Issue 71• January 2022
Photographing Bricks and Figures
Techniques, Storytelling Tips and Lighting Tricks Photo Galleries INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!
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Issue 71 • January 2022
Contents From the Editor....................................................2
LEGO Toy Photography Introduction..........................................................3 Photographer Spotlights: Astrid Heyland..................................................4 Nathan Smith....................................................8 Eat My Bricks: Telling Stories with Bricks and Pics.......14 Photographer Spotlights: Łukasz Więcek.................................................18 Yuri Badiner.....................................................22 Natasja de Vos................................................26 LEGO Toy Photography: A Community Gallery.................................31 Taking Your First Shots..................................40
How To Alan Rappa: Studio Lighting..............................................42 Shelly Corbett: Taking Your Photography Outside.......46 Tom Milton: Next Level Photography...........................50
Building BrickNerd: Vintage Camera... .........................................54 Minifigure Customization 101: By the Power of Inkjet Printing!.............60 You Can Build It: Imperial Troop Transport..........................65
Community Bantha Bricks Files: D awud Farid and Gabriel Kirkland’s Ebon Hawk......................................................68 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79 AFOLs....................................................................80
Introduction
Welcome to the 71st issue of BrickJournal magazine! I’m pleased to be the guest editor for this issue devoted to the art of LEGOGRAPHY. While toy photography has been around since the earliest days of photography, it wasn’t until the arrival of social media that the art form grew into the worldwide community that we enjoy today. Online we get the chance to connect through our shared love of LEGO, the minifigure and photography. Storytelling is at the heart of LEGOGRAPHY and allows us to journey to a land where anything is possible. We can recreate stories from pop culture, literature, or our own imaginations. Our stories are designed to entertain you, make you smile, or remind you of the innocence of childhood. The images within this issue will give you a taste of what’s possible. My gifted friends will be sharing insights into their working processes; where they get their ideas; what drives them creatively, and so much more! I invite you to sit back, relax, and get ready to step into the wonderful world of LEGOGRAPHY... where we bring the toys to life! Shelly Corbett Founder, Toy Photographers Blog and the ToyPhotographers.com Podcast
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People
Different figures and scales make for a conflict.
Photographer Spotlight:
Astrid Heyland Article and Photography by Astrid Heyland Instagram: hey.light
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Astrid Heyland is a German photographer that has been photographing toys for about five years. She started with tiny 1:87 figures from model railroads. Now, LEGO minifigures are her heroes. In fact, some of her best ideas come when Astrid picks up a minifigure in her hand and she brainstorms a suitable story for the figure. Astrid loves taking photos outdoors, but she builds her picture ideas indoors beforehand, in her small home studio. She really enjoys taking the time for the creative process. There is an art to coordinating colors, figures, and accessories. Much of the time she leaves the scene on her photo table for a while, and looks at it every now and then to see if she wants to change anything. When she feels the scene is ready, she packs it into a small can (sometimes there are many cans!). Astrid needs at least 1-2 hours of sunlight for photography. When the weather cooperates, she looks for a suitable place to set up. She loves to be outside looking for the best place, background, and angle for her protagonists.
Above: The sketch for an image, showing composition and elements. In this case, color notations are noted. Right: The final image.
Accessories help to develop and define the story further, but sometimes she will be inspired by another subject, such as lavender (seen in the photo). From that inspiration, Astrid’s creative process begins with a sketch. Writing down ideas helps to guide her in set building and creative decision making. Of course, the final proof is when she looks at the scene through the camera’s viewfinder. Astrid’s three most useful tools for toy photography are wire, a battery-operated hot glue gun, and clamps. With these utensils, she can put her figures into any position she desires. Another critical tool is a large folded plastic bag. The bag allows her to put everything on any surface without anything (including herself!) getting wet or dirty. The camera Astrid uses is a Sony A7RIII full-frame camera, high-end macro lenses (100mm, 70mm, 50mm lens) and mostly with a tripod. She loves her camera because it’s light and has focus peaking (a method of focusing using high contrast areas of an image to define edges and sharpen focus). If she wants to achieve a special look, she uses her Lensbaby Composer Pro II with the Sweet 50 or Edge 50, lenses that can turn to warp the focus of an image. Once the image is taken, she edits her photos in Adobe Lightroom. There she sets the brightness, contrast, image selection, color effects, and much more. By the time she has taken the image, Astrid has already considered whether the image should appear warm or cool and which color tones should dominate. When editing, she intensifies these effects. Sometimes she only brightens certain areas in the picture, such as the face or a strong shadow. If there are unwanted elements, such as a wire or some other figure support, she removes them in Adobe Photoshop.
