Details: You may remember the spectacular pop-up model of Kinkaku-ji (the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) from a few years back. More recently, the builder has made another excellent pop-up temple - Nara, Japan's Todai-ji. This one also includes the Daibutsu inside the temple. Around the 1:52 mark, the video switches from a demonstration to CAD-based building instructions, complete with part counts for each step. All 8,816 pieces are accounted for, and there's a complete parts list with BrickLink part numbers at the end.
Details: Every once in a while, you come across a gorgeous large layout that feels like minifigs could actually live in it. It's less like looking at a model, and more like seeing a little world. This minifig-scale model clearly meets that criteria - the four large buildings are flanked by smaller buildings, vehicles, and landscaping, in a way that resembles a well-maintained professional or academic campus early in the morning (before the crowds have come about). This project was started in 1991, and the colors reflect that - note how red and white are the main colors, and green is used sparingly. Back then, large plates and plants were the only widely available (non-DUPLO) parts in green. In spite of the limited palette, there's still a colorful ceiling pattern and plenty of other subtle details. The tall windows make this interpretation of minifig scale very close to that of the Cafe Corner set. The details around the windows aren't filled with tricky techniques, but they still take on a grand effect when repeated over these large walls. Don't miss the use of grey goblets on the chimneys, or the fantastic use of Imperial flags outside of a Pirates-based setting.
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Here's a new feature I'd like to get started on right away (mostly because I just found out about this great website): a spotlight on useful resources within the LEGO community. BRICKITGOOD is the work of Mr. Corey Sanders, a schoolteacher from Nevada who runs (and personally funds) an after-school LEGO program for elementary-school aged students. The site features a wide variety of models, with plenty of photos for each one. Most of the models also include instructions - some of which are in LEGO Digital Designer format so you can easily buy the parts needed to build them. An advantage (for teachers especially) of creating building instructions is that you can save designs while taking the models apart - which is particularly important when you need to make the parts available again for other students. In addition to creating instructions for his own designs, he has also created instructions for a number of popular models that haven't been available to the public (such as promotional items that were only given away as glued models). These models are a great starting place for your original creations - or you could try rebuilding some of the designs as shown. The events section covers student creations, regional events, and the 2004 Master Model Builder search (yes, when you build lifelike sculptures this well, LEGO takes notice).
The photos below show examples of the variety of material available on the BRICKITGOOD website, and each one is a link that takes you to the appropriate section of the site.
Details: You may remember Henry Lim (we'vefeaturedhimbefore), one of the first few LEGO hobbyists to build sculptures on the scale of what the LEGO company uses for promotional events and LEGOLAND attractions. This time, we take a look at his mosaic of Catwoman (as portrayed in the movie Batman Returns). This mosaic was made in greyscale, using the shades of grey available in bulk from LEGO during the heyday of official mosaic kits in the late 1990's / early 2000's. In a departure from the instructions (actually a computer-generated image - this mosaic line was based on being able to upload a photo and purchase a "custom" kit with everything you needed to build a low-resolution, studs out, greyscale mosaic of that image) offered in the official kit, this was built in a studs-up manner. I'm sure any experienced builder can imagine what can go wrong here - we're talking about an image made almost exclusively out of stacks of 1x1 plates. Needless to say, some structural adjustments had to be made. The final version of the mosaic is actually two studs thick, and the front layer is tied into the back layer with larger parts wherever possible. Since larger elements in one of the colors (very light grey) are rare (Bricklink only knows of 24 parts in the color, and additional parts are likely only available to LEGO's own professionals), it can be particularly difficult to tie this together sturdily.
In spite of all that effort, this mosaic fell down and fell apart - once. Now it's been re-built with glue to ensure that it stays together.
Details: No detail was spared here in using studs-not-on-top mosaic techniques to make this red and white clown fish look perfect. In many places, you can see headlight bricks used to turn small sections sideways - this makes it possible to have distances be as small as 1/6th of a stud. The effect is particularly noticeable on the fish's nose and tail. The fins are even hinged to move! What more could you want in a fish?
