Tag Archives: Shaun Sheepa

Birds of a feather save Sam and Frodo together!

With all the winged beasts transformed into sets for the LEGO Harry Potter line, let’s hope that the creatures of Lord of the Rings can get the same treatment soon. And the place to start would certainly be with a minifig-scale Great Eagle, just like this one built by Shaun Sheepa. The texturing here is a real treat! quarter-round tiles, rock textures, and even this fairly awkward wing piece all come together to give the Eagle quite the plethora of plumage. And the magmatically-colored base pops nicely underneath the brown bird, while reminding the viewer of the “peak” of the tale’s drama around Mount Doom. Just hold on, Gandalf. Frodo and Sam have got to be there somewhere….

Great eagle!

The Desolation of Smaug(‘s t-shirt)

Known to many as a master of Star Wars LEGO creatures, Shaun “Brick” Sheepa has of late turned his attention to the Lord of the Rings. Having done horses, Ents, and everything in between, he has set the bar pretty high. You’ll be glad to hear that this latest beastie keeps that average sky-high! This is of course the kleptomaniac dragon that is Smaug. Is it pronounced Sma-oog, or Smorg? I never can remember. Anyway, as well as gathering gold and plastic bricks, he has clearly taken a shine to second-hand clothes. The wings are apparently made from a cut-up old t-shirt. Not one for the purists, perhaps, but there’s no denying it looks superb!

Smaug

“It is time for the Ents to go to war”

Treebeard is probably one of my favourite characters in the Lord of the Rings. Shaun Sheepa has created this superb LEGO version to cart the hobbits Merry and Pippin around. It’s one of the best versions I’ve seen! The knurled root feet are great, and the face is particularly good. The nose is made from a droid arm, the moustache from a couple of curved wedge pieces, and the eyes from some 1×1 stud with bar pieces. They combine to really sell this as a realistic walking, talking tree! Or at least as realistic as that can be…

Treebeard!

Rider of Rohan, what news from the Mark?

I just love it when LEGO is used to give us a glimpse of Middle-earth, like Shaun Sheepa‘s Rider of Rohan here. The Riddermark is a vast domain, and to traverse it the people take to the saddle. In the build you get a glimpse of these plains in the grassland beneath the horse’s hooves. Speaking of the horse, it’s not very often I see brick-built ones. There is some nice parts usage at play here. Of particular note is the shaping of the horse’s face, and those angled hollow studs with bar for the rear hooves. This is a very thin part of the horse’s anatomy, and those parts are perfect for it! I think now I need to go watch The Lord of the Rings to see the riders at work.

Rohan rider

“I suggest a new strategy, Artoo. Let the Wookiee win.”

Did you know that, despite their visual effects fame, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) only elected to use stop-motion animation once in the original Star Wars? The scene in question is the Dejarik board on the Millennium Falcon, depicted on Instagram by Shaun Sheepa (brick.sheepa). Shaun is a dab hand when it comes to Star Wars creatures, so the holochess board is a veritable feast. You’ve got, um, the big grey one, and, er, the dude with the hammer, and the red… Caterpillar… Thing? I won’t pretend to know their names. I bet Shaun could tell you – after all, he’s done a phenomenal job of building them!

Obi-Wan Kenobi rides through the desert on an eopie with no name

Native to the sands of Tatooine, eopies are a great way of traveling the desert planet. Builder Shaun Sheepa gives us LEGO Obi-Wan Kenobi with a cute brick-built eopie, the former Jedi’s only companion in his exile. Shaun uses an angled cone piece to capture the iconic snout of the desert dwelling creature. The eyes are absolutely adorable with those printed round tiles, and I do like how the legs are rendered. The use of bars for the slender front legs is a clean approach. Linked bar holders standout for those rear legs, giving them the thicker appearance. The greebling of the harness and saddle is simple and effective. I do like those quarter round tiles for that back saddlebag. A nice usage of another Star Wars piece is the poncho Obi-Wan is wearing–this part is from a Luke Skywalker minifigure.

This sail barge is large and in charge

As the premiere of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ invites us back to the harsh sands of Tatooine, Shaun Sheepa reminds us that you can still travel in style on a desert planet. This fantastic rendition of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge from Return of the Jedi is just 50 studs long, but is still packed with all the comforts you want in your intergalactic super yacht, like hover engines and deck-mounted cannons. The pentagonal tiles and ingots do a great job of adding some screen accuracy to the ship’s hull.

Inside, there’s room for a brick-built Jabba and plenty of the Hutt’s crew. The front also features a cockpit worthy of the finest starfighters, a feature that both of LEGO’s official sail barge sets has lacked.

We do back this Dewback

As LEGO’s Jurassic Park sets start making more use of brick-built dinosaurs, I think it’s high-time other themes starting following suit. Shaun Sheepa shows us the way for what is arguably LEGO’s most popular license, Star Wars. Shaun has created a number of creatures from a galaxy far, far away, and this latest Dewback creation is an excellent example of what’s possible. The trusty steed for the Stormtrooper stationed on Tatooine is rendered here in a near-perfect shape and scale. The spindly legs in particular are a much better match for its onscreen counterpart than any of the unique molds of the creature LEGO has produced thus far. Give us all these parts in olive green, and we’d build a whole scouting patrol’s worth.