Astrid loves photographing LEGO minfigures. She treasures some characters because they remind her of her childhood—the Disney character minifigures, for example. On the other hand, she especially loves the beautifully printed torsos and legs from the Legends of China Ninjago, and Vidiyo. There are endless possibilities to combine legs, torso, heads, and hairpieces again and again to create new figures. Animals are another highlight. They appear in all LEGO themes and always add something special to her little stories. She really enjoys building sets from the Architectural theme as well as Ninjago. Sets that she has built include the Old Fishing Store and the Pirates of the Barracuda Bay. Astrid is fascinated by how these small bricks are used to create such different buildings. However, she does have an issue with the bricks—the lines and studs seen in completed models. This pet peeve is why she only uses her buildings as a blurred background element and always covers studs with tiles. 5
People
The entrance to Moria, from the Lord of the Rings.
Photographer Spotlight:
Nathan Smith Article and Photography by Nathan Smith Instagram: @circus_robot
Nathan Smith started his toy photography in 2019 with the intent of doing a LEGO fantasy comic. After spending months on the build and the subsequent pictures, he realized that it would be an impossible feat to match his vision. Undaunted by this, he started focusing on individual photographs in April 2020. Inspiration for his photography comes from fantasy illustrations and movies. Nathan learns a lot by studying composition in a variety of mediums and how certain shots are lit and composed in movies. He typically does two types of images that have their own creative flow: movie scene recreations and original compositions. For scene recreations, the process is more about working backwards and deconstructing where everything would be positioned and how the Director of Photography lit the characters and environment. Nathan does this by setting up the camera with the focal length he thinks would be needed to recreate the shot, then he uses temporary LEGO set pieces to try to get the right distance and relative scale down. From there, he builds the scene in more detail. When he is ready, Nathan starts doing lighting tests. For original images, Nathan typically starts with thumbnail sketches—nothing too fancy, but he tries to work out composition, main and secondary light sources, and other factors. Having a very specific vision 8 of the final image is an important step because simply building a
good LEGO MOC does not necessarily translate into a good photograph. After sketches, he follows the same build process as before, just using his sketches as a guide instead of an existing picture. Nathan is not very particular about his equipment, but he has experimented a lot with different light sources and DIY diffusion methods. For example, cheap $5 LED flashlights with a harsh beam of light are perfect for mimicking sunlight or studio spotlights, compared to more expensive “professional” light sources. For lenses, he uses a Canon 12-22mm zoom lens primarily to get his different wide-angle shots, but sometimes uses a higher mm prime lens for unique scenarios. Even with a background in 3D animation and digital painting, Nathan tries not to overly rely on post effects, as that takes a lot of the fun away for him personally. Outside of a few unique cases, his post-production workflow is fairly standard. Typically, he takes the base image through color correction in Camera Raw. Then, if he needs to do any additional work with blending layers, enhancing the atmosphere, masking, or painting out blemishes, Photoshop is used. Nathan is an indoor photographer, usually treating his setups like little movie sets on a sound stage—arranging props and using very controlled lighting. When photographing, his essential lights include LED flashlights, LED panels, diffusion materials, and small 3mm LEDs for practical lighting effects like the glow from a candle. For images with a visible sky in the background, he uses a 4K television as part of the set. One of his favorite tricks is using face misters, steamers, or atmosphere sprays to get the depth or atmosphere he wants in his photos. Arwen and Aragorn.
