There’s a lot of bad fan art out there. Wannabe artists agonize for hours over portraits of their favorite celebrities, characters and settings that exist only in fiction. I’ve seen many poorly rendered anime drawings and pastel portraits of young Anakin Skywalker, but sometimes, you come across fan art that truly honors the originals. Here are 7 examples that go far beyond the typical, offering an homage to geeky movies, games, comics and more.

Dr. Manhattan Illustration



Ardent fans of The Watchmen comic book series are fiercely protective over the world created by Alan Moore, and many have already dismissed the upcoming film as not faithful enough to the original. As such, it might seem sacrilegious to portray the character Dr. Manhattan differently than the way Dave Gibbons imagined him – but this interpretation, by illustrator Tim Durning , should win some people over.

Recycled Storm Trooper Sculpture



If there’s one thing you wouldn’t expect to run into at the mall, it’s a life-size storm trooper sculpture made of recycled industrial materials. But, in Dubai, you should throw all of your expectations out the window, because the unexpected is everywhere. And this storm trooper wasn’t alone: he was accompanied by Bobo Fett and an Alien.

World of Warcraft Painting



WoW seems to attract more crazy-talented creators of fan art than any other geeky subject. Some of the things fans have created in honor of the game are downright awesome, looking like they could easily be used for promotional materials, like this piece from Jeremy Sun. See the full piece and hundreds more over at the Blizzard fan art program.

Star Wars Dollar Bill Origami



Won Park is obviously a big fan of Star Wars (and Star Trek, if you take a look at the rest of his work). He spent hours meticulously folding dollar bills into intricate paper replicas of the Millenium Falcon, TIE fighters, the Death Star and more.

Stephen Colbert Rubik’s Cube Portrait



What makes this fan art geeky is both the subject and the medium. This portrait was created entirely of Rubik’s cubes by artist David Litwin, who said of the effort, “What does one do with 768 cubes once you’ve made your company logo? I spent way too much time getting them stickered properly to just leave it at that. No, you move on to doing other pictures. I had considered great works of art (Mona Lisa, etc.), but thought a tribute to Stephen Colbert would be more fun.”

Lord of the Rings Origami Series



More origami, but this time the subject is Lord of the Rings and the medium is one piece of uncut square craft paper (per figure). Artist Eric Joisel bends and folds paper into these incredible figures without the use of adhesive, creating a ‘crease pattern’ blueprint that often takes years to develop. You can see the rest of his figures – and images of the blueprints – at his website.

Futurama Case Mod



Futurama fans upset by the series’ cancellation waited years to be sated with new episodes, and kept themselves occupied in the meantime by creating the kind of fan art that only true fanatics can even conceive of. One incredibly creative example is this case mod by Jan Erik Vangen, which even has an ‘eye’ webcam and a ‘thumb’ USB drive. Check out the whole crazy creation process at his blog.