As much as we like coming up with witty comments about the LEGO builds we feature on TBB, sometimes, the original title says it all. A tip of the hat to Mike Sinclair, who has conjured up a superb ornithological pun to go with this creation: “No Egrets.” But even referring to it just as a great blue heron – which bird this depicts – would have been accurate enough. It’s immediately recognisable as a heron, the blue plumage is wonderfully textured, and it does indeed look great! Impressively, the heron’s full weight is balanced on just one leg and a reed towards the back. Together the reeds, water, and a hidden dragonfly elevate this build from a brilliant bird to a terrific tableau of nature. Bravo, Mike!
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Over at New Elementary, the results are in from the “Mind that Banana” contest that challenged builders to make creations featuring any of LEGO’s banana elements. Filbrick crawled into the bunch of first-place builds with this mellow yellow iguana. As the builder mentions, yellow iguanas do exist as the typically green lizards appear yellow if born with albinism. Bananas are featured as spines, toes, eyelids, and the tip of the tail. Speaking as a former Iguana owner, the anatomy here is spot-on.
Creating a lifelike lizard with limited colors is no easy feat. Here’s a behind-the-scenes pic of how Filbrick found this scaly friend in a sea of yellow.
The Crash Bandicoot tribute that we spotlighted last week also made it into the beautiful bunch of banana winners. Congratulations to everyone who participated, and thanks to New Elementary for such an a-peeling competition!
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The minifig diver in this undersea scene from Julius Kanand has lined up a lucky shot of an incredible giant jellyfish. Of course, there’s no luck involved, just incredible skill on Julius’ part with both assembling and photographing this transparent wonder. A range of transparent LEGO elements, from the umbrella top to the flame tail, bring the creature to life. Julius uses an ingenious connection around the jellyfish’s bell, clipping antenna holders around the transparent dome. Ball joints allow the jellyfish to hold its ethereal shape, and the whole thing is supported by a nearly invisible black girder. The results are magical, a mode that looks so organic, I wouldn’t dare touch it for fear of getting stung!
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Small LEGO scenes like this make me smile. With just a few parts and a simple story, Eli Willsea crafts a fun and colorful vignette of a hedgehog taking a walk after a light rain. The chopstick element makes perfect spines, yellow rainboots are instantly recognizable, and he even has a frog friend along for the ride.
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Grant Davis is a true LEGO wizard. His talent for creating whimsical and nearly stud-free models that innovate with colors and complex angles would be enough to make him one of our favorite builders, but it’s Grant’s mechanical artistry that makes him a legend. Like his LEGO Ideas pop-up book collaborator Jason Alleman, Grant often builds kinetic sculptures – LEGO models that integrate power functions for fluid movement. His latest creation, the Swimming Sea Turtle Machine, is a slice of Finding Nemo brought to life in bricks. The adorable seat turtle with its surfboard fins and cartoon eyes delights as it swims under the waves, but to truly appreciate the model, you need to look deeper.
On his Brick Innovations youtube channel, Grant walks us through the months-long development process. The video reveals Grant’s iterative design process and serves as an excellent primer on the challenges of kinetic builds. You’ll learn ratios of how gear rotation translates into vertical motion and see the pitfalls when rigid bricks and motors are out of sync. You’ll also see how the turtle evolved from a more realistic sand-green model to the cartoonier lime green version here, and you can even see them swim together! Even if you’re not ready to invent a kinetic model of your own, Grant’s behind-the-scene look is sure to give you a greater appreciateion for what your LEGO bricks are capable of.
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Although I like both cats and dogs, I’m definitely more of a cat guy. And of all the cats, my favourite has to be the tiger. Now admittedly, keeping a tiger in my one-bedroom apartment is a recipe for disaster, but I’d settle for this stunning LEGO big cat built by DeRa. With its menacing demeanour and the nimble joints that DeRa worked into the build for posability, it looks ready to knock my LEGO collection off the shelves, just like a real feline.
At first glance, the technique used for the stripes is not dissimilar in places to LEGO’s own incredible tiger set. But DeRa has really cranked up the detail and realism with some savagely clever parts and techniques. I spy a spider, croissants, Islander crests, and even whole roast turkeys in that furry face. It may look like an apex predator, but I still want to pet it.
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Pygmy Hippo calf Moo Deng is just two months old and already is the viral star of Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo. She has her own makeup trend, merch, cryptocurrency, and now, thanks to Cornbuilder, her own LEGO fan model. Cornbuilder perfectly captures Moo Deng’s bouncy meatball energy, and thanks to instructions generously shared by the builder, you can too!
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One thing you should know about the LEGO community is that certain animals have something of a cult following in brick form. The crab craze has been well-documented in our TBB archives, for instance. But another favourite is the humble frog. This one comes in all shapes and sizes, from the little green frog piece to more life-sized models like Áron Gerencsér‘s latest amphibian. Áron is a bit of a don when it comes to Bionicle and other ‘constraction’ figure pieces, so it’s little surprise to see them used to such good effect here. The blending of organic shapes is practically seamless. This li’l guy looks about ready to jump off the screen!
And yes – the frogs, too, have their own Brothers Brick archive. Hop on over to have a look!
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There’s a truism among artists that horses are impossible to draw. In life and imagination, they’re majestic beasts, but as soon as you try to recreate that unique form, the proportions are all off. Capturing a horse’s distinctive majesty is doubly difficult in LEGO, but brick artist Vincent Kiew stepped up to the challenge with a splendid steed drinking from a stream. Vincent nails the horse’s muscular build with excellent shaping from head to hocks. Samurai helmets make for a very clever solution for the horse’s hooves. A detailed patch of meadow rounds out the scene with lovely flowers, brush, and ladybugs adding to the pastoral beauty.
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The wonders of the seafloor are on full display in this entrancing build by BardJaskier, where the variety of ocean flora and fauna represented is matched only by the variety of elements used to build them. In addition to using standard LEGO molds like crabs, octopi, rays, and fish, BardJaskier gets creative to fill out the rest of the marine life. The flame-and-umbrella pairing to create jellyfish is inspired, as are the simple but effective combinations used for the coral polyps. I can also pick out carrots, broomstick ends, purple minifig hair, and tan samurai swords. Go ahead—take a closer look and see what else you can spot. Just make sure to hold your breath.
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Prolific builder Eero Okkonen is the Geppetto of the LEGO community, crafting detailed characters with such personality that they seem ready to come alive. His latest model of a blue fairy isn’t inspired by Pinocchio, however, but by a fairy tale from Eero’s native Finland, Pessi and Illusia. Eero employs his usual panache for NPU (nice parts usage), with the highlight perhaps the Queen’s Dragon heads used as Illusia’s skirt. As lovely as the fairy is, it’s Pessi the adorable toad who steals the show here, with those perfect saucer eyes and sporting a wonderful wicker basket of interwoven flex tubes. The scene is rounded out by delectable cloudberries on stems that incorporate foam leaves, appropriately enough, from the Belville Flower Fairy Party.
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LEGO artist FukuTaku is a master of 3D models in the pixel art style. What makes his builds truly special is how he uses color to simulate video game lighting, which combined with studio lighting of the bricks, make his models positively glow. Like ray tracing you can touch. Until now, most of FukuTaku’s work has focused on video game tributes, like his Dragonlord, which wowed us with its searing heat. For his latest masterpiece, FukuTaku turns to the natural world with a pixel whale that honors the colors of the sea with a cool and tranquil glow.
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 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.
