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The internet can be such a wonderful place sometimes (as long as Congress doesn’t get its hands on it). It holds all sorts of treasures for nostalgia-driven fanatics like myself who see a search bar as nothing more than a fancy version of One-Eyed Willie’s treasure map from The Goonies. A recent “expedition” into cyberspace yielded an especially good find: rare, previously never-before-seen concept artwork for the original Thundercats cartoon by illustrator and voice actor Jim Meskimen. If someone had told 10-year-old me that seeing something like this would be possible I probably would have guffawed and continued eating my Mr. T cereal… but it’s true!

Revealed (presumably) for the first time last July in the Thundercats.ws forums, keen-eyed fans of the series can spot several lesser-known (but equally and fondly remembered) supporting characters in addition to a few that never actually made it on the show. Check out a select few below and for the entire gallery, be sure to visit the Thudnercats.ws forums.

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Illustration-a-Day is an irregularly updated art blog by Minnesota-based illustrator and designer Matt Kaufenberg’s (aka skutterfly). Despite the irony of the name the site features a series of work inspired by a toy catalog in which Kaufenberg illustrates a completely random and obscure toy. Among the entries are an “Alien Astronaut” from Fisher-Price, a G.I. Joe and Kid Vid – the “uber cool” mascot for Burger King Kid’s Club back in early 90s.

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Have you checked out our Fuel Your Illustration flickr group? Come join us, we’ve got lots of awesome artists sharing their work. Want to be included in the next Five Flickr Friday? Tweet us on twitter with the #FFF hashtag!

Enjoy!

Saposaraso

Lauren Peppiatt

Jeffrey Timmins

Sarah Swanton

Daniel Mackie

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I confess. While I wasn’t the girliest of little girls, I did love to collect horses. And My Little Pony fell close enough into the “Horse” category that I was all over them. I loved Gusty the most. She was sarcastic, boyish, a prankster, and not afraid to tell you like it was. I haven’t watched My Little Pony since the early 90s, but you’d have to be living under a rock to not know that these cute little Hasbro ponies are making a large comeback. They were first created in 1982, but they have lost none of their charm. A few friends of mine have started creating some of their own original MLP designs (you can see whole slew of custom MLPs on deviantart) and I’ve recently found myself doodling little Applejacks in the corners of my notebook. Oh how I love nostalgia.

The real reason for this post is to share with you a recent project called the Pony Creator, created by DeviantArtist GeneralZoi. I have her to thank for spending way too many hours on this thing, creating my own custom pony. GeneralZoi has given the user a multitude of options to customize every pony – including a bajillion hairstyles, colors, eye shapes, accessories, and even developed a way to allow the happy little My-Little-Pony-lover to post their pony in whatever position.

I’m serious. This thing is badass. And will take ALL of your productivity away within minutes. I’m warning you now. While she probably spent a lot of time making this awesome customzier, I have probably spent even more time making ponies. But I’m willing to sacrifice my Pony time in order to share with you this find. Because I’m nice like that. Now it’s your turn.

What does your My Litlte Pony look like?

Enjoy! Thank you GeneralZoi for making my life a little more My-Little-Pony-ish.

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Not to isolate the male comic book artists out there, but as a geeky girl with an intense attraction to visual storytelling, I absolutely love learning about female artists and how they’ve managed to infiltrate the primarily male-dominated field. I’m going to focus today’s Webcomic Wednesday, not on webcomics (gasp!), but on their printed counterpart, and showcase a phenomenal Kickstarter project that is celebrating the work of 140 talented female comic book artists: Womanthology, a 300 page anthology already in production that is finally giving women recognition for their amazing comics. It’s the first of its kind and I’m already hoping for another one in the future.

The Massive All Female Comic Anthology!

The creator of the project is Renae De Liz, a professional comic book artist and illustrator of the graphic novel version of The Last Unicorn (which I own and love to pieces – her style of drawing suits the emotion of the tale perfectly). She undertook this incredible anthology project when she began to notice a lack of female artists being published and had an idea that quickly took off.

