Tag Archives: Animals

Creature of an enchanted garden

If you find yourself in a magical land, watch where you step. Amongst the alluring, translucent blue flowers hides a curious creature. Exceptional LEGO builder, Patrick Biggs brings this little character to life in a captivating way. An expressive face paired with a dynamic pose and uniquely contrasted foliage demand a second look. You can build a pretty flower or a cute dragon, but telling a story with the two is what makes this build interesting. I’m particularly fond of the parts usage in the head shaping of the dragon, as well as the Bionicle head elements used for the petals.

A Ghost in the Garden

While you’re here, you can check out a few of Patrick’s other builds, as well as more dragons!

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A beetle with a bit of style

Japanese tiger beetles are one of the coolest bugs on the planet. Not only is this epic predator shrouded in a rainbow, but it also sprints the equivalent of a human ultramarathon every day. It’s one of the fastest-running critters out there. I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with those mandibles either. Takamichi Irie is known for his exceptional LEGO beetles, and this is one of his best. The body shape and mosaic-like exoskeleton really make it stand out and come to life.

Tiger Beetle

Takamichi’s unique style involves the use of loads of minifigure hands. You have to wonder how he gets them. Does he have a hundred poor minifigs without hands, or does he get them in bulk? Maybe our past interview with him will shed a little light on his work.

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A Christmas icon goes kinetic [Video]

When you think of Christmas songs, chances are one of the top ten that comes to mind is “Little Drummer Boy”. While not everyone in the world celebrates Christmas, I’m sure many of you can appreciate the most recent LEGO kinetic sculpture built by Jason Allemann of the JK Brickworks duo. Before the thing even gets moving, it’s clear that the ox and sheep are adorable.

Little Drummer Boy

Once the crank starts turning the magic starts. The little trio are mesmerizing to watch. Builds with timing can seem so complicated on the surface, but as Jason often shows, the inner-workings aren’t all that complicated. Still, it’s hard not to be jealous of how easy he makes it look.

As always, the instructions for this build can be found for free on the JK Brickworks website. This also isn’t the first kinetic holiday model! We’ve featured a flying Santa’s sleigh, Santa’s elves working on toys, and even a robotic cookie decorator.

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A “Panda-emic” is a thing, right?

We take a break from spooky builds and space ships to share some lovely family imagery from Vincent Kiew. These panda bears are super adorable, super emotive, and superbly constructed. It’s rare to see BrickHeadz eyes in such a realistic depiction of animals, and yet they seem the perfect fit here. I love how the shaping of the adult and cub are each unique, but use many of the same parts to unify the build. The green bamboo shoots add just the right pop of color, too.

Love is in the air.

Turns out they’re also fun to accessorize. This is the Mario crossover the world needs right now.

Love is in the air!

As a bonus, these pandas are also have a good level of articulation, allowing for even more expressive photo ops.

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It’s a fish-eat-fish world

Can’t visit a natural history museum or an aquarium? Luis Peña has us covered with his LEGO build of a couple Devonian sea critters – the larger of which is the Dunkleosteus and then its smaller prey being the Stethacanthus.

Dunkleosteus chasing a Stethacanthus

Peña certainly got all of the anatomical details of both fish correct from the eye placement on the Dunkleosteus to the anvil-shaped fin of the Stethacanthus. Both builds are also are seemingly correct in terms scale as the Stethacanthus was actually a pretty small shark-like fish. Peña’s use of differing white slope pieces is effective in rendering the teeth of the Dunkleosteus; I also appreciated his use of the feather-pin element as the tail for the tinier fish. Thankfully the Devonian age has passed; these sea creatures seemed to have been pretty frightening, whether big or small, but it’s definitely pleasant to be able to learn about them in some capacity.

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King Louie, the biggest ape of all

This orangutang made by Lestrange Absurde is giving me very strong The Jungle Book vibes. King Louie was added to Rudyard Kiplings original story. King Louie has been portrayed as an orangutang in the 1967 version, and a gigantopithecus in the 2016 remake. This creation by Lestrange Absurde looks soo sweet and gentle. There is a rediculous amount of brilliant modified plate use. Just look at the fur, bottom lip, nose, fingers & toes and last but not least that cute as a button belly button.

Orangutan

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A very stable genius

A builder who goes by the name of Ayrlego has constructed a LEGO scene depicting a peaceful stable. He tells us that Lacryma, with its rolling plains and temperate climate, has become famous for the quality of the horses bred there. In the settlement of Elizabethville, many stables such as this one were built to house both the equines and their human companions. I would love to live in this world for a little while and maybe brush the horses and banter with the townsfolk. The word for how I feel about this is anemoia, a nostalgia for a time and a place I’ve never known. Are you feeling a bit of anemoia too? It turns out this builder is quite good at evoking feelings for a time and a place we’ve never been to. I hope you can check out the archives to see what I mean.

