Tag Archives: Interviews

The people behind the fascinating LEGO models we feature here are just as interesting! Read interviews with notable LEGO builders, LEGO book authors, LEGO set designers, and many others right here on The Brothers Brick.

Shannon Sproule: LEGO bricks are a listless bunch – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 11 [Interview]

For interview number 11, Keith Goldman heads back to Australia for the second time. Take it away, Keith!

My next guest is an Australian builder who loves long walks on the beach, kittens, and seafood. Although he would never admit it, Shannon “Ocean” Sproule has quietly become a household name in the hobby through his ‘less is more’ style and often comedic models, and enjoys a big following on both MOCpages and Flickr. Shannon also created the ‘Cyborg Racers’ fad that swept MOCpages and abroad.

I sat down with Shannon Sproule in my hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, backstage at the Excalibur Hotel showcase where he was performing with a dozen of his countrymen in the Thunder from Down Under all-male revue. We talked about how Vegas consumes 60,000 pounds of shrimp a day, studded thongs, and the horrible truth of what really happened to Paul Hogan. We also talked about LEGO.

The Build

Keith Goldman: Describe your strengths and weaknesses as a builder. What have you gotten better at over the years, and what remains a challenge?

Shannon Sproule: It might sound funny but I don’t consider myself to be a very good builder; I think ideas are my strength and I force them into mocs through lazy building or sheer stubbornness! Patience, or lack thereof, is definitely a weakness of mine. I can rarely be bothered finishing a model properly; it’s enough that I achieve the essence of an idea in a build and the viewer can fill in the details themselves. I’m like a LEGO impressionist, or so I like to think! Random studs here and there, no-matter, it’s the spirit of the creation I focus on. Minute changes to details can alter the appearance of the whole model which can be a slippery slope.

KG: When is a creation ever really “finished”?

SS: I’ve gotten better at general building skills I think through experimenting and receiving great tips and advice from other builders. I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve these days as far as technique goes and although I rarely try anything too advanced, it’s nice to have them there when and if I need them. Large and highly detailed mocs are a challenge. My mind wanders a lot and it’s hard to stay committed to one project for a decent amount of time so most of my stuff ends up quite simple and uncluttered.

KG: It seems pretty clear that you were inspired by the completely awesome toys of the 1980’s: what are some of your favorites, and is it just nostalgia that drives your interest?

SS: Ahhh, toys of the 80’s…

As a loner through my school years imagination was a great comfort to me, so my toys and my drawings played a big part of my childhood; if I wasn’t playing with or building toys I was sketching designs for cooler ones. My uncle has been an avid toy collector most of his life and always had way more toys than me, the childless bastard!

I guess it’s nostalgia that drives me and there’s a cute and innocent feeling with LEGO that I like to tap into, that playful look I really enjoy.

KG: Do you find that building affects your mood or vice versa? Do you have to be in the right mood to build?

SS: I’m always in the mood for building but if I get stuck for a few hours (or days) on something it definitely gets me down. I feel like I have to achieve something every time I sit down to build or it’s wasted time (which it isn’t really because learning comes from mistakes. Or so I try to tell myself…) Music really helps me create, especially aggressive music like metal. LEGO bricks are a listless bunch, lying around all day, they need some discipline. One has to attack them if one is to achieve anything, you see?

More of Keith’s interview with Shannon after the jump: Continue reading →

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Dan Rubin: The last thing you need is some clown trying to buck the system – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 10 [Interview]

For interview number 10, Keith Goldman chats with on one of our own. Take it away, Keith!

Although my next guest prefers to build in one genre, he is a bit of a Renaissance man in the hobby. Dan “Happy Weasel” Rubin has been an Ambassador, Administrator for CSF, convention coordinator, Brother Brick, active WamaLUG member, contest sponsor… And the list goes on. Dan and I have twice shared the low-budget convention experience, and the abject terror of a fellow AFOL emerging from the bathroom in a pair of too-tight red briefs… and nothing else. Dan is also a lawyer, but we won’t hold that against him for the purposes of this interview.

I sat down with Dan Rubin during my trial for manslaughter in the nation’s capital. During a recess for a witness to compose himself, we talked about art-school chicks, Gymkata vs Rexkwondo and the horrors of Kentucky. We also talked about LEGO.

The Build

KG: How early in your build process do you decide the color scheme in a build? You’ve publicly declared a foot fetish and admitted that this MOC was based in color scheme, off of this sneaker, is there any other garment, item, or device you have taken inspiration for your palette?

DR: The color scheme of a build is a very early choice for me. Usually, I’ll decide on a shape/style, and then the color scheme is the second choice, before I put two bricks together. That is, unless I want to try to create a shape that I’ve never attempted before, and I have to prototype it. Sometimes I’ll change the exact placement of stripes, and finer details of a color scheme as the build progresses, but the color combination, and general color blocking are early decisions.  

As far as inspiration is concerned, I suppose that it can come from just about anywhere. The shoe-inspired ship is definitely the most explicit example of an inspiration for a color scheme among my builds, though. I built a police ship once that drew its color scheme from the ubiquitous “black and whites” of the LAPD, but since that was intended to be a lineal descendant of the inspiration, I’m not sure it’s what you’re looking for.

