Tag Archives: Vignettes

Vignettes are like the haiku of the LEGO world. Usually built on a base 8 studs wide by 8 studs deep, vignettes show a little scene or a moment in time. But like written poetry, there’s plenty of variation on the basic theme.

If Banksy started building in LEGO

Graffiti has been a fact of life since the pyramids were built, but you may not have ever seen LEGO graffiti before (unless you’ve been reading The Brothers Brick for a really long time). Roman says he started with the minifig street artist and then came up with the larger build. The backward bandana as a hood is inspired and it’s good to see he takes his respiratory health seriously.

I love the dripping paint from the freshly painted wall and the items chosen to inhabit the scene. It is a concise frame for a cool piece of instantly recognizable graffiti.

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The wild west can be a cruel place...

Following up on a previous excellent wild west-themed creation, Brick Surgeon brings a very different, less action-packed view of life on the frontier, while keeping the building and composition style very similar. This latest vignette has a very morbid feel to it, with muted colours, dead trees and a freshly dug grave.

There are many details to appreciate here — the trees are excellently built of course, as they seem to be the focal point of the build. Other parts of the creation are not lagging behind much, with the cleanly built tent, very interesting rocks, and a brick-built vulture on one of the trees. An apropriate choice for the background colour connects all this into a very cohesive whole.

If the sky could dream, it would be of dragons

Taiwanese builder LEGO 7 is at it again with another incredible dynamic build. This time, a White Dragon Mech is ripping off the starboard propeller of the Sky Pirates’ flying ship. Lightning ripples out from the dark thundery clouds as the pirates scramble on deck. I love the colors and design of the boat, and the gold railing trim looks great. Have you noticed Monkey Wrench throwing a spanner in the works from atop the crow’s nest? Will Lloyd continue to evade the dragon’s clutches and save the day? Or will the flying clipper plummet earthward and suffer the dreadful fate of rapid deceleration syndrome?

Yoohoo. I’ll make you rich and famous!

It may not be high noon yet, but it seems as thought there are already a few transactions going on at the bank in this Western scene by Paul Trach. The Brick Bank is a handsome building with its clock above the entrance complete with ‘saloon-style’ swing doors. The roof has a water barrel, brick-built signs, and some lovely detailing on the railings. It’s clear that this ain’t no drinking establishment as there are some finely dressed gentlemen exiting with their pocketwatches and bowler hats in place.

My favourite part of the build is best seen in this close-up view of the ground floor. The beautiful glass windows have some fancy metal-work to prevent any outlaws from breaking in and stealing from the bank. These windows are really a stand-out detail for me, but I have to mention the fun use of light bluish grey ingots as brickwork.

No Western scene is complete without a cactus, but since this is a fine banking establishment, Paul has chosen a lovely flowering cactus as decorative flora.

It’s not a view the Jedi would show you

The planet-city of Coruscant is magnificent in the setting sun, and the expansive urban landscapes were one of my favorite visuals from the prequel trilogy. This image by Malen Garek of a view from the Jedi temple may have been erased from the archives, but it’s breathtaking nonetheless. Malen has nailed the colors, and the forced perspective backdrop is one of the better I’ve seen.

Dad’s little helper

This vignette of dad’s busy garage by Mike M. is packed with the tools for all his fixin’ needs. The Technic figure scales nicely with some of the tools that are otherwise too big for minifigs to use. From buckets of paint to spare tires and cabinets full of gadgets and gizmos, dad is ready for a busy morning. Looks like junior came just in time to help!

A rare sighting is the big cat’s pyjamas for this colonel

The Colonel has found a real vantage point within this overgrown Meso-American watchtower as he manages to catch sight of the elusive jaguar. This build by Ayrlego uses a nice mix of LEGO flora to create a little jungle scene — even the sprue from the three-leaf plant is utilised and becomes a vine winding its way through the watchtower’s window. The textures and colours used for the overgrown watchtower are perfect allowing the scene to be both aesthetically pleasing and true to nature.

The jaguar is a rare animal but thanks to the new City Jungle theme, the population of jaguars has increased. You can read more about this new animal in our review of 6061 City Jungle Exploration Site.

The LEGO community and the dark side of comments

The online LEGO community is an all-around friendly place and quite open to newcomers, with very few exceptions. What few realize is that this comes at a high price; the comments exchanged by builders are friendly and positive — and often that means only positive. And here lies a potential pitfall, because honest critiques and (seeming) negativity tend to be avoided for fear of creating awkward situations. Additionally, not all builders want to receive constructive feedback. The end result is that most creations gather a plethora of dry comments that do not really help the builders improve much. I have been passively raising awareness to this problem for years now, but never have I gone to such lengths as Aaron van Cleave, who has made a series of bad creations as a social experiment.

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Storm spire rises to the heavens

BobDeQuatre says he doesn’t have the skills for castle building, but his recent entry in the Summer Joust 2017 build challenge’s 8×8 vignette category is one of the best entries I’ve seen yet. The story behind the build is that the castle was built by northern men, enslaved by the black queen. After the castle was completed she summoned a magical storm which lifted the castle up to make it impenetrable to her enemies. The builder has represented the storm perfectly by using a NEXO Knights whirlwind part, along with other dark purple bricks that bleed into the base of the castle.

However, the lighting is what really sets this vignette apart from the crowd — it adds an epic effect to the storm by shining through the transparent portion of the NEXO Knights piece, adding a sinister red glow fitting of the castles backstory.

Going stair crazy

Karf Oohlu has produced an absolutely wonderful little scene, which could easily be a piece of art. This microscale diorama of grey stairs reminds me a lot of Hera’s Garden in God of War 3. It’s a rather simple build with the 1×1 plates with two studs serving as the basis for the stairs, and some nice touches such as the Exo-Force hair pieces for the tree.

Desert saps on poor man’s thirst

Despite its harsh nature, I would love visiting the Orange Fern Gorge, as built by W. Navarre. The jewel merchant minifigs in the scene probably do not share my sentiment, however, as their intrepid expedition might be born more of necessity than love for the scenery. And what a gorgeous scenery it is! The layers of rock are a beautiful balance of rough but clean, while the ground’s texture compliments the rocks well. A careful combination of olive and sand green accented by a few pink flowers adds just enough life to the scene to still look barren and dead, but not boring.

The bridge is quite interesting on its own – while it’s possible the model builder may have run out of string while making the bridge and added a short chain as the support on one posts, it’s also probably what the bridge’s makers would do if they had run out of rope. Finally, having the two rocky pillars presented on separate base plates adds a lot to the composition as well.

A textbook example of medieval organic architecture

The Second Annual Summer Joust castle competition is well underway, and with just over two weeks left to enter, the contest has prompted some amazing entries. ReeseEH built a small diorama featuring a beautiful gatehouse and castle gate built into tree. The build is full of wonderful details like the textured castle wall, the string vines hanging from the tree, and the gatehouse roof made from various bars and droid arms, giving it a rough thatched look. Although, I do spy a strange-looking character on the banks of the pond—is that Bossk doing some fishing?

This build was an entry for the castle collaboration category with Cab~, Micah Beideman , and Michael the juggler, be sure to keep a lookout for the other builders contributions!