The goal of the Kickstarter project was originally a small $25,000 to publish 1500 books. Now, with 11 days to go, the project has received $67,000 in donations from art lovers the world over, and they’ve raised their goal to $100,000 and are hoping that with this goal, they’ll be able to do a whole lot more. Even with the project deadline approaching, I have a feeling Renae will reach her goal and some. Why not help her out?

More Womanthology Links

• Official Kickstarter Page
• Womanthology Blog
• Full List of Contributing Artists
• Womanthology Twitter
• Womanthology Facebook Page

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I’m on somewhat of a roll this week, so what better way to close things out than with a brand new edition of Five Flickr Friday, right? Consider it a little something to get your artistic mojo going before the weekend kicks in– kinda like a 5 Hour Energy drink for your creative drive.

Daniel Avilés

Gary Kelley

Felideus Bubastis

Grzegorz Domaradzki

Christian Nauck

Want your artwork to be included in official Fuel Your Illustration Flickr stream? If so, let us know and you just might be featured on our upcoming Five Flickr Friday! Just tweet us your image and use the hashtag #FFF to get our attention.

© All rights reserved by their respective creators.

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Spring time is in full swing and you know what that means… okay, I’m really not sure what that means, but what I do know is that Easter is this coming Sunday and it’s bringing tons of chocolate candies along with it. For those of you who haven’t yet seen Hop, this weekend would be the perfect excuse to do so, but if you’re budget’s looking rather slender these days I thought we might offer a small dose of Easter-themed cheer (and just a smidgen of fear).

skinnyandy

Dragan Kovacevic

andi butler

Vince Chui

David Griffiths

Want your artwork to be included in official Fuel Your Illustration Flickr stream? If so, let us know and you just might be featured on our upcoming Five Flickr Friday! Just tweet us your image and use the hashtag #FFF to get our attention.

© All rights reserved by their respective creators.

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All I have to say is “don’t call it a comeback.” Returning to a column after so long is kinda like trying to convince your ex-girlfriend that you can “still be friends.” You hope that she’ll be able to accept it, but you’d settle for a one night stand. For me, trying to pick back up where I left off with Five Flickr Friday is very much the same… okay, maybe it’s not really that similar, but it’s still hard to pick only 5 favorites in a sea of awesome.

The Drawing Machine

Gareth Leyshon

Eduardo S. Rosa

Alvaro Tapia

Coté Escrivá

Want your artwork to be included in official Fuel Your Illustration Flickr stream? If so, let us know and you just might be featured on our upcoming Five Flickr Friday! Just tweet us your image and use the hashtag #FFF to get our attention. For now, enjoy!

© All rights reserved by their respective creators.

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Heya FUELsters! I’ve been incognito for a few weeks, what with all the holiday hustling and bustling, but I wanted to make sure that I at least spread a little Christmas cheer before we bring in the new year. Speaking of the new year, we’ve got loads of great interviews, articles, tutorials and more lined up for 2011 which means it’ll be our best yet! Make sure you stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for what we have in the pipeline.

Have a wonderfully awesome holiday weekend everyone!

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by BuddyBradley

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by nbright

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by johnbentillustration

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by goran86

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by tadcarpenter

Know someone who would fit into these showcases? Tweet at us with the hashtag #fff and let us know! We’ve always got our eyes open for new talent.

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I love animals. Much of my life is dedicated to them in fact, so it makes sense that some of my favorite webcomics happen to have animals in them. For this week’s Webcomic Wednesday, I’ve compiled just a few of them to introduce you to. (And don’t forget to check out my own, needs-to-be-updated, animal-related webcomic The Family Menagerie.) Enjoy!

Housepets!

• Housepets!, Rick Griffin
• Updated: Monday, Tuesday, Friday

Cat and Girl

• Cat and Girl, Dorothy Gambrell
• Updated: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Nemu*Nemu

• Nemu*Nemu, Audra Furuichi & Scott Yoshinaga
• Updated: Everyday

Lackadaisy

• Lackadaisy, Tracy Butler
• Updated: Couple times a Month

Kevin & Kell

• Kevin & Kell, Bill Holbrook
• Updated: Everyday

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For those unfamiliar with European legend, the Krampus is a mythical being thought to the antithesis of Santa Claus who travels from home to home dispensing all sorts of wicked, cruel punishment to those children who were naughty (and you thought getting coal was bad). Of course this legend was changed once Santa Claus made his way into American culture, but the Krampus is never too far behind lurking in the shadows of sinful deeds. Krampusnacht, or Night of Krampus, a celebration held on the eve of Santa Claus’ arrival in which adults dress in wild, devilish costumes to scare the children into being good.