Some of the modular buildings in John’s layout.
A look at part of the lower level.
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People
Bedman.
Eat My Bricks:
Telling Stories with Bricks and Pics! Article and Photography by Sören Grochau and Michael Feindura Instagram: @eat_my_bricks Michael Feindura and Sören Grochau.
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Some toy photographers started LEGO photography when they realized the minifigure was a perfect subject to work with. Others, like Sören Grochau started when he played with his son’s LEGO and had fun goofing around with the figures. Sören tried a little bit, but the picture quality didn’t satisfy him, so he called his friend Michael Feindura. With Mic’s professional equipment and skills, they tried their first images together and had a lot of fun. Since then, they have met again and are staging new pictures under the name of Eat My Bricks (EMB). Photography ideas come from a lot of places for the duo. Sometimes an idea comes during an ordinary activity, like brushing teeth or bike riding. They also like to be inspired by art or political events. What makes EMB happiest, though, are the spontaneous ideas and the impulses that come serendipitously and are sometimes triggered by just a small everyday object. When they both agree on an idea, a small sketch is made. Parts and materials are gathered after a setting is determined. Sometimes this process can be very time-consuming, or this goes very quickly. During the shoot, different perspectives are tried and different lighting is used, as both are easier to do with a live image on a large display. Once done with the shoot, the photos are opened in Photoshop and Lightroom, where the images are optimized and any small auxiliary wires and dust are removed. The image should look perfect in the end—even as a large fine art print.
People
Photographer Spotlight:
Łukasz Więcek
[TM DC Comics.]
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[TM Lucasfilm.]
Article and Photography by Łukasz Więcek Instagram: @lukasdata
Łukasz Więcek began his photography journey seven years ago. Two years later, he started photographing toys. Joining Instagram encouraged him to share his photos with the world. When Łukasz first started on IG, there were already a few accounts with nice minifigure photos. Seeing them, he was inspired to try minifigures as his toy of choice.
[TM Marvel Entertainment, Inc.]
Photo inspiration is taken from everything that is happening to and around Łukasz. From watching a movie or riding a scooter, he can suddenly have an idea for a photo, which he usually writes down immediately. Of those ideas, he has made over 2000 photos. From that collection, Łukasz chose his best five for this year (which are seen in this article): • Iron Man (from the LEGO set) • The Haunted House set • Star Wars • Ninjago • Batman
His all-time favorite LEGO photo is one he did of Captain America, as Łukasz loves super-hero poses. His favorite moment was when LEGO shared his Star Wars photo on their social media profiles. His was the first photo taken by a fan and shared by LEGO, and was spotted by Mark Hamill on Twitter, who commented on it. Łukasz has always loved to photograph nature and the outdoors, but an unfortunate knee and back injury forced him to try different photography solutions. Now he often uses a monitor for a background, sand, earth, and artificial grass as a surface and often uses bricks to build everything. His camera of choice is his Samsung NX3000, but when he shoots a big set he uses his smartphone— large sets are literally his biggest challenge. A large set can also make a memorable story. Łukasz was getting ready to shoot the LEGO Saturn V set, waiting for a blue sky and looking for a good place to take photographs. He found that one day, with a beautiful sky and a previously selected spot a few kilometers from Białystok. When he stood the Saturn V to sit
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People
Mickey and Minnie. [TM Disney.]
Photographer Spotlight:
Yuri Badiner
Interview by Shelly Corbett Photography by Yuri Badiner Instagram: @y.badiner Flickr Gallery: www.flickr.com/photos/yuribadiner/
Spacemen. Elves. Popcorn. Yuri Badiner uses these props and more to make imaginative images that he can post to his Instagram account @y.badiner. For this photography issue of BrickJournal, I caught up with Yuri to find out more about why and how he makes his amazing images! BrickJournal: Hi Yuri! How long have you been a toy photographer, and what first attracted you to this hobby? Yuri Badiner: In 2015, our local LEGO office ran a contest on Instagram called “I am a LEGO Photographer.” It was then that I first became acquainted with the world of toy photography. I have never seen anything like this before and didn’t have any photography skills; I just subscribed for several accounts to follow this topic and was a passive viewer. In 2016, I decided to try my hand and started photographing minifigures with my mobile phone. I think many people started with this. Over time, my collection grew and my mobile phone was replaced by an DSLR camera. Where do you get your best photography ideas?
