LEGO builder Markus Ronge has quite the green thumb! Check out his incredible Jungle Explorer Tree creation. Most LEGO trees I’ve seen go straight up from the ground, but this one curves up convincingly from the rock face. The surrounding vegetation is highly varied and shows the skill Markus has in knowing exactly where each brick should go. Both I and the kayaking minifigure are very impressed.
Yes, the building is a work of art but have you seen this incredible tree? LEGO builder Ayrlego shared a recent creation with us, the Villa. Plant life, thy name is beauty. Just look at that tree! It might take the cake as the most realistic LEGO deciduous tree I’ve ever seen. The vine work is also fantastic with the way it crawls across the roof. I also admire the small potted plants and the garden shrubbery. It’s all a testament to Ayrlego’s skill with bricks.
Of course, where would this creation be without the villa itself? I mentioned that it’s a work of art because it truly is, incorporating styles from American Colonial to Spanish Mission. Though the lore behind Ayrlego’s creation is fantasy, one could easily see such a villa existing somewhere in the early days of North American settlement.
Titled “Manglegongsa Temple”, this LEGO build from Jellyeater1 is multi-layered and expansive. Two buildings are perched on top of a mountain, surrounded by lush vegetation.
Great care has been put into varying the roofs in this build, from the pockets of colors to the simple black and white design. The use of the gold on the second building is just enough to denote significance without taking away from the rest of the scene. The small courtyard with the tree is a nice, pleasant touch.
The heart of the forest lay deep within the multitudes of birch protected by the Forestmen. The unaware would see a plain tree but within its ancient form lay the spirit of the forest, a god older than the dirt its roots now dig through. Those that hear whispers of its power seek to gain a piece of it to use for their means, good or evil. At least, that’s the story that comes to mind when I see this model. Here builder Eli Willsea shows us the Prince of Persia attempting to evade the Forestmen as he seeks the power granted by the ancient birch. Check out the parts Eli used, like the vehicle shovel in the background of the underground chamber or the horns and large claws as branches. Fantastic rock molding frames the sandy texturing of the bricks at the base of the chamber, detailed with minifigure legs and candles. While the smaller birch trees make use of the slits in the technic parts for their look, Eli used black lifesaver bouys to achieve the bigger birch’s characteristic stripes.
You can find more of Eli Willsea’s designs in our archives.
Grant Davis must know I am partial to a good brick-built insect. It is my dream to one day have framed Entomology display made entirely out of LEGO bricks. Now all I have to do is convince my partner that this is suitable decoration for a living room. These wonderful bugs by Grant might help me convince him. The body of the beetle is build using the vehicle spoiler for the antennas Grant used minifigure whips. There is an interesting mixture of brown parts used in the making of the branch. The flower on the branch must be some sort of parasitic plant species because it looks like it is not part of the branch itself. The eggs used for flowers petals is a very lovely touch and the presentation of this creation is simply sublime.
This LEGO castle tower creation by Roger Cageot is a fun exercise in creating round walls and combining muted and vibrant colors. I love the green color of the lake and the way the yellows are combined. The simple wooden drawbridge is a fun feature, and the morose tree adds a somber feeling to the creation. This could easily live in the world of the LEGO Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith with its dilapidation, colors, and energy.
I am not a fan of big LEGO pieces. Not at all! But Thomas van Urk proves me wrong with this latest creation. Around the first story of this build are not one, not two, but three light grey 1x8x6 door frames with stone pattern and clips. I normally really dislike this piece because of the stone pattern, since LEGO never made ‘regular’ bricks to continue that particular pattern. The only part you can use to continue the stone pattern is this piece itself. So to me, they always stick out in a build. That is until now.
