Professor Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore cosplay at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.
I missed the Harry Potter cosplay meetup today at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, but I did manage to photograph many of the characters when I happened to see them walking about the Gaslamp Quarter!
Of course, wouldn’t you know, the one character I didn’t find was Harry himself.
Hermione Granger cosplay.Newt Scamander cosplay.Knight Bus conductor and Hogwarts Express conductor cosplay.Molly Weasley cosplay.Bellatrix Lestrange cosplay.Dolores Umbridge cosplay.Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy cosplay.Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody cosplay.Rubeus Hagrid cosplay along with “Mad-Eye” Moody at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.
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Dozens of amazing stop-motion puppets can be viewed inside LAIKA LIVE San Diego at 2018 Comic-Con!
Wow!
If you thought last year’s Laika Experience at Comic-Con was great, you’ll be absolutely stunned by LAIKA LIVE San Diego in 2018!
Not only are there lots of detailed puppets, models and scale movie sets, but during the tour visitors can meet and talk to an actual working armaturist and an animator! Anyone interested in how Laika produces their films can ask any sort of question, and the friendly guys explain everything–from how puppets, their armatures and costumes are created and manipulated, to how scenes are conceived and filmed.
Visitors to LAIKA LIVE San Diego also get a preview of the upcoming funny and heartwarming movie Missing Link.
If you can, visit this Comic-Con offsite before Comic-Con actually begins and the lines get really, really long.
Here are some photos. Read the captions for more info. I’m no expert, so I hope I’ve described things correctly.
There’s a lot more to see than what I cover here. Many detailed displays that visitors can view during the tour explain the complicated process of making a Laika movie!
Before beginning the tour, visitors can pose with various Laika characters, like Other Mother, for a photo.While we wait to begin the tour, we watch a video explaining various aspects of Laika’s animation and how their fantastic movies are produced.Visitors are encouraged to vote for this LEGO model of Coraline’s house by photographing a QR code. Given enough votes, LEGO will produce the kit!A board contains Laika fan art and letters.Examples of one letter and some fan art.Visitors to LAIKA LIVE San Diego get character fans as free swag.The tour has begun. Here we see a large model of Coraline’s Other World House Exterior, or Pink Palace. The 1/16 scale miniature was used to film several exterior scenes.A closer look, with models of Coraline characters on the porch.A friendly LAIKA armaturist describes how puppets are made, manipulated and repaired at his workstation, dubbed the Puppet Hospital. He answered every sort of question!Two of the puppets, I believe from ParaNorman.A look at the Puppet Hospital and some of the tools used to make, modify and repair Laika’s many puppets.Once a puppet’s physical posture is slightly altered, the turn of a key tightens up the armature for another camera shot.Next we see how this Laika animator captures images of Kubo on a small set of his village using a camera on a running rig.One camera shot is analyzed.Software allows many frames to be merged and edited into a completed film.Some puppets have many faces that can be attached, each with a slightly different expression.The tour continues to a large set that is being used to film Laika’s upcoming funny movie Missing Link. The detail of the Pacific Northwest forest is extraordinary.The friendly LAIKA tour guide poses for a fun photo!Near the end of the tour, there is a life-size replica of Coraline’s Other World Living Room.A fantastic set and puppets used in the filming of The Boxtrolls.More cool sights during an amazing tour of LAIKA LIVE San Diego at 2018 Comic-Con!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Earthlab, 2017, by artist Eva Struble. Acrylic and oil on canvas. Optimistic and energetic colors depict small San Diego farms.
Today I enjoyed some stimulating artwork at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park. Their current exhibition is called High-Key: Color in Southern California, and for a very good reason.
Palm greens, desert tans and ocean blues are primary colors in our region’s sunny landscapes.
Additional vibrant colors live in our diverse urban centers. Like neon and surfboards, lowriders and pinatas, our local culture is saturated with bold, bright color.
High-Key: Color in Southern California can be enjoyed at the San Diego Art Institute through August 12, 2018.
If you visit Balboa Park this summer, you might want to check it out!
Visitor to the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park at the exhibition of High-Key: Color in Southern California.Chaparral (II), 2018, by artist Audrey Hope. Canvas and hand wound rope. Swaths of colorful fabric are suggestive of San Diego’s hilly, arid natural landscape.Green, Red-Orange, 2018, by artist Michael James Armstrong. Acrylic sheet, fluorescent light, spray paint.Untitled, 2018, by artist Joshua Moreno. Watercolor, watercolor pencil, gouache, marbling, spray paint.Cleaning Portrait; Whisk #1, 2017, by artist Claudia Cano. Acrylic on paper. A cleaning tool used by a hardworking Mexican immigrant laborer.More artwork splashed with the vibrant colors of Southern California.Rhubarb Moon, 2018, by artist John Oliver Lewis. Porcelain, acrylic.Paradise Prototype, 2018, by artist Allison Wiese. Cast sugar. Patterned concrete blocks were popular in Southern California in the 1950’s and 60’s.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Colorful fish swims through a wall at Petco Park near the Sun Diego Beach.
