“The Lady of the Lake” by Brandon Bannerman (Catsy) combines innovative lighting, forced perspective, and a little software wizardry to create a gorgeous Arthurian scene.
Don’t miss Brandon’s setup shot for more info on how he achieved this photo.
Of course, everyone knows that strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
We’re used to small to mid-sized mecha from Cole Blaq, but his latest is a rather massive stomper inspired by the old NES game Metal Storm.
![Metal Storm [blaq'd fix] - 重力装甲メタルストーム](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5266/5622680186_ab6f5a0c31.jpg)
The minifig in the cockpit gives some sense of the mecha’s scale:
![Metal Storm [blaq'd fix] - 重力装甲メタルストーム](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5269/5625249461_e8999046c7.jpg)
Ah, the life of an artist. Glamorous, with paintings selling for millions upon millions, right? Eh, probably not. Unless you’re Picasso, this poor minifig probably won’t see his works reach seven digits in his lifetime. But that’s glamorous, right?
All he wants to do is pay for his fantastic flat, that he just cleaned. But he missed the red pigment. That’s going to stain.
I love the detail in this. The coat rack, especially, and the half-finished sculpture. Bravo, Walter Boy.
Tim Goddard (roguebantha_1138) recently won a Brickish Association contest to build a scene that included only one type of Collectible Minifigure. We love Tim’s microscale creations, but it’s also nice to see him flexing his (apparently quite strong) minifig-scale muscles, too.
FBTB’s 2011 Podracer Challenge drew about 50 entries for podracers that feature a non-Star Wars theme. You can see all the podracers in detail in the first voting phase of the contest.
The talented group of LEGO fans in Hong Kong have put together a large exhibit organized by and hosted in Cityplaza from April 15 – May 2. There are 3 sections of the display. The first features a panel of storyboards detailing development of the LEGO Company. The second is a display of 2,000 figures and large figure sculptures spanning over 30 years of minifig history.
The third and most exciting section is a display of 17 famous world landmarks and icons such as the Grand Palace in Thailand by Vincent Cheung, a pyramid from Egypt by ArzLan, the Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Russia by Schneider Cheung, and Tiananmen in China by Andy Hung. Some early pictures taken by Joey Kwok have been uploaded on Flickr. I’ll update this post as more pictures of the event show up.
LEGO M4 Sherman tanks are the single most popular tank to build, so it’s nice to see a builder break out of that mold and reproduce in LEGO a less popular but more interesting tank design. PhiMa does this with the tank that preceded the Sherman, the M3 Grant.
Three reasons I think the Sherman is so popular are because 1) They were the most common tanks by the end of World War II, 2) The convention is to build them in gray (standing in for olive drab) and gray is a fairly common color in LEGO, and 3) The structure above the chassis is fairly straightforward (though the curves are hard to get right in LEGO). In contrast, M3 Grants were used widely by British forces in North Africa, requiring tan instead of gray/olive, and they’re a lot more complex — especially with those two turrets — above the treads.
But PhiMa’s version isn’t just about the pretty exterior; he’s built significant playability features into the model, including a full interior and detailed engine.
Making mecha with oodles of character is definitely one of RongYiren’s strong points. His Couple of Squares are no exception but take a slightly more convential robot shape to his typical work. The posing, little details and excellent colour use really make these polygons shine.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of this mech by Wyrk Wyze, but it certainly caught my attention. The lime-green detailing on the mouth (?) pops wonderfully, while the little white flowers add interest to the vines encircling the limbs and torso.
As much as I like to see more Asian elements within the available palette of LEGO elements, and as addicted as I am to the collectible minifigs, I can’t say I’m thrilled with the hair piece used for both (both?!) the sumo wrestler and geisha. Nevertheless, I can’t help but love anything that springs from the brilliantly bricking fingers of Michael Jasper.
Via twee affect, which has a nice discussion of the various interesting techniques that Michael inevitably applies to his LEGO creations.