In this creation, the big doorframe works wonderfully, and to be honest it took me a while to notice they were even included. The big doorway is nearly the only part used to get the overall piece count of this build down, because otherwise it looks very part intensive. (The other one is the Brick 1 x 6 x 5 with Stone Wall Pattern which makes up the cobblestone walkway.) The roof of the building is stunning. I love all the bay windows sticking out, and the tower with the metal tip makes the roof look really intricate. And the tree next to the village house is a stunning beauty itself. At the base there are round axle connector blocks. After a while these transition into 2×2 round bricks and the occasional 2×2 round bricks with pin holes. Eventually those transition into round pin connectors. I am not sure how Thomas managed to connect the 2×2 round bricks to the pin connectors. Perhaps flower stems? What do you think?
Spring and fall. Life and death – and the cycle of rebirth. Always and forever Mother Nature will maintain a balance. This subtle yet beautiful LEGO tensegrity sculpture by TBB alum Nannan Zhang is a metaphor for that truth. Most of the sculptures we see have a single 2-chain/string feature. This one employs another chain to give it two distinct sides, like a scale. While it’s done very well here, you can also imagine a plethora of other possibilities for the technique. It’s probably unintentional, but knowing this accentuates the metaphor even more. Give that one a good think!
These builds were a huge hit this past year amongst builders. Take a moment to look back on all of the tensegrity creations we’ve featured, include one that is 3-tiered! Also, while you’re at it, you can check out Nannan’s other models.
Sometimes a LEGO creation makes you blink twice before you realize it is actually made out of LEGO bricks. It doesn’t have to be a big creation with complex building techniques, sometimes it can be something quite simple like this spray of plum blossoms made by ZiO Chao. It showcases the blossoms of a plum tree in different stages. When I say simple, I don’t mean to say that this is by any means an easy build. After staring at this picture for over 15 minutes, I still can’t figure out how the five petal flowers are put together. Could the base of the flower be a dish or maybe a steering wheel?
Nature has been manipulated by human hands for centuries. While certainly nature always finds a way, seemingly so do we humans. Simon Liu’s LEGO bonsai model which was entered into Brickset’s bonsai contest, inspires the philosophical mind to produce musings on the relationship between humankind and nature.
Simon’s model is visually striking and compositionally different from most bonsais I have seen so far. Instead of the tree growing out of the typical rectangular pot, this plant is growing out of the palm of a grey hand fashioned out of a number of small elements including 2×2 tiles, diamond shields, and ingots. The bonsai itself is shaped by a number of wiry black elements most notably the whip and twig pieces. The flowers featured on this build are rendered by baby minifigure heads – an unusual but effective choice. This handy bonsai rests on a sea of 1×2 trans-clear blue bricks, which was a nice touch. For whatever reason this model reminds me of the film WALL-E, with the robot’s little hand carrying the plant – the key to our planet.
Ever since the release of the LEGO 10281 Bonsai tree, there have been a lot of LEGO Bonsai trees appearing on my socials. I do not recall an official set ever-inspiring so many fans to create their own versions of (except for maybe the BrickHeadz). This one by Hoang Dang is the cherry on top of the cake. Not only does it come with a custom base and pot it also appears to be levitating, hence the title.
Let’s get straight to the tree which to me is te main highlight of this creation. There are so many cleverly used parts hidden in this creation. Hoang was also kind enough to post a break down of his creation, making my life as a writer a whole lot easier. For the trunk the following pieces were used: mammoth trunks, mammoth heads and a Scala horse saddle. I kid you not. There also is a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the flowers in the Bonsai tree. The flowers appear to have 3 stages. Starting as a small bud, which slowly opens until it is in full bloom.
Even been in one of those situations where a massive rover vehicle would do a lot better off-road than a minivan? I have, and I almost got stuck! Builder Andreas Lenander shows off the ride I should have been driving that day.
I love how untraditional this vehicle is compared to a normal LEGO car. The wheels are built from scratch, using angled bricks that really give off a rugged vibe. Looking closely you can see that the central spokes of the wheel rim are made from a pirate ship steering wheel! Incredible!
Also, the tree in the background is made up of brown whips wrapped around an antenna. Very clever.
Clearly, this thing can crag up any canyon and still come out without a scratch. I mean, would you want to mess up that sick paint job?
