Posts by Michael

Spectacular vistas from travels in Japan

Inspired by his travel experience with beautiful Japan, Alanboar Cheung shares with us this wonderful LEGO painting. It’s built in the style of Japan’s kakemono (hanging thing), more commonly known as kakejiku (hanging scroll). This form of art typically contains paintings and calligraphy inscriptions on a flexible backing to allow for rolling for storage. Alanboar’s creation follows suit, depicting a pagoda, cherry blossoms, and the great Mount Fuji. There’s even a golden phoenix flying overhead! The scene stands out in its 3D glory, bringing it life for us the way that LEGO does. I love how Alanboar is able to recreate the kanji for Japan (Nihon) in LEGO styled calligraphy.

LEGO Japan Painting Kakemono - NIHON (掛畫 - 日本) (掛け物 - にほん)

Here we can take a look at the whole scroll to fully appreciate the level of detail found in this build. The painting really pops against the neutral colors of the scroll! There’s no doubt this would be the center piece of any wall.

LEGO Japan Painting Kakemono - NIHON (掛畫 - 日本) (掛け物 - にほん)

The machines will rise and lead a revolution of dance

This LEGO robo-figure from builder Iggs has way more style than any machine revolutionary before them! Not all robots dream of overthrowing humanity through violence — sometimes they want to express themselves through dance. The robo-dancer here is preparing to kick things off with the Dance Dance Revolution at their local arcade. The dancer features some really nice color blocking, and I’m loving the bright colors and how they stand out against the black pieces. The limbs have lots of flow and unique shaping, giving the figure a sense of being highly flexible for some crazy dance moves. This is one of those figures where I just want to keep looking at it to discover all the cool parts hiding in plain sight.

The Dance Dance Revolution

A pirate’s ride for me!

I can practically smell the bromine water in this Pirates of the Caribbean LEGO build from Nicholas Goodman. This scene is a rather amazing recreation of the beginning of the Disneyland ride. This is a scene rarely focused on, given its relaxing ambiance when comparing it to the rest of the ride. Here, Nicholas gives us that anticipation of what’s to come on the other side of that dark tunnel, sparing no detail. The ride’s boat is spot on, but more impressive is the rest of the scene, like the old pirate’s cabin. I like the simple technique of just not pressing tiles down all the way to create the uneven roofing. The greenery wonderfully frames the path of the ride, and those little details like the ship’s tackle to the right are perfect. Those are the details that make a ride of this nature, and I love seeing it all captured in LEGO. It should be no surprise that this is my favorite Disney attraction!

Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland Ride

Your standard stylish resource collector

Everyone needs a collector for those resource rich dead planets, like this nifty LEGO one from BetaNotus. There are all kinds of resource collectors, but the best ones have both efficiency and style in mind. First off, love the blue color blocking! Blue always goes well with grey, and looks especially nice with the gold bits of the collector, like the drill and accent details. This collector also has some nice symmetry going on, which doesn’t hurt keeping it balanced as it drills down. Overall, the whole thing has really cool textures and layering, making me wonder how the mechanism might work. Just plop a few of these down on a dead planet or an asteroid and you’ll have quite a haul in no time. Then it’ll be time to collect the collectors and move to another location.

Calamercantile Resource Collector

A shapely ship soars through space

Sacrificing comfort for style, this LEGO spaceship from Jonas Jensen is easy on the eyes. It features some incredible shaping for a sleek look. The color blocking is well done, particularly those teal pieces. They help frame a few sections and add a pop of color amid the black, grey, and white. The orange pieces help with this too, but the teal stands out more in my eyes. You may be wondering about the sacrificial comfort–let’s look to the cockpit. It can house a minifigure, but one without arms given the narrow space in there. However, I’m sure a minifigure could use a remote or autopilot program to fly the ship. Such great shaping comes at a cost with any vehicle, and this spaceship is no exception.

STORMGULL

Look to the skies and you might spy a dragon

Dragons are always cool, especially when they hang out at high altitudes among the clouds. Andreas Lenander delivers a LEGO bust of a bright red dragon with beautiful details and colors. He uses curving slopes to give the dragon the appearance of scales. You can see this to great effect on the dragon’s throat where the slopes serve this purpose most expertly. There’s some good use of gold pieces to give the dragon a regal look, especially on the whiskers! Because of the clever use of curving pieces, the whole build has a nice flow, like the wind is blowing past the dragon. The cloud base itself has some nice curvy lines to it, giving it a fluffy sort of appearance. You can take a closer look at this build by checking out the video Andreas released for it. He gives some of his own insights, while showing the build from different angles.