Right now, I’m working on something in dark blue and lime, which is a color scheme I cooked up playing around with the colors while sorting. As you may have noticed, I like contrast between the colors of my models. I’ll usually use one neutral color for greebles, and then two more colors that will set each other off, or possibly just one color that contrasts with the greeble color (dark bley is a lot less neutral than old light gray, for instance).

KG: Can you think of any attitude towards building that you used to adhere to that you no longer do?

DR: This is a tough question, it’s going to take some thought. Generally speaking, I’ve had to make LEGO building a far smaller part of my life lately, as real life issues have taken hold, but that’s not really an attitude towards building as much as it’s a forced change in priorities. Lately, I have been trying to embrace colors that I once disliked. I’ve tried to take on orange and red in particular, as well as lime, to which I used to be ambivalent.

When I first joined the AFOL community, all the spacers were building in themes, and I jumped on that bandwagon. Lately, I’ve been trying to cast my net wider, and embrace any idea that I find, rather than trying to force another creation on a theme that’s likely already stretched thin. That’s not to say that I don’t build things into a theme on occasion, but I am trying for more variety. 

KG: Do you have a different approach for building models for a convention as opposed to a standard internet posting?

DR: Absolutely! There are a lot of considerations that arise when you’re building for a convention, rather than for posting on the internet. Stability is a pretty major difference, as you have to be prepared for tables to be jostled, or worse, your creation to be grabbed in a fragile spot. Viewing angles are also important. Building a diorama for internet posting, you can leave large spans of back-side completely un-treated. When you’re going to display a diorama at a convention, you have to consider where people will be able to view your creation from.

When Nick and I built the Faded Giant, we decided on a triangle shape, which would allow viewing from a much wider angle than a rectangle with three tall sides. It also allowed us to force our own background on more viewing angles, rather than leaving the chaos of the convention hall visible behind the display.

Transport is also a huge factor. When building something to post on the internet, it doesn’t have to be able to fit through the door of your legoratory, or into your car. I built the landscape and most of the vehicles for the Faded Giant display, and they all come apart to be transported. The entire landscape splits into a series of 48×48 baseplates, which all fit in a box about 16 inches tall. The details all got thrown on for the first time at the convention. Similarly, Nick built the building to split into more manageable sections for transportation. After all, nobody wants to carry something six or more feet long.

More of Keith’s interview with Dan after the jump: Continue reading →

LEGO Designer Simon Kent talks about 10213 Shuttle Adventure [Interview]

The announcement yesterday of 10213 Shuttle Adventure is followed today by an interview with Simon Kent, the Creative Lead who worked with Designer Steen Sig Andersen to create the set. Watch the video right here on The Brothers Brick:

Simon talks about some of the constraints that Steen worked under, as well as features of the set.

Soren Roberts: I don’t like the idea of being a reference – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 9 [Interview]

We’re nearing double digits in our interviews by Keith Goldman. For our more sensitive readers, today’s interview does contain some fairly strong language. You’ve been warned. Take it away, Keith!

My next guest is a self described “SMOOTH, two-faced, lying bastard” whose models have been the definition of cool in the realm of sci-fi building for the better part of a decade.

I can’t think of a builder who’s been more often imitated than Soren Roberts, and as the cliché goes: never duplicated. Soren is the warrior of the wasteland, the ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!

I’m going to stop because he also has a severe allergy to flattery, daylight, and fools like me.

I sat down with Soren in his blacked-out ’71 cuda, as we prowled early morning downtown Denver Colorado looking for a guy he kept referring to as “That F’ing Girondist”. We talked about Studio Nue, why Snow Crash should never be made into a movie, and whether it is better to use a rusty spoon or a shoe-horn to remove your victim’s eye.

The Build

Keith Goldman: Talk to me about the concept of the “Third Artist” and how it applies to building science fiction models with LEGO. What’s your best advice for somebody who already has a decent grasp of technique, but wants to strive for originality in sci-fi or any other creative genre?

Soren Roberts: The concept of the ‘third artist’ is pretty simple — the first artist makes something original. The second artist copies (or “draws inspiration from”, if you feel charitable) the first. The third artist repeats the work of the second because, hey, that’s what you do.

And in science fiction, especially TV and movie science fiction, you’re lucky if it’s just the work of the third artist — more often it’s the fifth or sixth.

The best advice I can give is to build a clip file of all your influences. Every image you see on the net or in a magazine — if you like it, save it. And it can be anything — I have all kind of pictures of industrial machinery and pressure vessels, but I also have abstract paintings and typography to draw on.

For a while I was drawing a lot of inspiration from early steam warships. And so on.

If you want originality, try to move as close as possible to direct, first-artist inspiration from your surroundings. 99% of science fiction is designed to look like other science fiction, but that one percent stands out and often has a huge, disproportionate influence. It’s really hard to design a future cityscape that doesn’t at least obliquely reference the L.A. skyline of Blade Runner, or worn spaceships that don’t reference Star Wars, because those images were so striking and became so fundamental to our concepts of future cities and spaceships.

KG: You have an art and design background, how does this inform your building? Also, give me a basic concept or two that you think other builders without your background could practically use to make their building better.

