You probably don't recognise the name in phonetic Japanese, but you'll definitely recognise the image, right? Right. 'Under A Wave, Off Kanagawa' (or 神奈川沖浪裏 / Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), to give the print its full and proper name, is one of the most enduring design compositions of all time. Created by the master woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai as the first print in the 36-print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei (富嶽三十六景), this image was initially printed in 1831, and has never since stopped being printed and enjoyed by millions of art lovers across the world. 

As an example of the Japanese style of print named ukiyo-e, the 'Great Wave' as it's become known, has been printed thousands of times - both when originally released as the first print in the Thirty-six Views series, and subsequently in many unauthorised print runs. As a study in composition, its balance is found in the depth and perspective of the print - in the foreground the skiff carrying sailors is almost overwhelmed by a wave (frequently misinterpreted as a tsunami, but more likely the okinami, or 'deep-sea wave' of its title), creating a wild and beautiful scene where force and movement are fiercely shown in contrasting blue and white, whilst in the deep background Mount Fuji, the subject of the Thirty-six Views series, sits serenely distant (as it does in all the prints of the series).

As an example of the incredible skill of woodblock printing in Japan during the Edo period, the Great Wave has acted as an artistic ambassador for nearly 200 years, inspiring Western artists to develop their own block colour prints, as seen in the explosion of printwork and oriental styles which characterised La Belle Epoque. This is an interesting exchange, when considering the fact that the style of Hokusai's prints (and indeed those of his contemporary, Hiroshige) were influenced by the introduction of Western books and engravings to Japan in the early 1800's.

The results have ever since captured the imagination of art lovers the world over - in more ways than one. Nowadays you can easily buy anything from iPad covers to headphones with the famous print on it.

Little known fact #1:

In another interesting twist which not many people know about, the Great Wave was the example on which the original logo for surfwear giant Quiksilver was modelled, something easily seen when the images are compared.

Little-known fact #2:

Katsushika Hokusai used more than 30 psuedonyms during his life as an ukiyo-e artist. 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are out there on planet Leap. It's either just about the weekend, or you're already moaning off a ripe hangover somewhere on the other side of the International Date Line. Welcome to Video Friday number 3 and have we got something fantastic to sink your eyeteeth into today.

A long time ago before CGI and Photoshop and Pixar and even pixels for that matter, the realm of animation was the domain of hardworking madmen (and mad women) who spent hours illustrating, sculpting, colouring or cutting each frame used in stop-frame animation. Disney (whose incredible collaboration with Salvador Dali we featured last week), of course, was among the great forerunners who revolutionised animation for the masses, as were many illustrators (such as Chuck Jones and Tex Avery) whose work continues to be viewed by millions the world over. Following in these big footsteps were many others, but few among them could be classed in the same category as the odd-looking guy who would go on to become the lone American in Monty Python's Flying Circus. Terry Gilliam is now known as much for his time with Python as he is for his amazing (yet not always profitable) features, among which are included some of the greatest films of our time: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Fisher King, The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Brazil and Jabberwocky, among others.

But oh! Wait! Long before any of those were so much as a twinkle in Terry's canny eye, he was an animator, who spent endless hours cutting and pasting (literally) hundreds of frames to create the end results that would see him earn the attention of, and inclusion in, the Python team. The proof of that pudding is the entirely mad, beautifully surreal and totally irreverent animations which bridge so many absurd Monty Python skits in a suitably unhinged manner.

I think we can all agree that they're fantastic and they've made countless millions laugh their asses off for many years. Fair anough but then, we've all seen those, right? Right. Which is why, on today's Video Friday, we bring you a piece of Terry Gilliam's earliest work, titled 'Storytime'. It's from 1968, and it's the charming story of a cockroach. Named Don. And hands, which which stay out late carousing and misbehaving. And a man named Albrt Einstein, who earned the scorn of his neighbours on account of being named Albert Einstein but not having discovered the Theory Of Relativity. But of course.

So, you’ve heard about the Mars One project, right? No? Wow, where’ve you been, living in a cave? You’ll do nicely for the Mars mission!

But seriously, on top of the success of the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover of last week, there’s a dead-serious (take that smirk off your face!) project on the cards that plans to put colonists on the Red Planet by 2023. That’s in 11 years’ time, last we checked our watches here at The Leap, and it’s quite soon in the greater scheme of things.

