Tag Archives: Animals

The art of the butterfly

LEGO artists often title their creations with a cryptic title like “Daydream” or skip the title altogether, allowing the viewer more freedom in interpretation. Dario Minisini’s latest creation surprises with a descriptive and beautiful title: “Life is not always grey. There are colors too.”

Life is not always grey there are colors too

Multiple gray butterflies leading to a rainbow-colored one makes for a powerful composition. Their flight path seemingly implies that the colorful butterfly and its monochromatic counterparts represent a single butterfly, possibly viewed from a different angle or transformed as it flies through the triangle. Supports are made from bent translucent bar pieces that Dario uses in many of his builds. I think it’s great how Dario manages to keep the creation’s message open-ended, even with the descriptive title. However, it is not quite true that the three gray butterflies are void of color – they use sand blue wedge plates for the undersides of the wings. Could this be a subtle message or just a lack of parts?

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Bringing LEGO to life with a handsome macaque

It takes a great deal more skill to sculpt with basic LEGO bricks than you might think. The ability to produce organic curves from rectangular bricks is awe-inspiring, and strikes envy in those of us who are always searching for that perfect shape. Upon seeing this life-size Rhesus macaque, I knew it had to be the work of Felix Jaensch, who is a master of the art. I must say, it really could not have been done better!

Rhesus Macaque

Adult males like this one (just in case you weren’t sure if it’s a male) are about 18-25in long and weigh an average of about 16-19lbs. They have an expressive face, which is perfectly captured here. Additionally, the lovely use of a select few slopes gives the fluffier bits texture and character, and the minifigure hand to finish the nose is genius!

Rhesus Macaque

Rhesus macaques are probably the most commonly known macaques in the world. That’s partly because these monkeys have a massive home range in central and southern Asia, and are invasive in several other places in the world. They’re also widely studied and used in research due to their high level of intelligence and fairly close physiological relation to humans. It was a study of their blood that led to our understanding of the Rh blood-typing system we use today!

If you like Felix’s style, check out some of the other life-size animals we’ve featured, like his Red Panda, Macaw, Rabbit, or American Kestrel.

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Doing a lot with a little: big LEGO creatures done small

You don’t need a huge pile of pieces or a deep wallet to be able to create something beautiful with LEGO. This bottlenose dolphin by Ken Ito (暁工房) is a perfect example of how just a few pieces can bring a scene to life. The dolphin consists of fewer than 20 pieces, and the base employs only simple, common elements. But there’s more motion evoked with them than you’ll find in many models that are much larger.

Ken’s gorilla is another perfect specimen, utilizing simple pieces to craft the animal’s shape. The head and face are particularly impressive, which really consist of only three slopes, but there’s no mistaking this noble creature’s gaze.

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A new “swim” on LEGO Creator set 31088 Deep Sea Creatures [Video]

Inspired. That’s all I can say about how I feel every time I see one of Jason Allemann‘s new creations. And maybe a little jealous at how talented he is. Recently, we wrote and article about his update to the LEGO Forma mechanics with a custom shark. This time he has taken a recently released official set, LEGO Creator 31088 Deep Sea Creatures, and brought it to life. It’s done so well that you would think the set was always intended for this purpose.

Swimming Shark Redux

With the turn of the crank or an attached motor, the drive mechanism of this build gives the shark an appearance of organically gliding through water. The most impressive part (as always with Jason’s builds) is how smooth and seamless the motions are. Truly fluid! And as a bonus, this creation isn’t just for admiring from afar! He has kindly shared these (and many other) instructions on his website so that others can build it too!

31088 Deep Sea Creatures is actually on sale at Amazon right now, along with LEGO Ideas 21315 Pop-Up Book, the official set that both Jason and Grant Davis collaborated to design!

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A collection of New Zealand’s most famous birds

New Zealand has some of the most interesting fauna in the world, with many of their animals not found anywhere else in the world. While on holiday there, Patrick B. was so enamored by the birds that he decided to recreate them in LEGO. The results are lovely! This collection showcases the Kea, Pukeko, Kakapo, and the iconic Kiwi. I have to say, that last one is pretty adorable in LEGO form. Here in Seattle where I live, we have a pair of gorgeous Keas at Woodland Park Zoo. These endangered mountainous creatures are quite intelligent and always busy. They’re one of my favorite birds, and nicely done here.

New Zealand Birds

Back in 2013, Thomas Poulsom also did a couple of these New Zealand birds (and a badger). And a bit more recently, we’ve featured an article about another LEGO build of the critically endangered Kakapo. It’s a parrot unlike any other in the world! Check it out, and then learn more about what you can do to help them.

