Category Archives: People

LEGO fandom is a worldwide phenomenon, a vast community. Whether you consider yourself an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO), ALE (Adult LEGO Enthusiast), some other crazy acronym, a parent of a young builder, or even just a casual fan who appreciates all the amazing models LEGO builders create, there’s more to LEGO than just the models themselves. Here at The Brothers Brick, we bring you the stories behind the models, with interviews, builder profiles, and more.

AFOL: A Blocumentary by Jess Gibson

Documentary filmmaker Jess Gibson has just completed a 30-minute movie about adult fans of LEGO here in the Pacific Northwest. You can watch the complete “AFOL: A Blocumentary” right here:

AFOL A Blocumentary from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Jess attended BrickCon 2009, joined us for a SEALUG meeting, and interviewed many fans who’ll be familiar to readers of The Brothers Brick:

The description on Vimeo says that this is the “first in a series of Blocumentaries about the Adult Fans of LEGO,” so we’re looking forward to more from Jess Gibson in the future.

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.

Police recover portion of Mark Benz’s stolen LEGO [News]

You might remember the grand theft LEGO story a week ago about Mark Benz who lost $6500 worth of custom creations in a car theft. According to the San Jose Mercury News, about two thirds of the creations were recovered on the night of February 16th, when police found it in an unoccupied stolen vehicle in Castro Valley. Most of the recovered models had been partially or wholly disassembled. The recovered LEGO was returned to Mark, though some was retained for the investigation.

Mark also sent out a press release on behalf of his family:

Late last night Fremont Police contacted a man who’s LEGO creations were stolen recently with good news. A pick-up truck, stolen in January from Fremont’s Niles District and recovered in Castro Valley yesterday, contained a big pile of LEGO. The police asked Mark Benz, President of the Bay Area LEGO Club to help identify the find. Their search for the truck and toy thieves continues based on other evidence found in the truck. If you have any information on either crime, please contact FPD Detective Veteran at 510-790-6800.

Mr. Benz, builder of the missing Lego creations, was delighted that some of his LEGO was found and returned, saying “Thanks very much to the law enforcement agencies involved. It’s great they found much of it!” About the LEGO creations themselves, he said: ”Some are in fair shape while others are completely wrecked,” adding ” The thieves have not been caught….YET.”

Only about two-thirds of the stolen LEGO creations were retrieved, and many reduced to a pile of LEGO “rubble”. Ghirardelli Square and two other models were broken into several large pieces. The Conservatory of Flowers and other model SF landmarks are now only a 50 pound box, about the size of a bar refrigerator, of [seemingly] random LEGO. All of the stolen LEGO trains, along with hundreds of LEGO trees, and other items remain missing. “I hope they find the rest when they catch the crooks,” Benz said.

Nevertheless, Mr. Benz is excited to soon have some of the LEGO back, and plans to rebuild as many of the famous SF Landmarks as he can in time to display them at the Bricks by the Bay LEGO Fan Convention at the Fremont Marriott, in April.

[Mark sent along a little additional information so I added to the post, with Nannan’s permission -Thanel]

A tribute to the King of Pop-Ups

Nathan Sawaya has created a gorgeous tribute to Waldo H. Hunt, the King of Pop-Up Books. By the way, this is also Nathan’s first castle.

Thanks to Bruce for pointing this out on Classic-Castle.

LEGO landmarks taken in $6,500 vehicle burglary [NEWS]

Typically our little stories about LEGO in the wider news have a tendency to engender some sort of controversy, but one thing I hope most us can agree on: It’s not cool to steal someone’s LEGO collection.

According to the Oakland Tribune, nightmare became reality for Mark Benz, 49, of Fremont, CA. Mark, who is president of BayLUG, drove the creations back from Palo Alto, where he had a large part of his collection on display at the Museum of American Heritage for a display with other BayLUG members. When he got home, he left the collection in his truck for a about a week. On the morning of February 3rd, he found that $6,500 worth of his LEGO collection had been taken in a vehicle burglary the preceding night. Mark told me in an e-mail that, “It feels crummy! Like somebody took years of your life, along with the cost of the bricks!”

