Day 139: Artist's Special #4 - Keith Haring

Fourth in our artist-inspired series - Keith Haring...

Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s. Haring achieved his first public attention with chalk drawings in the subways of New York. His bold lines, vivid colors, and active figures carry strong messages of life and unity.

By expressing concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war, Haring's imagery has become a widely recognized visual language of the 20th century.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Haring toy!

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Day 138: Artist's Special #3 - Kazimir Malevich

Third in our artist-inspired series - Kazimir Malevich...

Kazimir Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician of Polish descent, pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Malevich toy!

Warhol, Lichtenstien, Haring? Find out who's next in the Artist's series on our Facebook page!

Day 137: Artist's Special #2 - Piet Mondrian

Second in our artist-inspired series - Piet Mondrian...

Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter. He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism. This consisted of white ground, upon which was painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colours.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Mondrian toy!

Pollock, Matisse, Malevich? Find out who's next in the Artist's series on our Facebook page!

Day 136: Artist's Special #1 - Pablo Picasso

Over the next few days, I'll be posting a series of artist-inspired toys as a tribute to the artists I admire. Today, I present you the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso...

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. He is one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art. He is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and Guernica (1937), his portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Picasso toy!

Mondrian, Miro, or Dali? Find out what's next in the Artist's series on our Facebook Fan page!

Day 135: Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is the fourth book in the Little Miss series, a series of 42 books by Roger Hargreaves, creator of the Mr. Men series of 48 children's books. After Hargreaves' death in 1988, his son, Adam Hargreaves, began writing and illustrating new stories involving the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters, including the creation of ten new characters, four of which were inspired by work Roger Hargreaves had produced before his death.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Little Miss Sunshine toy!

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Day 131 - 134: The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock group The Beatles, released in June 1967. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, Sgt. Pepper sees the band exploring further the experimentation of their previous album, Revolver (1966). Making use of orchestras, hired musicians and innovative production techniques, the album incorporates elements of genres such as music hall, jazz, rock and roll, western classical and traditional Indian music; its lyrics deal particularly with themes of childhood and everyday life. Sgt. Pepper is a loose concept album that sees The Beatles performing as the fictitious band of the album's title. The cover art, depicting the band posing in front of a collage of famous individuals, has itself been widely acclaimed and imitated.

In 2003, the album was placed at number 1 in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


John


Paul


George


Ringo

Download the free PDF files and make your own Sgt. Pepper's toys here!

Check out our Yellow Submarine version of the Beatles too!

Day 130: Superman/Clark Kent

Superman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 and sold to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1938, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book.

The original story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El, moments before Krypton's destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early he started to display superhuman abilities, which upon reaching maturity he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Superman/Clark Kent!

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Day 129: Dilbert

Dilbert is the main character of the Dilbert comic strip by Scott Adams. He has a rare condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical (and utter social ineptitude). He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Although his ideas are typically sensible and occasionally even revolutionary, they are seldom carried out because of his powerlessness. He is easily frustrated by the incompetence of his co-workers (most often the Pointy-Haired Boss) and is often sarcastic and snide.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Dilbert toy!

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Day 128: Tweedledum & Tweedledee

Tweedledum and Tweedledee are fictional characters in an English language nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and Alice in Wonderland. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom.

The characters are perhaps best known from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There. Carroll, having introduced two fat little men named Tweedledum and Tweedledee, quotes the nursery rhyme, which the two brothers then go on to enact. They agree to have a battle, but never have one.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Tweedledum and Tweedledee toys!

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Day 127: Mr. Natural (Robert Crumb)

Mr. Natural (Fred Natural) is a comic book character created and drawn by the 1960s counter culture and underground comix artist Robert Crumb. The character first appeared in the premiere issue of Yarrowstalks (the May 5, 1967 issue).

At first appearance, Mr. Natural is a mystic guru who spouts aphorisms on the evils of the modern world and the salvation to be found in mysticism and natural living. He has renounced the material world and lives off anything he can get in exchange for his nuggets of wisdom.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Mr. Natural toy!

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Day 126: Coraline

Coraline is a fantasy/horror novel by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers. It has been compared to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and has been adapted into a 2009 stop-motion film directed by Henry Selick.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Coraline toy!

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Day 125: Ben 10

Ben 10 is an American animated series created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle), and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The pilot episode aired on December 27, 2005, as part of a sneak peek of Cartoon Network's Saturday morning lineup. The second episode was shown as a special on Cartoon Network's Fridays on January 13, 2006. The final regular episode aired on April 15, 2008. The theme song for the show was written by Andy Sturmer and sung by Moxy. In April 2008, Ben 10 was succeeded by Ben 10: Alien Force. The next installment of the Ben 10 series will be titled Ben 10: Evolution.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Ben 10 toy!

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Day 124: Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist, best known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Einstein!

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Day 123: The Snowman (Raymond Briggs)

The Snowman is a children's book by English author Raymond Briggs, published in 1978. It is the tale of a boy who builds a snowman one winter's day. That night, at the stroke of twelve, the snowman comes to life.

In 1982, this book was turned into a 26-minute animated movie. It was first shown on Channel 4 late on Christmas Eve in 1982 and was an immediate success. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1983. It has been shown every year since and has become a part of British and international Christmas popular culture.

Download the PDF file here and make your own Snowman! Also check out our last Christmas's special, Jack Skellington as Santa!

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