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Looking up at the night sky can make our everyday problems feel very small. But through the lenses of talented astrophotographers, the universe becomes even more extraordinary, revealing colors, patterns, and details that our eyes alone could never hope to see. That sense of wonder is at the heart of ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year, the annual competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich, supported by ZWO and held in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Now in its 18th year, the contest welcomes photographers of all skill levels from around the world, with entries spanning everything from aurorae and galaxies to the Sun, Moon, planets, nebulae, and night skies shaped by the human landscape. Bored Panda readers may remember that we also featured the competition's spectacular 2025 shortlist. This year, almost 4,000 images were submitted by 769 entrants, representing 66 countries. From those thousands of submissions, 140 photographs have made the full shortlist. The competition brings together an expert judging panel drawn from different disciplines in art and astronomy, with photographs considered for their technical skill, artistic merit, and originality. Alongside eight adult categories, the competition also includes the ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition and two special prizes: the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Open Category. Isabelle Staub gives some of Disney's most beloved princesses a completely new look by repainting them in her own distinctive artistic style. The freelance illustrator transforms familiar characters like Pocahontas, Ariel, Belle, Tiana, Jasmine, Aurora, and Esmeralda into detailed digital portraits while keeping the features that make each character instantly recognizable. 🖌️ Staub originally began the series simply because she had always loved Disney and wanted to paint the princesses for fun. The project also helped her work through a creative block, with each illustration taking around 8 to 12 hours to complete. Most of the work was created in Corel Painter, with a few finishing touches added in Photoshop. The result is a beautiful blend of familiar Disney nostalgia and Staub's own polished, expressive style. Trained in cinematography at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Slovak artist Oliver Takáč approaches every portrait as if directing a film scene rather than staging a photoshoot. Before pressing the shutter, he carefully orchestrates the lighting, color palette, wardrobe, and atmosphere, estimating that 90–95% of each image is created in-camera, with post-production used only to refine the final result. For Takáč, however, technical precision and striking colors are never the ultimate goal. He believes a successful portrait must possess what he simply calls "soul." That philosophy runs through his work, where every creative decision, from the placement of a single light to the choice of color, serves to reveal something about the person in front of the camera, not merely to create a visually arresting image. #Art #OliverTakáč #artist #photographyEver wondered what your favorite cartoon characters would look like if they suddenly stepped into the real world? Brazilian digital artist Hidrėlėy decided to explore exactly that, using AI and image-editing techniques to transform beloved animated characters into surprisingly realistic humans. From Lilo and Stitch and The Incredibles to Encanto, Soul, The Simpsons, Disney characters, and more, the artist reimagines familiar faces while keeping their most recognizable features intact. The project became hugely popular online, with Hidrėlėy revealing that each image can take around two and a half hours to create, depending on the character. The result is a strange but fascinating glimpse at what our favorite animated characters might look like if they actually existed in our world.Originally from India and now based in Dublin, Tittu Shaji Thomas works across travel, street, and documentary photography, capturing people, culture, wildlife, and the fleeting encounters that give a place its character. He often builds his images around timing and observation, finding visual stories in the contrast between movement and stillness, people and their surroundings, and the unexpected details of everyday life. That approach has already earned international recognition. Thomas was a winner of the LensCulture Street Photography Awards 2025 for The Pause Before Light, photographed along Delhi’s Yamuna River, where a man, a stray dog, and a flock of birds came together in a fleeting morning scene. His work has also been recognized by the HIPA Awards, Siena International Photo Awards, Nikon Photo Contest, Greenstorm Photo Festival, and Travel Photographer of the Year, where he received a Special Mention in the Culture, Heritage & Beliefs category. His photographs have also appeared in National Geographic and other international publications. #Art #photography #TittuShajiThomasWhen the Belgian illustrator Prudence Geerts launched Planet Prudence on Instagram in 2016, she simply wanted a place to document her thoughts and experiences, a visual diary where she could process everything from self-doubt and anxiety to the awkward realities of adulthood. What began as a deeply personal project quickly resonated with hundreds of thousands of readers who saw their own insecurities, frustrations, and everyday triumphs reflected in her honest illustrations. Over the years Geerts has used her platform to explore topics including body image, mental health, trauma, relationships, feminism, and self-worth, always balancing vulnerability with humor. She has often said that her goal isn't to present a perfect version of life, but to remind people they're not alone in what they're feeling. That philosophy has earned her a devoted global community, one built not only on laughter but also on empathy, openness, and the reassuring idea that our imperfections are often the very things that connect us. #Art #illustration #artist #PrudenceGeertsScientists at UC Berkeley have found a way to make the human eye perceive a color that can't normally be seen in the natural world. They named it “olo,” and only five people had experienced it during the initial experiment. 🔬 Using a specialized system called Oz, researchers precisely targeted laser light at the eye's M-cones, the photoreceptor cells responsible for detecting green light. By stimulating those cells without activating the neighboring cone types, they produced a visual signal that the human eye doesn't naturally receive. Those who saw olo described it as an extremely saturated blue-green or peacock-green, far more intense than any ordinary green or teal. The color isn't something you can simply display on a phone or paint onto a canvas because it exists outside the normal range of human color perception. #Olo #newcolor #science İzmir-based tattoo artist Doğa Güney is proving that tattoos don't always need perfectly straight lines and flawless precision to be beautiful. Instead, her colorful, textured designs embrace the charm of pastel crayons, broken lines, soft edges, uneven pigment, and playful colors that sometimes spill outside the lines. With a background in animation and a love for illustration, Güney developed a distinctive style inspired by the freedom and spontaneity of childhood drawings. Although her tattoos may look effortless or imperfect at first, every irregular detail is carefully chosen to make the artwork feel more alive and personal. For Güney, the goal isn't perfection. It's capturing what she calls the “perfection of imperfection”, those little quirks and unexpected details that make art feel genuinely human.Museums are so much fun, it’s ridiculous that it’s not against the law. We absolutely love walking (remember, no running!) down the corridors of art galleries, as well as science and history museums. But while we’re absorbing all of that knowledge and human genius, we also remember to have a spot of fun.There are photographers who go looking for remarkable places, and then there are those who seem capable of making the familiar look remarkable. Turkish photographer Murat Bakmaz often falls into the latter category, building images around fleeting combinations of light, movement, silhouettes, animals, and people that might disappear a second later. What would ancient fossils and skulls look like if they belonged in a bizarre cartoon universe? Artist Filip Hodas answers that question with a series of surreal digital artworks that transform bones, fossils, and prehistoric remains into strange and imaginative scenes. Known for his highly detailed 3D artwork, Hodas combines familiar cartoon aesthetics with eerie archaeological imagery, creating worlds filled with oversized skulls, fossilized creatures, mysterious landscapes, and unexpected details. The result is a fascinating mix of cute, creepy, and completely surreal, making these artworks feel like snapshots from a strange world where ancient history and cartoons somehow coexist.Let us take you on a journey through the curious drawing ideas of a Polish artist, Zdzisław Beksiński, who made a name for himself with his dystopian surrealism paintings, filled with post-apocalyptic imagery and creatures that come straight out of nightmares. #Art #painting #nightmares