According to Mark, the following models and elements were taken:

“About 20,000 parts forming 20 square feet of LEGO models of San Francisco waterfront landmarks: Ghirardelli Square, the new Conservatory of Flowers, Palace of Fine Arts, Maritime Museum and municipal pier, and the USS Pampanito [submarine]. Also, trains taken: California Zephyr, Whale Car, red SW1000 diesel and freight cars, at least 4 small classic town sets: Camera car, speedboat, ultralite and 1 other, about 60 baseplates, and all of the trees used to scenic common areas of BayLTC layouts.”

We thought it might be worth passing along the information since quite a few of you are going to be scouring BrickLink, craigslist, e-bay, classifieds and garage sales for LEGO anyway, so y’all might be the perfect people to keep an eye out for signs of Mark’s stolen LEGO.

Mark also wrote that he’d “very much like to thank all the BayLUG members and All Fans of LEGO (AFOLs) who’ve expressed condolences and sent pictures and support concerning this theft.”

If you run across a sale of LEGO that’s uncannily similar to Mark’s collection and/or a deal that’s too good to be true from the San Francisco Bay area, please do the right thing. I think empathy should be enough, but Mark is offering a $500 reward for the recovery of his collection.

If you have pertinent information, contact Detective Bill Veteran of the Fremont Police Department at 510-790-6800.

Behind the scenes at the LEGOLAND California Model Shop: an interview with Gary McIntire [part 2]

Interview with LEGOLAND California Master Model Designer Gary McIntire, continued from part 1. We talk a little bit more about design, repair and tools of the trade.

TBB: How do you go about designing and building a model? And how is it different from a fan or personal creation?
GM: When we start, we have to think about the location: sun exposure, guests, and whether it’s indoor or outdoor. Then we have to consider how it’ll be mounted to the ground. What we’re doing is fundamentally different from fan creations or sets because it’s an installation. We have to think about the surfaces, steel braces, and access panels for animation. We also have to get input from other people, I can’t just do whatever I want. It usually starts with a specific model request, then I design from there. I consult image resources. It’s important to keep in mind that what we think something looks like is different from what it actually looks like in real life. There are little details that may not be in our heads, but are what make it. At the same time, caricature is necessary to some extent. Models have to be recognizable, but can suffer from reality. Everyone has to keep in mind that it’s a version of the real thing. It has to look right, but is a model DESIGN, not an absolute replica.

TBB: What’s that on your desk?
GM: Those are a pair of transparent red jewels that are going to go on either end of the Dune Raiders sign in Land of Adventure. They wanted something to fill out the sign, so we worked out this design and after a few sketches, I’m building it (pictured on right with red mock-up interior). The interior is just white, and the last couple outer layers are trans red, so the sun will shine through them a little. They also have a yellow base and clasps to represent the gold.

TBB: What’s up with that Shaq model that has “34” tagged up on his chest?
GM: That’s an example of a mock-up; we’ll usually do that when we need to take into consideration a complicated combination of color and shapes. We’ll do the shape then draw on the areas where there will have to be different colors. Then we’ll rebuild the model knowing where we have to put the appropriate color. Usually the mock-ups are recycled or reused, but that one stayed.

TBB: What kind of tools do you use?
GM: Pliers, cutters, chisel, brick separator, mallet, and a power drill, but I have to build some of my tools, like a Jedi. (laughs) I had to modify a set of needle-nose pliers so they bend in to grab and dig into a glued brick that I’m tearing out (pictured below). I also use a special version of wire cutters to cut studs off. They’re called stud cutters.

