Tag Archives: Joss Woodyard

Draconis Scyphozoa – a jellyfish-inspired dragon

LEGO phenom Joss Ivanwood has been building a dragon every month in 2024; Year of the Dragon in case you’re wondering why. It turns out, eleven months into the year, this jellyfish-inspired dragon marks the first instance of creative block. It’s quite understandable, trying to design a dragon based on a jellyfish; I imagine there were several iterations of this magnificent beast, several head-scratching moments and maybe sleepless nights. But the end result is probably my favorite of the entire line. I mean, look at those tendrils made from legions of clips and that arching transparent bell. It’s proof that something can be deadly and beautiful all at the same time. Joss tells us that while he’s aware that jellyfish don’t have brains, he couldn’t resist including the new brain creature piece from the Mindflayer D&D minifigure. That’s a smart use for that brain piece!

Draconis Scyphozoa

We adore Jayfa’s smashing pumpkin dragon in LEGO

Usually, a ripe pumpkin invites you to carve its flesh to make a Jack-o-Lantern, but Joss Ivanwood‘s pumpkin creation needs no help in creating a scary face and it looks poised to carve you up if you get too close! Draconis Cucurbita is the 10th entry in Joss’ Year of the Dragon series of monthly LEGO builds and it’s one of his best. Big macaroni tubes are the star elements here, supplying the ribbed pumpkin bodies – a wonderful technique, with bananas filling in the gaps – and the snaking neck and legs. The long vine-like tail is especially effective at evoking a pumpkin patch. With only two dragons left in the project, we can’t wait to see where Joss will draw inspiration from next!

Draconis Cucurbita

A fun guy with a passion for woodland adventure

Sometimes those bright red toadstools appear out of nowhere and you’re like, what otherworldly thing is this? Maybe LEGO creature builder extraordinaire Joss Ivanwood feels the same way when he discovers a toadstool. He’s been building a dragon a month for a long while now and September’s offering is called Draconis Amanita and is inspired by the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). He tells us he’s always been fascinated by the way so many mushrooms grow from fallen trees, giving them new life. So, he fathomed it would be a cool idea to make the whole dragon as a group of mushrooms growing out of the same log. I bet this dragon’s mycelium network is off the hook! It’s probably the root of all awesomeness! I’ll just let myself out and go spore some bad jokes somewhere else.

Draconis Amanita

Dragon meets Mantis Shrimp

The term “shrimp” doesn’t typically evoke an image of a fearsome creature, but what if you combined the obscure and dangerous Peacock Mantis Shrimp with a Dragon? Lego builder, and imaginative creator, Joss Ivanwood, who takes pride in designing and building “dragons, robots, monsters, and more,” has merged the otherworldly mantis shrimp with a dragon. The use of bright colors, combined with what can only be assumed is an expert-level application of LEGO Technic joints, transforms a fish’s nightmare into a vibrant and imaginative reality.

Draconis Stomatopoda

Draconis Wisteria is a garden-variety dragon with a twist

As we cross the halfway point of 2024, Joss Ivanwood (jayfa_mocs) continues his Year of the Dragon LEGO celebration with his sixth offering: Draconis Wisteria. June’s dragon is a tribute to the flowering wisteria vine. The idea first came to Joss at the start of the year, but it took until now for the vision to fully come together and the results truly soar. Joss excels at organic shaping in his builds, especially when liberated by the chaotic outgrowths of roots and vines, as he demonstrated with his orchid-inspired Demogorgon. The model masterfully incorporates a lot of snaking brown parts that you would expect with the theme, and a few parts you might not, like a hairpiece for upper maw, and golden One Ring eyes. This dragon is such a perfect execution of a concept that just feels right. I can imagine the majestic beast nesting on a pergola, draping its wings to create a lavender canopy and perfectly camouflaging itself in plain sight.

Draconis Wisteria

With six months remaining, I can’t wait to see what other imaginative spins on the dragon Joss has in store for LEGO fans.

This LEGO dragon may fit in the palm of your hand

One thing we learned from How to Train Your Dragon is that dragons do indeed come in many shapes and sizes, as evident in this dragon by Joss Woodyard, inspired by a toad which reminds me of the rock-eating Gronckle, especially with those tiny wings. Lots of long curved parts used as tails and claws are here used to sculpt the dragon’s large mouth and tongue. The small eye tiles commonly found in nightmare creatures from the LEGO Dreamzzz theme make perfect reptile eyes, while the transparent wing element makes a great dragonfly wing on this dragon’s lunch.

