Yui Mok / AP file

Storm Thorgerson stands next to his album cover artwork for Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" at a 2008 art exhibit.

"His ending was peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends," Thorgerson's family said in a statement. "He had been ill for some time with cancer though he had made a remarkable recovery from his stroke in 2003."

Pink Floyd members remembered him on the band's official website. Drummer Nick Mason described Thorgerson as a "scourge of management, record companies and album sleeve printers; champion of bands, music, great ideas and high, sometimes infuriatingly high, standards."

Mason also described Thorgerson as a "tireless worker right up to the end," saying, "Two days before he passed away, and by then completely exhausted, he was still demanding approval for art work and haranguing his loyal assistants."

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He went on to praise the designer as a "dear friend to all of us, our children, our wives (and the exes). Endlessly intellectual and questioning. Breathtakingly late for appointments and meetings, but once there invaluable for his ideas, humour, and friendship."

Pink Floyd lead singer David Gilmour wrote on the band's site that he first met Thorgerson when the two were young teenagers.

"We would gather at Sheep's Green, a spot by the river in Cambridge, and Storm would always be there holding forth, making the most noise, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm," Gilmour wrote. "Nothing has ever really changed. He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend. The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work. I will miss him."

His work with Pink Floyd, especially the prism reflecting a rainbow that graces the "Dark Side of the Moon" album cover, was Thorgerson's most famous. But he also created album covers for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Muse.

In 2011, Thorgerson told Rolling Stone that the idea of the prism related to Pink Floyd's traveling light show.

"They hadn’t really celebrated their light show," he told the magazine. "That was one thing. The other thing was the triangle. I think the triangle, which is a symbol of thought and ambition, was very much a subject of Roger (Waters)'s lyrics. 

Thorgerson is survived by his mother, Vanji, his son Bill, his wife Barbie Antonis and her two children Adam and Georgia.

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Alex Dieterle

Steve Casino, the peanut artist.

Steve Casino found a peanut, found a peanut. Then he cracked it open (gently). But he didn't eat it. Instead, the 46-year-old toy inventor decided to paint a face on the peanut shell ... and thus a hobby, and a lucrative second profession, were born.

"I was looking for something unique to work on," Casino says. So he dug into a whole bunch of peanuts at work (snack foods fuel toymaking brains, it seems), and found one that looked like himself. ("I have a shaved head and glasses, so I look like a peanut," he said.) "There are 10 billion people painting on canvases, and it's hard to stand out from the crowd."

So after experimenting with the self-portrait, Casino turned to one of his favorite bands, the Ramones, for inspiration. Soon enough, he had the whole band ("I nearly ran out of steam on Joey"), with instruments, created on peanuts.

And it all went to shell from there.

In just the past five months, Casino has made approximately 30 creations on nuts, ranging from TV favorite ("Star Trek") to Spider-Man fighting Doc Ock. One guy he knew growing up by the name of Trent Reznor contacted him around Christmas -- "I hadn't talked to him in 20 years" -- and he got a commission to paint the Oscar-winning Nine Inch Nails singer and his family on nut shells. "He encouraged me a lot," says Casino (and yes, that is his real name). "It was just a hobby, and after that it was like, 'This great artist likes my art, I must be an artist!'"

Courtesy Steve Casino

Steve Casino's The Ramones.

As he's gone on, the creation of the nut-works has gotten more elaborate; he lays on hair (embroidery floss) strand by strand, and he crafts appropriate accessories like guitars and microphones (plus arms and legs) to go with the miniature sculptures. Each takes from 5 to 10 hours to create, "mostly because I make mistakes," he says. "If you screw up one millimeter it doesn't look like the person any more." 

Casino may not have known he could paint until recently, but he's not a complete creative newbie: He's a "failed caricature artist" who used to provide drawings to The Village Voice newspaper, and once had a regular job doing caricatures on Long Island, N.Y., but he hadn't done those in 15 years. He eventually ended up with toy company Bang Zoom Design, where he's worked on toys like racing puppies for Barbie dolls.

And for those racing to his website now to get their own favorites (or loved ones) done up in peanut shells (which, by the way, are opened, legumes removed, re-sealed and coated in polyurethane to prevent decay), there's something of a waiting list on commissions for the artworks, which run from $300-$1000 each, depending on complexity. 

Courtesy Steve Casino

Doc Ock and Spider-Man.

Courtesy Steve Casino

"Star Trek's" Spock and Kirk.

Casino doesn't use a magnifying glass, so this hobby-turned-adventure may have an expiry date if his eyes don't hold up. For now at least, he says he's having a grand time with the good old fashioned peanut. And he's better able to focus on the art now that he has some extra hands to sort out the best nuts from the bunch. "Half of the caricature I do is finding the right peanut," he says. "So I have my daughters -- they're 7 and 11 -- helping me in the basement."