SR: Probably not all that much, beyond the expanded vocabulary — I don’t have a lot of experience in three-dimensional media, so I’m winging it. It informs my color choices, but I’m subject to the same constraints of part availability as anyone else. You can’t really teach a critical eye, just set up the conditions for someone to learn it themselves.

Two of the biggest things I know are how to do the background on someone who inspires me and having a pretty solid process. Being able to dig up more work by someone, or find their inspirations, is tremendously valuable — it lets you pick their brain for ideas remotely. Having a process is just nice for a lot of reasons — speed, certainly, but also for exploring potential alternative designs. I tend to build a lot of details beforehand, and to build several versions of a section I’m stuck on, and pick the version I like. Keeping up the momentum of a build is important.

So, yeah. Do the research on your influences, and have a process that minimizes frustration.

More of Keith’s interview with Soren after the jump: Continue reading →

Fedde: You got to love your monkey – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 8 [Interview]

For our 8th installment of interviews with LEGO fans from around the world, Keith Goldman journeys to the land Down Under. Take it away, Keith!

H.P. Lovecraft once wrote “Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal…”

If that is true, then our man Fedde (Karf Oolhu) must be one broad-minded Aussie. Fedde has a wide open, often comedic style and a large following of fans who look forward to his almost daily offerings on Flickr.

I sat down with Fedde in the 2nd floor cafeteria at Miskatonic University where he is currently employed as an adjunct professor of Astronomy specializing in the search for the ancients. We drank absinthe and talked about X-ray art, Sir John Eccles, and whether or not a new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.

The Build

Keith Goldman: Your builds are known for the wide variety of elements you employ. Have you ever met a part you didn’t like? Has there ever been an element you wanted to use, but just couldn’t find the right way to use it?

Fedde: No, never met a part I didn’t like, but then, I haven’t met them all yet… Oh, some of those large castle pieces (especially the printed ones) are a bit on the rude side, but I’m sure there’d be a good home for them, somewhere.

Pieces I want to, but can’t find a use for as yet? Hard to say.

I do have quite a few packets of pieces I’ve bought on Bricklink, usually as order fillers, things that look cool or different. Most are still in the original packets — I want to use them, but so much other stuff keeps overshadowing them. And quite a few part combos that aren’t able to finds homes yet either.

But to be honest, any part just needs time. An interesting use will appear.

KG: You crank out models at a clip few can match. Is there a reason you favor quick builds to longer, more involved projects? Have you ever hit a creative wall? Do you have a long list of models to call on, or are you more spontaneous?

F: Limited space is a big issue; my smallish bedroom holds basically everything. I do the bulk of my photo shoots on the bed. I’m surrounded by my LEGO, TV, computer, music, my photography equipment; it’s too easy to build, photo and upload within an hour without having to do or move much. I can only really have one decent MOC in progress. Most of my shelves are covered in tablescraps of various types — clear four away, and six try and crowd back in. And spontaneity is a big driver; I’m a very lateral thinking guy. Even when I’ve bought a set because of elements it has for a dio in progress, discovering a new piece will easily create a new build. I have at least a dozen projects all being worked on, in cycle — some will die, some get pushed back by newer growths, some even get photoed and posted. : )

KG: Your models are appreciated in part because they typically have a comedic element. Is there a specific comedian or style of comedy that influences your build?

F: I’ve always been able to see multiple meaning in things, seen the words that are open to misinterpretation, or contain words within words. I love deliberately misinterpreting a MOC’s name or comment; word mis-use is a fun tool.

But I must admit, I’m very fond of the crew of Monty Pythons Flying Circus… And now for something completely different…

More of Keith’s interview with Fedde after the jump: Continue reading →

Cole Blaq: If destiny’s on a break, we control the action – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 7 [Interview]

For our seventh installment of weekly interviews, Keith Goldman goes urban. Take it away, Keith!

If you have a Flickr account, and a decent list of contacts then your photo stream has probably been tagged by this week’s builder, Cole Blaq. Legally known as Aran Jitsukawa-Hudson (which is an awesome name and far more interesting than yours or mine), Cole has done what is so difficult to do in our flabby sea of Mannkinder; achieve a truly unique style.

I sat down with Aran on a cold November night, thirty feet over the Autobahn on the backside of a billboard for BMW. We drank whiskey from the bottle and talked about Fritz Lange, the evils of Teflon and the enduring comedic value of the Maginot Line. We also talked about LEGO.

The Build

Keith Goldman: Talk to me about bombing, burning and “getting up” with bricks. How did you develop your signature graffiti style, and what techniques serve as its core?

Cole Blaq: The ride’s quite a while ago, it dropped hard and after that all was left to burn. Getting up, spreading your name and development still continues. The material has changed but the style is still the integral element of self-expression. The context of public space is amiss, but yet it refers and in the proper spotlight this discussion definitely will be continued.

Since I restarted building with bricks in early 2008 I’ve had a vision of creating graffiti styles – it came naturally according to my previous years of expression. My signature was developed long before my brickish time. Now it just reappears into the bricks. Often the style has a certain character next to my signature that originates from the brick matrix and the character of the parts used.

