It’s almost that time of year when we all leave our desks and Photoshops to sit around the tree, unwrap gifts and drink some nog. For most of us, it’s a much needed unplugged break so we can recharge our Flux Capacitors for the upcoming year. 2009 has been a busy one for a lot of us, time to relax and play in the snow.

Things will be a bit quieter around the blog over the next week or so as I travel home to visit the parents for the holidays. But my Twitter will be close by :)

So here’s a big Happy Holidays to you and yours from Signalnoise!

I’ve been watching the work of Italian artist Alessandro Pautasso for quite some time now and have always been impressed by his command of vector elements to create his bright illustrations.

He just recently uploaded that amazing Marilyn Monroe piece shown above, which motivated me to flick through his portfolio once again. The other two images shown here are part of a series I had not seen before. Beautiful palettes and nice mixture of photo and vector elements. Really enjoy how soft these images feel.

You can check out more of Alessandro Pautasso’s work on his website as well as his Flickr stream.

I’m one of those guys who watches very little television. I have cable and all that, but I very rarely sit down and start flipping through the channels to see what’s on, nor do I go out of my way to see the newest episode of whatever. But when it comes to Lost, there’s the exception. I’ve been wrapped up in that show since season 1 and am anxiously awaiting the 6th and final season. It’s gonna be a blowout.

In celebration of the final season, Ronie Midfew Arts commissioned 16 top designers and artists to create posters illustrating some of the show’s most memorable moments. Beautiful works by artists such as Olly Moss, Methane Studios, Eric Tan, Jason Munn, Ken Taylor and many others.

Check out the entire run right here. Great stuff, too bad all 200 prints of each design are sold out. Big thanks to my pal Dave for sending this link over.

Fabio Sasso and the bang-up team over at Abduzeedo are celebrating their 3rd year this month. 3 years is a long time of sharing inspiration, tutorials, advice and design news around the web and the team shows no sign of letting up. Fabio asked me to participate in the celebration by means of a poster giveaway, and since he has been an amazing supporter of me and my work for a few years now I am hugely honored to be a part of the big event. Shown above is my Abduzeedo 3rd Year Anniversary poster.

The inspiration behind this one is fairly simple: 2001: A Space Odyssey mixed with the Star Trek movie posters by Bob Peak I posted last week. I spent a considerable amount of time building the radium lines in this design, and the PSD file topped 1.4 GB near the end, probably my largest yet.

The massive giveaway is underway with lots of amazing prizes including three copies of this poster, so swing on over to Abduzeedo for your chance to win.

Happy 3 years, Abduzeedo! Here’s to many more.

I came across this poster just moments ago on Ffffound and had to put it on the blog. A perfectly executed poster in every way from the type, logo, and creepy sci-fi illustration. Beautiful.

I did a Google search to see if I could find the creator, and wouldn’t you know it, a familiar name. This poster was crafted by designers Anders Baden Nielsen and Joaquim Marquès Nielsen from the Danish design studio Barq. I know Joaquim’s name and work through this website, Jokke-Svin.dk. Good people doing good work :) And you have to see the mega post he made on the creation of this piece. This was all posted a little while ago, no idea how I missed it.

You can purchase the poster via their webstore, and be sure to pop by Joaquim’s blog and say hello.

Here is a 2-page spread I created for the kind folks over at Computer Arts Projects magazine, included in issue #131. Every issue of the mag contains the spread where different designers and artists use supplied phrases to create their own piece. I decided to make mine look like a mess of stickers, complete with little vector designs hidden amongst the fray.

The little round designs came from raiding my vector archives, it’s amazing how much you can amass over the course of a few years. You can see the full piece in a larger size right here.

Computer Arts Projects #131 is on newsstands in Europe right now.

It’s not very often I post about architecture on the blog, mostly because I know very little about the field aside from what appeals to me. However, after checking out the above images three times over the past day I felt an exception was in order. I came across these via Wearesuperfamous.

Shown here are some beautiful shots of the Wood Block Residence from the architects Chadbourne and Doss. This house incorporates everything I love about modern interior and exterior design, including steel, nice slats of wood, chrome highlights, nice squares and rectangles plus lots of glass. I would someday love to live in a place like this. So peaceful and elegant, yet industrial.

Here is bit of a descriptor taken from the original post:

“Located on the west side of Mercer Island, Washington, this house is a reconstruction of one of iconic Seattle architect Fred Bassetti’s earliest designs built in 1962. Fronting a busy street, we wanted to root the house to its sloping wooded site and provide a protective shelter for family life. The plan is opened up allowing for large family gathering spaces and perspectives throughout the full length of the house. A new metal skin with interior cedar liner wraps over the roof and grounds the house to the site. An aluminum bar grating screen encloses an exterior patio and deck filtering interior views and forming a sparkling and diaphanous wall from the street. The entry approach is redesigned with a cantilevered concrete landing in a sunken courtyard and a 4’ x 11’ pivot door to the interior. Bathing spaces are ethereally bright, smooth and seamless. Materials throughout are natural but installed and crafted in an extremely crisp manner.”

If this has you itching to see more, swing over to Schuchart/Dow for more architectural beauty.

Looking for a unique calendar for the upcoming year? Check out this beautifully painted 2010 calendar entitled Visionen: Retro Futuristische Illustrationen von Klaus Bürgle. Wonderfully crafted science fiction imagery coupled with some nicely done typography work. Any idea what typeface was used for the numerical months?

What better way to start the new decade then with visions of the future? You can check out the full spread of art and order the calendar right here.