Tag Archives: Sculptures

Beef up your building

Organic shapes are surely some of the hardest to capture in LEGO bricks — leaving many builders to concentrate their efforts on structures and vehicles rather than animal forms. However, Joe Perez seems to be up for the challenge — his latest model is a lifelike and intimidating bull on the charge. The shaping is excellent here, with slightly exaggerated proportions that effectively convey a genuine sense of heft and menace.

Joe has been slowly putting together an impressive series of creatures in this style. Don’t miss the excellent brick-built stallion we featured a few years ago, and this wonderful stag…

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.

65,000 bricks at 88 miles per hour: The world’s biggest LEGO DeLorean from Back to the Future

While this LEGO recreation of the famous Back to the Future DeLorean time machine may not be the scientific breakthrough a real time machine would be, it most definitely is a great artistic feat. After being granted rights by NBC Universal, Ryan McNaught assembled a team to build this near-perfect version of the DeLorean from the first film out of 65,143 bricks.

Continue reading →

LEGO swan is clearly beautiful

This transparent swan sculpture by alanboar makes for a beautiful LEGO creation. Don’t underestimate the challenge the construction must have posed, despite the lack of complicated techniques on display — the relative scarcity of bricks and plates in trans-clear will have made it much more complicated than you might imagine. The sideways-built blue base adds a welcome contrast and allows the uplit sculpture to really shine.

The Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces is heading this way

Darth Vader is probably one of the most iconic fictional villains. Constantinos and Petros Nicolaou have built their own life-sized LEGO version of Darth Vader’s head. The brothers used 2712 bricks to construct the head of Darth Vader, complete with his instantly recognisable helmet with its triangular breathing apparatus. Building mainly in black is usually a trademark for Batman, but the brothers used curved and straight edge slopes to sculpt a great many details, despite the limited colour scheme.

I think this would be an ideal sculpture to be displayed in the hallway of your home, if you enjoy frightening visitors.

Oil is the lifeblood of the earth

Black gold, some call it. This striking piece by timofey_tkachev shows how humanity has drunk this precious resource at an astonishing rate since we discovered its multitude of uses, and with each new miracle we welcomed, an array of troubles followed. From the blazing infernos of uncapped wells to the broken pipelines polluting the ground, Timofey paints a picture of the horror of human technology run amok.

The face of an unknown abomination drenched in black oil springs from the ground beneath the hellish landscape. In the foreground, a streak of oil seeps toward a lighter, inching closer to Armageddon.

What colour of gumball will you chews?

Gumball machines first appeared around 1907, although there were a few other types of vending machine for sticks of gum a couple of decades earlier. Bruce Lowell is not the first to create a LEGO gumball machine but his design is the most proportional, accurate and adorable version we have encountered. The globe utilises the gyrosphere parts that first appeared within Jurassic World, while the key from the Clockwork Robot minifigure is perfect as the turning mechanism.

Monument valley defies the physical brick

Monument Valley is a beautiful puzzle game developed and published by Ustwo Games. In the game, you guide the silent Princess Ida through mysterious monuments, uncovering hidden paths, taking advantage of optical illusions and outsmarting the enigmatic Crow People. Described as a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry, it doesn’t immediately sound easy to build from LEGO but that’s exactly what qian yj has achieved. The six main structures are colourful, whimsical with an Escher-like quality of illusion thanks to stairs and clever use of colour and angles.

Each structure appears simple at first but sections are not as connected as they first seem and there are some apparently floating areas within the builds. The apparently simple, surreal structures are the attraction of the game itself, and LEGO seems like an ideal medium to transfer the art from the screen.

The close-up views of each structure can be seen in the builder’s Flickr album but even better is this video showcasing the creations with a mix of LEGO and Princess Ida animation.

One man’s waste is another man’s treasure

Household waste disposal sites are more commonly called Recycling Centres here in the UK, and putting it out onto the street for collection is definitely discouraged. Marion would find herself reported and fined after leaving such a large amount of household waste in the street if she lived near me! Thankfully in the LEGO world, everything is awesome, and that includes household waste left outside on an autumnal day. There are so many objects in here to love: the blackboard, old mattress, children’s chests of drawers, adjustable spotlight, folding table… Even the cardboard boxes are cleverly built with ‘interlocking flaps’.

It’s a melancholic scene in some ways as it looks like there’s been some growing-up in this household with old toys, a tricycle, high chair, booster seat and bike pump lying amongst the other discarded items.

Modern day Sisyphus

They say great minds think alike, but I’m sure it is much better when great minds think together. Last month Josh DaVid shared a mesmerising lawn mower kinetic sculpture. And now JK Brickworks gets into a game by upgrading Josh’s work with a figure from one of his own masterpieces, Sisyphus kinetic sculpture. The result is a very witty sketch of a modern day Sisyphus. Times has changes, so have the instruments, but not the human’s nature.

The video shared on Youtube is just 4:30 minutes long, but, no doubt, one can spend a whole day just watching this endless battle between the human and the nature.

The escape of a colourful monster

The Masterpiece Gallery in LEGO House has creations from seventeen different fan builders from all over the world. French builder Samuel Pister has specially designed this fantastical monster for the display. Samuel explains that the build is the story of a colourful monster who is confined in the display case and wants to escape. The only language the monster speaks is modelling colours to express his emotions, and he is trying to call out to visitors to help him. The monster looks at the outside world with the face of the lime goblin, and he tries to push up the display with the orange tree. He is asking for love and touching the window with an aqua hand.

You might think that there is no way this monster can escape but by leaving a mark in the mind of the visitors, engraving colours and leaving questions, he will escape with them when they exit the house.

Tapping into LEGO creativity

Here’s a cool LEGO diorama by Josh David. The model is deceptively large — check out the “bricks” built out of tiles for an idea of the scale. Protruding from the wall, the tap itself is nicely sculpted, and I like the simple flower and its pot.

However, the coolest thing about this creation is the hidden features — it’s a fully-operational kinetic sculpture! Josh has provided this video of the mechanical elements in action…

LEGO collaboration is sweet and super-cool

At first glance, these LEGO popsicles look totally sweet. A collaborative creation by Carl Merriam, Niek, and Milan CMadge, the twin models perfectly capture the shapes of an ice-cream sandwich and a half-munched orange popsicle (or “ice lolly” as it’s known where I come from).

However, regardless of how nice the models are, you might wonder why it took 3 builders collaborating to create them. Well, it all comes down to the sheer scale of the endeavour. Perhaps the image below will make everything clear? It’s only when the massive size of these models becomes apparent that you can truly appreciate the effort and skill which went into their creation. Genuinely amazing stuff gents — well played.