Thanks to sets like LEGO Art 31213 Mona Lisa we can experience a classic art as it be experienced by a LEGO minifig peering into our dimension. Bricko Nicko brings us one brick closer to a true LEGO reality by reinterpreting the Mona Lisa as the Renaissance minifig of Leonardo Da Vinci always intended – with a cylindrical yellow head, clamp hands, and an unambiguous smile just like everyone else’s. Truly this masterpiece belongs in the Louvre (21024).
We’ve hit the beginning of another month, and also the beginning of a new year. And of course that means new LEGO sets coming our way! We’ve got several new offerings from all across the themes, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Icons, to name a few. Here’s a selection of our favorites from the January 2025 wave below. But if you want to see everything in the new catalog, be sure to head on over to the LEGO website (US | CAN | UK). And of course, Happy New Year!
Check out our favorite sets in the January wave below!
Love is a lot of things to a lot of people. To First Order Lego, it’s apparently a sword stabbing a metal arm clutching a white heart bursting with foliage. The artist declines to explain the meaning of the creation, instead inviting the viewer to take what they might from it. It’s the sort of thing that invites both inspection and introspection, letting you ponder the meaning of love even as you examine the clever parts usage. The dripping white elements in particular add a sense of motion and life to the piece. So is hope on display, or does the art reveal a more cynical view of love? That’s up to you.
Inspired by a painting from an unknown artist in a Korean hotel, Luka set about trying to capture distorted reality in LEGO with a work titled “Error.” The results are stunning, as pastel mountains and a city skyline get stretched at the horizon into abstract color lines. The shadow box frame looks to be about 5 bricks deep to allow for the stacked layers of the diorama. The distortion lines would have extended even further had the builder not run out of time and pieces. Luka (aka First Order Lego) is a builder who continues to impress and inspire with both abstract builds like this one and minifig scenes like his recent Witcher 3 tribute.
LEGO art sets have inspired a whole new area of custom LEGO builds suitable to hang on the wall, like this creation from LEGO 7, who typically builds more character-focused models, featuring a lion holding a sword in his mouth. Bright colors and gold ornamental details capture the traditional lion dance vibe of the Lunar New Year celebrations. The sculptural aspect brings this creation to life over flatter mosaic styles.
Ever since the launch of LEGO 18+ sets marketed primarily toward adult builders and collectors, the category has produced a wide variety of models from typewriters to guitars intending to attract more customers who might otherwise pass the LEGO store by at the mall. One theme within the overall line, LEGO Art, has introduced some very iconic replicas of famous paintings, such as LEGO Ideas 21333 Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and LEGO 31208 The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai. But one classic work of art was noticeably missing from the line-up… until now. The recently announced 31213 Mona Lisa brings Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait of a demure woman with a mysterious smile to life. The framed Mona Lisa comes with 1,503 pieces and is available starting on October 1st for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Read our hands-on review of LEGO Art 31213 Mona Lisa
If you need a little extra cuteness in your day, look no further than this LEGO art piece by Bert Van Raemdonck! I’d argue the strength of this build is all the subtle details. From the single stud for the cygnet’s nostril, the two tiny feathery tufts on its head, to the adorable little nub tail, all these things add up to be greater than the sum of their LEGO parts! Special mention needs to be given to the cygnet’s eye, as Bert has found the perfect piece for the job; a bicorne hat! Finally let’s talk colors. Bert has used light aqua for the swanling’s highlights, while on its other side the colors transition through gray and tan into yellow and bright light orange. With that, its time to wrap this up. I hope this cygnet signals a certain upswing in your day!
![[MOC] Cute little swanling](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53938599672_e5c35270d8_k.jpg)
It’s the rare creation that can make you forget you’re looking at LEGO bricks while also making you love the LEGO medium even more. I know that the stunning “One Fell Swoop” from TBB alum Nannan Zhang is a LEGO model, but all I can see is a vibrant painting of an owl coming alive, so perfectly is the concept realized. The explosive creativity can literally not be contained!
Looking closer at the technique on display, the owl’s feathers are the flashiest. Chima wings in earth blue, mech swords in gold, surfboards in minifig and mindoll scale in vibrant coral make for a striking mix of plumage, and the dark red ruff of chima armor plates is magic. I love the shape of the eyebrows and especially the addition of boomerangs for extra dimension. The pale yellow eyes are a fun connection to the painting theme, sourced as they are from the Van Gogh Starry Night set.
Perhaps my favorite technique is the subtle gradient peeking through grille plates. That, as well as the tube of yellow paint and the unpainted moon, sell the illusion of a painting in progress. Hot dogs and cables used for motion lines further play with the mix of flat images and dynamic sculpture. It all adds up to a masterpiece that makes the most of LEGO form, colors, and connections.
