The viral ad for the Pilot Extra-Fine ball-pens features Lego minifigs with tatoos. Although the effects are made with Photoshop, it’s still interesting to look at all the designs.
Via ufunk, thanks for the tip Titolian!
David Pickett (fallentomato) presents his best brickfilms animation showing Lego bricks morphing into different objects. Each change from one object to another consists of many brick-built transition states that are shown for only a fraction of a second, and the results are well worth it. Check out more descriptions and behind-the-scenes info about the video on David’s website.
Marcos Bessa‘s Ancient Lady’s Museum is an astounding work of art and quality. The front of the museum accurately captures the Greek facade architectural look, where advanced techniques are used to create subtle offsets and detailed ornamentation. The dark blue also adds a tone of establishment to the building.
What amazes me the most is the extravagant interior of the museum, which features the best Lego circular staircase I have ever seen. This is the most difficult type of staircase to build in minifig scale. Not only does Marcos succeed with the form, he also adds ornate railings and a carpet pattern. This is the work of a truly skilled builder.
Alex Eylar (Profound Whatever) is building at a pace that we can’t keep up with (and I did not intentionally repeat Andrew). His latest is a depiction of the Escher masterpiece in the Classic Space theme. Since there’s no gravity in space, there’s some paradoxical realism to this work. It’s all too wonderful.
Just in time for Independence Day here in the United States, 21006 White House has been added to the LEGO Shop’s Architecture line.
Designer Adam Reed Tucker also has an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC from July 3, 2010 through September 5, 2011.
Perspective can be the difference between a decent photo of a good creation, and something fantastic. Take the photo below by Mike Yoder, for example. He’s taken a photo of his diorama from a perspective that makes it feel truly immersive. There are a few elements in the close foreground to frame the rest of what we can see, which is action in the near ground as well as some interesting detail in the distance.
This makes me want to build a diorama to take photos of some of my space ships in. It’s a real encouragement to step it up.
Alex Eylar (Profound Whatever) recently rendered Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks in Lego, but this new development featuring zombies stole the show.
Speaking of the dead, what does it have to do with these spacemen?
This shapely pool, by Katie Walker, is incredibly elegant. I would love to have that built for real, in full scale. This builder, though new on the LEGO scene, is definitely showing us how it’s done, eh?
Thomas T. built a vase filled with roses as a wedding gift. While the technique for the roses isn’t new, it’s always refreshing to see it used. The vase is simple and elegant, and the gift presentation is priceless.
I’ve noticed a lot of interesting creations of brick-built patterns by Katie Walker (eilonwy77). Although we’ve yet to blog her until now, this courtyard creation shows the beautiful application of her designs. Check out the detailed picture of the intricate floor and don’t miss her other designs.
Over the past several weeks I’ve been building gifts to thank various people of my university for the role they’ve played in my undergraduate education at Washington University in St. Louis. The past four years have been an intellectually stimulating journey in my study of arts and sciences and the biology major. At the same time, college saw the boom in my Lego hobby, and I am happy to have employed my experience in building to create these tokens of thanks for the people at my school.
This DNA sculpture park was made for my research mentor, whom I had the privilege of working in his genetics lab for three and a half years. The DNA helix codes for a secret message, which can be solved with some knowledge of molecular biology.
The pirate ship was made for my residential college director whom I’ve known since freshman year. This creation was my foray into building the pirate theme, and it was by a miracle that I discovered the resemblance of white windscreen pieces to sails. The exercise vignette was for my physiology professor, who really cared for her students and made a point to drill it into our young minds to exercise and take care of our bodies. Her quote engraved on the vignette got me back into running this year.
The DNA vignette was also given to my research mentor, and it was for the special occasion on his 60th birthday last week. The spiral effect achieved with Bionicle claws contines to be a hit; the effect of this technique far overshadows its simplicity. The vignette of the green ball is a gift for my behavioral ecology professor, one of the funniest and liveliest faculty at the school. I’ve compared attending his classes to watching stand-up comedy, and I hoped to have captured this liveliness in a video showing the motion and sound effects of the creation.
This depiction of our school’s landmark, Brooking’s Hall, is a gift for my super friendly and resourceful four-year adviser. The build uses the medium dark flesh color from the Prince of Persia sets, and the rarity of the colors reflected the $100+ pricetag on my Bricklink orders. The creation is also my first attempt at building an architectural replica, which I am quite happy for the push to expand my building repertoire.
This fantasy aircraft is for my lab bench mentor, who taught me the skills of DNA manipulation and the etiquette of research. I’ve never built an aircraft like this, but knowing his interest in hobby planes, I couldn’t think of anything better to make.
I presented the last of these gifts yesterday, and I am truly flattered by the responses. Each recipient, with the exception of my research mentor, have voluntarily told me the specific place where the gift will be displayed for a long time to come. In the case of my research mentor, I saw the creation on the windowsill of his office the next day I came to lab. From this, I learned that Lego is truly a special medium.
Today I graduated from college. My next step in life is to apply for medical school, and I’ll be taking a year off to work close to home. Thus, this break from my studies roughly translates into an obscene amount of time to build in the upcoming year.