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This is a good question! Sometimes ideas come to my mind spontaneously and I immediately write them down in notes. Sometimes I hatch an idea for a week or more. In any case, I draw inspiration from everywhere, and very often the source of the idea is not associated with toy
photography—I just recreate the images and situations I have seen or imagined. Tell us about your process in creating an image from original thought to final photo ideas. Most of the time, my plots are built around the character: I take a minifigure and begin to come up with events and situations for it. In some cases, I first come up with a situation, and then place characters in it. What photography editing software do you commonly use in your image creation, and how does it help you express your ideas? I use Photoshop and Lightroom. I can’t say that I have good post-processing skills, but I believe that these applications help me to achieve the final image that I intended. Post-processing is an important step in photography, and since I started to learn it, my photos have been transformed. With the help of photo editors, I try to emphasize everything important in the image and sometimes hide the excess. I almost never use heavy special effects, to keep the photo natural. It is very important not to overdo it and not cross the line between photography and digital art. What are your top five LEGO themes images you have photographed? When I started photographing, most of the time I worked with Star Wars and LEGO Batman. Over time, my priorities have changed and now I prefer not to stick to any specific hyped themes. Increasingly, I strive to create classic LEGO moods in my works wherever possible, and look for my own style on it. It’s really hard for me to name even one topic, but it would probably be Space. What is your current equipment set up and why is it your favorite? Do you have a ‘high-end’ and ‘low-end’ set of gear for your photography?
Lift-off.
I use a Nikon D7100 DSLR, 35mm lens, several YongNuo flashes with softboxes and a couple of LED panels. I think this is a fairly budgeted set that still allows me to embody my ideas. I’ve been shooting LEGO for almost six years and still haven’t answered the question myself, “What interests me more in this hobby—LEGO or photography?” Probably, all the same, I am really interested in buying LEGO more often than photographic equipment, so I very rarely buy additions to my set of equipment—only if I need something specific, without which I really cannot implement my current plan. Tell us your favorite photography environment (indoor or outdoor) and why it is the place where you like to create your best work. Shooting outdoors has to deal with almost uncontrollable light, wind, and other weather conditions, so I definitely love shooting at home or in the studio. At home, I have absolutely all my minifigures and parts and all my equipment at hand. It is very comfortable for me to realize that I am in control of the situation. In such conditions I manage to shoot my best shots. Towards 10:00pm, when my whole family is getting ready to rest, I empty the cutting table in the kitchen and bring everything I need to shoot there. This is my territory for the next 2-3 hours.
Fairy journey.
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People
Photographer Spotlight:
Natasja de Vos Article by Shelly Corbett Photography by Natasja de Vos Instagram: @by_a.n.n.a Website https://www.byanna-photography.com Natasja de Vos is a photographer that has gained fame for her toyinspired photos on Instagram. When I interviewed her for BrickJournal, her answers were returned with the accompanying photos; the interview became a storyboard of her work! Enjoy!
Where do you get your best photography ideas? My ideas don’t come from a place, so “where” isn’t the right word… my best photography ideas pop up with music… or what I read in papers or magazines… or what happened in the news… or by stories told by friends… or by things which happened in my personal life… or even the garden… I can get inspired by everything.
A photo inspired by the lavender and the LEGO bouquet.
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How long have you been a toy photographer and what first attracted you to this hobby? I started shooting photos of LEGO in 2016. My boys were young and had a LEGO collection (like I did when I was younger) and we built a lot together. I love to photograph and one day a minifigure came in front of my lens… and I thought that could be fun. That was the start. My sons’ collection… bought with their saved and birthday money.