Draconis Anura

What happens when you cross a vulture and a dinosaur?

Joss Woodyard has a thing for creative LEGO creature designs (just look at what he’s got in our archives). But since 2024 is the year of the dragon, what better excuse than to get some awesome dragons out of him? April’s entry takes inspiration from birds both ancient and present for a striking feathered fiend. It’s part bearded vulture, part Archaeopteryx – the feathered flying dinosaur from the Jurassic period. And the feathers are what really make this build stand out, using a variety of pieces from the Bionicle and Chima lines of years gone by.

Draconis Gypaetus

You’ll be Spirited Away

You don’t have to be an anime fan to appreciate this pair of incredible and contrasting LEGO builds, each one an astonishingly well rendered recreation of a memorable moment from Spirited Away. (Though if you haven’t already, do yourself the favour and watch this anime instant classic ASAP!) First up, this marvelously detailed microscale Bathhouse made by Marius Herrmann looks amazingly close to the source material when shot from this low angle

The Bathhouse (from "Spirited Away")

And next up, Joss Woodyard (Jayfa) treats us with this deliciously detailed and kinetic scene from the film’s emotional climax.

Spirited Away

There’s even more to love about both creations. Read on below!

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A LEGO dragon inspired by an unlikely source

Check out this LEGO dragon Joss Woodyard has built. Cute, isn’t he? His name is Pit, and I love his flowery tail and scaly body made from pink rock pieces. But he’s more than just a loveable li’l guy! (Pit, that is – though I’m sure Joss is lovely too!). The reason he’s called Pit is he’s named after the pitaya fruit, which is also a source of design cues. Those black dots on his white underbelly? That’s the seeds you find in these fruits! The green dorsal fins? They’re the leaves! It’s a really clever way of taking inspiration from something completely unrelated. Unrelated? Well, not quite – the other name for a pitaya is a dragon fruit. What a great idea!

Draconis Pitaya

In this year of the dragon, Joss is building one of these each month – and if his previous creature creations are anything to go by, he’ll definitely be featuring on our pages again!

All hail Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Is there anyone out there who thinks a giant sea-dwelling lizard monster isn’t cool? No? Good. How about one made of LEGO? An even more resounding no? Excellent! In which case, take a look at this epic Godzilla by Joss Woodyard. Godzilla has many incarnations, and this one is based on its appearance in the Monsterverse films. The texturing is simply incredible. Joss makes great use of the stepped bow slope and a variety of textured rock pieces for the monster’s rough skin. Worth paying careful attention to, though, are the ridges up the spine. This is a mish-mash of curved and straight slopes and tiles; simple parts, but used to devastating effect to complete Godzilla’s menacing form.

Godzilla

Godzilla might be the King of the Monsters, but we’ve featured plenty of his subjects in our monster archives.

Ogle this Oogway

Ozzie Joss Woodyard / Jayfa is ringing in the new year with the venerated sage kung fu master Oogway from the Kung Fu Panda film and TV franchise. Joss’ usual knack for character work shines brightly here as he recreates the tranquil master of the Jade Palace. This guy looks like he could teach a clumsy panda a thing or two! I love the use of the dragon wing cloth as Oogway’s tunic, and well-placed studs on the exposed sand green skin evoke the textured tortoise legs of the original character model from the movie.

Master Oogway

Like what you see? There’s more Kung Fu Panda action to be found in our archives with this sculpted scene from the movie and excellent recreations of Masters Tigress and Crane.

Joss rings in the new year with a roar

On the final day, in the final throes of 2022, LEGO builder Joss Woodyard presents The Cloud Beast. While most of us would like to leave 2022 in the rearview mirror, it might be good to reflect back on the amazing techniques this build encompasses. I love the use of the cloth sails as well as the stance, colors, and tail of this build loosely based on the Chinese Guardian Lion or “Foo Dog”. The expression is great too. But the star of the show here is a detail I would have missed if Joss didn’t point it out himself. His favorite detail is the LEGO plant sprue used as the lips. It is next-level building like this that makes Joss Woodyard one of our favorite all-time builders. Please check out his other creatures; you won’t be disappointed.

The Cloud Beast