I suspect Harrison may end up spending time at the Chestnut Tree Cafe for his inability to goodthink, but his vignette is doubleplusgood regardless:
Tag Archives: Art
Arnold Skolnick’s Woodstock poster in LEGO by Noddy
Artist Arnold Skolnick’s famous poster for a certain “Aquarian Exposition,” billed as “3 Days of Peace & Music,” came to be so closely identified with Woodstock that many people can’t think of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, or The Grateful Dead up on that stage without thinking about Skolnick’s dove perched on a guitar.
Noddy/V1 recreates this iconic poster in LEGO:
Via Klocki.
Dekotora by Nathan Proudlove
20+ years ago in Japan, my brother and I stared in amazement every time we saw a dekotora (from “decorated truck”). Of course, like their teamsters brethren here in the States, the Japanese truckers who drove these “art trucks” weren’t always the most savory of characters. Today, dekotora are apparently more popular than ever. There’s even a video game for Nintendo Wii.
Nathan Proudlove‘s entry for the LUGNuts Haulin’ Ass build challenge is an amazingly accurate LEGO rendition of these trucks from my childhood:
Like the trucks that inspired him, Nathan’s truck also looks great all lit up in the dark:
Some of Corran101’s animals are more equal than others
I first read George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a child, long before learning about the complex allegory of historical references (such as Snowball‘s representation of Leon Trotsky). When I read it again in college, a whole new dimension opened on the page.
Harrison uses BrickForge animals to illustrate a crucial scene in the book:
Tiger – visionary from the East
If you frequently browse Brickshelf, then you’ve probably seen the works of Tiger (tiger0207). To those who only know him by his works, Tiger is reputed as a LEGO comic artist who is skilled in producing comics and artistic LEGO graphics in Chinese. Those who’ve inquired a bit further into his works may have stumbled upon one of his three blogs. Now through a brief inside look at this visionary from the East, provided by TWLUG member CVSPIS_CELIDVS, we gain a glimpse of the profound builder known as Tiger and his unique works.
“Tiger, in playing LEGO, belongs to a league of his own, who is not only a custom artist but also a philosopher. He operates three blogs of different topics showing his techniques, imagination, and philosophy of life.
His first blog called Tiger’s Style expresses the builder’s thoughts and ideas about playing LEGO and likewise his minifig customization and scene designs. He uses not only official LEGO parts but also those of other competitive brands, commercial custom parts (e.g. BrickArms & BrickForge), and even those made from simple materials by himself.
Tiger’s second blog, LEGO in Tiger’s Mind at Night, records his thoughts on ordinary life when the builder plays LEGO on quiet nights. Through the Chinese language and LEGO creations, Tiger depicts themes from diverse aspects including movies, traditional Chinese literature, poetry, women, love, and life.
His blog LEGO Martial Arts Heroes primarily shows historical oriental heroes and fictional knights-errant from Tiger’s imagination channeled through building, photography, and image-design. Martial arts fantasy, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms“, and “Journey to the West” are his favorite stories frequently told, of course, through LEGO.
Tiger’s most recent work, “Journey to the West,” is recreated from a classic and famous Chinese folk novel, also the prototype of the manga/anime “Dragon Ball” created by Akira Toriyama. Another recent work, “Spirit War,” found its inspiration through the Six realms of the Buddhist cosmology. As a storyteller, Tiger masterfully conducts the scenes as comics made from LEGO.”
-CVSPIS CELIDVS ECO SVM
Michael Jasper refuses to give in to peer pressure
New updates to genius-builder Michael Jasper‘s Brickshelf folders of Characters and Things are always a treat.
But Michael has posted a completely new conceptual gallery — “Peer Pressure” — that illustrates his storytelling skills with the simplest of creations:
Via VignetteBricks.
