower portcullis first to trigger these links. Oleksiy Rysyuk – Battle-worn ships and spacestation scenes, dark,…
All around us, the cavities emptied, spreading apart with a hiss and a pop. The floor moved – Everywhere, it moved. And then, as if out of nowhere, the ship appeared, reverse thrusters on, incinerating anything around it unshielded by the fire-retardant off-gas of these links. David Thor Fjalarsson – He’s an illustrator and comic…
I apologize for not publishing a Friday Smackdown in so long! What happened??W! Well, I took a little break over the summer and got carried away with the laziness. Do keep sending exciting and interesting things you see throughout the week and I’ll wrap it up with the best inspiration, art, music, photography, and more…
Drenched from the light of an ice-coated moon, the grass of the thousand field marsh split each side of a sliver wind. A top it rode Shimmy Gripples, eyes blazing, hand of ice and the other of fire gripping the reins of these links. Tomàs Barceló – A sculptor since he was a child, Tomàs…
When we started harvesting the Gloobs of Moondrahr we hadn’t considered their spiky exteriors and razor-like barbs effect on our mesh containment system. Fortunately, we had just enough propellant left to spray-line the interior with the plasticy protection of these links. Tan Zhi Hui – His skewed stylings are a beauty to behold. Characters you’ll…
The ink-spun articles flew by the wind, caught by the branches of locust. Sands and soils of ancient people blew while a gear’s grinding drew in the weight of minute’s time. And there, in the filtered light, fur blazing, holsters tilted, triggers ready, with red eyes of fury targeting a mound of melon balls topped…
A cold wave of grassy air spilled through the alleyway. As we circled the bend, there, at the horizon, we saw thousands. Thousands, spreading through the street as if they had grown there for ages, dropping chaff, sprouting tubers, and working their way toward the mineral-rich core of these links. Alex Konstad – His characters…
Outside the worn iron gate, a north wind blew at their backs as they approached. All five, scarred from battle, hardened by storm, returned with the largest cache of dried licorice root the village had ever seen, extracted, they came to learn later, from the stringy cheek meats of these links. Ryan Gitter – A…
Battle-worn stiltbots of the rim village hollows hung in the root-wrenched cliffs. Once they took flight our stunners would be useless unless we could disable the plasma shields with the blast charge of these links. Paul Chadeisson – These ships. So many. Orbiting planets, landing aircraft, carrying out missions, some abandoned. Amazing work, and more…
A flood of tumbling cedar berries filled the root burrows of waxwing ravine. Near its end the tendrils wrapped and fell in quiet ease as the rumbling grew louder and the edges of the sky broke open at the rising of these links. Pavel Vophira – The pastely, muted tones our my favorite in the…
Tumbling across the crust of the stinjin’ bog, a band of the small creatures amassed toward the hill. In the distance five of the machines broke the horizon, sun at their backs and the blood of a thousand worlds pumping through their veins to these sound of these links. Tianhua Xu – He may be…
The spindles dropped through the clouds in a rhythm one by one then returning. It had happened for years and only with the clouds of the fifth moon. It wasn’t until years later that we would learn these were the legs of the Clenderbeasts sprinting through the rain layer of these links. Jan Sarbort -…
Tufts of bound sticks stood across the red dirt fields. We’d have to feed the machines twice today — some of them had just returned and their conveyors had been affected by the journey. Oh, and then there were the spores. We didn’t expect them to attach and spread so quickly but was likely due…
The three were seen on a highland hill, naught but a blade unsheathed and triggered. Whose minds were reveled in the dire, and arrows spine bent higher than, both width and span, when tired grew, and tomorrows undo, until they uncovered these links. Pablo Dominguez – I featured him a year ago but he’s been…
Transmissions through the corridor were not uncommon but this one contained the fears and joys of a thousand worlds. We could only expect what was to come and knew, somehow, it was tied to the innocuous, strange hum coming from these links. Jimmy Knives – Low brow. maybe. Wild. definitely. Bat faces, eye heads, and…
A blanket of read posies collapsed against its metal skin, contrasted by the oil-charred joints and rusted thrust rods. We had five total, and a hundred more in various pieces. We had enough for the harvest, but first there were the couplers to build; the only way they could link minds through the protein absorption…