Sky dragon

Naturally, there’s history in this museum

I do love a good museum, and this one is made of LEGO no less! This museum from Victor van den Berg offers more than just history to learn and explore. The first exhibit to draw the eye is the great dinosaur skeleton at the back of the first floor. It’s an impressive model, showing off a lot of cool parts usage. But the fun doesn’t stop there! The excellent parts usage extends to the other exhibits and the architecture of the museum itself. I particularly love the details of the white pieces above the animal exhibit on the left. And check out those windows on the second floor and the ceiling above! If you want to take a closer look at everything here, be sure to check out Victor’s Flickr photo stream for more images of the build–I’ll be doing that myself!

Museum of Natural History Lego MOC

This interior looks so good it’s hard to believe it’s only LEGO

Architecture and interior design come together wonderfully in this LEGO build from Dad’s Bricks (Joe). Great care is evident in every little aspect of this piece, from the framing of the composition to the design of the background artwork. The inspiration for the build comes from classical and traditional Chinese mansion interiors. This style features nice wooden furniture and an elegant look to the architecture. The build possesses a fluid movement, pulling the eye through to the plant life and nature-focused artwork. The parts selection is so well thought through, upon first glance you might not realize it’s composed of LEGO. One of my favorite details in the build is the inclusion of a teapot and cups on the back table, giving the interior a bit of a lived-in quality.

［LEGO] Classical and traditional mansion interior design

Every construction job needs a set of these

Even LEGO construction workers need a portable toilet and a trailer for a temporary office while on a job site. Coming from builder Ralph Savelsberg, these two items are no doubt appreciated by the construction worker minifigures, despite their moods. The portable toilet features the ever lovely orange LEGO pieces for that classic look–just don’t be inside it when it comes time to move it…. The trailer itself is small, but there’s enough room inside to have a coffee break away from the elements. There’s a cute little window with shutters to watch the site and a nice step-up so no one has to jump in or out. To keep the trailer steady, since it’s only on two wheels, there are four supports. Between the two items, the color choices are spot on and the designs are keen.

Construction site accessories

Be wary of wayward lights around marshes and bogs

Stories of Will-o’-the-wisps, like LEGO, can be found all over the world, with many representations in artwork, like this build by AjRed17. Will-o’-the-wisps are often found near or in bogs and marshes, most likely caused by gaseous emissions lighting the dark. The stories they appear in often warn of following such lights and losing one’s way. Maybe they’re ghosts, or maybe just releasing gas sparking in the night. Either way, they’re haunting with their ethereal beauty. The one in this build hangs in the air beside a blooming, curving tree. The tree possesses cool parts usage with pink frogs for the flowers. The scene is tranquil and calming, something I wouldn’t mind having on my desk.

Will-o’-the-wisp

The many perspectives of medieval art

It’s always fun to see LEGO builds explore art history, such as this medieval scene from Joe (jnj_bricks). This build explores those fun and strange perspectives found in Europe’s medieval artwork. If you look up some of the art, you’ll find paintings and drawings where the foreground and background scenes are sort of pushed together with perspectives not achievable in reality.

Scripted Days

This build of a monk busy with penning a manuscript shows off such angles between the front and back scenes. This allows for great detailing in both the foreground and background. The monk and his surroundings are chock full of incredible details, like the billowy robes and the tapestry behind the scribe. The castle through the door stands out with the texturing of its walls. This is an incredible idea, and a further example of LEGO as an artful medium.

Sand castles don’t last forever, even ones made of the Sands of Time

This LEGO hourglass is something magical with its grains building a castle as time passes. Builder Simon Liu presents this unique hourglass for the Brickscalibur contest. As time moves, so does the construction of the castle. And when it’s complete, time is up. It’s a clever idea to showcase the passage of time and life. Being an hourglass, it represents the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The build uses a wonderful assortment of tan pieces to give the castle definition. There are even some walls and bits in the top portion of the hourglass from the last sand castle. The build also makes some good use of gold pieces to give the timepiece a gilded elegance. This is a really cool design and idea, and is certainly one of my favorite time-related LEGO builds.

Time Castle