29 copies of this set have been made available in the builder's BrickLink store. As of this writing, 17 remain.
Details: I've previously blogged a mosaic by Eric Harshbarger depicting the Mona Lisa. This particular one focuses on the face (this simplifying the image a little bit) but also brings out more detail by using a wider color palette (10 colors instead of the classic 6) and the more high-resolution studs-up technique. LEGO mosaics can be built studs-out (with the LEGO logo on the top of the parts facing you when you view the image) or studs-up (with bricks and plates stacked on top of each other so you see the side of the parts when you view the image), and the two approaches result in very different images. The studs-out approach allows you to treat LEGO parts as if they were square, making a 1x1 brick pretty similar to a pixel on your computer screen. The studs-up approach forces the builder (or computer program, more often than not) to account for the 5:6 ratio in LEGO brick width to brick height, or a 5:2 ratio in plate width to plate height. A studs-up mosaic using plates can get a resolution 2.5 times better in one direction than a studs-out mosaic can - but in the other direction, you're still limited to the width of 1 LEGO stud as the smallest measurement you can show. The end result is that this is almost as close as you can get to photo-realism in LEGO bricks (you could still get slightly more precise by combining this technique with studs-not-on-top techniques to change the direction of the plates, and thus change which direction has higher resolution - but that will drive all but the most seasoned LEGO professionals insane).
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This may be the most unique mosaic we've seen in quite some time. Coming in at around 3 studs thick, this is full of details and unusual techniques. Red clip plates hold flex-tube casings (which have been used as thin rigid hoses in a variety of sets more recently) which form the letter K as connected by minifig hands here. Using a variety of small parts, more hoses, and a generous amount of hinge plates makes the body look particularly impressive. I particularly like the way arch pieces are attached on an angle to make the blade of the King's weapons. This piece has since been sold to LEGO's Community Operations Manager, Jan Beyer, who decided he wanted it for his office after he saw it at Kockice Expo 2010.
We're going to go ahead and call this Saturday AND Sunday's model of the day. It's about time we stopped falling behind, and the Kockice 2010 photos are certainly worth counting as a second day (even though there are "only" a few hundred of them)
Details: For months now, Katie Walker has been posting a string of spectacular and unusual mosaics on flickr. Her techniques range from fanatically precise LEGO geometry with headlight bricks to impossibly patient trial-and-error with cheese slopes. She has inspired, humbled, and scared many a LEGO builder. Recently, she was interviewed for the MosaicBricks blog - to mark the occasion, she built the two mosaics of the blog's name shown here (by the way, if anyone does something like that for us, we'd totally change our header to use it too!)
I actually try to hold back from posting too much of Katie's material because most of it isn't really what most of us would consider "models". Everything is a work-in-progress, a study, or a proof-of-concept. Some of it gets worked into a larger creation later, but most of it is quickly taken apart after the photos are taken (the photographs serve as enough documentation to rebuild the designs later if they are needed). It is, though, always worth a look through her flickr photostream to see what she's been up to. As I said before, her work inspires (with clever techniques), humbles (with the fact she's using a small collection and a very small variety of pieces), and scares (with the amount of time that goes into some of the more ornate small designs). I've featured some of her studies before, but there's way more where that came from. Due to the popularity of her few finished models, I've actually backed away from featuring those here as well (out of respect for the readers who also follow other LEGO blogs, I try to keep repetition to a minimum) - but you should absolutely take a look at the courtyard and the atrium that she built for an as yet unbuilt queen's palace.
Of course, the most intimidating part is realizing that this "beginner" already knows more about how you can fit LEGO pieces together than most experienced hobbyists will ever figure out. It's a rare person who is willing to work with DUPLO and Technic alongside regular LEGO pieces, never mind actually willing to figure out these geometrical quirks. Which is why we should all pay attention here - the techniques you'll pick up will save time later and make you a better builder.