And how does he reimburse them? "I pay in peanuts."

Naturally.

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She's just 6, but the British breakdancer known as B-Girl Terra saw her video fly around the world last week, as footage of her competing in a French competition went viral and earned millions of views. 

"She doesn't really understand how big it all is," Gavin Vincent, of Terra's dance crew, Soul Mavericks, told TODAY. "Here in the U.K., her popularity is growing. She has done some local news things but hasn't been on TV shows yet.

B-Girl Terra, who keeps her real name private, is from Wolverhampton, England, and is the youngest member of Soul Mavericks, a London-based troupe of about 16 members who range in age from Terra's 6 to 32.

"She has been dancing since she was 2 years old," Vincent told TODAY. "She just loves to dance. She has been a member of Soul Mavericks for about 18 months. She practices about 3 times a week for about 2-3 hours."

The video that made Terra internationally famous was the French competition Chelles Battle Pro, an annual event held in Chelles, France. Terra competed in the baby battle portion of the event, which includes children under 12. At 6, Terra was by far the youngest competitor, Vincent told TODAY, noting that the next-youngest child in the baby battle was 9.

Courtesy Soul Mavericks dance crew

B-Girl Terra in competition.

Terra didn't win her battle with 11-year-old B-Boy Jalen, but as the video shows, the audience fell in love with the tiny girl in the gray track suit. She rolls and leaps to her feet, kicks and spins, and balances on her head as viewers go wild.

"She was definitely a crowd favorite," Vincent told TODAY, adding that Terra was told backstage that she was "France's sweetheart."

She became a social media sweetheart too. "If someday I have a daughter...PLEASE let this be her!!!" tweeted Michael Ashton.

Soul Mavericks

Soul Mavericks, with B-Girl Terra front and center.

Terra herself wasn't too disappointed in her loss, and she's keeping it all in perspective. She posted Tuesday on her own Facebook page that "I made friends from battlin at France and Jstyles is one of them. Well done Jalen for win. I'm off to school now."

What did you think of Terra's dancing? Tell us on Facebook.

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Big Bird reaped a major publicity blitz following the presidential debate on Oct. 3, but a new portrait of the “Sesame Street” icon, concocted solely out of breakfast cereals, definitely marks the sweetest, crunchiest parody of the bunch.

The artwork, created by San Francisco-based visual artist Jason Mecier, depicts Big Bird waving an American flag, and is made of assorted cereals, including Honeycomb, Fruit Loops, Fruity Pebbles, Cheerios, Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs. It’s a decidedly sarcastic retort to Mitt Romney’s suggestion the government cut funding from PBS.

“I don't think cheating our children on education is the right thing to do,” Mecier told NBCNews.com about his reaction to the Republican candidate’s remarks.

The artist spent 25 hours following the debate gluing cereal bits onto the canvas.

“Sugar cereals are colorful and nostalgic and something kids love,” he says explaining that the picture now hangs on his friends’ kitchen wall. “It will eventually disintegrate or get eaten by bugs!”

Jason Mecier

Jason Mecier made portraits of President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney out of beef jerky.

Mecier’s edible interpretation of Big Bird is only the latest installment in his series of celebrity-inspired mosaics, some of which are produced with the stars’ personal trash.

He recently fashioned images of both GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, using beef jerky. He’s also made Dolly Parton and the Spice Girls out of candy, Clint Eastwood out of household objects ranging from cell phones to dominos, Marilyn Manson out of yarn and “The Dukes of Hazzard” cast out of beans.

Jason Mecier

Mecier dubbed this beef jerky portrait "MEAT Romney."

More controversial have been his works based on fallen figures,including Jon-Benet Ramsey made from children’s shoes and deceased stars such as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Amy Winehouse out of pills.

But Mecier, whose nickname is “The Macaroni Monet,” says that there are no specific messages attached to his portraits. 

Jason Mecier

A Mecier portrait of Clint Eastwood.

“I try to match each of my subjects with an appropriate medium,” he commented. “I like people to get out of it whatever they want. They are open for interpretation.”

Big Bird, not surprisingly, has been a hit; his most liked and shared photo on Facebook.

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What do you think of the cereal art? Tell us on Facebook.

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Courtesy Lisa Anderson

Clara Bergs

Anderson has high praise for the Intensive Multi-Treatment Intervention program, founded by Jonathan Alderson, who works with Clara and her family. A group of others, mostly college students, also have been trained to work with Clara, and "have become like an extended family to us," Anderson said. 

"THe IMTI program is customized for each child and brings in all sorts of treatments (and) therapies the specific child may need," she told TODAY.  "So, for example, with Clara, due to her weaknesses, we have done lots of gross motor and self-help skills, vision therapy due to low muscle tone, yoga, eating by mouth, speech therapy, osteopathy due to scoliosis etc.  Jonathan has a gift of being able to observe a child and determine what that child needs at that time."

