Screaming LM386: An Audio Amplifier with PCB Art

Frank Milburn combined iconic modern art with a classical electronics circuit. He calls it Screaming LM386. On one side he adapted the famous painting "The Scream" by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch into PCB art. The other side is a full functional LM386 audio amplifier circuit. The circuit mirrors the reference design from the LM386's datasheet. That means you can add components turning the artwork into a real audio amp.

We are quite sure Munch never thought of using FR4 and solder mask for his work. Which makes it even more incredible how well an expressionist painting translates to the medium. As you can see from the photographs, the board is quite breathtaking. In his PCB artwork tutorial, Milburn details the process he went through using tools like Photoshop to separate the layers necessary for the PCB Gerber files.

Even though the circuit follows the reference design, Milburn took the time to document the necessary components.

Unlike the original painting, of which only four exist, it is quite easy to obtain a Screaming LM386 for your PCB artwork collection. Using this project-share link, you can order one straight from OSHPark. The price runs about $5.00 per board.

For more information, check out Milburn''s element14 "The Scream" write-up.