The development with the bricks started with simple drafts to see with what techniques one can approach style-lettering. It started as a simple challenge over at the Urban Culture and Bricks group last May and within a month fully articulated and developed styles were achieved, wherein many of those previous draft builds melted together.

I have developed two basic techniques, one is based on straight slopes and the other one is based on wedge plates. The second technique includes hinges and hinges and hinges in order to break and angle the letters at the right places. With those parts I can shape the letters two dimensionally and in the next step I extend the letters into third space — considering different possibilities. That’s where it becomes really tricky and interesting. I am actually working on another founding structure based upon Technic parts. All these techniques can be modified and intermixed and limitless ways of creating styles are possible – it’s all about experimenting and trial and error.

KG: You are an art history student; does that influence your building? I once used this diorama for an Egyptian history course. Have you ever used the brick for an assignment?

CB: Art history is all about theory, not practice, which is my grande critique of the art historian education: Most students miss empathy for the work, its material and inner pictorial issues. As I have a continuous creative output I see myself in the same line, except I am not offishal, Mr. Offisha. An artistic approach is quite different than model building. Models are nice to build and the experience from that flows into my free works.

It is another issue to create something new, something not based upon a real life or a concept draft. Spaceship designs for example reach within these realms, but are too bound to our standardized perception of what a spaceship must contain.

Bricks have their value; they lay out a foundation and a certain pattern which enables certain things, predominated directions and characteristics.

At the same time the pattern and the material itself limits a free artistic expression. These days I often come to the limits of the bricks being true to my expression. Another problem is the core of a build. After creating a ground structure and building upon it, it is very often impossible to reach back to the core and tweak the structure, if one wants to change things later…
But that’s a topic I continue to ponder: how to approach that part practically and theoretically (due to my art historian studies).

No assignments up to now, but I am working on it and will share my success or cover my face in shame if I fail.

KG: Another fan of LEGO, Jon Palmer turned me on to Banksy. We have debated if it would be possible to do something “Banksy”-like with the medium of LEGO, what do you say?

CB: Yay, the Banksy question!

OK, what is Banksy-like? Banksy set a certain latter in subversive political humor without taking a direct position. Also most people are familiar with the stencil style he applies. If you are talking about his humor, it is possible to depict that kind in any medium. If you’re talking about stencils, its techniques are similar to those used for a silhouette / cut-out principle. Doing brick mosaics with bricksaic and some pre-editing in Photoshop will produce a similar effect. The theme / images with which Banksy plays, the interlocking stencil technique, are somehow copy-able. The biggest issue you’ll encounter is that of public space as the integral canvas / background which will be impossible to surrogate. Even his public space works being exhibited inside the white cube (classical museums and art galleries) raise the same problems. His work relating to the art business is different as it is an examination and debate within that context and also only works inside the gallery.

There are a few people who have managed to bring the brick message to the streets in their very own way. Two of them are Jan Vormann from St. Petersburg and ame72 from the UK.

Seeing Banksy’s kind of black and subversive humor in bricks would be great, but you’ll have to be prepared to question all existing rules and cut your precious little bricks until they bleed.

More of Keith’s interview with Cole after the jump: Continue reading →

Maciej Koszyka: In the case of Poland, of course! – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 6 [Interview]

We’re now in our second month of interviews by Keith Goldman. For our fifth installment, we delve into the cabal of mysterious builders known only as LUGPOL. Take it away, Keith!

LUGPOL… You’ve heard the name whispered in every corner of the internet, sometimes in fear, sometimes in awe, always with respect. Until now, this group of expert builders has been content to remain quietly in the shadows, hatching byzantine schemes to control your LEGO. This week’s builder is willing to break the iron-clad code of silence and give us a rare glimpse into Poland’s LEGO scene.

In the real world he goes by the name of Maciej Koszyka, but Flickr-users may know him better as “PigletCiamek”. I sat down with Maciej in the Wieliczka Salt Mine amidst various religious icons sculpted from salt. We drank Okocim beer and talked about Disco polo, Stanislaw Lem vs. George Orwell and why Polish people marry the youngest within the European Union.

The Build

Keith Goldman: You build in many genres, do you have a favorite, and do you find any particular genre more difficult than the others? Also, you have built several models inspired by Polish history, is there a particular period that you find interesting?

Maciej Koszyka: The three themes that I most often exploit are Castle, Pirates and Military (If I can call the last one a theme, as there were never official sets). The Castle and Pirate sets from the 80’s and early 90’s were the most beautiful designs in my childhood. I loved to look at them in my LEGO catalogs and I was a happy owner of the 6276 Eldorado Fortress. It must have had an impact on my AFOL interests. I make military MOCs because I was always interested in modern military aircraft. Later I got into WW2 era planes and armor.

I definitely find it more difficult to build a model of an existing vehicle or aircraft. I try to be as accurate as possible, while simultaneously being happy with the functionality of the model. It sometimes takes over a dozen tries to build a particular section of a model and often requires Briclink / PaB ordering. Generally it takes anywhere from one (PZL P.11c) to six (Sherman) months to finish a model.

For Castle or Pirates models I’m not so precise. Although I sometimes use reference material or a general knowledge of how something should look like, it’s mainly a work of my imagination. It takes me far less time to complete such a model. A good example is the Neptunine which took me about two weeks to finish.

