Watchman's Note

This is a journey to the best designs in the world of Zazzle.com. Handpicked and presented (along with my own artwork) by yours truly, the driving force behind Surreality designs. We'll discover great artists and special products -mostly with a taste for the eccentric. But let us not confine ourselves in specific genres: the possibilities are endless and so is the great art one can find at Zazzle.

4/30/2010

What's "E" for

Well, it's quite obvious: E is for Elephant. A pop-art, polka-dotted elephant with a cute tail, found on Best Kids store. Man, do I love those colors!
Best Kids offer a great variety of designs with children in mind, but I'm not too old to rock'n'roll yet, so I decided I'm on their target group. Plus, I'm begging for their "M is for Murder" version!

4/28/2010

Bottle of Sin

The latest addition to my own Temporal Disorder product category comes in a bottle. It's a small glass bottle (the kind used for china ink) containing pure, undiluted sin!
When it comes to being bad, Surreality's Bottle of Sin is the brew of choice.
I consider this a surprising mixture of retro imagery and mischievous ingenuity. You really should own one. It's the world's finest, after all!

Lucha libre

Lucha libre is Spanish for free wrestling -a sport much adored in Mexico. Mexican luchadores provide a truly sensational show, based on their agility and their talent at performing astonishing aerial moves. Most luchadores are masked (a tradition that may have come down all the way from the Aztecs).
The mask of a menacing luchador is the basis for this powerful design from 21gunsalute, a store full of stylish, urban coolness.
I love the one-colored simplicity and, most of all, the angle of this side profile. This is a seriously great t-shirt and you really don't need to know anything about Lucha libre to appreciate it's modernity.

4/25/2010

Chess revisited: The playful cat

This vintage painting combines cats and chess -two of mankind's favorites in a single artful postcard. I wonder if the depicted feline concentrates on it's next move...Anyway, it's only one of the eight "Naughty Cats" available at Lodgehouse, although I believe it's the more intriguing of the series.There is a sense of hidden menace in here -or maybe I am biased by the cat's predatory nature.
Some may find this cute, I find it both cute and disquieting. You can't beat that, now, can you?

4/21/2010

Lovecraft & Co

LOVECRAFT shirt
LOVECRAFT by SCARSMagazine
Make a customized shirt with zazzle.com
It's been a long time since we last saw something Lovecraft-inspired, and I started having these strange dreams again... So, to make amends with the sinister powers that be, here is a great b/w t-shirt that's sure to satisfy your goulish -yet stylish- needs.
When you first get a glimpse at this design it almost looks like a darker, more elaborate version of a "Love" artwork (the kind you are sick and tired of). And then you look again and you notice the details! That's a fine surprise pulled off by SCARS Magazine shop, a splendid store for horror and gory t-shirts.
Let's have a look at another beauty:
A great scary design, characteristic of the Nosferatu film -the stuff real vampyres are made off!
If you are into horror movies and you appreciate a little bit of good, oldfashioned blood and slime, then you should also check SCARS Magazine website. It really is a gorehead's paradise!

4/19/2010

Checkmate

Here is something I believe the chess lovers would appreciate: a smart infographics poster with the diagrams of 26 basic mating patterns for chess. It's not an object of beauty -though well-designed- but a study tool. Or, maybe, a way to show off your skills on the world's most favorite and respected board game.
It sits quietly in Aristotle334 shop, waiting for the keen eye of the connoiseur!

4/14/2010

Cheers!

Well, run of the mill retro stuff combined with "attitude" mottoes is not my style, but every rule has it's exceptions.The sheer amount of insult packed in this design is amazing! We are talking about tons of nonchalant hostility, here. Found in Humortees, and useful for these special moments in everyone's life, where we absolutely have to be too brave -or too immature!

4/13/2010

Dogs in space

The first animal to orbit the Earth was Laika -who died an untimely death several hours after the launch of Sputnik 2, way back in 1957. She was one of the soviet space dogs (Americans preferred monkeys and mice). During the early years of the space age, before manned space missions were attempted, these animals captured our collective imagination.
Science fiction had already paved the way for what came to be seen as obvious: if mankind was to reach the stars, our best friend would be wagging it's tail by our side. Such an optimistic innocence carries a distinct taste of the '50s. This is the zeitgeist explored in the Atomic50s shop, and that's where I found this tender design of a dog in space uniform. A cute little cartoon, that looks great in this hooded sweatshirt, simple and expressive.

4/12/2010

A well-dressed skate

This a unique skateboard design that parts ways with the usual skating trends and flirts with... bespoke grunge! Great idea, subdued colors: me likes. It's no surprise that it comes from the imaginative artist behind Scarrvision store,  a source of really unusual skates. Look at another beauty:
We are entering the tropics with this one. It just haves a hint of cool retro that makes you smile. Great job!

4/11/2010

Mechanical nature

Here's a really stylish and original shirt, depicting a tree that somehow consists of  machine parts. A sweet design that blends the natural with the robotic. I like the idea and the execution, found in Artberry. The artist is Nicolette Amanda Berry from Cardiff, Wales.

4/09/2010

Strange little cards

There is this peculiar feeling, this strange combination of weirdness and nostalgia, that can only be conveyed by designs that use retro in a certain, personal way. Designs such as this great one by MizBella, a true master of vintage surrealism.
Collage and mixed media are just labels to describe this artist's tools. What she does with these tools is the important thing. Well, what does she do?
She takes images from the past (I love her silent movie references! - Theda Bara, anyone?) and combines them so they provoke a rich, enchanting and unsettling mood. She creates surreality out of stuff that others would see only as picturesque (in the expected ways often found in goth culture).
I do like those cards, but there are plenty other products -and many great designs- to chose from.

4/07/2010

Pie charting

Here's a design (by yours truly, the Surreality Watchman) toying with the omnipresence of pie-charts and our feelings about them. Funny, in a weird sort of way -even if I do say so myself.
My personal feeling on this subject?Statistics can -and often do- tell lies and our fixation with infographics and data visualization (especially those found on horrid PowerPoint presenations) has gone a little bit too far. Maybe this ironic design can be a way of showing that you agree!
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