See sample pages from this book at Wink.

Papertoy Monsters: 50 Cool Papertoys You Can Make Yourself!

by Brian Castleforte (author) and Robert James (illustrator)

Workman Publishing Company

2010, 124 pages, 8.6 x 11 x 0.9 inches (softcover)

$15 Buy a copy on Amazon

As a child, I often viewed school as an evil creature that could be temporarily subdued only by sickness, weekends, government holidays, and art/craft Fridays. Among my favorite Friday activities were the various papertoys that I got to color, cut out, and assemble. Some were mechanical, some were static, some would have a specific purpose, and some would just be neat little creatures to play with. But, they all had the same feature that I found so intriguing: they were three-dimensional toys born from a single sheet of two-dimensional paper. Three decades later, I can finally relive those fond childhood memories as well as share them with my nephews.

Papertoy Monsters is a collection of 50 monster designs by 24 papertoy artists from around the globe including the author, Brian Castleforte. Building one of these monsters is pretty straightforward, and the only required tool is some glue. The author recommends some other tools, but glue is really all that is required. Inspiring mad scientists have it so easy nowadays.

Every monster is printed on both sides, so the finished toy has colorful graphics inside and out. Pieces are perforated for easy punch-out, and pre-scored for easy folding. Even the slots are pre-cut for easy assembly (no dangerous X-Acto knives to contend with). Read the rest

I was unprepared for the magnitude and quality of stuff on display at LACMA's exhibition of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's monster memorabilia collection. This just might have been the best museum exhibition I've seen. Read the rest

Zach Smothers, who hand-colorized 1,300 frames from the credits of The Munsters has posted 64 seconds of similarly hand-colored footage from The Addams Family. Read the rest

Mansun, who blogs at Omocoro.jp, constructed an "auto licking machine" to lick cartoon girls. [via] Read the rest

Hugh sends us this "beautifully made mashup video of the Republican candidates as Munsters." Read the rest

See sample pages of Dinomania at Wink.

Cartoonist Winsor McCay was best known as the creator of the hallucinatory Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend newspaper comic strips. Fewer people know that he was also the creator of the first animated dinosaur to appear in the movies (Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914). But hardly anyone knows that when McCay died in 1934, he was at work on a new comic strip called Dino, about a dinosaur that awakens after sleeping for 65-million years and befriends a young girl and her brother in New York City.

One person who knows is McCay historian Ulrich Merkl, who has put together a massive, astounding book about McCay and his influence in depictions of rampaging dinosaurs, robots, apes, and monsters in popular culture. Every page is loaded with eye-popping art from the early 20th century, much of it never reprinted before now. People of that era were just as hungry for city-destroying cinematic behemoths as we are today, and Merkl convincingly makes the case that it was McCay who whetted our appetite for them. If you like illustrations from the 1900s, you will go ape over Dinomania.

Dinomania: The Lost Art of Winsor McCay, The Secret Origins of King Kong, and the Urge to Destroy New York

by Ulrich Merkl

Fantagraphics

2015, 304 pages, 11.9 x 15.9 x 1.2 inches

$(removed) Buy one on Amazon

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Screen Novelties' Witch Doctor kickstarter is looking to raise $60,000 to finish a gorgeous-looking, tiki-themed stop-motion black-light movie inspired by classic dark rides. Read the rest

They wouldn't be much use if you were running away from a giant killer monster, but Irregular Choice's $250 Roarsum boots are pretty badass nevertheless. (Thanks, Alice!) Read the rest

Meet Pentecopterus decorahensis, the creature that would have eaten you were you a tasty fishy 460m years ago: “It was obviously a very aggressive animal. It was a big angry bug.”

Those are the words of James Lamsdell of Yale University, author of a study on the nasty thing.

The creature grew to 170 centimtres (5ft 7in) and had a dozen claw arms sprouting from its head, as well as a spiked tail. Geologists at the Iowa Geological Survey found 150 pieces of fossils about 18 metres under the Upper Iowa river, part of which had to be temporarily dammed to allow them to collect the specimens.

Scientists at Yale University determined they were a new species from about 460m years ago when Iowa was under an ocean.

The study was published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. It's like reading about a very complex fossilized puzzle.

Despite the fragmentary nature of the material, the comprehensive representation of the morphology allows Pentecopterus to be reconstructed (Fig. 20). The taxon bears a number of similarities to Megalograptus[5], including the typical megalograptid guttalate ornamentation and a number of features of the prosomal appendages, notably the randomly-oriented armature on the distinctly swollen podomeres of appendage IV and the narrow gnathobase bearing multiple rows of small teeth on the coxa of appendage V…

The newly described eurypterid Pentecopterus decorahensis from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte is the earliest described representative of the group, pushing our knowledge of Eurypterida back some 9 million years to the Darriwilian in the Middle Ordovician.

If you are traveling through the San Francisco International Airport during the next four months, don't miss the exhibit Classic Monsters, featuring fantastic items from the collection of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, on view in the Terminal 2 gallery of the always-fascinating SFO Museum. The artifacts include vintage movie props, toys, and original paintings by Basil Gogos that appeared on covers Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.

Above: Vampire Armand Tesla’s head before and after it melts in The Return of the Vampire starring Bela Lugosi, 1943.

Below: Frankenstein toys and memorabilia c. 1960s–70s; Wolf Man makeup test bust made for Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein starring Lon Chaney, Jr., 1948; Dracula toys and memorabilia c. 1960s–70s; Mummy painting c. 1969 Artist: Basil Gogos.

Classic Monsters: The Kirk Hammett Collection

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They're designed by Beastpop and sell for $20 in the Neatoshop, which also has some other great Beastpop designs, such as the Flying Spaghoofy Monster and Mickthulhu Mouse (and the farting Bambi!). Read the rest

After you've tired of croc-a-likes that look like topsiders, Converse, and Vans, you can switch to rubber shoes with monster toes that squeak when you walk (via Gameraboy). Read the rest

Mars Attacks! was a lurid, horrifcally gory series of Topps bubble gum cards produced in the 1960s. Makeup artist Marla Malone created this wonderful face painting tribute to the genius of artist Norm Saunders, who painted the Topps Cards. Watch the video below.

This #marsattack video has been enjoying some viral hits the last few days on #Facebook another look for any of you new guys here !!! Thanks to all daily on here #facepainting #makeupmobb #iloveart

A video posted by Make up Artist MMG (@mariamalone1122) on Jun 2, 2015 at 4:57pm PDT

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Stefano Prima is not content to make rings and stalks sporting everyday taxidermy eyeballs -- rather, his pieces sport fanciful reptile irises, vertical goat-slits, terrifying basilisk pupils and even square pupils. Read the rest

Seattle's Anthony Hicks has an Etsy store filled with beautiful grotesqueries, including carny sideshow gaffs (come for the feejee mermaid, stay for the mummified head!), but also tooth-filled pocketwatches and artfully preserved homunculi. Read the rest