Lurching forward with the gait of a bow-legged frog, it grappled the starboard blast door, slowing the ship in its departure. Lacking the chin flap fur shavings of the eldersquirrel, we would need to increase rear thruster capacity with a small squeeze of these links. David Aguero – Massive, wonderful scenes of distant planets, spacecraft,…
When the opening collapsed and the purple sludge seeped past the ivy-lined crevices, time almost seemed to stop, frozen in a moment where we could neither see the other side nor extract the bag of happy from its resting place behind the swollen kneebone of these links. Dániel Taylor – Rich, surreal, 3-dimensional, cel-shaded illustration…
A jellyfiggle of small proportions galloped into the stableyard shifting its gaze toward the pump house. We had two options 1) wait until it crossed the bleed gate or 2) raise an electrified fence quickly around our perimeter using the jagged edges, wire spinners, and spring arms of these links. Aleksandr Chernobai – There’s something captured…
A jellyfiggle of small proportions galloped into the stableyard, shifting its gaze toward the pumphouse. We wouldn’t be able to use the blast hoses against its wily thorax flaps, but if we could trigger the flame retardant system, there may be a chance to protect us against its use of these links. Fernando Correa -…
A thickly knitted mist settled around the aft cargo bay. We could override the shield group, leaving our cover exposed, but ensure the vacuum pods would be primed for expelling anything that would try to siphon out these links. Encho Enchev – Futuristic concept ships? Yes, please. And Sofia-based 3D artist, Encho Enchev, has some…
Frogs chirped amidst the flooded bank of a moon-drenched pond. Little was known about when they arrived or whence they came. One thing was certain though, they seemed to grow louder with closer proximity to these links. Gernot Buder – Incredible work all around but the clean lines and contrast in his concept work (especially…
The crack and split of the paper cunkles ended as quickly as it started. Stacks upon stacks lined the warehouse with only the edges charred, but their fleshy interiors were still roomy enough to move around in plus forage enough to keep from freezing after the sun set and all was frosted with the icy…
A thick fog enveloped the lake and most of the bank where we stood. Outside of the haze, the dark purple lights of their eyes flickered, trying to adjust, trying to make out our forms shielded by the thin, misty veil; a veil that would hide us as long as the unrelenting fragrance persisted from…
The Friday Smackdown is a collection of the best links in art, design, music, and photography we’ve come across over the week. Have one to add? Share it here! The snow fell against the limbs where we sat; Nothing but the occasional whirring of one of our sentinel’s lens defoggers breaking the crisp air. Though…
When the curtain of rock fell, the display was more magnificent than we ever could imagine. There amidst the rubble of the petrified fabric rose the ancient light vines of the Shogereth, growing for centuries from the earthen orb of these links. Li Shuxing – If I had to define epic and show you a…
Setting off toward the sun, stilting his was down the silted, ash lined maze of a murky mountainside trial, Fitz McBunkle… charged. Though his forearms were lined with blades and his single eye ablaze, it was a slight hesitation in his smirk, a mis-step and a burp, that caused one stilt to split and skewer…
The massive Grigglus Quod bent beneath the bridge to avoid the dust storm’s gale. While some may have thought their presence unnerving, their arrival produced a strange warmth that made the fingertips of everyone above the water glow like the petals of a lightning flower that had been soaked in these links. Ivana Besevic -…
The landscape spread before his peglegs, all nine of them, some wrapped to his hobbled trochanters with makeshift tarsal claws cut from barnside tin. He’d seen decades of fighting, hair matted, antennae torn, but still plenty of seeds scraped from the hulls of these links. Aleks Petruk – Huge color for huge scenes that you’ll…
The oil-charred smell of the tar post pile flared the nostril of ever horse and rider that passed by. The wind was thick with the odor with the sand whipping the brows of the watchers on the hill who the vinelings kept control over with these links. Su Jian – So many new pieces since…
Fins 10 feet tall shot from the placid surface. Upon their edges hung the weeds of the Dorsal Sea, thousands hitting the wind with speeds that sliced our skin with salt and light shooting from every stipe and blade between the rays of these links. Marc Simonetti – Currently working for MPC, the very talented…
