Tag Archives: Nathan Hake

Christmas is for caterpillars, too!

What do you think of when it comes to festive animals, either in real life or in LEGO form? Reindeer are a given. Turkeys are probably up there too. How about insects? If your answer to that is yes, either you’re getting 21342 The Insect Collection as a Christmas present, or you’re Nathan Hake. His charming caterpillar is braving the cold for some winter fun! Much like Nathan, this caterpillar is quite the sculptor – a smorgasbord of slopes and curved slopes on their sides make for a very convincing snow butterfly. Having an extra pair of hands clearly comes in, well, handy!

Clive the Christmas Caterpillar

Be sure to check out a 360° view of Clive on Nathan’s Flickr page. And Merry Christmas!

Harness the magic in this witch’s tower made of LEGO

Fresh from its appearance at the Christchurch Brick Show in New Zealand earlier this month, this LEGO-made island-bound tower by Nathan Hake is simply astounding! Created over the better part of seven months, this mammoth medieval masterpiece sprawls out over a pair of islands and includes several noteworthy features like a shipwreck, black dragon, stone bridge, abandoned docks, magical portal, and a detailed tower interior. Details like the underside of its overhang and the tendrils of smoke rising out of its chimney stand out brilliantly on the tower. While more experienced builders will marvel at Nathan’s stud reversal on the rocks of the big island halfway up the side. Building at this scale, such techniques can become unwieldy, but it’s handled here quite adeptly.

The Witches Tower

Check out more of the tower’s magic below!

Socks and sandals on the beach? Ridiculous!

Somehow I find the concept of socks and sandals on the beach more unsettling than an anthropomorphic airplane on vacation. That’s the conundrum that Nathan Hake presents with this new LEGO creation titled Arby the A320. I mean, have you tried to rinse sand out of socks? Nathan tells us the build started life as sort of a flying mechanism but this particular plane was way too heavy for the task. With its wings folded over, the aircraft looked to the builder like it was very tired and was having a little rest. So he gave it legs and declared it to be on vacation because everyone needs some time off, even planes. Despite the footwear fashion faux pas, I’m really on board with this. I like the little hat; practicality at its finest! Check out our archives to discover why Nathan Hake is sometimes silly, sometimes fun, but always interesting.

Arby the a320

It only takes a pair to party properly

Nathan Hake proves that holiday celebrations don’t need to be crowded affairs. This adorable bundled-up penguin and his dancing crustacean friend are celebrating in style all by themselves. The penguin is sporting a one-of-a-kind jacket that’s just his size, with a furred collar, shiny buttons, and big pockets for keeping a few extra fish snacks on hand. The crab doesn’t need a coat to stay warm, as he dances the night away with a turn of the crank on his gift box – hopefully he doesn’t spill his drink.

Dancing Christmas Crustacean

Need a hell-ping hand?

This five-fingered demon by Nathan Hake is an unconventional monster that makes for a suitably spooky way to celebrate Halloween. Inspired by cover art from an album by the Dead Pirates, Nathan has crafted plenty of character into this gruesome glove. The use of curved slopes and hinges creates a surprisingly anatomically accurate hand shape that feels like it could grab hold of anything. And a fortuitous lighting mishap gave the final pic a classic horror movie feel.

Hand or glove?

A peaceful floating temple in miniature

Floating islands are a popular inspiration for many LEGO builders, and it is easy to see why. They are mysterious and fantastical, and they can provide a great challenge to build them in a way that both supports the model and hides that support to enhance the magical appearance of the finished scene. Nathan Hake does a masterful job of using falling water to provide the support for this microscale floating island with a temple nestled between the trees.

Micro Forgotten Temple

Keep reading to see more

And then the camera pulled back...

When this image of a forgotten temple came to my attention, I knew I wanted to feature it here. Nathan Hake has created an immersive scene that ticks a lot of my favorite boxes. There’s lovely organic building in the trees and vines. There’s interesting part usage in the idol made primarily of golden weapons. And I’ve just got a thing for ruined architecture. Add a dollop of the depth of field from the minifigure in the foreground, and you have something pretty special. But when I visited Nathan’s photostream to learn more, I found that this is only a detail shot of a much larger build. Keep reading to find out just how much bigger!

Forgotten Temple
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Ariandel inspired microscale church

I really enjoy it when a builder thinks outside the box. Nathan Hake shows us that he is very capable of doing so. For his micro-scale LEGO church, he used wheel cover with y shaped spikes for the main round window in the church tower. There are ice scates on the roof and the entrance is a plate with tooth which is brilliant in its simplicity. My guess is that this church is gothic inspired because it matches the 5 key architectural elements: large stained glass windows, pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and ornate decoration. The ribbed vaults are a bit hard to spot from the outside, but we can all imagine them there, right?

Micro Lego Church

The Bug Knight won’t let the bedbugs bite. Or maybe he will.

Sometimes you just really get a kick out of something. Maybe it’s the big black radar dishes for eyes, or maybe it’s a clever use of balloon segment parts, but I just love this LEGO Bug Knight built by Nathan Hake. He tells us the Hollow Knight game loosely inspires this. Having never played, I’ll just have to take his word for it. That doesn’t stop me from loving it, though. I’m attracted to it like a moth to a flame, which, now that I think about it will likely end in the same result; singed proboscis. This might be the best thing I’ve seen all day, and I’ve seen someone try to gas up a Tesla!

Bug knight

Bloodborne Hunters Dream

The game Bloodborne holds a very special place in the heart of Nathan Hake. It inspired him to make this LEGO Bloodborne Hunters Dream creation. The build took about a year to make and I can understand why. Hunters Dream is a location in Bloodborne. Also known as Dream Refuge, it is the place where the player goes after their first death and operates as a central hub, providing trade and upgrade services. The player can port from this location to any of the Lamps that they have activated.

Bloodborne hunters dream LEGO moc close ups. This build took about a year to make and was my first display at cbs. The build was inspired by the amazing video game Bloodborne which holds a very special place in my heart.

More than a year later Nathan decides to remember his epic creation by making a micro-scale hunters dream and it is absolutely stunning. Not only is the building very recognizable. The whole ambiance of the big creation is well translated to the micro-scale build.

Micro hunters dream

Halloween this year brings a full moon, and a full moon brings...

It’s spooky season, and that means it’s time for spooky LEGO creations. And what’s spookier than Nathan Hake’s feasting werewolf? Spooky might even be an understatement, this thing is downright frightening. Maybe even scary.

Lego werewolf

It’s also incredibly well built. The werewolf itself is expertly sculpted using a plethora of bars and robot body parts, as well as ample minifigure hands for extra detail. There’s something meta about a vicious werewolf being built out of people’s hands! For me, the icing on this terrifying cake is the use of the sails from the Silent Mary, a somewhat haunted pirate ship, as ripped and torn clothes hanging off of the foul beast. Not to be overlooked is the expert scenery, acting as a backdrop. The lamppost elicits a Victorian vibe, an era that’s spooky in and of itself. Underneath the beast and the blood dripping from its mouth, the sidewalk tiles lay beautifully. Simple plates and tiles are arranged in a way to give the texture perfect for the setting.