Tag Archives: Joss Woodyard

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!

Continue reading →

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

A monstrous mole makes mischief

Joss Woodyard puts a mammalian twist on kaiju with Molethra. No mere garden pest, this giant beast has risen up from the subterranean depths to wreck untold havoc. Joss has done an amazing job of layering the stylized wing pieces to create a furry texture. And the damaged microscale city street does a perfect job of conveying the monster’s massive size.

Molethra

What? DEMOGORGON is evolving!

I will confess that I’ve never watched Stranger Things, but I do know of the rather scary demogorgon. Joss Woodyard (Jayfa) clearly thought it wasn’t scary enough, and has built this magnificent – albeit nightmare-inducing – demogorchild. To me it seems like the last in an evolution that you might see in games like Pokemon, with the demogorgon itself the starting point. Thankfully I’m too engrossed in the fascinating build to be terrified. The demogorgon minifigure heads do get a look in, albeit from the Botanical Collection rather than Stranger Things. Some of the dark green parts from that same set are used on the legs and shoulders as well, while white leaf elements make up the ribcage. I like how the feet and lower legs evoke the dirt and ground that a flower might take root in. Perhaps this creature disguises itself as a beautiful orchid and devours unsuspecting passers-by. OK, now I’ve gone back to giving myself nightmares…

The Demogorchid

This LEGO chameleon will leave you tongue tied

Builder Joss Woodyard is quite prolific with his many creature models and he hits the mark again with this wonderful chameleon. I really appreciate the color work here with the subtle difference between the bright green and medium azure in the body and the orange underside really pops. The articulated limbs using ball joints create tons of possibilities for action poses. I also love the perfectly curled tail and the extended tongue with tiny fly is the perfect finisher. According to the artist, instructions will be available for this colorful creature soon.

Chameleon

Is it a snake, a fish, or both?

You wouldn’t want to encounter this frightening creature in the depths of the ocean. Joss Woodyard has created this beautiful twisted serpent with a glorious purple and medium azure colour scheme. Dragon wings form its striking dorsal fin and most likely provides the inspiration for the colourful pattern of the creature. The placement of its menacing teeth is similar to that of angler fish enforcing its aquatic qualities. However, the model still retains its serpentine aesthetic through the forked tongue at the mouth, represented by a dark red armour piece. Collecting all these pieces must have taken a great deal of time but it does really pay off as the model is able to look both elegant and threatening at the same time.

Dagon, The Great Leviathan