Here’s a collection of random art that I’ve observed while walking around San Diego. Some of these photos are recent; others have been languishing for a year or two unused in my computer.
Enjoy!
Four mermaids painted on tile in an outdoor shop in Old Town.A deer dressed in a polo shirt. Humorous street art in Golden Hill.A silly pelican painted on a utility box on Mission Boulevard in South Mission Beach.IMAGINE painted on a box in downtown San Diego.Imaginative, plant-like street art downtown.Beautiful tile mosaic with Virgin Mary at its center on a wall in North Park.A boy and a bird on an electrical box downtown.I spied this small unusual work of art leaning up against a garbage can downtown.A branching tree enlivens a transformer box in Golden Hill.A whale, shark, dolphin, ray and other sea life painted by many hands on a community mural in Ocean Beach.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
This morning I jumped off the trolley at the Rio Vista station, which is located beside the San Diego River in the heart of Mission Valley.
I knew I could find some fun street art at the Rio Vista shopping mall.
I headed down a sidewalk and there it was!
A transformer box has been painted with a mermaid. An example of the street art at Rio Vista in Mission Valley.More nearby boxes decorated with fun artwork.Long blue hair like waves of water.Shark street art, with credits to Brise Birdsong, Helen Divas, Angelica Nunez.A sea turtle swims though Mission Valley.I see some jellyfish, too!Two hummingbirds touch beaks.Colorful bird-of-paradise flower street art.Artwork painted on an electrical box at Rio Vista depicts a lady smelling red flowers.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Some panels on a mural on Gunn Street west of 30th Street have been repainted. The two shown are by Jorge Gutierrez and Maxx Moses.
North Park is brimming with street art. During a walk yesterday down 30th Street, from University Avenue to Upas Street, I encountered fresh artwork that I haven’t blogged in the past. You can see some of those old photos here and here and here.
As I proceeded down the sidewalk I noticed that a number of electrical boxes and walls have been repainted in the past couple years.
Enjoy these new photos. North Park is alive with creativity!
This box showing the four cardinal directions has been repainted by Jonny Alexander.East.South.West.A scary purple claw has emerged from this crate-like electrical box!The yellow eyes of a mysterious monster peer out!Let’s be friends. That love potion appears intoxicating . . . and possibly toxic!A skull in a bottle. Sink or swim.More fun street art on the same utility box on 30th Street in North Park.Stenciled on a wall. For my hustlers, here’s some motivation. He who has begun is half done.A cute little critter that seems to be inside a living heart.Exotic street art on an electrical box.Strength through Peace.Three sitting female figures contain spiritual symbolism.A wild splash of color.Mural on side of 30th Street Laundry. A Beautiful Morning by Sentrock.An ankh symbolizing life in the hand of a lady with colorful abstract hair.Fun robot graphic on the front wall of Soi 30th, a North Park Thai Eatery.A cool Pangea Seed Foundation Sea Wall created in North Park by Lauren YS. A beautiful underwater mermaid is contrasted with a skeleton.The mural concerns ocean acidification and the resulting death of kelp and sea life.San Diego Padres baseball player under painted fireworks.This final North Park electrical box was painted last month. You can find it on Upas Street east of 30th Street, in front of The Taco Stand.An old salt by the ocean and a sailing ship.A friar by the old mission.Hecho a Mano. Made by hand.
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Every Sunday afternoon, on a large area of grass in Balboa Park’s Morley Field Sports Complex, medieval knights come together and engage in mock combat! These brave knights hail from the Realm of Andor. They are a part of the international Belegarth Medieval Combat Society.
Wielding foam weapons like swords, maces and battle axes, these guys get a super fun athletic workout. I was told by a friendly member of the Realm of Andor that the sport is like a mixture of fencing and rugby, with fairly simple rules. When a combatant receives a strike to a critical area, they fall down as if dead. A hit on a limb results in a loss of its use. Two limbs gone, you’re a goner. The last one standing wins!
I watched as the combatants veered all over the place, swinging a variety of formidable ancient weapons. Two or three knights would gang up on another; others would be struck by a sneaky knight from behind. Some of the members, in their cool costumes and bearing shields, appeared to be rampaging extras in the filming of Lord of the Rings. Many make their own weapons. It’s all about fantasy and high energy fun!
If you’d like to learn more, or perhaps join, check out their website!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
One of many cool vehicles you’ll see at the San Diego Automotive Museum during their show Steampunk: The Exhibit.
There’s an amazing show that just opened yesterday at the San Diego Automotive Museum. It’s called Steampunk: The Exhibit. About half of the museum’s large floor is now occupied by mind-blowing steampunk vehicles and fantastic works of art!
Before I show you some cool photographs, let me introduce you to a friendly artist who I happened to meet as I walked about the museum. His name is Jeff Steorts. He creates all sort of Medieval-like artwork using wood, metal and a variety of found objects. As a young man, he attempted to create a suit of armor out of aluminum. Today he writes poetry and produces sculptural objects that take one back to the Age of Chivalry. He showed me his many gleaming works that are on display. Most of his pieces are symbolic. Some have keys that unlock a deeper meaning. Each piece contains a bit of himself.