OK, so that project is still a little uncertain as far as planetary colonisation goes. But don’t laugh yourself stupid just quite yet – hey don't forget there's a few rovers already safely landed on the Red Planet. And there are those pesky findings of liquid water on the surface…which all add up to quite a positive outlook.

But moving along – cos this isn’t a post about colonising Mars, but rather about the wondrously wild photographs of one Jack Long. And how does photography relate to Mars? Check out Jack’s high-speed photos of liquids doing crazy things, and you’ll have to ask – ‘Damn! Are these some Martian jellyfish?’

With a secret combination of fluids and an eye for crazy shots, Jack’s created some of the wildest, weirdest looking images ever seen by the human eyeball!

They're wild, and they're pretty unearthly but they're an awesome inspiration to anyone looking to illustrate or design liquid explosions.

Say, maybe for our Biz Bang contest? (Which, by the way, has been extended till September 30th!) One way or another, fact is Jack’s persistence has ensured these strange flowers and jellyfish shapes have survived long enough to be photographed. Painstaking work. The results? Nothing short of Martian but entirely amazing!

See more of Jack’s work here.

So there you are, you’re itching to enter our Biz Bang contest, but you have no idea of where to start. You know you could ace it – hell, maybe even take first prize! – but inspiration just hasn’t come knock, knock, knocking on your door yet. Sound familiar? 

Well wait no longer! Inspiration is here and it’s ready to knock you flat on your designing derriere with some TUTORIAL POWER! It’s kinda like those teenage mutant turtles, only…graphic. OK, crap joke, but moving on – here for your graphic edification (big words? Must be the coffee) are two great, remarkable and outstanding explosion tutorials to set you on the path of the righteous design.

First up – a vector cartoon-style explosion, a la Looney Tunes or any other cartoon series that makes gratuitous use of bombs and other convenient ways to remind a foe of who's boss. This one is by the almighty Chris Hildenburg over at VectorTuts, that home of all thing good and instructive. Ready to plot the light graftastic? GO! 

Next up? Evan Almighty! Who? The almighty Evan Eckard, who takes you on a whiplash ride through his lightning fast Photoshop skillset to provide you with one of the best explosion tutorials around. The end result on this is ultra-contemporary and super slick.

Maybe you’re after a nuclear explosion, or perhaps you want something a little less massive and a bit more defined? Whichever you’re after, get creative, get busy and get submitting – our Biz Bang contest awaits! 

HEADS UP: BIZ BANG HAS BEEN EXTENDED! SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSE ON SEPTEMBER 30TH!

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far a...actually it was right here, on planet Earth, and it wasn't that long ago - it was 1873, and the technology of print was playing catch-up to the newly developed art of photography. The place? Manhattan. The problem? How to print a photograph without losing the tonal detail. The solution? A new way of recreating photos using many small dots of varying sizes: the halftone! 

Creating a new way to show shading and tone, the halftone went on to become a mainstay in the printing of newspapers the world over. Following in the footsteps of halftones, and using the same technique only expanding their use to the use the four base colours of printing (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key/black) to recreate the tone and colour of just about any shade or texture, Ben-Day dots were invented by Benjamin Henry Day Jr, the son of a newspaperman. These dots differing from halftone dots in that the Ben-Day dots are always of equal size and distribution in a specific area. In the process, these little dots have come to be used by a range of artists in creating some of the most iconic artworks of the 20th century.

One such artists is the legendary Pop Art figurehead Roy Lichtenstein, whose oversized paintings expanded the halftone dot size to massive proportions, in the process making an artform out of an otherwise industrial process. OK - so let's leave the history lessons aside for one moment and concentrate on our Tutorial Tuesday: how to get the best halftone or Ben-Day dot effect out of your imagery? Here at Springleap we search high and low online to bring you the finest in tuts, and today's no exception. Ladies and gents, please click your mice on over to two of the greatest halftone / Lichtenstein tutorials out there! First up: for a really good, thorough, step-by-step Lichtenstein halftone tutorial, click the image of the pretty lady below - it's from the great folks over at Abduzeedo who know tutorial like grandma knows baking:

Next up: a great video tutorial from the great designcredo, where you'll find more info available on how to make your halftones useful in more than just a Pop Art way. Sink your teeth into these, get crazy with the technique and stay creative - the reason we're giving you tips on this technique is that, when you enter designs into our contests here on The Leap, you make use of the halftone. It's a mainstay of the screenprinting process whioch we use a lot here, and it creates really nice effects from a limited number of colours. Thanks for reading our Tutorial Tuesday post!