LEGOgraphy
Taking Your First Shots
Article and Photography by Tomek Lasek Instagram: @tomekskog
Where do you start? After seeing all these amazing photos in this issue, full of special effects, you’re probably wondering: Where do you start? Starting is as easy as taking your phone out of your pocket! In fact, many of the photographers featured started with their camera phones. The camera phone has many advantages compared to a full-sized camera or even a pocket instamatic: • It’s always with you
• It has infinite depth of field
• It’s perfect for getting below the figure
• It can easily photograph a scene from a variety of angles All that you need is a toy or two, a little practice and a story to tell.
Storytelling is where the fun really starts! Toy photography gives you unlimited possibilities. You can be the director of your favorite game, movie, or book. Characters as varied as Luke Skywalker and Gollum are at your fingertips. By starting with your favorite storylines, you can study the work of other artists and the original designers. How is the scene composed? What lighting angles were used? How are the subjects posed? Not only is this fun, but learning from the masters is always rewarding.
Here are some examples of toy pictures taken with phone cameras. [TM Lucasfilm.]
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By studying the images of photographers, cinematographers and artists that inspire you, you will often stumble upon your own original ideas. While it’s fun to recreate others’ work, telling your own stories through toy photography can be more fun. With the help of the LEGO minifigure and your imagination, you can construct entire worlds to photograph. Everything is literally in your hands!
How-To
Do not cross the warrior’s path.
Alan Rappa:
Studio Lighting Article and Photography by Alan Rappa Instagram: @alanrippa
Introduction I feel like I should be using air quotes when I say “studio lighting,” because in the toy space, I only know a handful of photographers that have a legit studio setup for their work. For the rest of us, when it comes to toy photography, any workable space can be considered a studio. Just as well, it means that any light source you have on hand can be considered studio lighting. While shooting outdoors under natural light may be the preferred approach for many photographers, using artificial light in a controlled environment can provide an immense amount of creative freedom. That is, once you understand how to effectively manage your light. In this article I’m going to go over some basics of working with artificial light to provide a foundation for when shooting in your own studio. Light Fundamentals When it comes to light, there are three primary principles you will want to understand, in order to manage them effectively. These principles are the light’s intensity, direction, and quality.
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
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Intensity and direction are pretty self-explanatory. Intensity is simply how bright your light is, and direction describes where your light is coming from in relation to your subject. Light quality, on the other hand, may be a new concept to those getting started with photography.
How-To
Shelly Corbett:
Taking Your Photography Outside! Article and Photography by Shelly Corbett Instagram: shellycorbettphotography Website: shellycorbett.com
As a proud toy photographer, I’ve always gravitated towards capturing LEGO minifigures outdoors. Something about the mix of hard plastic with the natural environment is appealing to me. Plus, I find the process relaxing, challenging, and a great excuse to explore nature. Taking my minifigure friends with me hiking, to the local park or to the other side of the world, is always a rewarding adventure. Preparing for an outdoor adventure, I make sure I have a few gadgets with me. These tools include a camera, extra lenses, a bounce card, small portable light, sticky tack, plastic supports, pad for kneeling on, hand clamps, and a small towel. With these resources I can generally capture the images I’m looking for. My success as an outdoor photographer is often dependent on how well I’ve prepared. The sun moves quickly and the more complicated my setup is, the faster I need to execute it.
Top: “All work and no play” features a Mouseguard minifigure from Crazy Bricks.
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Left: “The road less traveled” is a promo photo taken for Crazy Bricks’ Dino Dudes Kickstarter campaign. Both photos use a Lensbaby composer lens and a wide open aperture to create a dreamy effect.
How-To
Tom Milton:
Next Level Photography! Article and Photography by Tom Milton Instagram:@tomtommilton Website: www.tommilton.co.uk
Radiative equilibrium
I regularly add various effects to my photography in an effort to create intriguing visual imagery and storytelling devices. And while I am more than happy to use Photoshop and digital editing in my photos, what really gets me excited is the use of practical effects. Through lighting, or motion blur, or adapting my camera lens, I love figuring out how I can make this happen in front of the camera and capture it in real time.
