Tag Archives: Mosaic

Oh Captain, my captain

LEGO mosaics are near and dear to my heart, as is the character of Captain America. Bluesecrets brings both together in a stunning creation featuring Cap in his bearded “Nomad” phase. This mosaic is 45 inches wide by 35 inches tall (about 114 x 89 centimeters) and is comprised of nearly 40,000 plates. Many brick mosaics use a “studs out” approach where the top of the brick is visible. In contrast, Bluesecrets uses a “studs up” technique where the plates are stacked on top of each other. This allows a higher level of detail in the image, but requires different (and, in my experience, trickier) craftsmanship as the “pixels” that make up the image are rectangular instead of square.

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Do you believe they put a LEGO man on the moon?

With the resurgent interest in the Classic Space theme thanks to The LEGO Movie 2’s new range of retro sets, it only seems fitting that we celebrate these intrepid astronauts’ achievements. Builder Frost’s luminous mosaic is the perfect tribute, capturing the moment the LEGO flag is planted on alien soil.

However, there’s another side to this build. Take a look at the image from the side and it reveals another world. Continue reading →

It’s a long road ahead

Route 66 is the mother of all highways in the USA, cutting across the nation from coast to coast through small towns and scenic vistas. Though it’s since been eclipsed by the interstate highway system, it’s captured a special place in history for making the trans-American highway a reality. LEGO builder hachiroku24 brings us back to Route 66’s glory days with an awesome rendition of the highway marker sign, part mosaic and part sculpture. The excellent use of the 4×4 quarter-circle macaroni tiles lends both the numbers and shield outline just the perfect curves.

Around the world in 80 studs

These mosaic sculptures by ZiO Chao have so much depth, they’re bordering on bas-relief. We’ve shared ZiO Chao’s landmark sculptures before, and he is back at it again and is ready to take us on a trip around the world with a series of 3D mosaics.

Click to continue touring the world with the rest of the mosaics

Field of LEGO dreams

Here’s a pretty LEGO view — a daisy-strewn meadow with a brick-built backdrop. Hans Demol built this mosaic for a display with his local LEGO group. Mosaics are not usually my favourite kind of LEGO building, but the addition of the strip at the front with the daisies elevated this into something more interesting than a simple rendition of a pixelated image. It would be even better if some of the varied green shades in the backdrop’s “grass” had continued forward over the base, but that’s nitpicking at an otherwise lovely design.

I’ll take that Falcon with a splash of bricks

Most people may not think so, but LEGO builders really are artists in their own right. The medium that they choose to express themselves in is simply tiny bricks instead of the traditional tools of oil and canvas that we see more often. The traditional approach of interlocking these bricks is the expected aspect of it, but a more unusual approach is the loose placement of bricks, such as this spread by city son.

This design is a breath of fresh air to the overdose that the Millennium Falcon is getting recently due to the largest set ever being released by the folks over at Billund (plus a couple of major contests inspired by the venerable freighter). What stands out with this piece of art is the colorful, celebratory effect showcasing the Falcon in flight. It almost looks like a splash of rainbow paint in pop-art style.

Tokyo’s Sensō-ji Thunder Gate and Beijing’s Hall of Supreme Harmony in LEGO

The oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo is Sensō-ji, founded in 645 AD and dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. Taiwanese builder ZiO Chao, whose massive SHIELD Helicarrier we featured last year, has been building travel themed LEGO mosaics over the last few months, and his latest is the iconic “Thunder Gate” at Sensō-ji. Beyond the gate, a street of shops leads up to the temple itself, and ZiO has captured the roofs of the shops using forced perspective.

While not quite as intricate a LEGO build, ZiO has also built the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing. I love the beautiful simplicity of the yellow roof and red columns against a clear, blue sky.

Giving new life to an old image

Not content with recreating his parent’s wedding photograph as a conventional LEGO wall mosaic, Caleb I decided to commemorate their 25th wedding anniversary in this ambitious two-and-a-half-dimensional non-rectangular format. After spending 100 hours digitally designing the piece, Caleb then set about the arduous task of not only acquiring the 2400 odd bricks needed to build it, but also addressing physical demands on the model that aren’t apparent until a design actually gets assembled “in the flesh”.

I hope this is still hanging on their wall when they get to commemorate their 50th! At which time, Caleb can no doubt recreate it using 5-dimensional LEGO holocubes.

A truly golden example of forced perspective

When I visited, I never got to see the top half of the Golden Gate Bridge due to the ever-present San Francisco fog. But now I feel like I don’t need to because Zio Chao has created an excellent “photograph” of the beautiful bridge. The builder uses forced perspective to his advantage to create a striking 2D image that really looks three dimensional. And let’s not overlook the little sailboat in the corner, which only adds to the effect as it sails into the bay.

What really makes the illusion work is that only one of the supports on each gate is connected, while the other one just floats a bit further back. This gives the effect that the road is actually going through the supports and not across them.

Tokyo subway system map built from 31,000 LEGO bricks

I was born within walking distance of Ogikubo Station in Tokyo, and by the age of ten or eleven, I was using the subway system to get around the city to take foreign tourists to see the sights, earning myself a bit of extra LEGO money. Australian LEGO Certified Professional Ryan McNaught and his team of builders spent more than two hundred hours building this complete Tokyo subway system map from 31,000 LEGO bricks, showing all thirteen lines in their distinctive colors (my favorite line is the Chuo line in orange). The mosaic measures 4.6 meters (over 15 feet) wide and 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) tall, dwarfing the rather tall bloke standing nearby.

Portrait of an Astromech Droid

From a distance, this may look like any other simple portrait layout of R2-D2, but upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that it uses an incredible array of parts from Technic beams to droids and even minifigures! Although we’ve seen this technique in the past, Alby Darul has executed it excellently with just a few pieces to capture the Artoo’s iconic lines, giving the mosaic a great sense of depth.

I am the (LEGO) law!

The stern scowl and helmet of Judge Dredd is an instantly recognizable combination, and Grantmasters has captured it well in this flat build inspired by the portraits of Chris McVeigh. This build makes great use of the space with the background behind Dredd simulating the sprawling, dense city in the film. And the use of gold LEGO wings to simulate the pauldron is a master stroke. I am the law!

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