I rarely buy bricks specifically for a Castle or Pirates MOC and I always disassemble them, which is very uncommon for the military models. Well, I still keep some of my helicopters in a cartoon box, even though by today’s standard they are not great models (you know – the bunches of studs sticking out everywhere).

I’m not a historian, but I’m interested in World War Two.

The Polish historical dioramas you mentioned were made for a local (LUGPOL) contest about the September Campaign. It was great motivation for me, as I always wanted to build something from the Polish 1939 arsenal, but was always afraid to start.

The Invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union is a very important and tragic event in our history that took away our independence for 50 years.

I was worried about the result, building a model of a Polish plane should be thorough and with great attention to detail. It is very important that the final product doesn’t make us (Poles) feel embarrassed, even if it is only in front of the small world of AFOLs. I may sound a little pathetic but I feel an inner duty to depict my country’s history and military equipment as “professionally” as possible. It might serve as a kind of tribute. PZL P.11c is a symbol of Polish defense in IX 1939 and I think my model fulfilled my requirements for a proud commemoration.

More of Keith’s interview with Maciej after the jump: Continue reading →

The Man, in Living Color. [April Fool’s!]

The Living Brick, that sage site of salacious scuttlebutt, has landed the most important interview in the history of the blogosphere. He actually nailed down the Man behind the Curtain. Heck, I’m friends with the guy and I can hardly ever find him. So check it out, while you still can.

Photo by repoort

Pete Reid: Pop his eye like a grape – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 5 [Interview]

In our fifth installment of interviews with LEGO luminaries, Keith Goldman crosses the Atlantic. Take it away, Keith!

This week’s builder is one turtle-neck away from being the Carl Sagan of the Classic Space Crowd, Peter “Legoloverman” Reid.

Pete is known for his fine detail work, impeccable presentation and disarming smile. When I was recruiting heavy-hitters for my Zero Hour on Highway 44 project, Pete Reid was at the top of the list.

I sat down with Pete in his favourite booth at Old Pink Dog Bar on the lower south side of Han Dold City. We drank Nutrimatic beer and talked about Supermarine Spitfires, Benny Hill and the war of 1812. We also talked about LEGO.

The Build

Keith Goldman: What percentage of your builds never makes it to Flickr? Give us an example of a time you’ve failed with an idea or model.

Pete Reid: I’d guess around half the things I start don’t make it online. I feel duty bound to maintain a certain level of quality. A poorly-finished, half-assed model would reflect badly on my existing stuff. I can’t produce magic every time – sometimes it’s safer to destroy things than risk my reputation. I can’t build in that quick, instant gratification way anymore. These days, every move needs to be carefully considered (and preferably agonised over) before I’ll let it be part of the finished product. I fail all the time – there are just as many misses as hits.

I’d love to be able to build a big, beautiful Neo-Classic Space SHIP, with an insane level of interior detail and an exterior form to make a man weep. But I’ve had bad experiences building large models, and I’m daunted by the amount of time, money and effort I’d have to invest. I just don’t know if I could see it through.

KG: Sometimes I end up building things top-down, which isn’t terribly practical when building a structure. Do you have an order you build in, or a direction? Does it vary according to the type of model you are attempting?

PR: Totally. When I’m building ships I generally start with the cockpit, and let the model evolve and flow out naturally from there. With robots I usually start in the middle of the chest and work outwards (just like real robot builders do). Can I just ask – why would you start building a model from the top down, Keith?

KG: I’ve frequently read criticism of other old-school builders that goes something like: “Yeah, he’s ok, but he basically builds the same thing over and over.” I don’t read that or hear that about you. What do you think of that critique in general, and why have you beaten the rap over the years.

PR: I can’t believe I’m not accused of repeating myself more often. I remember when I first read the word ‘boilerplate’ on a LEGO forum (I think it was you who wrote it, actually). I felt a terrible guilt – you were talking about me, clearly. At every phase during my life as a builder I’ve developed things in tiny, mind-numbingly dull increments.

Could it be that nobody’s noticed I’m only capable of building four things, slightly differently, over and over? There’s infinite diversity to play with, of course, but I still feel like a charlatan sometimes.

More of Keith’s interview with Pete after the jump: Continue reading →

Brendan Powell Smith: Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 4 [Interview]

Our fourth installment of interviews by Keith Goldman feels a bit like Stephen Hawking interviewing Albert Einstein, with the added danger that a pair of dice somewhere may come up snake eyes and the universe will implode. Take it away, Keith!

This week I bring you perhaps the quintessential LEGO-nerd who is famous around the world and has been interviewed more often than any other AFOL.

I’m talking about the hobby’s one true rock star, who is all at once: builder, author, musician, actor, artist, raconteur, scoundrel, low-guy, philistine and the unofficial spiritual leader of our mannkinder flock: The Reverend Brendan Powell Smith.

I hung out with the critically acclaimed author of The Brick Testament series on Mount Golgotha, a rock cliff west of Herod’s Gate and just beyond the Old City of Jerusalem’s northern wall, overlooking the Garden Tomb. We drank Al-Sharq beer and talked about the Papal bull of 1493 (and the Treaty of Torsedillas), transubstantiation vs. consubstantiation, and the revelation that there were two “Roys” in “Seigfried and Roy.”

