Wow, seriously wow.














Abandoned Ekranoplan in Kaspiysk, Dagestan, Russia

This is a gorgeous photo display of this massive and one of a kind seaplane, built by Russia to destroy enemy ships.

From Wikipedia:

The Lun-class (harrier) ekranoplan was a seaplane designed by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev and used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 to sometime in the late 1990s...Lun was one of the largest seaplanes ever built, with a length of 73 m (240 ft).

The only aircraft of this type ever built, the MD-160, entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1987. Eight Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans were mounted on forward canards, and each produced 127.4 kN (28,600 lbf) thrust. She had a flying boat hull with a large deflecting plate at the bottom to provide a "step" for takeoff.

The aircraft was equipped for anti-surface warfare, and it carried the P-270 Moskit (Mosquito) guided missile. It was equipped with six missile launchers, mounted in pairs on the dorsal surface of its fuselage, and its advanced tracking systems mounted in its nose and tail.

Check out the Google Maps image. Stellar.

Always interested, but now super inspired, to seek out the forgotten, or merely hidden in plain sight.

Here is a terrific interview at Argot & Ochre with my friend, the super illustrator Jon Stich.





































(^^ one of my all-time faves)

This interview (like Jon) is very candid. Even though it is brief, I think it's a great tool for new illustrators, because Jon is very honest about the ins and outs of getting work, marketing it, and selling it.





































You can take a look at some of the prints and originals Jon has for sale and give him some love at his Etsy site.

omg *love*













CAPTCHArt

Oakland what what!



















Brutus, a men's lifestyle magazine in Japan, just published a best of California businesses issue that features one of my favorite Oakland businesses: Issues, the mucho magazine and cool literary/musical what-have-you shop. Also featured are a slew of other Oakland and Bay Area goodies like the Pop Up General Store, crazy-famous-already-but-so-totally-worth-the-hype Bakesale Betty, and Bicycle Coffee.

I love Issues because they are incredible champions for Oakland business, and such nice folks t'boot. I am so pleased they are getting this kind of publicity. Read their blog post about it here.