LEGO Ambassador Vignettes
Over at the LEGO Ambassador Forum, we current Ambassadors were asked to build “a standard 8×8 vignette that represents [us] and [our] interests within the world of LEGO building and community.” Many of us came up with creative and interesting pieces; here are a few of some of the most recent ones:
(Below left) Yiu Keung from Hong Kong displays his miniature Green Grocer in the palm of a brick-built hand.
(Above right) Peer Kreuger from the Netherlands makes a working mini planetarium model. Check out the amazing animated image!
(Below left) Tim Gould from Australia portrays himself as the man behind the screen, sharing ideas through the internet.
(Above right) Mike Crowley from the US represents himself as a LEGO creation, having people “build” him to be the Ambassador they want to see.
(Below left) Danila Martyakhin from Russia creates a vignette called Equilibrium, featuring the ultra-posable biotic robot.
(Above right) I present my work called Just Add Imagination that uses spray-painted pieces and fishing lines to create the floating bricks effect.
(Below left) Andrew adds his belated vignette to Nannan’s post with many hats that represent many communities:
(Above right) Dan Rubin serves as a liaison and “noise filter” between the LEGO fan community and The LEGO Company.
Again, these are just a few of some of the amazing vignettes that the Ambassadors have made. You can see some more over at Klocki.
Pixar animator Angus MacLane builds best LEGO Wall-E yet [Interview]
I had the pleasure of meeting Pixar animator and LEGO fan Angus MacLane at BrickFest 2007. When I saw the first trailer for Wall•E (in theaters Friday, June 27), I knew we should try to do something special. Our exclusive interview with Angus and first look at his LEGO Wall•E follows.
The Brothers Brick: How long did it take to build your Wall•E?
Angus MacLane: About seven hours over a span of three years. I started building the LEGO version of Wall•E around the same time he was being built in the computer in late summer of 2005. I had been waiting for some treads to be released, and with 7258 (the “Wookie Attack” set) I got just enough tread links for two treads.
The color scheme of Wall•E wasn’t settled so I stared building with all light grey. I wasn’t totally happy with the results. The treads were too small and pretty flimsy. I put him on the shelf and went back to work.
Then the snowmobile and bulldozer came out in 2007 and I had my tread solution. So I rebuilt him at the beginning of this year with the proper colors as we were finishing animation production. I’m proud of the overall proportions, but the eyes are still a bit too off for me.
TBB: Do you think that working on the movie gave you any special insights into the design of the LEGO Wall•E?
Angus: Having stared at this robot for 3+ years, I was extremely familiar with the proportions and functionality of Wall•E. It helped to know his design, but that made it hard to make the usual compromises when converting items to LEGO form.
TBB: How does your “day job” as an animator influence your LEGO hobby?
Angus: Mostly I build with LEGO as a way to unwind from a day spent in front of the computer. The tactile nature of LEGO can be much more satisfying than working in the often intangible realm of the computer. Also, a large part of an animator’s job is to clearly communicate an idea through the pose of a character. I think this is similar to building with LEGO where part of the goal is to sculpt clear shapes that communicate the purpose of the creation.
TBB: Has your LEGO hobby helped your “real” job in any way?
Angus: LEGO gets you used to thinking and designing in three dimensions. It has really helped my ability to visualize spatial relations. This is especially useful when working with artists and technical directors to take 2D designs and successfully turn them into 3D character models.
Also, when building with LEGO you often have to simplify or caricature the intended form. This is similar to caricaturing motion and simplifying acting ideas, which is an important part of the animation process.
TBB: Do you share your LEGO creations with your coworkers?
Angus: I have a small area in my office where I have my MOCs [My Own Creations] on display. Sometimes I get comments form coworkers. The question I always get is- Is that a set? Why don’t they make that? It’s very flattering to hear, but I know that they probably aren’t familiar with the latest and greatest from Brickshelf, so they have little to compare it too.
TBB: Do you check Brickshelf and Flickr for LEGO creations?
