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…

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,…

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…

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…

While exploded views can be traced all the way back to the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, it wasn’t until the manufacturing boom of the mid-twentieth century where the term “Exploded View Drawing” became an industry standard for engineering and manufacturing professionals. Today, fascination with exploded views has crossed over into the mainstream as these…

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 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…

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…

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…

It met us against the sunrise, hands overturning pebbles on the edge of night. A roar to dine, a sword to bind, and seconds until the sun did shine. But wait! The bag, the mirror, the trail. Suddenly the sun broke the cloudy veil, stole the night, bent the gale and froze the troll in…

A purple burp of a slime biter hid amongst the thicket. The scale-charred sword of the guhl shard drug across the dirt inches away. Though hidden, the blades could cut, giving seconds to escape perhaps, but more assured it would be, they could shoot from the trees, after coating their blades with these links. Marnix…

While he is best known for setting intricate matchstick pieces aflame, there is undoubtedly more substance to YouTube creator BLACKHAND than your average pyromaniac. Case in point: his wooden smartphone photography slider using little more than wood and a few metal fixtures. Beginning with two reasonably large holes drilled into a piece of wood, he…

Blocks fell charred and knurled from the flame lined jaw of the timber chewer. Each halted bump of its immense body shook the trees blanketing the wall of our escape. With our elm and metal armor and twisted pinon bone spindles we would have to move quickly and be sure to coat each piece in…

A strong wind swept across the drenched black sand. The limestone mountains gleaming in the crisp morning air. The entrance close. The razor ’s gears cutting around each cube of solid light. Each surface smooth. The brightest one of all riddled with time shards of these links. Aaron Limonick – LA-based concept artist with a range of…

It began slowly, a low hum buried in a flea-bitten haze of fur and glowing eyes. What we were hearing in the cavern and what we were measuring on the nibblometer didn’t match though. The power readings were off the charts, and all we could do is huddle in the corner, cover our eyes, and…

Thunder clapped around the base of the red metal arms tearing up through the soil and fog. An uncountable number of drones shot from the launch bays on its back, streaming laser beams and orange juice streams, all moving as a single entity at the bidding of its master, attempting to quell the fiery rage…

Satchels swung from the fenceposts snagged on the barbs by the passerby’s whipping past on steel steed with wind on their heels chasing a pint of mead. Rusted eyes would catch a glimpse of the bags against the sun, oiled eons past when the mechs tilled the land, bound to happen again once hatch the…

15 million water spouts dripped against a noticeable stench rising out of the eroded interior of the last great Puchaungle warrior’s shell. Hollow, crumbles of metal flakes fought floating against the drops and every once in a while the sounds all came together like a song, a song sifting a course, asking for these links.…

We heard the crunch as we stepped up on the platform. Wood. Metal clamps. Held together with what looked like veins of a five-day-old onion thrown against the wall and dowsed with curry powder. The smell wasn’t too dissimilar. We had two choices, continue on and make the ridge before dark or settle in, grill…

A tailwind caught the sails. We could do it – cut the reefs and jump the sandbars. We would have to hit the engine cycles perfectly though and make sure the cords held the turnip load. Fear would have overtaken us, but we had plenty of cord, cord made from the sinew of these links.…

Tired and torn the Chinzwhithal cut a furrow at the canyon pass up to the chiseled peaks of Monteretch, collapsing at dusk having cut just deep enough to unblock the spring where the vein would now fill with the nectar of these links. Maciej Drabik – New space scenes and cities (plus a city kitbash set) with…

From the top of the trees it took more time but going by ground or sky was impossible. The limbs provided us brief cover when melon seeds would come exploding through the leaves. The only thing we knew for sure is that these incredibly massive weather anomalies could only be generated by these links. JaeCheol…

We slid down, hitting each branch as we went, as we meant. For, if we hadn’t, we surely would have been caught in the sudden ooze of the of the Slinktree sap. It happened only every 18 months and was the only time we could capture the bore weevils pincer flares, dripping with the liquid…

Glances from beneath their transparent sheath missed us as we hid, the hair of their eye jibbles quivering in time with the rattles of their undulating movements, moistening the corridor with the critical ingredient needed to find, extract, and combine these links. Mack Sztaba – A concept artist with a wide range of talent, particularly in the…

Eight times we ran the code. Line upon line scrolled past, reflected in the hollow glass orbs festooned across its metal skull. The inch-long tusks would jitter occasionally as the eyes shuddered and lit, as if it were anxious to finally catch a glimpse of these links. Reza Afshar – Wonderful pieces of nearly abstract…

A blue moss wall, iced with frost spider webs, grappled its way past roots and branches of the Shornfort realm. The forms would glisten and melt, recrystallized with a shrill scream as you pass holding your finds, cold shadows waiting to be within reach of these links. Nick Gindraux – Ancient dragon riders, old Russian…

A small edge was all but was left. We had plenty of rivets though, rivets and enough mech shards to till the thousand acre leek fields. Building back the launchpad would take time, of course, but the body’s internals we’re all intact. New armor and a blast shield would work better this time. This time,…