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.

The austere beauty of pure geometry

Although LEGO bricks and plates are regular symmetrical figures, rarely do we come across creations based on perfect geometry. Hanging Gardens by Letranger Absurde is a modest architectural masterpiece built around harmony and symmetry. Because of the fact that the model was photographed at 45 degrees angle and all the surfaces are carefully tiled, it looks totally like a level from the Monument Valley video game. Bonus points are for falling water: the building technique is brilliant, especially the use of Mixels tooth bricks as water foam.

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27 amazing LEGO vignettes bring Harry Potter to life

The amazing world of Harry Potter is only made more fantastic when portrayed through tiny LEGO vignettes. When we first spotted Marcel V.‘s series of astounding little Harry Potter scenes, he’d only created 5. He’s created them as a personal project to challenge himself throughout the month of March, producing almost one every day, and he’s now reached 27. Marcel tells us he worked 3-4 hours daily to create the scenes, and relied on inspiration from the books, movies, and even some Harry Potter games.

Come with me on a magical journey through the life of The Boy Who Lived.

Click to look through Harry Potter’s life in LEGO

The history of art and architecture in a single LEGO monument

Toltomeja captures the evolution of art and architecture through iconic scenes pictured along the face of a mountain. From the paintings in the Lascaux Caves to abstract modern art, the builder captures 10 historical eras and their signature styles. You can discover each scene by checking out more photos and descriptions on Flickr.

When one world is not enough, you just need an escape route

Sometimes life can become routine and monotonous, giving no rest or calm. But Angelo_S. reminds us that when everything around is dull and cold and gray, there’s always an escape.

This work is a beautiful metaphor combining two opposed worlds in one shot. A skillfully executed microscale vignette seen through the gateway looks twice as alluring due to the forced perspective effect.

For bricks, they flew pretty good

Take a look into the brick-built airplane cockpit built by kosbrick. With carefully selected printed LEGO elements and clever use of minifigure paint rollers as the throttle and steering wheels, the scene looks authentic and ready for takeoff.

To burn an empire

Only the baddest of the bad could go up against the might of Rome and come out on top. That’s what infamous Gaelic chieftain Vercingetorix did at the hilly battle of Gerogvia (to none other than Julius Caesar) in 52 BC; and now in 2016, we see his pyrrhic victory come to life in the latest creation by legophthalmos. Clearly this is one barbarian you don’t want to mess with.

Old friends, new faces: LEGO Space reimagined

Space is one of LEGO’s core themes, along with Castle and Town. These three themes, for me, form the foundation that the rest of LEGO is built on. As a kid, and even now, my tastes run definitely toward the Castle/Town end of things. I am, however, developing a healthy regard for Space that comes from a passion around real spacecraft. I have a lot of respect for space builders, because it’s a theme I struggle to build in myself.

Jeremy Croft has taken a look at LEGO Space, and re-imagined many of the classic themes. He’s titled his series “Old Friends, New Faces,” and each build is full of nostalgia. Let’s count down Jeremy’s 10 builds, and wander back to when space was blue, grey, and trans-yellow.

Click to launch in 3… 2… 1… go!

Beware the deadly embrace of the facehugger!

The lifecycle of the xenomorphs in the Alien franchise is fascinating — from egg to facehugger to chestburster to a rapidly growing black monster. While we’ve seen many LEGO xenomorphs over the years, including a great minifig-scale version by TBB’s own Tim Lydy, but not too many other stages in the creature’s lifecycle (other than the amazing LEGO chestburster by the Arvo Brothers nearly 10 years ago). Tim has corrected this with a wonderful vignette featuring a facehugger leaping from its egg sack towards a surprised Colonial Marine.

Tim uses minifig hands to represent the facehugger’s flailing arms, and suspends the jumping facehugger above its empty egg case with clear LEGO. The expression on the doomed marine’s face is priceless.

Rare sighting of a LEGO elephant in the room

British builder Tim Goddard is well known for his fantastic Neo-Classic Space creations, but his latest build provides a change of scenery. We are not the only people admiring this lovely scene of a mother elephant and her calf — there’s a brave photographer filming their every move. Her camera is mounted on a professional looking LEGO tripod and she has managed to locate a rare ‘Classic Space safari outfit’ for the event. Up in the tree, a vulture seems to be keeping watch.

The elephants are minifig-scale and ingeniously constructed with Mixel joints providing movement of the calf’s legs and the mother’s ears. Tim has designed their skin with a mix of textures; studs on show, smooth tiles and the odd light bluish grey ingot to provide a wrinkle or two.

I was going to make a clever comment about the mother’s knee joints and impossible movements but remember, this is LEGO and anything is possible!

Scramble the Rebel fighters from LEGO Echo Base

Markus19840420 continues to impress with his LEGO Star Wars dioramas. Following up his Sullust scene, he presents a slice of Echo Base from The Empire Strikes Back, impressive in both size and detail. The carved snow cave look, hanging lights, maintenance bridges, and runway lights make the whole scene feel authentic. I won’t overlook Mike Psiaki’s X-wing and Larry Lars’s Snowspeeder, both great models recreated by Markus from their respective building guides, with some modifications.

See more photos of Hoth Echo Base on the builder’s Flickr.

Harry Potter in vignettes: tiny scenes from the wonderful world of wizarding

Builder Marcel V. is on a mission to picture Harry Potter’s life one little slice at a time. These terrific vignettes take us from 4 Privet Drive, to Platform 9 and 3/4, Ollivander’s, and right on to Hogwarts’ Sorting Hat and the Gryffindor Common Room. Marcel tells us he’s planning a rather lengthy series, so we’ll check back in as he continues to create these brick snapshots. For now, though, check out the first five scenes in Harry’s life:

Click to see the other 4 scenes

A walking garden

IGU from Japan has created the cutest garden ever! But it’s not the sort of garden you would expect. Look closely, and you’ll see that this garden is atop an old and huge turtle. He may look a little bit exhausted, but don’t let it mislead you. He is so full of happiness that all sorts of flowers keep popping off his back. All the animals rush to his shelter. Hayao Miyazaki would totally approve this creation!

Make sure you check out the flickr album for more close-up photos which reveal lovely details.