Jeff has had his fantastic creations displayed in many places–even at San Diego International Airport! Check out his Facebook page here!
Now on to the exhibition! Once you see these photos, I think you’ll want to head over to the San Diego Automotive Museum in beautiful Balboa Park. Do so before September 30th when Steampunk: The Exhibit comes to an end!
The museum floor is filled with every sort of cool steampunk and unusual, retro-looking vehicle you might imagine!The Cyclops, a steampunk trike with a 3-cylinder Triumph Daytona engine, by artists Baron Margo and Jaime Martinez.Time Machine, by artist Richard P. Ingalls. This was commissioned in 2014 by the Salk Institute of Biological Studies for its annual staff service awards program!Assemblage artist Dan Jones created this cool little robot sculpture. He exhibits his work at San Diego Comic-Con, as well as many galleries, steampunk and sci-fi conventions.Another cool work of art by Dan Jones.Artist Ken Whitney created these body-like Hardware Sculptures out of metal washers, gears and other similar material.Jeff Steorts poses for a photo. Some of his symbolic objects are clocks or resemble them. He explores many themes, including Time and Space.Jeff shows me some of his fantastic art.Many of Jeff’s creations resemble lockets, or golden hearts with keys. Others resemble shining boxes or religious relics.One of the many super cool vehicles you’ll see when you visit the San Diego Automotive Museum during Steampunk: The Exhibit.I failed to note what this is exactly. But it’s definitely awesome!Loki, a custom 1981 Harley Davidson Ironhead Sportster, by metal artisan Marko Djoric.1929 Dodge Brothers Copper Rat, by Jeff Jones. This amazing car has been on the cover of Ol’ Skool Rods.The car’s interior is all hand-built copper and aluminum. 10,000 rivets were hammered into place!The Rocket Roadster, a driveway build by Baron Margo.The Metamorphosis, a Moderne Nautilus co-created by Baron Margo and Jaime Martinez. A Jules Verne inspired cross between an airplane and submarine!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
The Mad Hatter in street art at one end of a Logan Heights alley.
That alley in Logan Heights where I discovered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles street art is home to even more spray paint characters and graffiti. Bold images reflect life in a sometimes tough urban setting.
I read that a public art project in Logan Heights targeted several neighborhood alleys, so I assume these images were part of that effort. As I walked along, I spotted many different artist names.
(On a later visit to the neighborhood I learned the community group that created all this cool art is called the San Diego Art Team!)
Lewis Carroll characters have been spray painted alongside graffiti in Logan Heights.The blue Caterpillar on a mushroom smoking a hookah is from Alice in Wonderland.A section of bold urban art on a long wall.A wicked-looking character seems to be spray painting the graffiti next to him.Another section of colorful graffiti.Somos Todos Pistoleros above a pyramid in The Alley Gallery.A bird-like character drinking from a green bottle.A character with sunglasses and headphones holds a boombox with fang-like teeth.Elaborate urban artwork completely covers a long alley wall in Logan Heights.That looks like one mean cockroach!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Art that creates an infinite reflection and contemplates the scale and structure of space and time. The two-way mirror is titled Down the Rabbit Hole (CMS Detector) by artist Adam Belt.
Do you enjoy unusual art?
There’s a cool exhibition now showing at the San Diego Central Library’s ninth floor Art Gallery called A Method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes. On display is the work of eight local artists: Adam Belt, Matthew Bradley, Sheena Rae Dowling, Andrew McGranahan, Arzu Ozkal, Cheryl Sorg, Jones von Jonestein, and Melissa Walter.
Some of the artwork is quite cosmic and trippy, while other pieces take a curious look at science fiction and our popular culture’s obsession with space travel, UFOs and extraterrestrial visitation.
If the exhibition’s name seems familiar, that’s because A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes was the title of a 1919 monograph by Robert H. Goddard, the founding father of modern rocketry.
After examining this artwork one might wonder: Exactly how did Goddard come up with plans to build a rocket? Was he actually a visitor from outer space? Is it possible? Maybe?
The fun exhibition will continue through September 16, 2018!
Inside the Art Gallery of the San Diego Central Library, where an exhibition explores A Method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes.Visitors view artwork that concerns space travel and its effect on modern life, culture and human imagination.Artist Melissa Walter, science illustrator for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, explores the threat of orbital debris by casting geometric shadows.This multimedia installation by Jones von Jonestein is titled The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, after a novel by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.The collage-like artwork pokes gentle fun at the assertion the moon landing was a hoax, and that governments conspire to suppress evidence of extraterrestrials.Amateurs! A dog on the sound stage! A cameraman’s reflection! Wind on the moon!Space art depicting vast clouds of glowing dust and gas. The One that Got Away, by artist Sheena Rae Dowling.One of several collages exhibited by artist Andrew McGranahan. His retro-futurism embraces both utopian and dystopian imagery.A cool digital print by artist Arzu Ozkal. She explores how humans are guests in a living universe of microbes.A flying saucer above a Lucky supermarket! Artist Matthew Bradley has fun with popular imagination in the Space Age.Bright UFOs painted in the night sky above the United States Capitol dome!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
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