We also talked about LEGO.

The Bible

KG: You have mentioned in other articles that you have been flooded with requests to use your images by religious groups around the world. Give me three groups or places that you found the most interesting.

BPS: Over the past three years now, I’ve been getting requests at the rate of one or two per day from churches and other religious organizations around the world to use material from The Brick Testament in sermons, Sunday Schools, church retreats, etc. The requests are so frequent nowadays that I don’t have time to read and reply to them all in person, and have set up an automated system to handle these sorts of permissions.

I find it interesting, but not all that surprising to receive such interest from religious groups. I am well aware that it’s possible for people to read the Bible and not end up an atheist, so it makes sense that religious folks would enjoy a creative and humorous but also faithful-to-the-text retelling of the Bible’s stories in LEGO.

I’m not sure I can pick out three particular groups that I found most interesting since I know very little about the religious groups that write to me. But I can share a three anecdotes.

There was one teacher from a religious education class who found The Brick Testament very useful in class and found that the students really responded to it. But when some of the other faculty discovered that some of the Bible’s sexual content was illustrated in LEGO, the teacher got fired from his job! He wrote not to express any bitterness, but rather to express his admiration for the website, and hoped the higher-ups at his next job would see things differently.

A handful of times I’ve had secular college professors let me know they’ve used The Brick Testament in their religious studies classes, and that’s been pretty gratifying.

And about a year ago I unexpectedly got a $16,000 check from an agency that collects usage fees for copyrighted materials in Australia. I am not even particularly clear on the details of who was paying these fees. There was a note about Educational Institutions and photocopying or something like that, but um… thanks, Australia!

The Community

KG: I met you at Bricks West 2 (2003). It was my first convention and you were the person on the roster I was most fired up to meet. I was disappointed because I was hoping for a Garey Busey looking character with salt-and-pepper hair, a white suit, black cowboy boots and a Texas string tie. Can you fathom my disappointment when I finally laid eyes on you, and have you had a similar experience meeting LEGO fans?

BPS: I could fathom anybody’s disappointment upon meeting me in person. It’s been the low point of many people’s lives.

The closest experience I can think of to yours is this: After seeing the name “Leonard Hoffman” for years on LUGNET and, based on nothing more than the sound of his name, I had this image in my mind of Leonard Hoffman as an uppercrusty, high society, monocle-wearing, prudish British minor royalty. I’m not sure I can say I was disappointed upon meeting the actually Leonard Hoffman, but there was a real sense of cognitive dissonance when I had to now associate that name instead with the image of an easy-going stoner-college-roommate type who friends called “Lenny”.

KG: Do you pay attention to what’s going on with the great unwashed masses of builders, through flickr or any of the older means? If you do, is there a type of MOC that catches your eye?

BPS: I usually check in here at The Brothers Brick once or twice a day, and that’s become my main way of keeping up with the best of what’s being built these days. I find it a little sad that there’s no longer one single place where AFOLs can both see and have substantial discussions about what’s being built. Flickr and blog sites are great for seeing great MOCs, but simple comment boards just don’t allow for in-depth discussion. Message board sites like Eurobricks allow for better discussion, but have never mastered a way for the best MOCs to be spotlighted. And The Brick Testament never really fit in at the niche sites like Classic-Castle or Classic-Space.

Anyhow, the MOCs that catch my eye are the ones that are innovative, clever, and/or humorous.

My favorite stuff is probably going to be close to the same sorts of things I build, so I look for a new way to pose minifigs, an unorthodox combination of parts, or just something deeply and darkly funny. I’m too focussed a builder to deviate into participation in fads, but that’s not to say I don’t appreciate them or try to give them a shout-out in my own work.

For other well-established building genres, I tire of the same old same old, so they tend to only catch my eye when they really stand out from the crowd, put a new spin on things, subvert the genre, or take it to new levels.

But with so many great builders out there now and so many ways to share photos, I’m pretty much guaranteed to see something I like or am impressed by everyday.

KG: Has anyone inside or outside the community ever tried to glom-on to the success of your publishing career? Also, do you get groupies like other famous authors?

BPS: Every so often I get e-mails from other builders looking for advice on getting published and/or how not to get sued by LEGO. I’m afraid I don’t have much helpful advice to pass on. When I actively tried to find a publisher, I failed, so I just went back to creating, and eventually the offers came to me.

I haven’t really had any troubles with people glomming on to me personally. I get a lot of nice comments via e-mail, but The Brick Testament has no comment section or message board, and maybe this has prevented potentially rabid fans from combining forces or whipping themselves into a frenzy, constructing effigies of me and burning them or having sex with them or both.

The Future

KG: Say you burn through the bible and you look for the next great project involving LEGO, would it feature some other sacred text, or would you leave the literary genre completely?

BPS: I have some interest in illustrating other holy books, but I’m not sure that would be at the top of my list. And considering the Bible has kept me occupied for over eight years now, I’m not sure I could work up the same devotion for the Qu’ran, Book of Mormon, or Rig Vedas. Maybe if I had more lifetimes.