Details: A simple tip for making mosaics look decent color-wise is to try using cartoons and other brightly-colored imagery as your source material. If something already uses bright primary colors, it'll be easier to build it with parts you actually have on hand (while not losing too much of the image quality). Naturally, this makes "Mickey Salutes America" look pretty great in LEGO form.
Details: Built for the September 2008 launch event for the LEGO Batman video game, this mosaic captures the cartoonish likeness of the game's version of Batman and Robin. Infamously, the LEGO Batman sets and minifigures were discontinued before the video game came out - so most of the promotional materials for the game use these more cartoon-y versions of the characters instead of ones that look more like LEGO minifigs. Per her usual style, Mariann built some sections sideways and some right side up to get more details in a relatively small space. Additionally, custom stickers were used for the bats and Robin's belt.
Details: There aren't enough people willing to try making mosaics for minifig-scale creations. This model goes a ways towards fixing that - there are mosaics in brick-built (sidways) floors, and on the inner and outer walls. I don't think I've seen a minifig-scale bowling alley before, but this one will be tough to beat. The roof is removable - tiles were used to make that lift off the same way the "modular building" sets have their floors lift up. This is perfectly in scale for those buildings too!
Details: Earlier this year, I finished stocking up on transparent and translucent Pick-A-Brick elements well enough to actually build something. Noticing the large amount of trans-red and trans-yellow I'd amassed, I decided to build a mosaic of the LEGO Classic Space logo. LEGO used the classic logo for the space line from 1978 to 1989, but it also appears in some newer sets as an "easter egg" for fans of the original line. The transparent and translucent parts allow it to catch the light. I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with the design of the little ship I used here, but hey - it's LEGO, I can always change it.
Details: It's time for another entry into the genre of Brickfilms made with LEGO sculptures and stop motion animation. This time, we get to see all of the in-progress photos right off the bat - when you're done watching the video here (40 seconds of great LEGO and animation work), check out the builder's webpage and flickr set for this model (linked above) to see each thing the LEGO becomes and photos of transformations in progress. Frequently, stop-motion animation is made with only a handful of the LEGO parts assembled at any given time - in this case, it looks like the entire thing was built at once. The effect in the side-by-side still photos of each series of models is almost better than the animation itself. You can lose perspective of what you're seeing when the transformations go by so quickly in the video, and the stills bring out the action.
As an added bonus, this ends with a nice studs-up mosaic of the LEGO logo. A mosaic, sculptures, and stop-motion video! This sort of clever combination of themes makes me wonder why some people never venture beyond building in just one or two themes.
Details: A contest is underway now in Hong Kong that has attracted some interesting entries. Most of them appear to be in the microscale town genre, but a few of them also feature excellent mosaics of Chinese characters. The photo links above are for the ninth entry in the contest. You can vote for your favorite of the 12 finalists (and see a little of each of the other entries) at http://www.easttouch.com.hk/events/lego/
Details: Last year, we covered a brickfilm that was assembled as a music video for the song 8-bit Trip by rymdreglage. Now we can see a little bit behind the scenes thanks to these new photos on their website.
A little something different today - NPR recently featured the work of Wayne Peltz, an assistant clubhouse manager the Indians (baseball team) at Cleveland's Progressive Field. His mosaics use various mixes of colors - they're clearly meant to be more impressionistic than realistic. Still, it's interesting to see the hobby emerge in such an unexpected venue. There's a short interview and slideshow for this feature, but be aware that neither the builder nor NPR bothered to use the brand name correctly (what part of "they're LEGO bricks!" is so hard to understand?)
On a semi-related note, this seems like a good time to remind my readers of the LEGO company's Fair Play policy which explains the proper use of the word LEGO (among other policies the company uses to protect their trademarks). Although these aren't strictly enforced (there are, after all, bigger problems in the form of knock-off and counterfeit toys marketed illegitimately using LEGO's trademarks), it's a good idea to keep these guidelines in mind and not let things get out of hand (like, for example, when someone attempts to pretend "laygoes" is actually a word).
