Tag Archives: Art

Some LEGO builders elevate the form to fine art in its own right, while others enjoy reproducing famous works of art with the brick. Find beautiful and thought-provoking LEGO artwork right here.

My thoughts on unconnected tiger art? They’re grrrrrrrreat!

Who says you have to lock the bricks together to make something beautiful out of LEGO? Mitsuru Nikaido knows just how to pile up pieces to take things in a very different direction. Better still, they show you just how it was done with a great time lapse video! (Seriously. Go watch.)

LEGO Tiger_01

If you’re looking for more creative inspiration, be sure to take a stroll through our Art tag!

A LEGO mosaic tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther

The Brothers Brick contributor Chris Doyle adds to his Super Heroic mosaic collection with a tribute to Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther.

This image is based off of a publicity still, run through the LEGO Remix website a few times, modified to lower his hands, then hand color-corrected. This mosaic is 96 studs by 46 studs  – 6,144 studs total in the image. (Plus a bunch more for the frame and Technic pins to hold everything safely together.) You can read more about the construction after the break!

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Paint the world as you see fit

Being an artist has some perks. If you can imagine a world that doesn’t exist, simply invent it through art. As Bob Ross advised, just paint in those happy little trees! That is, in a sense, what First Order Lego has done here in LEGO. With a paint palette and brush in the composition, we see just a hint of color with a Mediterranean-style village at the base of a massive tree. It is just enough to clue us in that this builder is pretty good with color but the real star of the show here is what is not “painted”. Monochrome is notoriously difficult to draw or paint. It relies heavily on texture for great effect and that is what is done here in spades. Hundreds of mini wheels make up the leaves of the tree which creates breathtaking visual effects.

Painting The World - front overview

There are even more little houses going up the slope of the trunk that are just like the other ones except “unpainted”. He tells us it was all built-in under two weeks and had won the top prize at Bricking Bavaria, a LEGO convention in Germany. A well-deserved win, in my opinion. Here we see the artist “painting” his world with beautiful happy colors. The closeup makes it clear that the entire sculpture stands on Death Star halves. What brilliant details!

Painting The World - me painting detail

A deep dive into DeepShen’s digital designs [Feature]

We here at The Brothers Brick love creative part usage. We love mosaics. And we really love when the two come together. We had an opportunity to talk with Deepak Shenoy (Deepshen6) about the creative process behind their recent series of geometric LEGO wonders. Eye-bending and intricate, these designs really satisfy.

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Microscale Tales of the Space Age in LEGO

Humanity didn’t make it to space all at once. Like a ladder to the stars, our journey to the moon and beyond took many small steps. Each necessary part of the adventure, the good and bad, helped our species step out into the cosmos. Celebrating this era of discovery, builder Jan Woznica brings us a series of builds that are truly works of art. Each model evokes elements of exploration underlining our adventures in our solar neighborhood. Clever parts usage and pleasing color gradients give each of these a satisfying appeal worthy of displaying. Let’s take a closer look while you debate which would look best in your office or home.

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Falling for these autumnal flowers

This bunch of autumnal LEGO flowers by Barbara Hoel is a beauty — one of those creations which at first you scroll past assuming it cannot possibly be made of bricks and has made it into your feed due to some glitch in the algorithm. But then you look again and realise the pot is brick-built, oh… and the stalks, and the flower petals, oh and EVERY LAST PIECE OF THE THING, including those wonderful puffballs to the rear. The parts use on show here are delightful, well worth a closer look, particularly the use of pearl gold crowns for the impressive puffballs. We’ve seen more LEGO flowers since the release of the official LEGO flower sets, and when they look as good as this, long may this horticultural building trend continue.

LEGO bunch of flowers

This LEGO Star Wars mosaic is far from child’s play

LEGO’s foray into the art world, with its various mosaic sets, has inspired fans to create their own fantastic art. There’s even a Mosaic Maker which allows you to upload your own image and create a custom set. I’ve had friends order a few and they always turn out great. But I think builder Brent Waller invested a lot more thought into this textured mosaic of the Child from the Mandalorian. This absolute work of art was created as a gift for his son’s birthday and I have to say that this guy definitely deserves a Great Dad award. Measuring 1 meter wide by 60 centimeters high, this massive mosaic features tons of different pieces and colors masterfully placed and blended to render a close-up image of Grogu in his floating bassinet. But this portrait also has a secret: the Child and the Mandalorian are hidden within all that greebly goodness. Can you spot them? I’m not giving any hints so good luck!