The last time I rapped at y’all an interesting thing happened. Whether it be diverse representation in the Friends line, or the minifigures that come in LEGO Star Wars Microfighters sets, folks online sure have opinions about it. The consensus of said opinions on my last post, at least the ones that chose to share them anyway, was that they didn’t like me or the accompanying AI-generated image of me chitchatting and being as cool as a cucumber. As for not liking me, we did our own scientific research on the matter. We polled nearly a dozen people, and asked whether they’d prefer to encounter me in the forest or some rando dude from the internet. They unanimously chose me! However, I’m willing to acknowledge that our research may be biased because nearly a dozen people were all I could survey in the TBB hot tub last night. As for not liking the AI-generated image of me, the online randos might have had a good point, so we did something about that. Now you get this mugshot of me from 2015 that definitely isn’t AI-generated, so don’t get that idea in your heads. Or is it? Definitely not, maybe. What’s with the mugshot, you may ask? Well, as mentioned in my prior post, I was charged with the distribution of biohazard materials across property lines. (I swear they made up that rule just for me!)
As mugshots go, it’s not bad. I was living the YOLO lifestyle back then as evidenced by my sweet green fauxhawk, devil-may-care expression, and aviator sunglasses. In my defense, and if it’ll please the court, Your Honor, this mugshot was the only publishable image of me I had on my phone. The rest are -well- hilarious to be sure but nothing we can publish on The Brothers Brick. Which is why I’m appealing to y’all with…
A call for lemur art!
That’s right! We’d love to see your artistic chops and different styles and mediums. Please submit your original A. Lemur-related artwork using the form below. You may draw me in all kinds of predicaments and situations; why I could be riding a rollercoaster, driving a car, or even soaking in TBB’s headquarters hot tub when Andrew isn’t looking. With your imagination and artistic ability, there’s no telling what hijinks I could be up to! Extra kudos points go to you if you include something green and white in the composition. Kyle says it’s good branding!
What do I get in return?
I’ll come by occasionally to rap at y’all to explain some LEGO terms, maybe talk about events in your area or whatever floats my tail. When I do, and if we use your image to accompany it, I’ll credit you and even provide a link to your socials. With legions of readers worldwide, it could garner you some sweet likes and follows! We’ll even throw a bit of swag your way.
But what do you look like? How are you different from other lemurs?
What’s to stop me from just copy/pasting lemur images and raking in the sweet rewards? Good point! Besides the fact that I can talk, write, and be overall charming and likable, I look a little different from your normal lemur in the sense that I have a green and white striped tail. Andrew dared me to do it a long time ago and I just sort of kept it. I am older now, so I sometimes wear glasses; green, of course. You can depict me in a dyed green fauxhawk, like in my mugshot, but it’s not necessary. Otherwise, I look like your normal, walking’ talking’ smart-aleck lemur.
What are the rules?
Please submit your original art using the form below by September 7th, 2024. Any medium, any style is welcome whether it be digital art, collage, paint, markers, pencils, whatevs! All we ask is that it’s hosted on the internet somewhere for us to go have a gander. Also, please be over 13 years old. No entries from anyone 13 or under will be accepted. I hate to say it but -sigh- please no AI-generated art. As you may have witnessed, we have eggheads already who can do that and some folks didn’t like it. In this scenario, I get to rap at ya occasionally about cool LEGO stuff and whatnot, talented people get credit and attention for their sweet, sweet art, you don’t have to see mugshots or any of those hilarious unpublishable images from my phone, and we keep the naysayers off our backs. It’s a win/win for everybody!
Thanks for reading. Now let’s see what magic you can do!
Picture this: you find a single LEGO multifaceted hemisphere piece (also known as an insect eye) lying around in your collection. What can you build from there? Some might opt for a giant fly or a spaceship. But if you’re alanboar, the answer is Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. The insect eye forms the titular earring, which draws the eye to the center of the painting, but the rest of Vermeer’s masterpiece has also been faithfully recreated here—including the expressive eyes, the shadow on the face and clothing, the texture under the head-wrap, and the gradient on the hair. Also noteworthy is the choice of the ornate railing piece to create the scrollwork in the frame. I like to think Vermeer himself would be proud.
Last year Swedish builder Rickard Stensby (@stensbylego) wowed us with his ingenious technique for layering round plates around a frame to create a perfectly-shaped chicken. How to follow up on one of 2023’s most admired LEGO creations? Rickard plumbed the depths and hooks a gold-plated anglerfish, mounted and ready for its gallery debut. This time it’s the 2×3 flat tile with angle that gets the layering treatment, giving the fish its sleek yet pokey finish. The jutting teeth, cartoon eye, and glow-white ball dangling on a pearl gold hose round out the briny personality. Don’t let the flat presentation fool you – the model captures nearly the full spherical body of the fish (which you can appreciate in Rickard’s video). The black tile backing and gilded frame let the deceptively simple model shine. Rickard says there were two unfinished attempts at creating this difficult form but the third time is a charm worthy of a LEGO Master.
Jiwoo Seon is back with an astounding piece of LEGO artwork. Jiwoo has expanded on a previously developed technique to create this beautifully vibrant flowery dress. The star piece of this work is the 1×6 curved arch in a wide variety of colors that makes up the majority of the dress, but if you take the time to look closely you will see a huge variety of unique parts used to add texture and interest. You will see a lot of these parts in the highly detailed dripping ink effect below the dress!