TBB: Why do you have to cut studs off?
GM: Some of the models have access panels to allow repairs for the animation inside. Those panels have to slide in an out, and the simplest way is to cut the studs off (example pictured at right). The reason we use regular bricks and plates and remove the studs instead of using tile, is because tile pieces have the little lip at the bottom so they can be taken off plates by little kid fingers. That little tile lip is pretty noticeable on models. The access panel thing brings me back to one of the other things about these installations, we really have to take into consideration the hollows and angles inside a model in order to allow the movement of the animation inside.

TBB: You glue your models right? Why and how do you do that?
GM: Yeah, the models are all glued. A layer of glue is put down, then a whole layer of bricks is applied, until we’re done with the model. The glue is pretty strong, so usually when we have to refurbish or repair, the brick will break before the seal from the glue. I’ve torn apart a lot of bricks. When it’s finished, we also spray on a UV protective clear coat on the exterior that prevents some fading.

TBB: How exactly does the refurbishment process work?
GM: First, we uninstall the model and take it to the model shop by hand, cart or sometimes even with a forklift. The largest models we have to either repair in-place or take directly to our nice brand new blasting facility, which has a little more room. Once we get it in the shop, we clean it to see what we have to work on, then actually do the repairs, which can be rebuilding chunks of worn brick, reinserting glue into cracks between layers then pressing it back together with clamps or replacing extrusions that have broken off. After making the repairs, we sandblast the exterior of the model with crushed walnut shell, which takes off the clear coat and a tiny layer of the outer plastic, which makes the whole exterior a kind of matte finish. Then we spray on a new layer of clear coat on the exterior, which brings the original glossiness of the original bricks right back out. The reason we do the repairs before the sandblasting is because it makes it look more uniform. We can usually do that kind of refurbishment about two or three times to a model before it’s out of commission for good. One fun tidbit is that after about the second blasting, you can’t read the LEGO logo on the tops of studs. After all that is done, we reinstall the model.

TBB: When you’re doing a repair or refurbishment, what other things do you have to take into consideration?
GM: Quite a few things. We try to keep some age and color consistency, so like on a building model I’m replacing right now, since I’m having to replace most of the gray bottom strip of a white building, I’ll go ahead and take off the rest of the gray, so when it’s put back on display, the grays will all match and since the white is in good shape and consistent, it’ll stay the same (Above: Gary removing the gray layer). On other models, some redesign might be necessary because of extrusions or other types of things that I know won’t survive a lot of guest contact. A design for a model can be really great, but sometimes I can tell right away when it’s installed that I’ll need to redesign it during the first refurbishment, because of a feature that will make it more vulnerable to damage. Anything flimsy combined with months or years of guest contact are going to get damaged. Witches noses, tea spouts and monkey fingers are pretty common examples where I’ll need to restructure it or put in some reinforcement when I replace the broken parts.

TBB: What do you do with dropped and damaged brick?
GM: Damaged and glued bricks are recycled (pictured below). Clean bricks from mock-ups–or that got dropped on the floor–we put in another bucket which is sent to the building and play areas, where it’ll be reused.

TBB: What kinds of considerations for the cars and other electronic models?
GM: I work with the animation guys in the next room who do the electronic and mechanical things. They bring me vehicles that need to be refurbished to keep them running correctly, and I have to check with them to make sure the inside space of a car has enough space for the batteries and mechanics.

I’ll post a story soon reflecting on a few of my impressions and additional info we didn’t get to during the formal interview that some of you might be interested in hearing about.

Paul Lee & son win national LEGO Minibuild contest [News]

Paul Lee and his son entered their local LEGO Store’s monthly Minibuild contest back in September, and recently learned that their entry has just won the national contest, and will be featured as this coming September’s monthly model.

It’s a great little Miniland character that would look perfect on the tiny streets of LEGOLAND California, complete with sneakers and backpack casually slung over one shoulder. Congratulations to the father and son team!

Behind the scenes at the LEGOLAND California Model Shop: an interview with Gary McIntire [part 1]

I was recently fortunate enough to be allowed into the LEGOLAND California Model Shop, and wandered around with Master Model Designer Gary McIntire for over an hour of total LEGO geeking out. I hope you folks will find it as interesting as I did, though be forewarned: it may be the nerdiest interview you’ve ever read.

