Category Archives: Building Techniques

Not sure what SNOT is? Want to learn innovative new ways to create awesome LEGO models of your own? Peruse our posts about LEGO building techniques to pick up tricks & tips from the best.

Medieval Pop-up Book tells a fiery tale

Gather round, everyone, for I have a story to tell you. Let me share with you this book by 74louloute; it tells the tale of Castle of Luneville in Lorraine, France, and how a fire tried to take the life of an old man.

Be sure to check out this brilliant build in action!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Corinthium is a man-made, self-sustaining planet

Now that we are all on the same page as to what you’re seeing, enjoy Tyler’s (Legohaulic) latest creation of a planet in the shape of an icosidodecahedron. Building polyhedrons in Lego can be surprisingly simple and sturdy once you have the basic structure figured out. The applications are also numerous, ranging from castle to city to sci-fi.

Corinthium 01

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Real-action Earthbender

This vignette by Dark-Alamez features a must-see video showing a minifig manipulating the snowscape. Watch the first 5 seconds of the video and see if you can figure out how the builder did it. It’s a very clever and simple technique.

The Earthbender (the end)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug_JBQPfwmM

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

An Unfortunate Encounter

Here is one of my own creations. I have wanted to illuminate a build entirely from below ever since transparent baseplates became readily available. So now I’ve finally got around to it. This scene depicts a lone wizard as he deals with the attack from a rather unwise assassin. The entire “landscape” is built on transparent baseplates. The white tree leaves are built onto black tree trucks so that the trucks would be harder to see and the foliage would appear to float above the scene. Lastly the whole scene is built up above the light-source, which has a sheet of transparent blue plastic covering it, for the diffused blue glow. If you want a challenge, give something like this a try. It definitely required a different approach!

Forest Encounter

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Incredible Lego Pokemon Arcanine

I saw this creation by Mike Nieves (retinence) at BrickFair, and was blown away. The first thing that caught my eye was the paw smashing into the base, it really adds motion to the sculpture. Then I realized that the entire Pokemon (tiger?) was balanced on one paw! Incredibly, this creation was overlooked for nomination for Best Bionicle, but celebrity judge Ed Diment made sure this was recognized in the mecha category.

Pokemon Arcanine 3

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The Ocean’s Just a Step Away

Here’s a lovely use for a mosaic: use it to build a backdrop to your creation. Bluesecrets did exactly this with her latest build for her local LEGO store community window. (The community window is a small dedicated space in LEGO stores for adult fan clubs to exhibit.) This is a great example of using a mosaic for forced perspective to add depth to a diorama.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Tyler Clites’ E-MOTE continues to delight

Tyler Clites‘ (Legohaulic) wonderfully animated little robot has been busy since last we checked in on him. He’s romanced a fair lady in a wonderful series of images, and now he’s taken to the arts, even growing a mustache for trying his Rembrandt imitation. Be sure to check out what all he’s been up to.

E-MOTE: Artist

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Beware the Batman

Chris McVeigh (powerpig) is no stranger to The Brothers Brick, having been featured multiple times for his lovely models and photography.

He’s started a new series of brick-based sketches, inspired by markers as an art medium. I love the stylistic design and presentation. This particular one features a comic-book staple, the iconic Batman:

Other sketches include Boba Fett and Wolverine. I’m excited to see whoever is next!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Dennis The Menace

LegoJalex built a scene from a classic American comic and TV series, Dennis The Menace. I read some of the comics as a kid, so it was recognizable to me. Regardless, one should note the slingshot that Dennis is holding; it’s a very eye-catching accessory made out of official Lego elements and a custom sling.

Dennis The Menace - Dennis' Treehouse

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Tyler Clites’ E-MOTE will make you feel human

Tyler Clites has embarked on a new project, crafting a friendly little robot with loads of pose-ability. This robot was intentionally made with lots of articulation and the fundamental elements of a face that allow us humans to interpret emotion from facial expressions. Tyler has been updating every day or two with new poses and expressions, and plans to continue for several weeks. Tyler is doing some fantastic work here: taking a relatively simple build and imbuing it with emotion and personality. This sort of creativity is what makes LEGO building amazing. We’ll be featuring the dramatic little robot again as his acting broadens, so be sure to watch TBB to see more of him. In the meantime, check out E-MOTE’s photoset to see all of his poses so far.

E-MOTE: Surprise!

E-MOTE: Crappy DayE-MOTE: Potty break?E-MOTE: Evil Genius

Today, E-MOTE discovers the wonder of butterflies.

E-MOTE: Butterflies

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Unexplored Ruins

Kyle Collard (Lazer Blade) displayed this beautifully crafted ruined castle at Brick Fiesta last weekend. This edited photo shows all the details of the decay and lends itself to insta-faves.

Unexplored Ruins

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

New and upcoming LEGO books for Jul-Oct 2013

It seems like there are new books about LEGO coming out constantly, both from famously “LEGO-friendly” publishing houses like No Starch Press and from many other publishers.

We haven’t been able to feature or review all of them, so here’s a quick roundup of the many LEGO books published so far in 2013, along with links to pre-order a number of future books.

I’m particularly excited about LEGO Space by perennial TBB favorites Pete Reid and Tim Goddard. Though we don’t have too many details about what’s inside, the cover alone hints at Neo-Classic Space greatness.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.