Clara's family has always been able to pay for about half of the cost, but recently lost funding for the rest of it. And because the Canadian government will not cover the costs of the IMTI program, the family turned to more creative means, including publicizing the video, to raise money. Interested people can donate to Clara via PayPal and also follow her on Tumblr and Facebook.  

"We've been overwhelmed by the attention this video has received," Anderson told TODAY. "We've received so many lovely comments from people all around the world who have been inspired by Clara."

Clara still dances every day, her mother says, and in addition to ballet, she also enjoys jazz and contemporary music, including her fellow YouTube hit, "Gangnam Style."

"It makes me want to go back to the doctors who basically said there was no hope for her and show them just how much inspiration this little girl has given so many others," Anderson told TODAY.

Does Clara's ballet inspire you? Tell us on Facebook.

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The Beatles stroll across Abbey Road in a version of the famed album cover created with breakfast foods.

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What do you think of the food-focused cover? Tell us on Facebook.

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They're breathtaking pictures -- a lovely red-headed young woman, a green-eyed housecat, a peaceful temple garden in Japan. But they're not photographs -- they're copies of photographs done with that most prosaic of artistic instruments, the simple ballpoint pen.

VianaArts

Samuel Silva's "Redhead Girl" is drawn with ballpoint pen and based on a photograph of model Love Ansimov by Russian photographer Kristina Tararina.

Attorney Samuel Silva, 29, who lives in Portugal, is earning a lot of attention recently for his amazing pen artworks, which are displayed online. He uses BIC pens in eight different colors to do his work, which is so well done that some visitors to his webpage don't believe he actually did the work, and want him to post a video of himself drawing.

Silva notes of "Cat Face" that "the original size is about the same as two credit cards, a very small drawing. I always try to squeeze as much quality in it as I can though."

"When people doubt something or don't like it, all they have to do is move on and forget it, continue with their lives, that's what I do," Silva told TODAY. "Why would it be possible to create photo-realistic drawings and paintings with any other medium in existence and not with ballpoint pens?" 

Silva says "Bald Eagle" took eight hours to finish, and calls it "just another quick doodle."

Silva notes on his webpage that he doesn't mix or blend the colors, but cross-hatches them in layers "to create the illusion of blending and the illusion of colors I don't actually have.”

He jokes on the webpage that his drawings take "forever," and tells TODAY that "to me, 'forever' is 50 hours over a period of two months. That's a long time!"

Domestic and wild cats are among Silva's chosen images, and he admits a drawing called "Tiger" is his favorite. "I do love felines of all kinds," he said.

Silva says "Tiger" might be his favorite drawing, and that he loves felines and always wanted to draw a tiger. "This one is wild, that's why I love it," he says. "Big felines are not meant for zoos." It took him 20 hours to draw.

Silva told TODAY that BIC hasn't contacted him, but if they did, "I'd ask them to make a bigger set of colors, because ballpoint-pen artists and enthusiasts around the world would certainly buy them."

What do you think of Silva's work? Can you believe he only uses ballpoints? Tell us on Facebook.

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People around the world were shocked Wednesday when images of a ruined 19th century Spanish painting of Christ were revealed. But now the woman who altered the painting is saying a priest in the church that was home to the artwork knew she was attempting to touch up the faded piece.

Cecilia Gimenez, identified only as being "in her 80s," spoke to Televisión Española after the story spread. A reporter asked Gimenez if she had been instructed to paint on the artwork.

The BBC provides an English translation of her answer as, "Of course! It was the priest! The priest knew it, he did!"

When asked if she did the work secretly, Gimenez's translated response is, "Of course not! Everybody who came into the church could see I was painting."

But the New York Times reports that authorities in the region at first suspected vandalism, and said Gimenez had acted on her own. Authorities are considering legal action against Gimenez, the Times reports.

Television Española also spoke with Teresa Garcia, the granddaughter of Elias Garcia Martinez, the artist who painted "Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)" more than a century ago. Garcia seemed to be OK with part of Gimenez's restoration work.

"Until now, she had just painted the tunic, but the problem started when she painted on the head as well," Garcia told the reporter. "She has destroyed this painting."

Officials in the area, near Zaragoza, Spain, have contacted professional art restorers to examine the painting and suggest how it might be repaired.

Reaction to Gimenez's work has been overwhelming. Many who posted responses on TODAY's Facebook page found the final result humorous, some were outraged that Gimenez attempted to alter the work and others begged for sympathy for the would-be artist.

Wrote Geraldine Hamtil Cassidy, "Look, nobody knows what Jesus really looked like. Maybe her rendition is more accurate..." 

The BBC Europe correspondent described the painting's current state as resembling "a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic."

Should officials take legal action against Gimenez, or just try and fix the artwork as best they can? Tell us on Facebook.

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