The Brothers Brick: So Gary, what do you do here?
Gary McIntire: I make magic happen. (laughs) I do repairs around LEGOLAND, give VIP tours, media events, Make-A-Wish Foundation tours, park events, ambassador classes, and judge junior master model builder events. When I’m not doing those things, I redesign, reconstruct and replace models around the park. I also do the design and building of smaller models, though larger design projects go to an off-site design shop. It all used to be done in one shop, but we split into separate maintenance and design shops over a year ago.

TBB: What makes maintenance here at LEGOLAND California different from the other LEGOLAND parks?
GM: The other parks in Europe are closed during the winter and can cover and completely refurbish their models during the off-season when they’re closed, which also serves to protect the models from the elements. Here we’re open year round, except Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the winter, so repairs are intermittent and the models are exposed to sun and guests throughout the year.

TBB: What’s the life cycle of a typical model in the park?
GM: It depends on the location, which will affect how much sun exposure and guest contact it has. It can be as long as 10 years without problems if they’re inside buildings or in the shade. But if it’s in the sun and people can climb on it, it may need to be refurbished within 2 years, with a complete replacement in another 2 years. If you want to see something that’s about at the stage where it needs to be refurbished after 2 years, take a look at the camel in Land of Adventure (pictured on right). The feet and neck get stepped on so kids can climb it to have their picture taken. On other models, major extrusions are likely to get knocked off, so that makes the need for refurbishment more frequent.

TBB: What about in Miniland?
GM: The District of Columbia section (pictured below) has already been refurbished twice and is due for a complete overhaul soon. But San Francisco, because it’s north-facing, has never been refurbished.

TBB: About how much of your time do you spend on Miniland and how much on the other larger models in the park?
GM: About fifty-fifty.

TBB: How many other people work here in the Model Shop with you?
GM: My boss, me, and a half time person, Ed Dowling, who is called a “Miniland Resetter” who just comes in on weekday mornings to make minor repairs to Miniland. Miniland figures near the edge of exhibits that get knocked over, that sort of thing. We also work with Mike Dibble and Denis Wauchope (pictured below) who are in charge of Miniland animation. They’re in the room next door making sure the cars, boats and trains keep moving.

TBB: Where do you get all your LEGO and what do you use the most?
GM: We use a lot of different pieces, though mostly basic brick and plate. In addition to what we already have in the shop, we have overflow brick and plate in storage. We reorder basic elements as we need it or when we run out because of larger projects. When we reorder, it’s straight from Billund, though for some rush orders, we’ll get in touch with the Model Shops at the other LEGOLAND parks. In fact, we just made a request from Windsor. In addition to the basic brick and plate, a very few minifig elements, some DUPLO, no BIONICLE, and a little bit of TECHNIC. We avoid using super-specialized elements. As a LEGO fan before I started working here, I kind of know the available pieces, so if we don’t have something, but I know it’s out there, I know to order it.

TBB: Do you have access to any elements that the general public doesn’t?
GM: Officially, no. The closest thing is a 1×1 round brick that has different sized holes at the top and bottom, that is the exception. We use it for lampposts, with a metal rod on the inside. We also have a catalog of “Q” elements that aren’t in current production, but are available for LEGOLAND, like the 1×1 round plate in green, and some basic elements that come and go from sets. We especially use slopes, basic specialty pieces, rounds and clips in a variety of colors. There are a lot of things that we have in stock, but we use so rarely that we don’t have to reorder. Some of those are out of production and if we run out, it’s done.

TBB: What about colors?
GM: The only colors that we have that aren’t generally available are “skin” and “peach,” which we use for Miniland figure faces, hands, and legs as well as a very few busts of real people or other similar projects. There’s another color that was specially made for a large project at Windsor, which is a sort of glittery milky color for the exterior of a major new sports complex. Maybe Wimbledon? Usually the only time there will be a totally new color is for high profile builds that require a nonexistent color.