To continue this rich tradition, the Resistor Gallery in Toronto, Canada has recently kicked off its 2010 Krampusnacht Art Show featuring over 25 different artists from all around Canada showcasing their interpretation of the sinister saint including some past guests (Brian McLachlan, Jes Fortner, Drazen Kozjan).

Drazen Kozjan

Artwork © Copyright Drazen Kozjan

Jes Fortner

Artwork © Copyright Jes Fortner

Michael Wandelmaier

Artwork © Copyright Michael Wandelmaier

Faez Alidousti

Artwork © Copyright Faez Alidousti

Marek Colek

Artwork © Copyright Marek Colek

Brian McLachlan

Artwork © Copyright Brian McLachlan

Hyein Lee

Artwork © Copyright Hyein Lee

For more information on either the show or Resistor Gallery, please visit http://www.resistorgallery.ca/. The Krampusnacht Art Show runs from December 2, 2010 until January 10, 2011.

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We’re going to start off December with a fantastic dose of Flickr art found on our Fuel Your Illustration Pool. Want to recommend a piece to us? Try tweeting us using the hashtag #FFF and we’ll make sure to include it in a future showcase. Enjoy!

Teodoru

Mel Chadwick

Chris Thornley

Patrick O’Leary

Francois Pham

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Welcome to yet another edition of Five Flickr Friday! This week we’ve got a colorful collection of our latest Flickr favorites to brighten your cold, Fall weekend. Enjoy and stay warm!

Know someone who would fit into these showcases? Tweet at us with the hashtag #fff and let us know! We’ve always got our eyes open for new talent.

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by uberkraaft

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Patrick O’Leary

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Barney Ibbotson

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Donald Ely

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Steve Scott

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You might recall us mentioning The Autumn Society back in September for there “3G Show” which saw an assortment of talented artist giving their spin on a trio of 80s classics: Gremlins, Ghostbusters and The Goonies. Now it seems they’ve returned with yet another interesting show entitled 8-Bit Calavera (Calavera is Spanish for “skull”) in which 40 artists from all across the world show some Día de los Muertos love with an installation of customized NES cartridges. The show is scheduled to open this Thursday, November 4th at Portland, OR-based Ground Control (Classic Arcade).

Below are a few of my favorites that have appeared online so far:

Artwork © Jaclyn Sinquett

Artwork © Collin David

Artwork © Jim Bradshaw

Artwork © Glen Brogan

Artwork © Evan Lopez

ABOUT GROUND KONTROL (CLASSIC ARCADE)
Ground Kontrol is a bar and video arcade in Portland, Oregon, United States. Recognized as one of the best arcades in the US it is known for preserving games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games. It also serves as a venue for DJs, live bands and Rock Band events. Also of note is its collection of 28 pinball tables. Ground Kontrol is meant to be a social experience blending the hard core and casual gamer with video games and pinball machines both new and old.

ABOUT THE AUTUMN SOCIETY
The Autumn Society is a collective of Illustrators from around the world. From art galleries, art books, to fundraisers, the Autumn Society will rise to any creative need or challenge.

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Welcome to a very special edition of Five Flickr Friday! In celebration of one of my personal favorite holidays, we’ve got an assortment of gruesomely cute creatures from all around the Flickr-verse, including our very own pool. Vampires, Monsters, Wolfmen and Zombies… all the classics are here for your ocular enjoyment! So grab that bag of fun size Kit Kats and “give it a break,” it’s time for some Halloween fun!

Know someone who would fit into these showcases? Tweet at us with the hashtag #fff and let us know! We’ve always got our eyes open for new talent.

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by John Schwegel

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Raz City

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Kristy Anne Ligones

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Rory Phillips

Artwork copyright © All rights reserved by Dan Moynihan

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