I won’t know for sure what project I’ll feel like doing until I actually finish the Bible, which could conceivably happen two or three years from now. But already I am embarrassed by the poor quality of my construction and photography from eight years ago, so maybe I’ll be caught in a vicious cycle where I’m always re-illustrating the crappy work I did eight years before and I’ll be stuck illustrating the Bible for life. That wouldn’t be so bad.

But as of right now, the non-Biblical material that interests me the most for a future illustration project would be the various Christian gospels, acts, and apocalypses that didn’t make it into the New Testaent, or the works of the historian Josephus who recounts in great detail the events during and leading up to the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-70 CE. Fascinating, humorous, and tragic stuff, much in the vein of the Bible itself.

KG: Will we ever see a sequel to your groundbreaking independent debut in Vendetta: A Christmas Story? Has Hollywood come slouching to your door? What about Bollywood? Have you considered directing a brick-flim?

BPS: Vendetta was a blast to make, and I’m quite proud of it, but like any video project it was very labor intensive. I’m not particularly drawn to doing a brick film since I feel like still photography storytelling is a genre I’ve become quite good at and appeals to me much more. From adolescent experimentation I know a little about what goes into making a stop-motion film, and unless I had a paid and motivated crew assisting me, I think I’d always rather spend my time adding more still-image illustration stories to The Brick Testament.

I get requests from Bollywood at the rate of one or two per day. But they are all for me to stop singing, stop dancing, and stay out of India.

KG: Since the hobby keeps growing I’m sure you’ll agree that it is only a matter of time before some C or D list celebrity will become an AFOL. Give me three celebrities from any field that would make great AFOLs. I know you’re a Patrick Swayze apologist, but I’d appreciate if you’d limit your answer to the living.

BPS: Sam Elliott, Peter Scolari, and George Peppard.

5 Boilerplate Questions

KG: If you had to pick only one of your MOCs to go in the great FOL time-capsule, which would it be?

BPS: For The Brick Testament I really consider the photos to be the finished artwork rather than the MOCs themselves, so if it’s a valid answer, I’ll say a printout of the Book of Revelation. If that’s invalid, just take The Last Supper which I still actually have around as a MOC.

KG: If you had to pick only one of my MOCs to go into the great FOL time-capsule, which would it be?

BPS: Now THAT is Black Fantasy, no doubt.

KG: If time, money and proximity were not an issue, give me 2 builders besides me that you’d like to collaborate with on a project?

BPS: I’d love to have Michael Jasper work on character and prop design for The Brick Testament, and Sir_Nadroj for vehicles, architecture, and scenery.

KG: What’ is your favorite comment or review you’ve ever received on a model?

BPS: I really enjoyed watching random residents of Bratislava, Slovakia come across my “Accept Communism or Die” story that the SPACE gallery had displayed across the length of their building. Their stony silence spoke volumes.

KG: And finally, good sir, who controls the action?

BPS: Yahweh controls the action.

Empire of swoosh: a chat with Linus Bohman, creator of Swooshable.com [Interview]

Talented builder and former TBB contributor Linus Bohman recently unveiled LEGO Building School (LBS), a new application for his LEGO-related app project, Swooshable. It warrants something more than a simple referral, so, in true TBB fashion, I used an Imperial interrogation droid on him.

TBB: You went through a bit of mini-dark age recently. Why was that, how long did it last, and why are you coming out of it?

Linus Bohman: I think I’ve been on a LEGO hiatus for almost a year and a half, give or take. Life and my hyperactive nature came in the way. I tend to stock up on things that I really like and do those 100% – all of them at the same time. So I was working full time, doing heavy freelancing, studying a bit, constantly moving, as well as trying to spend time with friends and family and get time for hobbies. It didn’t really work out so I eliminated everything but the basics: friends and family. I quit my job to do something I really enjoy, stopped freelancing, found a nice place that I settled in, and now I’m adding in hobbies again. That purge was the best thing I’ve ever done, but I also needed the busy period – I learned many, many really useful skills.

TBB: What are you especially hoping to accomplish with LBS? What needs do you think it meets?

LB: LBS was built to answer questions like “How do I become a better builder” or “What is SNOT?”. The answers float around in the community, but they’ve been hard to find since the post-LUGNET community is so fragmented. I don’t believe we need a central place for communicating with each other – those things tend to work out anyway – but I do believe we need various central hubs for other things. TBB has largely filled the LEGO news niche, for instance. I intend for LBS to fill the learning niche, at least until something better comes along.

TBB: What inspired you to start working on Swooshable?

LB: Well, to be honest: nothing significant has changed in the community while I was away. The conversation is mainly held on flickr instead of in niche forums and different building styles have evolved, but otherwise we haven’t really gotten anywhere as a group. The same questions are asked, the same needs go unfulfilled. The community boat needs some gentle rocking – and intend to lead by example. I looked at my skills, workflow and already finished material and decided that the best way to do it, without falling into the half-assed trap many other LEGO projects end up in, was to do short bursts of self contained apps. They may be fun for a while (like the probable life span of the Fad Masher) or usable for a long time (like LBS), but either way they’ll make people think a bit differently.

TBB: Tell us a little bit about the special features of LBS.