In part 2 of the interview, we discuss installation design and tools of the trade.

Jonathan Bender interviews GeekDad John Baichtal

2010 looks like it’s going to be a great year for LEGO literature, with at least two non-fiction books about the adult fan experience due to be published. I’ve had the pleasure of talking with both writers about our hobby and the “LEGO life,” so I was pleased to see one interviewing the other.

In journalist Jonathan Bender‘s interview with GeekDad John Baichtal, the two discuss writing about LEGO, being an AFOL parent, and more.

As a Geekdad, what’s it like to play with LEGO bricks with the next generation?

It was something of a reality check. I was expecting instant love, but there were stumbling blocks. First, the more complicated elements are hard for little kids to figure out…. Second, kids have so many toys and activities these days — interactive games like Wii or the Internet grab kids so much more readily than a bunch of bricks. Nevertheless, my son’s bedroom floor is covered in Lego bricks as I write this.

Read Jonathan’s full interview with John Baichtal on his blog, Brick Bender.

The man in black

He wears it for all kinds of reasons, but especially because he’s awesome. A mosaic of Johnny Cash by .cHris.tOpHeR..

Documentary of Sean Kenney – LEGO Certified Professional

Sean Kenney was recently featured in a 30 minute documentary aired on Japan’s national public broadcasting organization, NHK. Click on the image below for the link to the video, where you can see Sean’s LEGO studio, his Times Square model, and watch him build his largest creation: a life-sized polar bear!

Aged building skills: an interview with Sven Junga

Many LEGO fans were amazed when they saw the Daedalus Landing diorama by Sven Junga, but perhaps more impressive was the young age of the builder who created this masterpiece. In this interview with Sven, who is also one of the friendliest people I’ve corresponded with, I asked the question on many people’s minds: how did he do it?

The Brothers Brick: Tell us about yourself.

Sven Junga: I was born in 1994, which makes me (what some people have questioned) 15 (soon 16) years old. I live in Germany and love to build with Lego. I enjoy many sports, especially mountain biking and track & field; I also play the acoustic guitar. As for my musical tastes, I’m a metal/rock guy and like Metallica, Nickelback etc. I consider myself very ambitious and I like (building) challenges.

TBB: How long have you been building and when did you discover the online community? Which groups and forums are you a part of?

Sven: I’ve been building since I was 3 years old; in 2008 I discovered the online community by making my MOCpages account. My Flickr account was made in 2009 and I’m also a member of the German Lego-site, 1000Steine. There are no LUGs or other offline Lego-communities I’m part of.

TBB: What do you like to build and what are your inspirations?

Sven: As I’m a big fan of nearly all sci-fi series and movies like Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars and many others, these are my main inspirations. All my builds happen to be very spontaneous. When I see something I want to build, I transform it into Lego in my mind, and sometimes I look for some reference pictures on the internet, but I never make any drawings nor do I spend a long time on preparations. Any creation I plan for a long time probably won’t ever be built.

TBB: Tell us about your recent Daedalus landing diorama. How long did it take and where do you get all the bricks?

Sven: Actually I started off with just the Daedalus in late September. When Shannon Young announced his Vig/orama Contest on MOCpages, I thought it would be cool to build a part of Atlantis as a diorama with the Daedalus landing. Of course I didn’t work on it day and night for two and a half months. I only build when I want to and have enough time, sometimes a MOC stays for a week without any changes and other times I’m caught by some kind of Lego fever which doesn’t let me stop building until a creation is finished.

At the age of 3 I got the old collection of my uncle for Christmas, since then my collection kept growing over the years, so most of the bricks in the diorama I already had. Although I use Bricklink, I don’t just buy everything there – only special parts or those which are really necessary. Furthermore I always take apart older creations for building new ones; that time I wrecked the Juggernaut.

TBB: Many fans dream of building big; how did you do it? Did you build smaller creations at first?