Stables, Elizabethville

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Part wild cat, part bird of prey, this sculpture is stunning

Some LEGO creations look more like what you traditionally think of as art than others. Large scale sculptures are a good example of this, and Ekow Nimako’s are my favourite LEGO sculptures, and his latest piece is no exception. Part hawk, part Lynx, this Griffyx cub is all beauty.

While this isn’t the first time The Brothers Brick has shared one of Ekow’s creations, this is the first one that I’ve had the pleasure of writing about. And like Lino before me, I’m having a hard time picking my jaw up off the floor and finding the right words. LEGO sculptures are so often made up of the easier-to-acquire-in-mass-quantities bricks, most notably the most basic of all LEGO elements, the 2×4 brick. But Ekow’s palette includes a much more vast array of shapes and sizes of LEGO pieces. In what I can only imagine is a ridiculously thoughtful process, he’s able to craft the best, most organic-looking brick-built shapes I’ve ever seen.

Take the Griffyx. Just by looking at it, you can feel the way it’s stretching its neck as if it just woke up and it’s loosening up its muscles. You can see the flick of its tail, as it whips back and forth. The fur looks soft to the touch and the wings – expertly engineered out of smaller chima wings – look primed and ready to take flight. I don’t get those same strong sensations from other brick-built sculptures, only Ekow’s. Will my editors allow me to go as far as to say he’s the greatest LEGO sculpture of our time? Nothing against all the other brilliant brick artists out there, but Ekow is just rewriting the game.

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Some happy little trees to pee on

Bob Ross taught a generation of artists and would-be artists to paint, myself included. He had a soothing, gentle demeanor about him and a voice that could squelch a prison riot. You can tell he was a guy that just loved the world and all the lakes, mountains, creatures and trees within it. Happy little trees, he called them. Soothing, mellow little trees without a care in the world, yeah, that’s nice. He taught us that there were no mistakes in your world, only happy accidents. This LEGO Bob Ross Corgi by BrickinNick has surely had a few happy accidents in his day, probably on the rug. But do we get mad at the little fellah? Nah, he’s just doing what he’s put on this planet to do; paint happy trees and maybe pee a little behind the couch. Yeah, that’s nice. And wouldn’t you know it, BrickinNick got us all mellow and groovy before. Give it a gander, my friend.

Bob Ross Corgi

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What a hoot!

If you ever find yourself wandering through the lush tropical forests of Lanyu Island, off the coast of Taiwan, you may come face to face with a Lanyu Horned Owl. But don’t be frightened! The Lanyu Horned Owl’s piercing yellow eyes and pointed ear tufts are just for show and it’s probably only looking for a nice midnight rodent snack. Our nocturnal friend comes in peace, as we find it calmly perched as Ian Hou’s latest LEGO bird creation. Ian uses a combination of curved sloped bricks for the owl’s wings and staggered wedge plates to render the plumage on its face and backside. Dark tan shell pieces form most of the owl’s chest feathers. The result is a wonderfully realistic build, shaped in all the right ways.

DOGOD_Otus elegans_s01

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Let this spirit wolf take you on a journey

What can you build using eleven pounds of Technic beams and wedge plates? If you said a LEGO midi-scale Star Destroyer you might be correct. However, if you said White Spirit Wolf you are likely Michael Kanemoto. Wedge plates and Technic beams are not the first things that come to mind when replicating natural elements but Michael pulls off the look nicely. He tells us this labor of love took about one-hundred hours on and off from April 30th to July 14th.

White Spirit Wolf

I particularly love the eyes; there’s a depth and cunning knowing to them. I’ve only viewed wolves from a safe distance but this LEGO creation possesses the same mesmerizing gaze as a real wolf in the wild. How can you stare into this face and deny it whatever it is that spirit wolves want? I’m smitten!

Spirit Wolf: Eyes

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The folklore of the past is today’s fake news

I can’t help but wonder if in the olden days, tales of wonder and awe that spread through the tongues of villagers would somehow be dubbed as fake news today. I’m so glad that the fake news of the past centuries (AKA folk tales) still stands today though, simply because it’s harmless while capturing the imagination and awe of magical creatures like this Scottish Kelpie by JakTheMad. The shoulders and thighs and tail structure are accentuated by parts from buildable figures quite appropriately. And of course, you can’t go wrong with a horse rearing pose, although it requires some mad skills for balancing the centre of gravity with such a build.

Scottish Kelpie

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