Tag Archives: Portrait

“Orange you glad I didn’t say red panda”

Amid the social media universe of artists, there is a creative prompt known as the color wheel challenge. The artist must complete a separate piece for each wedge of a color wheel, typically consisting of red, orange, yellow, green, teal, blue, purple, and pink. And LEGO character builder extraordinaire Steven Howard (aka Ghalad) has taken up the challenge in brick form with this first submission for the orange slice. Despite the misnomer, it’s fair to say that a red panda is quite the orange beast. But I’m pretty sure (and feel free to fact-check me on this one, dear readers) that a red panda has never presided over a fiefdom in the history of the animal. Nevertheless, fiction or not, this is still a dynamite character exuding all the regal glory that Ailurus fulgens can muster. Very much looking forward to the next wedge, Ghalad!

Orange - The Red Panda Prince of the Northlands

And if you’d like to see more of Steven’s awe-inspiring work, please take a look in our archives.

Eevee: a picture perfect Pokémon

Eevee, in almost all instances, is adorable beyond measure. This LEGO portrait from Tim and Dannii (who you may know from LEGO Masters Australia) continues in the tradition. Right away, I’m super glad Dannii allows Eevee’s ears to spill out over the frame! Eevee has beautiful ears that get to shine rather than being clipped by the boundaries of the frame. The building technique at work here, the brick-built 3D character, gives the portrait the feeling of a window. It’s like Eevee is taking a peek at us from the Pokémon world! Definitely a great choice over doing a flat studs-only picture. This way Eevee seems more alive, which is exactly what we all want with Pokémon.

A touching tribute to a loyal friend.

After Reddit user jjakk bid farewell to their dog Arden, they decided to commemorate him with a portrait done in LEGO. One part sculpture and one part mosaic, this build is a stunningly beautiful likeness. The variety of color and texture gives the final model a fabulous artistic flair that we’re sure would make Arden proud.

The girl with the golden curls

Paolo Loro has constructed this beautiful portrait which depicts a mysterious character named as “Lion Girl.” The most striking element of the model has to be the golden curls which have been carefully placed in order to create the girl’s wavy mane. The face has some interesting features, such as the smooth angles and the use of a claw piece to create the eye. The model not only looks fantastic but also has a sense of intrigue within its portrayal, as the features of the character are not fully defined.

Lion Girl

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

I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger!

A builder who goes by the dubious name of SuckMyBrick has built a stunning LEGO portrait of Walter White, the mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned badass meth dealer because…desperate times. I hope I didn’t spoil too much for you, but as Breaking Bad has been cited as one of the best TV shows of all time, it is strongly recommended that you watch it to see Bryan Cranston in the most pivotal role of his career, even if just to sputter off memorable quotes such as this article’s title. SuckMyBrick is exceptionally good at building characters and portraits. Here is a recent time we featured his Fred Flintstone, as well as a whole string of internet influencers and the Commander in Peach.

Walter White

This Fred Flintstone portrait is a Yabba-Dabba-Doozie!

Builder SuckMyBrick is perhaps best known for his pop culture LEGO models, but he has reached a new level with this spot-on portrait of Fred Flintstone. The Flintstones premiered in 1960 as the first ever prime time animated series. Almost 50 years later, Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty are still a part of our pop culture landscape, so much so that The LEGO Group produced the Flintstone’s iconic house as LEGO Ideas Set 21316 back in March.

Fred Flintstone

When building with LEGO, it can be quite difficult to achieve the lines and curves required to make a portrait, and there is often a certain amount of abstraction that needs to take place. SuckMyBrick does an astounding job here with his utilization of the 3rd dimension, angles and curves. He also makes great use of studs up, studs out and even sideways building to achieve this look. I am particularly impressed by the builder’s ability to create this very sleek style with no studs showing. From a distance you might not even know this was made with LEGO bricks. The third dimension is expertly used to not only create Fred’s facial features, but to also give the impression that his is reaching out of the edge of the frame. It’s a positively perfect portrait of the patriarch of everyone’s favorite modern stone-age family!

When our inner schism stops destroying and starts creating

By now, LEGO bricks’ place among other art media should be obvious, but it still seems to be more of an exception than the rule for builders to express their emotions through bricks. But some times, builders do feel the need to express themselves, as in the case of Malin Kylinger in her latest build. Malin states that the dual theme of the creation represents a range of emotions she went through in the recent times. What at first glance looks like a simple struggle between good and evil hides countless possible interpretation. Is this a chaotic whirlwind of changing emotion or is it a fine balance? Or maybe there is no struggle, just coexistence of light and dark?

Worlds inside of me

Whatever the interpretation, there is no getting around the fact this is a great build. The face is technically a somewhat flat build, but from the photos, it looks very realistic. The hair is built using an interesting technique using strings with bars as the flexible basis for the white and dark red leaves. My favourite part by far are the eyes built using pieces as crazy as feathered minifig wings. The landscaping might look chaotic to some, but I see it as a stream of consciousness in LEGO.

When the robot saints go marching in

For centuries, Saints have held a certain fascination for mankind. There is a Saint for pretty much anything. So it stands to reason, that in the future after mankind has been wiped out or enslaved by our new robot overlords, that they would produce Saints of their own. Several LEGO builders have brought this vision to reality, and as the song goes, I would really like to be in that number.

ST. 67656f7267 by Djokson

ST. 67656f7267

More saints from the series after the jump

What are LEGO fans made of?

Russian builder Nikita Nikolsky peeps under skin of a true LEGO fan and finds nothing but… LEGO. According to his research, inside there’s nothing but a highly productive brick-brain capable of some extraordinary things. The builder hasn’t reported the number of fans that volunteered for his study, but we believe this sketch of a LEGO fan is pretty much credible.

AFOL'S Anatomy

Portrait of a legend: Grouch Marx in LEGO

If anyone is suited to a LEGO caricature, it’s Groucho Marx. Paddy Bricksplitter has given us a wonderful portrait of the comedy legend, and there is absolutely no doubt who is staring at you from from the frame. The bushy eyebrows and curly hair are instantly recognizable, and the cigar is perfect.

Groucho