Sven: Of course it’s important to have a big collection, but I think it’s equally important the way someone uses it. If I realize I’m getting short of the desired parts, I try to use other parts which are not being used that often, and many parts that are apparently unfitting look great if used in another way. My builds often scratched the limit of my collection and still do. I also build some small things, but it’s mostly the big MOCs that gather all the attention.

TBB: What advice do you have for aspiring builders?

Sven: I’m not sure if it is possible for me to answer this question. By doing so it would show that I think of myself being better than other FOLs and good enough to give them advice, but in my opinion there is always room for improvement and even the best builder started small. I could say what has already been said many times: keep building, find your style, be creative… and so on. But the only thing I’ll say is: have fun with the bricks!

TBB: What future projects or goals do you have in mind?

Sven: What I have in mind to build changes from day to day so there is no real building goal for me, but on MOCpages and Flickr I’ve read and heard much about the fantastic Lego conventions in the US (BrickCon and Brickworld), and I really hope to go there sometime. Another thing would be finally getting around to organizing my collection; it’s just so much work…

TBB chats with Carl Greatrix, LEGO model designer for TT Games [Interview]

Anyone following Carl Greatrix on Flickr will have noticed he has recently been posting pictures of his builds for the LEGO Indiana Jones 2 game created by TT Games. These offer a fascinating insight into the special job of building LEGO models for games. We’d like to thank Carl and his employers for talking to us about his job.

The Brothers Brick: Age, location, Name, Job?

41, Staffordshire, UK. Carl Greatrix (Bricktrix) TT Games Lego model designer for the offcial Lego digital games

TBB: How did you get the job and how long have you had it?

After seeing the ad on TBB, I decided to send my CV in for consideration. I had not ever anticipated leaving my own business, but being a Lego model designer has always been a secret dream so the temptation to at least give it a shot was too much to resist.

I was contacted to be told I had made the final list of succesful applicants for consideration and we were then tasked with two building challenges from brief. One mechanical and one organic. I was succesful with both and got offered the position after interview, I have now been there almost a year.

TBB: What advice would you give to others in this regard?

I would say to always try and improve your own models in any way you can and keep uploading images of the work that you are pleased with. Anyone unsure of their own standards should keep going. Focus on something you are passionate about and keep building it, looking at all the aspects you love about the theme you are building and try to recreate those as best you can, the missing parts usually then become obvious and fall into place.

I have always got a great deal of inspiration from looking at other peoples builds since I can remember. The more builds uploaded, the higher the bar gets raised. Our artists and designers certainly look through Flickr and Brickshelf for inspiration, so any work posted up will almost certainly get you noticed one day somewhere. Who knows, it may lead to someone getting their dream job also!

TBB: Any big milestones?

Getting the job and having a life change due to it! If you mean build wise, yes, I have been building models that as an AFOL I would never have attempted or even thought of! The imaginations of some of our game designers will never cease to amaze me or bring a smile to my face!

TBB: What does your day to day job entail?

It can be extremely different from day to day so there is no real answer to
that.

To try and explain it as simply as I can, anything from 1 day to 3 weeks can be spent designing a specific model in the brick. It is then sent of for approval by TLG and associated film licence holders. Once/if that is granted I have to digitally build it and do all the technical applications asscoiated with getting it into game, making sure it works correctly in test scenes, etc. The model will then get passed over to animators, cut scene animators and level designers and artsists for them to use how they see fit within game levels.

TBB: How different is that to your hobby building?

Building as an AFOL can be quite different. The builds for in game have certain requirements that need to be met that usually wont be obvious upon inital viewing of them as a static model. Even the smallest version of a vehicle still needs a minimum of a 2 stud space internally for at least a minifig torso and head to fit, we will always do our best to fit a complete figure inside but sometimes it is just not possible. As our games are 2 player based, any vehicle also often requires space for 2 minifigs.

Vehicles usually require working doors and hatches, often boot lids and bonnets also with interior details such as engines or boot space large enough for certain objects to fit within them. This all makes the builds even more challenging.

