Tag Archives: Art

Some LEGO builders elevate the form to fine art in its own right, while others enjoy reproducing famous works of art with the brick. Find beautiful and thought-provoking LEGO artwork right here.

Sketching famous paintings in LEGO

Have you ever gone to an art museum with a notebook, ready to try how artists started creating their masterpieces? Have you also drawn a rough sketch with a pencil to get the fastest idea of the artist’s process? Tobias Munzert has done exactly that, but by using LEGO pieces. In this triptych, he recreated the motifs of three paintings by German Expressionist painter Franz Marc – Red Deers, Blue Horse, and Red Horses in black and white to emulate pencil drawings. Talk about blending LEGO and art!

Each drawing is laid out on a field of white bricks acting as a blank canvas. The minimalist black “sketches” are made up of various thin parts in black held by clips. Tobias really utilised his NPU skills, and has given us a good idea on which parts to make curves with. See if you can spot each unique minifig utensil and animals appendages used to create the intricate shapes of Franz Marc’s animals.

Check out more LEGO creations depicting horses!

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Peach Blossom Lake

When it comes to building with LEGO our creations tend to 3D most of the time. Toltomeja chose to go for a 2D approach with their latest creation. My knowledge about Chinese culture and art is not that strong, so if I use the wrong wording, please excuse me. Toltomeja made a scroll with a decorative landscape painting in Chinese calligraphy style. The artwork is filled with little details and parts used in a very smart way. For instance, there are sausages, horns, a sextant and a t-bar used in Chinese characters.

The horns also get used as a part of the clouds and to represent the flying birds. Which is really simple, yet really clever. There are bananas disguised as a small waterfall. There are also bananas incorporated in the clouds. I do not know why but apparently, frogs are the latest fashion when it comes to foliage. Towards the bottom of the scroll, this creation slowly goes from 2D to 3D. The clouds make this ‘painting’ look very calm jet a bit mystical. And the cracks in the rock give the mountains an amazing amount of depth.

A mosaic as proud as a peacock

One of the coolest things about LEGO building is how it can cross over with other art forms. This stunning mosaic by Deep Shen was inspired by a cross-stitch pattern. Translated into LEGO, it uses about 6,700 pieces to cover 160×104 studs (that’s about 50 inches x 32 inches) and took two weeks to build. The end result was definitely worth the investment in time and parts, as it really captures the majesty of the peacock.

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Nothing a coat of paint won’t fix.

There’s a lot going on in this sculpture by Adam Betts. Gravity defying, drippy, creepy, and undeniably imaginative, Paint Pouring On A Minifig Skull is a creation that deserves a close look. I like how the underlying skull is a great match for the suggested bone structure of a minifigure head, and how the fondant-like paint overlay perfectly captures the “skin” and facial features as the paint covers the superstructure. The suspended paint bucket is also well done, and I love the tiny touch of the banana splashes.

If you like this build, be sure to check our archives for more skullful creations.

TBB Cover Photo for February 2021: The Luckiest Cats

February’s cover photo brings some luck along with it. /snirk/snirk/

These lucky cats, by Ruobing Dai, are adorned with different decorations symbolizing good fortune and making money, and the detailing is exquisite. Meeeeeow.

But seriously though, I wouldn’t mind putting one of these in every room in the house to bring any kind of luck to this year. They’re super cute and each cat has a unique design on his tummy; a treasure basin, a teeny cat set, and a carp. They’d actually go great in my living room.

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A picture worth 10,000 bricks

This beautiful painting by Hoang H. Dang shows a pleasant street scene with ancient architecture and a gnarled tree, along with a few small street vendor stalls. But there’s much more to it than first meets the eye. Although it’s ostensibly a painting, it’s actually a low-relief sculpture masterfully executed with LEGO bricks, lending it an amazing sense of depth.

And look closer–this painting is much bigger than you probably realize. There’s detail packed into every square inch because the entire piece is enormous–more than 3 feet wide. It’s so big that a Duplo fire hydrant looks right at home. Let’s take a look at some of the other details.

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A visual journey: 10 Years of LEGO Ninjago [News]

LEGO Celebrates its 10 year anniversary of Ninjago with a visual feast. We share with you designs, artwork, and insights on popular sets never revealed before. With more than 200 sets released in a decade of TV Series, a Hollywood animated movie, and many more tie-ins and merchandise, there’s no doubt that this original concept is a winner with many fans across the world.

Click to begin the visual journey

Picture picture on the wall who, is the prettiest of them all

Ever since I saw the Hogwarts moving stairs model by Jonas Kramm I have this thing for LEGO paintings with elaborate golden frames. This creation by Kitkat1414 reminds me of that. In this creation, he used the minifigure torso in a brilliant way, representing the sails of the ship. The printing of the torso even adds some movement to the creation. However, the best used part in this creation has to be the Metalbeard part used as a miniature cliff. The painting in the middle of the frame is not the only true work of art — the paintings surrounding it also contain a lot of details.

It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas in a galaxy far, far away

We have seen quite a few builders pay tribute to the Empire’s most fearsome walking tank, the AT-AT. But I think this is the most unusual version I’ve seen in quite a while. Simon Liu has stretched his LEGO creativity to new heights with this stilt-legged AT-AT tasked with delivering Christmas trees to all corners of the galaxy.

LEGO Artception

One thing that LEGO and art have in common is that they are both highly sought after by collectors. The major difference between Banksy and LEGO is that LEGO is collectible whereas Banksy’s oeuvre is impossible to collect (on purpose of course). That being said, with LEGO anything is possible — even the recreation of a Banksy, as Tina and Chris have done here in this wonderful build.

The builders seem to heavily rely on the SNOT (studs not on top) technique to achieve the form of this build. No specialized elements are utilized here; looks like mostly bricks, small plates and tiles compose the piece.

The subject of the build is what is most alluring, especially since Tina and Chris have constructed a version of the artwork hilariously “self-destructing”. While nobody can really become a Banksy collector at least the concepts of his work can live on through other media.

The smell of heat and oil

Sometimes a LEGO creation enables you to smell, feel and imagine a whole slew of things that aren’t even there. Take this render by Douglas Hughes, for example. It is called Sunset in the Gulf and it depicts a helicopter and oil rig silhouetted against the sunset. I can imagine wearing ear plugs to squelch out the noise and a hard hat that barely contains the sweat and grime. I can envision wrenching on an uncooperative bolt with all my strength, filthy coveralls and a squeal of machinery. Do I have an overactive imagination? perhaps I do, but an imagination fueled by life experiences. While not quite an oil rig I have been in the boiler rooms and engine rooms of ships and there is a certain taste and smell to an environment like this.

While your experiences and feeling for this piece may vary, at least for my ol’ reptile brain this conjures up rusted memories of now ages gone by. And for that, Douglas, you have my kudos.

Pretty as a picture of a picture

It takes a talented builder to take a very specialized LEGO part, like a train switch, and turn it into something totally different. Of course, we all know Jonas Kramm is a talented builder, so it should come as no surprise that he managed to make a train switch into a painting of a peacock. It is unquestionably the best peacock head I have ever seen done in LEGO form, and perhaps the best bird head, too. The bumps on the switch make perfect nostrils, and it also works well as the eyes on the tail. But Jonas did not stop there: he also used the part for the lantern flame, and the drawer pulls. Not to mention the Jurassic World gyrosphere for the lantern glass and the green snake for paint. It’s a great composition of a great composition, for sure!

Like Jonas’ builds? Then check out some more. And don’t miss the Iron Builder action, where the train switch is the seed part.