The Child Mosaic

The mosaics in the LEGO Art sets make use of a pixel approach to create images of Darth Vader, the Hogwarts crest, or even Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. While this technique is quite effective at rendering plenty of different images, the grid pattern is difficult to break and some sharp diagonal lines aren’t captured well. That’s my opinion as an artist, at least. But Brent Waller’s use of a plethora of pieces allowed him to create sharper lines and textured surfaces. These draw the eye in new ways, almost tricking it into seeing aspects of the cloth, or the shadows in the bassinet, that aren’t really there. A vast array of pieces and colors on such a large canvas also allowed for better resolution in the image. From a distance, this barely even looks like a LEGO creation.

The Child Mosaic

I’m sure Waller, Jr. was excited to see this once it was complete. It would be an amazing addition to any room but if I were him, I would put it right above my desk. I can’t imagine this will end up in the scrap pile any time soon though. This is nerd-family heirloom material so it will surely make its rounds in their home for years to come.

I think the world of LEGO

When it comes to finding creative uses for LEGO element 2417, the 6×5 plant leaf, Azurekingfisher is one of the best. Assembling that sphere had to be a labor of love, and the end result is certainly impressive. The choices of colors make for a vibrant hanging sculpture with plenty of texture and visual interest from the overlapping foliage.  This ringed planet may not be from the Classic Space theme, but I think it could qualify for Classy space.

LEGO Planet

Curious to see what else Azurekingfisher has done with this seed part? Check our their other featured builds!

Cubes used to make cubist art. Seems legit to me

Art may be a very subjective topic, but Andreas Lenander knows the subject quite well. In a delightfully meta take on “Cubism”, they have incorporated LEGO DOTS cubes into the walls of a swanky art museum. The designs in the framed art are also quite lovely, showing the versatility of both Andreas and the DOTS tiles themselves. And that great bench and plant don’t exactly hurt the realism, either. This seems like a great place to stop and contemplate perspective issues and maybe enjoy a pricy beverage from the cafe. (Hey, the arts need to fund themselves sometimes.)

Cubist art museum

This build was inspired by design by Ryan Howerter, showing once again that great artists can build on each other’s successes. If you’re looking for your own sources of inspiration, might I suggest a stroll through our art tag?

What a beautiful portrait. Wait, it’s made out of LEGO!? Even better!

This gorgeous build is a collaboration between brothers, Isaac Snyder and John Snyder. Together, they have produced this visually stunning piece, demonstrating the inventive ways in which LEGO can be used to form shapes. The model mainly relies on flexible tubes to portray the outline of the horse, with claw pieces creating the pointed hair ends of the horse’s wavy mane. In order to maintain the bends of the tubes, rods have been inserted in just the right places to create curves in the rubber. It is an elegant creation that may require a second glance from the average person before they realise that the portrait is actually made out of LEGO.

Horse Line Art

Alien Assimilators are assimilating nicely

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be in the mind of LEGO builder Mihai Marius Mihu. He is an artist who seems to exist in a dark, hellish world that’s part H.R. Giger, part H.P. Lovecraft and part Wayne Douglas Barlowe. In other words, he’s precisely the type of person I’d love to have a beer with. Take, for example, this new creation, an Alien Maintenance Bay. In his own words, the bay “is the infirmary of the Mothership, a ward for diagnosing and repairing of the damaged Glider units that were able to return from combat.” The whole structure oozes alien biomechanical menace. With astounding textures and smart color trapping, it’s a masterpiece from an incomprehensible distant world. He also tells us that in the year 2033 mankind is struggling to survive after an overwhelming alien invasion. That’s only like twelve years away! Looks like we’re in for a dreary future. Or maybe we won’t even know it because we’d all be assimilated into their creeptastic alien agenda.

Alien Assimilators - Alien Maintenance Bay 1/2

Seriously, Mihai if you’re ever in the Seattle area look me up, you’ve got a local microbrew coming to you on me. And adversely if I’m ever in Romania, I’ll be sure to visit Dracula’s Castle and your place, which I wouldn’t doubt may very well be one in the same.

You have to admit, the Freemasons have some cool iconography

The Freemasons are a super-secret fraternal organization that apparently rules the world and everyone’s dad seems to be a member. Regardless of who they are and what they do exactly, you have to admit they have some cool iconography. Season one LEGO Masters contestant Aaron Newman has been commissioned by the Scottish Rite Masons of Lexington, Massachusetts to build their double-headed eagle logo. I’m in awe of the ruffled textures of the eagle achieved by leaving the studs exposed in some places while covering them in layered tiles in others. The sword and banner are certainly not without their charms but I’m most impressed by the “33” encased inside an equilateral triangle. This is a shape not easily achieved in LEGO but Aaron does it with finesse. The crown and even the eagle itself seem to be floating in space and this is achieved and is quite structurally sound, thanks to the use of transparent Technic beams.

Masonic Eagle

Be sure to check out the video as Aaron explains the model more in-depth. And while you’re admiring this build yourselves, go ahead and forward this article to your dads and they will likely respond in turn with a knowing yet solemn nod.