If I were to build a vehicle for myself, I would not need to have all these features and concentrate instead on the correct look and feel of it. Most builders will understand that by concentrating on a correct external look often requires valuable interior space to be used up in the construction, especially when using SNOT techniques.

Planes need working undercarriage, cockpit space, wing flaps if possible, etc. Organic builds for creatures, etc if building as an AFOL, some lovely builds can be produced. When it comes to a game version, its a different story again as limbs require articulation for animation, that starts to get really challenging when its down at minifg scale. Most organic builds I get tasked with, I initially think ooo, I can do a great version of this or that, then I hear what requirements are needed and my heart sinks as I know that the articulation will make my first thoughts impossible to produce.

TBB: Are there any really special requirements?

Creativity first and foremost, being artistic is also a huge help. Plus we need an understanding of all the technical applications even if they are not part of our own job position.

TBB: What different parties do you have to collaborate/compromise with in order work toward the final product?

Lego set designers and any associated film licence holders (i.e. Lucasarts for Indy2) have to approve the models and designs we build before they can appear in game.This is handled by the “powers that be” above us, the only time we get involved is if we have to take photographs of certain connections to show how they are being made.

TBB: What is the most frustrating aspect of the whole proccess?

Definitely complete vehicles being dropped from game. Its an unfortunate aspect to the industry, sometimes they may be dropped due to complete levels being changed or deleted, or simply not enough time to include them where intended. Some of my favourite models have been dropped and I cant make them public in case we ever require them for some other game.

TBB: Please talk us through the creation of a game model.

Okay, I work from a design brief, this can be anything from being told we just need a generic type of vehicle as a bit of a fun ride-a-round and have pretty much free reign with it, to a specific vehicle that has to fit certain dimensions in game, has lots of requirements for working features, I’ll get to see the level that it will appear in, the colours of the backgrounds, etc which all helps to give me more vision and a “feel” for what I need to be building.

Next step is researching the real object, for some we have studio model pictures from the film companies which are a big help. Others it may be only a couple of freeze frames from film, whilst others will be photographs found by searching the internet.

All the time I am searching I’m starting to think of ways to build in brick. Once I’m happy with the references I have, then I get to work with the bricks, designing and building in the same way that I would for myself other than I really only need to build half of the model.

You may notice in some of my real brick photographs that only one side is completed, this is just to help me when I then come to build it digitally. Being able to view it from the unbuilt side is a great help for speed and lessens the need for it to be pulled apart to see how I built a certain section. (I forget quite quickly with so many models being built!)

From initial brief to being built digitally is roughly 1/3rd of the time spent to getting it working correctly in game. Whilst it may look like I spend my life building Lego, actually 2/3rds of the time is taken up by the technical aspects of the game industry.

TBB: Does your work source parts for the physical models through BrickLink, or do they have an unlimited supply of bricks from LEGO?

I wish we did have an unlimited supply from Lego! ;) We have duplicate sets, 1 of each is on display around the 4 floors of our office building, the others like any self respecting Lego builder, are broken up for parts. I also ordered most parts available in black and grey, just to improve the range of what we had and to include parts I knew I would be using a lot of. This at least allows a more uniformed brick build when we are against deadlines. Now we have the models built in game, we may start looking into Bricklink orders to obtain rarer part / colour combinations to allow the brick builds to be built in colours closest to the colours they appear in game, for display around the office. I have just finalised a further parts order with TLG for all colours / parts.

TBB: How do you keep the design straight without using the right colours?

Usually just by viewing photographs of the real subject that I am working from. Due to time, I will usually just grab whatever parts are closest to hand regardless of colour. If a build does start getting out of hand, I’ll put some wild colours within it as “place holders” to make me aware a colour change should be happening at those points.

Once I then start to build it digitally, I’ll experiment a little further with certain Lego colour palettes as sometimes what I have envisioned in my head colourwise for the build, does not always portray well on screen.