Angus: Sometimes. I mostly check out pictures that have been linked form blogs such as Brothers Brick, Klocki, etc. Favorite builders include: Mladen Pejic, Izzo, Gla Gla, Arvo Brothers, Count Blockula, Chris Giddens, LEGOhaulic, and Soren Roberts.
TBB: What’s your favorite LEGO creation inspired by Wall•E?
Angus: I was pretty blown away by Joe Meno’s Wall•E. I struggled with Wall•E’s eyes for a while, and Meno’s solution is really great. I was also impressed that he went for the arm stripes. Plus it’s motorized. Pretty amazing creation of a character from a movie that hasn’t been released.
TBB: What are your thoughts on the various LEGO games?
Angus: I’ve only played the Classic Star Wars game. The play control is pretty good and it’s fun to play. The animation is fine, but I wish that there was more truth to materials in the animation. Something about seeing the knees on minifigs kind of freaks me out.
If the only joints that moved on the characters were the wrists, heads, and legs, the animation would be a lot more charming. I realize this would limit the movement, but it would feel more like LEGO and less like clay. It would also be about 78% funnier. Which is a big win in my book.
TBB: Have you built anything from the other Pixar films that you’ve worked on?
Angus: I took a pass at the Omnidroid from The Incredibles. At minfig scale it’s a bit too chunky for my taste, but I haven’t gotten around to rebuilding it properly. I built the Luxo lamp which is a bit more on model. I also built a Monsters, Inc. door station that is to scale with the action figures.
TBB: Which Pixar film (feature length or short) is your favorite?
Angus: That’s pretty hard to for me to decide. Toy Story is the only feature that I got to see as an audience member, rather than as a crew member.
Probably The Incredibles is my favorite feature and Luxo Jr is my favorite short.
TBB: Okay, we have to ask this. :-) Why aren’t any of the main characters in Toy Story or Toy Story 2 built from LEGO?
Everybody has toys from their childhood that are very special and meaningful to them. For me personally that would be Classic Space LEGO, Fisher-Price Adventure People, Original Star Wars 4″ line and the first 3 years of the small GI Joe line. You’ll notice that the toys of the Toy Story world are loosely based on or inspired by toys that are pre-LEGO. So I don’t actually know the answer to your question, but I’m guessing it’s because the original character designers did not happen to grow up with LEGO as a major influence. As to why there hasn’t been many Buzz Lightyear LEGO MOCs that would be due to the relatively new arrival of lime green and the shortage of purple.
A huge thanks to Angus MacLane and Pixar for this interview. Be sure to check out all of the rest of Angus’s Wall•E photos on Flickr.
Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye
Matija Grguric‘s architectural LEGO project modeled the Villa Savoye, designed by the famous French architect Le Corbusier, who pioneered Modern architecture. The Villa Savoye was completed in 1929 and was meant to be a weekend country house. Here, Matija has captured the style and proportions perfectly in this faithful model.
King Solomon takes a bit of a wrong turn toward the end
The latest installment of The Right Hon. Rev. Brendan Powell Smith’s The Brick Testament wrap up the story of King Solomon.
In this scene, Solomon’s son Rehoboam threatens the Israelites with forced labor and scorpions:
(Like the source material, not all content is suitable for children.)
Scene from H.G. Well’s Time Machine
Alex Eylar, known for his ambient LEGO photography, produces a scene from H.G. Well’s Time Machine. Click on the photo to learn more about the scene depicted and see the entire setup.
Nathan Sawaya exhibits brick art in Hawaii
With appearances on Letterman and Colbert, “brick artist” Nathan Sawaya is quite possibly the only LEGO builder with anything close to celebrity status — and deservedly so.
Nathan has recently opened an exhibit at the Pearlridge Shopping Center in Aiea, HI. He debuted several new sculptures, including “Green” below:
Nathan also did some onsite work. Here he is working on a mosaic of the Hawaiian flag:
Thanks for the tip and the photos, Nelson Yrizarry!
You can see Nathan’s art at the Pearlridge Shopping Center through July 20th.