Tag Archives: Nannan Zhang

Magnificent painted owl springs to life

It’s the rare creation that can make you forget you’re looking at LEGO bricks while also making you love the LEGO medium even more. I know that the stunning “One Fell Swoop” from TBB alum Nannan Zhang is a LEGO model, but all I can see is a vibrant painting of an owl coming alive, so perfectly is the concept realized. The explosive creativity can literally not be contained!

One fell swoop

Looking closer at the technique on display, the owl’s feathers are the flashiest. Chima wings in earth blue, mech swords in gold, surfboards in minifig and mindoll scale in vibrant coral make for a striking mix of plumage, and the dark red ruff of chima armor plates is magic. I love the shape of the eyebrows and especially the addition of boomerangs for extra dimension.  The pale yellow eyes are a fun connection to the painting theme, sourced as they are from the Van Gogh Starry Night set.

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Perhaps my favorite technique is the subtle gradient peeking through grille plates. That, as well as the tube of yellow paint and the unpainted moon, sell the illusion of a painting in progress. Hot dogs and cables used for motion lines further play with the mix of flat images and dynamic sculpture.  It all adds up to a masterpiece that makes the most of LEGO form, colors, and connections.

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Chinese lake in LEGO brings memories to life

Earlier this summer, our old friend Nannan Zhang recreated a the quintessential American playground of the sort he’s experienced as a new father. For his latest LEGO achievement, Nannan draws on his childhood memories of growing up in China in the 90s to create “A park from yesteryear.” Even though it’s an amalgam and not a recreation of a specific park, the traditional architecture, weeping willows, lotus plants on jade water, and swan boats make Nannan’s memories so specific and tangible.

A park from yesteryear

Nannan pulls his usual magic trick of making clever technique look effortless. The hexagonal pavilion, where older residents share snacks and gossip, is a lovely build on its own. The balls stacked on rollers skates make for excellent decorative elements, and the heart tiles in the eaves are a great detail. One of my favorite techniques is seen along the bottom of the railing where curved slopes fit neatly under window arches, adding a subtle texture to the stonework. The cotton candy machine is a very clever and instantly recognizable mini build. I also admire the attention paid to the lotus plants, with leaves popping from the water at angles, and some flowers and leaves aloft on long stems, differentiating them from lilly pads. But the stars of the show are the swan boats, which hold a secret…

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See the swan boats in action!

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LEGO takes you back to childhood

When I think back on my childhood, spending time indoors with LEGO and video games figures prominently, but for those sunny days when mom wanted me out of the house, it was all about the playground. The more slides and things to climb on and hide in, the better! The Brothers Brick alum Nannan Zhang captures that nostalgia with a playground so familiar that, chances are, you probably played in one just like it at some point. It’s an elegant build, making the most of prefab rails, slides, and Harry Potter pavilion tops to recreate the modular and child-safe look of an authentic playground structure.

Playground

Nannan’s playground was created as part of OhioLUG’s collaborative summer camp display for the Columbus Metropolitan Library – the full gallery of the massive display is guaranteed to make you feel like a child again.

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Creative adobe suites in LEGO

The stacked adobe houses of Taos Pueblo are an architectural wonder whose living history goes back a thousand years. Brothers Brick alum Nannan Zhang takes inspiration from Taos for his breathtaking model The Enchanted Pueblo. While the pastel colors are much more vibrant the the walls of Taos Pueblo, they absoultely reflect the palette of a desert sunset and art of the region. The offset houses with their rounded roofs and exposed viga beams are unmistakeably pueblo, but serindipitously echo the architecture of LEGO House in Billund. There are so many lovely details with brilliant parts use, from the strings of dried chilis that hang by the doors, to the custom red soil base, to the incredible array of desert succulents (love that flowering yucca on the left!). If, like me, you’re wondering where those curvy pots that fit so well on the terraces come from, they’re sourced from old Scala flower pots.  Nannan estimates the build took 60 hours over 2 months to achieve, but the results are truly timeless.

Enchanted Pueblo

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The man in the Moon isn’t taking visitors today

You know LEGO’s 10315 Tranquil Garden? What if it was a bit more… Other-worldly? Might it look something like this Crescent Moon Garden by Nannan Zhang? I would say so! Nannan – formerly of these pastures, of course – was inspired by a real-world garden sculpture hybrid for this, and I love his take on it. I have to imagine it’s set on some distant world with floating rocks, giant trees, and a grumpy hermit who built a whole temple just so he could get some peace and quiet away from the world. Well, sorry, grumpy hermit, but I want to come and visit!

Crescent Moon

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Behold The Last Wisteria

The Brothers Brick alumni Nannan Zhang has a knack for creating innovative and breathtaking worlds in LEGO. His specialty seems to be mixing manmade devices with biological elements and this stunning The Last Wisteria is no exception. Let me rephrase that; it’s quite exceptional. His grasp for integrating shapes and colors demonstrates the abilities of a true artist. The tree’s roots intermingled among cold hexagonal tiles are truly awe-inspiring. Even the wisteria’s leaves have a neat order to them. As capable as I like to think I am, even my own words don’t do this piece justice so instead, we’ll let Nannan use his; Among rapid cybernetic hybridization, a thing of beauty flourishes above the metallic earth.. A thing of beauty, indeed. Check out our Nannan Zhang archives to see why sometimes we’re lost for words but we still try anyway.