LB: I have two criteria that guides all of the Swooshable apps:

They must be easy and enjoyable to use
I must be replaceable in case I go AWOL

Thus, if you use LBS you’ll find that it’s mainly just a toolbar. You do everything from this toolbar, and it follows you around on the different sites (except flickr which doesn’t allow these sorts of things). If the toolbar gets in the way you can just flick it to the side, and it’s there when you need it again by the press of a button. The lesson listing only display the basic information for easy scanability, but still encourages exploration. If we’ll need a new moderator it’s as simple as creating an account. People can also submit articles directly through the toolbar, so that I (hopefully) don’t have to monitor the entire community to get the freshest and bestest material. *hint hint*

Of course, nothing is set in stone. I monitor statistics, comments and behavioral patterns pretty carefully, and intend to make things better if I discover things aren’t working as planned. Iterative work for the win!

TBB: What do you think are the most important things that you hope newer LEGO fans as well as veterans will get out of LBS?

LB: The ability to focus on building and cultivating better discussions. Want to learn some new techniques? Stop hunting them down and go to LBS. A new guy wants to get into the building scene? Head on over to LBS and read up on what you can, then explore the forums and ask good questions instead of mediocre ones. Those are the main ways I believe the School will make a difference, but these things are pretty much impossible to predict. I’m very open to different way of using them, or making them into something else than they are. Creativity is fun like that.

TBB: What’s your vision of what the adult LEGO fan community should be, and where do you think Swooshable and LBS fit in that vision?

LB: I don’t have a vision, but rather a wish: that we stop making so much darn drama and do fun stuff instead. Sometimes it feels like we fight internally as soon as someone is doing something different – be it making money off of the LEGO hobby, get a certain number of fanboys or use clone bricks. Different isn’t bad; it’s just different. Something great may come from the next different thing.

Okay, so I do have a vision, then. More intentional chaos, less demeaning of different stuff. Creativity to the people!

TBB: What’s the next Swooshable app up your sleeve?

LB: I’m choosing between ten or so ideas. I need to do some testing to get an indication of which ones will fly and which ones will fall, but it’ll be something really simple this time. LBS took a lot of time to sketch out and build, and now I need to do something that is less worky and more silly. I’ve been itching to do something that gives me a feeling for the general community – perhaps something to do with all of the LEGO blogs out there? Or a continuation of Repoort’s old but inspiring Creativity Challenge?

In the future I want to do a project of a more emotional nature. Unfortunately I need a good amount of people to be involved before I release it in order to make it good. I’m putting a lot of faith in the Swooshable mailing list for that. If anyone wants to help me and receive notifications when a new Swooshable app is ready, please join it!

TBB: Thank you very much! Anything else you think is important for us to know?
LB: If someone accidentally got my fame, money or girls, please point them in my direction. Thanks.

Nate Nielson: Winter is a struggle and wind is my foe – Boilerplate & Beyond Vol. 3 [Interview]

Our third installment of interviews by Keith Goldman takes us into the mind of a builder that — let’s be honest — you either love or hate. Take it away, Keith!

This week’s builder is known as “nnenn,” and should need no introduction if you’re a fan of science fiction models, or a follower of any number of groups on Flickr.

Nnenn’s name has become synonymous with both great building and controversy, beginning with his debut on Classic Space forum, where he managed to rile up more than a few purists with his tape, knife, and clone-brand components.

I take special notice of any builder who has fan-boys, if nothing else to make sure their army isn’t larger or more rabid than my own.

I met nnenn, as per his rather specific instructions, at the Palm Springs Wind Farm in Palm Desert, California: I didn’t actually see him, but we spoke through a grating at the base of a windmill. There was no small talk, we just talked about LEGO.

The Build

Keith Goldman: You always have interesting backgrounds for your creations. How do you select the background color for each model, and what sort of lighting do you use?

nnenn: I shoot everything outside by hand; winter is a struggle and wind is my foe.

The background posters are chosen for contrast: first, in value (dark for a light model, and vice-versa) or second, in color (blue for an orange model, etc.) I approximate the original color when digitally imaging so the model’s reflectives don’t look odd.

KG: Like many sci-fi builders, you have mentioned that your models draw inspiration in part from the “Terran Trade Authority” series of illustrated books from the late 1970’s. Is there any other go-to creative reference you consider when designing a model?

nnenn: I’m influenced by many things (including other builds) but I don’t have a dominant source of inspiration, nor do I keep a ready reference bank. Because seeing the same thing repeatedly tends to dull the awe, I purposely avoid perusing my muses (which is why I don’t keep ‘favorites’ on Flickr, incidentally.)

Though I am rarely at a loss for ideas, I do become unmotivated from time to time, so a few quick glances does more to spark my competitive side than provide fodder for new content.

KG: Do you purchase clone-brand sets, or is there a Bizarro-World BrickLink? If the answer is sets, which theme if any do you prefer?

nnenn: I’ve wished many times for a way to get clones by the piece (I’ve even contacted MegaBloks about it) but no, I resort to purchasing whole sets for just a handful of unique parts… themes don’t really play a part in my acquisition decisions. I’m holding out for cost-effective 3D printers.

More of Keith’s interview with nnenn after the jump: Continue reading →