Fins rose from the surface froth with the viney sap that had us stuck at the inlet. We knew we could set it ablaze but had to time it right — the one match we held was the one we would need to both burn the vine swamp and ignite the five-headed wick of these…
The mouth of the canyon crumbled away, wider than our cable would stretch, but certainly a distance we could cross were we to make it quickly enough across the shoulders of the Sturble Chanks. Rising fast it was, with our siftpack blasters moving us faster toward the edge of these links. Brett Northcutt – ILM…
The charge lifted the water and, filtering through the droplets, formed multiple orbs of static mist. Our blades would have to be faster than its, and the only advantage we had were the rail laser grease drippings of these links. Beeple – “Dude who makes crap.” From the commically surreal ‘Little Rocket Man’ to other…
The rocky steps sifted down the slope to the bottom of the falls. Blackrocks crossed beneath the fallen pineknob spires and all the seeds floated about like a spiny snow. We would have step carefully, watching for the glow to appear from any cracks that would form in the thin coating of these links. Karl…
Liniments and soliloquies permeated the ground cover. From whence did the oily salves and voices emanate? The shutter beneath the leaves were a sure sign they were below, and getting closer, ever after the sweet, syrupy, mesmerizing blinks of these links. Philipp Dobrusin – Got to love Philipp’s art of story telling. This concept artist…
Five straps past the port bow unlashed the mast, undoing the to latch to the hold. We had nine of them there, reprogrammed to fight with us, strewn together with our adversaries ancient magic, parts off the other ships, most of the missile batteries, and these links. Col Price – Can’t get enough of Col’s…
It was a vast crucible of beetles and malarky–the two things you were always aware of but never wanted to see combined. Somehow they had been joined together. And the indescribable horror they produced shuttered all hope, save for the light chain rays, if we could but reach them, of these ventricle-expanding links. Jerome Comentale…
A temporal blast ripped through the leaves of the fork tine trees. The walls that had been constructed from shards of its metal bark were holding but we’d have to time the next blast just right if we were to make our escape down the vines of these links. Santa Norvaisaite – Oriental treasures depicted…
Five midnights of the mountain sun and the islands rising had yet to be done. Floating higher, inch by inch, roots had been trimmed to clear the lower portals for the fighters to deploy. We had thousands, but it would take all we had and more to take on the soul-blazing power of these links.…
Sheets draped the landscape. Bleached white by the nine minor suns. Though the valley was still lush, the charred portal flickered in its midst. Our suits would protect us from the chipmunk hoards that burrowed near it but we would have to siphon off half of the blood stores to keep them from gnawing away…
Pins under the skin of the Metal Jibbler’s jaw scrapped its veins of conduit and carbon fiber. Five tons of its legs pushed through the trees and against the edge of our turrets on each side. We’d have to get the powder charges in five of the nine joints and use the complete heat-syncing capability…
Gentle steps across the cane forest floor and up the battle’s hill, we stole a look at the position of each drone scout, daring to evade its scan and light them enough to have the home base fire these links. Michael Herm – Mech toy designer who will be launching on Kickstarter later this year.…
Ten times the bow dipped and the bow slipped beneath the pale gray waves. Then out from the shore, the beams struck our path, through a sea writhing with the tentacles of these links. Pablo Dominguez – Incredible array of ships, scenes, creatures and more with experiments in VR modeling from this ILM Concept Artist.…
A colander of crevices stretches out before, the red smoke of the Sting Coral crawling out against every edge. We knew five of the caverns amidst them were safe but to know the path to any we would need these links. Paul Chadeisson – He creates concepts of massive ships, then makes them even more…
Thunderheads above logrolled plains split the night and lit the glitter-swollen veins of the dragon moths. Since we hadn’t yet lit the path torches, we were certain the carts hadn’t been seen, that is unless their eyes had been coated with these heat-sensing links. Glen Johnson – Creator of epic biomechanical and biotronican ecological environments,…