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This Bioni-frog is one wild amphibian

LEGO constraction (construction action figure) themes like Bionicle have introduced a broad range of parts, which many builders have leveraged to create organic-looking creatures. Such is the case with this lovely Ghekula Frog built by Djokson, which they describe as “an amphibious swamp-dwelling Rahi.” I suspect the red-eyed tree frog inspired the build, as is evident in the lime green body, white underbelly, and red eyes. Of particular interest are the feet, which utilize blue robot arms and minifigure arms as toes. The end result is one lively amphibian.

Ghekula Frog

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Palm oil is made of orangutan tears

When LEGO announced their first plant-based plastic elements, some people were concerned how the plant material would be sourced and whether LEGO would clear rainforests for farm land. The irony of the situation is that most people who complain about LEGO’s alleged ecological crime (which the LEGO Group denies) also eat food made using palm oil, which is proven to be a major cause of tropical deforestation. One thing is for sure, with this oranguan build by Simon Pickard and the right context, LEGO bricks may benefit the rainforests through raising awareness of what is happening to our planet.

Orangutan

The use of earth orange and studs shown on all sides really captures the furry look of an orangutan and the dark gray parts are a great contrast as the skin, both in colour and texture. The proportions are spot on and the pose is quite expressive too. The build’s seeming simplicity is a strong point too; I can really imagine this creation sitting on a desk or on a shelf, reminding us of the diversity of life.

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The great Arctic wanderer

Do you ever wonder what a polar bear thinks as he or she travels hundreds of miles, alone, across the vast ice? Other than, “I can smell a seal about 14km away,” there has to be something they daydream about. Doesn’t this tiny LEGO version of the half-ton carnivore, built by Chi Hsin Wei (LEGO 7), look like he has a lot on his mind?

Lonely Polar Bear

My favorite parts are the tiles in clips for ears and the car hoods on his sides. This build is great, but it’s only one of many incredible creations by LEGO 7, our 2018 Builder of the Year. This talented artist builds just about everything!

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Bring on the LEGO butter and bib

The line of LEGO Star Wars constraction figures has unleashed a plethora of new sculpted parts to feed the Bionicle building frenzy. However, this delicious looking lobster by 楚 沐猴 puts some of the parts from LEGO 75529 Elite Praetorian guard to a very different use. The finished product is a crustacean that looks good enough to eat.

Untitled

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Nature’s clean-up crew

While they sometimes get a bad rap, vultures are incredible animals. These threatened and endangered birds hold a very important place in the ecosystem. They help to prevent the spread of disease as they scavenge for carcasses. Their heads are bald because it’s actually a cleaner way to eat. This build by Jens Ohrndorf caught my eye because of the way he used the parts to create that iconic vulture look. The elbow pieces and Technic gears that make up their necks are perfect. Altogether with the skeleton, it’s a really cute little build.
lunchtime
Another fun fact: vultures don’t necessarily circle because they see a dead or dying animal below. They’re pretty big and heavy as far as birds go, and it takes a lot of energy to flap around long enough to spot food. So they use their massive wingspan to their advantage by letting circular warm air currents carry them up as high as they can get, and then gently soar back down. Very little energy wasted. Efficient, eh?

If you like this build, you should check out Jens’ entire collection of animals, including his rhino, mole, and bison.

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A snail’s Creed

If you went to BrickWorld Chicago in 2016, you might remember seeing the amazing Eurobricks collaborative display called “Ready, set, escargot!” The display consisted of giant medieval-themed snails racing around a track. The template for these mammoth mollusks was designed by Mark Larson, while the structure on this snail’s back came from the mind of Marco den Besten. Marco drew inspiration from the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise, and I think his take on the idea would make for an interesting game. The rustic-looking towers complement the dark tan structure of the snail’s shell. Speaking of the shell, Marco has attached wooden posts to the sides for some classic platform gaming fun.

A snail's Creed

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A pair of LEGO lookouts

Meerkats are pretty incredible little creatures. They live in tight-knit family groups and are known for fearlessly defending each other from predators. When they are old enough, every family member takes a turn at keeping watch. This wonderful sculpture by Andreas Weißenburg is a lovely tribute to those exceptional lookouts.

Automatic meerkats 3

What’s even more impressive is that these sentinels actually move their heads from side to side, scanning the horizon. The inner mechanisms are simple, but clever and efficient. It involves two continuous belts catching and turning gears at different times. The resulting movement really brings them to life!

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