Details: Forced perspective is a difficult thing to truly do right in LEGO. This photo is how it's done. There's just the one picture of this model, but it's so perfect that you don't really need a second photo (and there's likely an issue with the model not looking as good from other angles anyway). The idea behind the forced perspective technique is to mix scales in a way that makes some things look further away. In this case, we see a cockpit that is built at about half of actual size, with microscale planes and missiles in the distance that are about one hundredth of regular size. The mountains on the backing mosaic are at even smaller scale. Even though the different parts of this model are very close together, they look like they're fairly far apart. More importantly, this looks more realistic than most first-person plane-driving video games. The illusion of screens is created by using old dark grey inlays inside of frames built in the newer dark bluish grey color. Additional studs-not-on-top trickery with small lime plates creates the details on the screens. A similar technique is used for the mountains in the background - the snowy mountaintops are surprisingly complex, and the rows of peaks in the front are brought out by using an older shade of grey, and some brown in front of that. Even the dark green plates for foliage turns out to be spot-on. Most of the techniques have already been picked apart in notes on flickr, so if you're still curious, check out the link above (you can also "embiggen" further).
Details: The clock tower of Samford Hall was created by LEGO sculptor Eric Harshbarger for an arts auction in 2003. There's not too much to say about this one - it's a standard studs-out (when you look at it, the LEGO logo on top of the pieces is facing you, and the bottom of each piece is touching a baseplate) mosaic made out of plates (the elements one-third the height of LEGO bricks). More at the links above.
Details: Now that the LEGOLAND parks are open again for the season, we're beginning to see a wave of new photo galleries from inside the parks. There are some pretty great photos out there, but as per our "daily dose" style we're not going to be blogging these too quickly. This particular flickr set is actually of photos taken in June 2009, and it also includes some interesting photos from LEGO's world headquarters in Billund, Denmark. Highlights include a LEGO logo mosaic made of minifigs, LEGO chandeliers, and a floppy skeleton sculpture. There are 51 photos here overall.
Details: The Winter Olympics are back again this year, and this time they're being hosted by Vancouver, BC, Canada. Although Olympic logos are a rather inconsistent affair, Canada wisely chose to highlight an unusual part of their culture in their logo. Specifically, this logo is a colorized version of an inukshuk, which is a stone landmark built by humans (frequently by native tribes found in various regions of Canada). The logo is based on a very specific inukshuk found on Whistler Mountain. Being as topical as we are, it was just a matter of time before one of us LEGO addicts found a way to build the brightly-colored logo in LEGO form. The colors of the Olympic logo are even fairly close to the red, yellow, green, blue, and medium blue manufactured by LEGO. Janey Red Brick built this as a rather straightforward sculpture/mosaic (I think it fits in both categories) with the exception of the "head", which is built upside-down.
). This mosaic was made in greyscale, using the shades of grey available in bulk from LEGO during the heyday of official mosaic kits in the late 1990's / early 2000's. In a departure from the instructions (actually a computer-generated image - this mosaic line was based on being able to upload a photo and purchase a "custom" kit with everything you needed to build a low-resolution, studs out, greyscale mosaic of that image) offered in the official kit, this was built in a studs-up manner. I'm sure any experienced builder can imagine what can go wrong here - we're talking about an image made almost exclusively out of stacks of 1x1 plates. Needless to say, some structural adjustments had to be made. The final version of the mosaic is actually two studs thick, and the front layer is tied into the back layer with larger parts wherever possible. Since larger elements in one of the colors (very light grey) are rare (
" look pretty great in LEGO form.
, this mosaic captures the cartoonish likeness of the game's version of Batman and Robin. Infamously, the LEGO Batman sets and minifigures were discontinued before the video game came out - so most of the promotional materials for the game use these more cartoon-y versions of the characters instead of ones that look more like LEGO minifigs. Per her usual style, Mariann built some sections sideways and some right side up to get more details in a relatively small space. Additionally, custom stickers were used for the bats and Robin's belt.