The Last Wisteria

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Filling a void from 2005

Back when Youtube was founded and Hurricane Katrina was running amok in New Orleans, The Brothers Brick alum Nannan Zhang entered an Imperial Voidfighter spaceship into a LEGO contest of yore. The original entry was…modest to be sure but I’m certain, like fans of The Pussycat Dolls and Lifehouse, we were all quite thrilled at the time. Fast-forward more than seventeen years later and Nannan improved that design considerably. I like that it resembles a particularly mean crustacean with a badass Imperial color scheme.

Imperial Voidfighter

Nannan goes on to tell us that the cockpit features a pilot minifig with an extremely rare dark bluish-gray Snowtrooper helmet from around 2010. (Only 2 known in existence!) That is as rare as fans of Lifehouse nowadays. Adversely, Don’t Cha by The Pussycat Dolls is still a thumpin’ jam and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on! Dontcha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? I bet you do! While many of us are by now grayer, paunchier and hopelessly out-of-touch with what the kids are into these days, Nannan Zhang still remains a vital and highly influential builder. Click the little blue link to see what I mean.

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The biggest little set in LEGO’s Wild Wee-st theme

I’m going to be completely honest with you: the noises that came out of my mouth when I first saw Nannan Zhang‘s LEGO microscale Fort Legoredo were mostly unintelligible. I mean, it’s just so flippin’ CUTE! I love the horse designs in this scale, as well as the care put into the microfig design. Even with only a few bricks, it’s unreal how I can clearly identify each of the three bandits from this theme. The use of grill pieces to emulate the log profile bricks from the original is inspired, and Nannan has effectively recreated the big rock pieces using light-gray plates and tile embedded in the walls.

Microscale Fort Legoredo

Here’s a peek at the interior of the fort’s back wall. The printed tiles chosen to replicate the original model’s shutters are spot-on, as is the teensy jail cell below. There’s even a pair of binoculars subbed in for the fort’s chimney from the original set. And don’t forget the fort’s iconic blue sign, held by a pair of clips to the red roof. The whole thing is a welcome bit of nostalgia for me!

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Just your typical day surfing the hydrothermal acid pool

“Hydrothermal”, “acid”, and “pool” are three words that give me the willies. I don’t love them singularly but when combined it invokes a unique feeling of “oh, hell no”! For not the first time, The Brothers Brick alumn and world-renowned LEGO builder Nannan Zhang has me in awe and just a bit unsettled with this new creation. He doesn’t tell us much other than “Running errands on My’laar pays well if you don’t fall in a hydrothermal acid pool”. Nope, too much risk for me! I’d rather be an armchair adventurer with menial pay, thank you very much! Still, though, the bubbling marsh and that unnatural color are admittedly quite striking. I can only imagine the molecular makeup of any plant life that can exist there without withering away. Check out why Nannan Zhang is among the most interesting LEGO builders on this planet or otherwise.

Bubbling Marsh

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2021 was the year Nannan made Contact

2021 brought us problems we would have never fathomed a few years ago. It was a year of civil unrest and a slew of COVID variants that’ll probably have us covering our mask-holes in public indefinately. But 2021 had brought us some great things as well. Right at the tail end of that year, The Brothers Brick alumni Nannan Zhang built this piece he calls Contact. It was inspired by something Jan Woznica built a couple months ago that ended up becoming The Brothers Brick’s 2021 Creation of the Year. It’s a fine thing to be inspired by and Nannan recreates the style nicely with his verion. I’m loving the minty green elements and the simple yet striking composition. I find it exciting when one great builder pays homage to another.

Contact

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Microscale temple is a miniature masterpiece

When building microscale, you need to look at parts a little differently, as evidenced by the very creative collection of curved and angled parts Nannan Zhang used on this Japanese castle. Front fenders, rear spoilers, and other small black parts usually found on cars create a tiered roof that reminds me of Nagoya Castle. A trio of cheerleader pom-poms make perfect cherry blossom trees, while a hot dog is used for a small arch. Almost as interesting as the castle is the green and gray landscape it sits on.

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Art that educates helps the world in many ways

This is the type of diagram I’d like to see in a doctor’s office. LEGO can be used to make life fun and free for many of us but there are plenty of stories of our favorite plastic parts being used in the professional world for one purpose or another. This display by Nannan Zhang is a marriage of science and art that helps bring light to the inner workings of a disease that plagues millions of people every year. This model of a neuron being attacked by the immune system represents how Multiple Sclerosis affects the central nervous system resulting in the myriad of symptoms that patients experience. White droid arm dendrites connect to a spider web representing the nucleus. A flex hose functions as the axion running through myelin sheaths made with domes and bottom domes that become progressively more broken down by the various colorful immune cells that surround it. Set against that smooth, black background, this piece is fit for display and would surely engage those that saw it in trying to understand more about this disease.

Multiple Sclerosis

Check out some more designs inspired by the medical field or find more by Nannan Zhang on Flickr or Instagram (@nannanz_creations).

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.