For a long time now, I’ve been striving to get a cinematic feel to my photography, and a big change I made a few years ago was with the purchase of an anamorphic lens.
This is a repurposed projector lens (the gold bit); this is then added to another lens attached to the camera. In this case it’s my Samyang 100mm Macro. But what is anamorphic? Well, it is where a widescreen image we are used to seeing in the movies is “squashed” horizontally to originally fit onto 35mm film. With this lens it takes a 2.66:1 aspect ratio from the lens and becomes a 3:2 aspect ratio on the back of the camera. I then “unsquash” the image on the computer to create the wider final photo. Unfortunately, it does mean I have to focus twice, and it has to be done manually. One of the side effects of using a lens like this is the cinematic lens flare they create, streaking across the image.
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For this particular photo and the series of photos that have preceded it, I took inspiration from the glowing face on the classic movie poster of The Thing along with the feeling of 2001: A Space Odyssey, creating my glowing-faced astronaut. Inside the helmet I have 2x LED light-up studs with the helmet itself lined with aluminium foil to reflect the light and direct the glow out of the face hole.
Qty 3 3 1
Vintage Camera Design and Instructions by the BrickNerd Team
Capturing a moment in time by looking through a viewfinder and pressing a shutter will never get old—even though for many of us, time has moved on and we now use our mobile phones for the same purpose. But what better way to take a trip down memory lane than building a classic camera? The BrickNerd team has designed a small callback to this iconic companion of the past: a cute little vintage camera, complete with a viewfinder, a shutter knob and a lens. There’s some fancy sideways building going on to capture some of the iconic curves that should make for an interesting model. Oh, and did we mention that you can build it in teal? What a treat! This was a fun little model to design—we hope you’ll enjoy building it just as much as we did designing it!
Parts List
(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)
Qty 4 3 2 3 3 1
Part 3005.dat 3022.dat 3023.dat 3024.dat 3069b.dat 3176.dat
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Color Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey
Description Brick 1 x 1 Plate 2 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 1 Tile 1 x 2 with Groove Plate 3 x 2 with Hole
Part 3623.dat 3710.dat 3794b.dat
Color Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey
2
4032b.dat Lt Bluish Grey
2
11211.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
2 1
11477.dat 14769.dat
Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey
1
15068.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
2
20482.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
2
24201.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
2 1 2
25269.dat 33291.dat 35459.dat
Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey
2
37352.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
1
56145.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
2
60592.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
1 3
63864.dat 87087.dat
Lt Bluish Grey Lt Bluish Grey
1
87580.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
1
99206.dat
Lt Bluish Grey
1 1 1 2 4 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1
3024.dat 43898.dat 87994.dat 3001.dat 3004.dat 3005.dat 3023.dat 3034.dat 3068b.dat 3460.dat 3795.dat 6192.dat 32064a.dat
Black Black Black Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise Dk Turquoise
4
34103.dat
Dk Turquoise
5
87087.dat
Dk Turquoise
2
60601.dat
Trans Black
1
2654a.dat
Trans Clear
Description Plate 1 x 3 Plate 1 x 4 Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 Round with Axlehole Type 2 Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Tile 2 x 2 Round with Round Underside Stud Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 Tile 1 x 1 Round with Pin and Pin Hole Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Inverted Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round Plate 1 x 1 Round with Tabs Plate 1 x 3 Inverted with Bar Hole Brick 1 x 2 with Curved Top without Understud Wheel Rim 20 x 30 with 6 Spokes and External Ribs Window 1 x 2 x 2 without Sill Tile 1 x 3 Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Plate 2 x 2 x 0.667 with Two Studs On Side and Two Raised Plate 1 x 1 Dish 3 x 3 Inverted Bar 3L Brick 2 x 4 Brick 1 x 2 Brick 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 2 x 8 Tile 2 x 2 with Groove Plate 1 x 8 Plate 2 x 6 Brick 2 x 4 with Curved Top Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Axlehole Type 1 Plate 1 x 3 with 2 Studs Offset Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Glass for Window 1 x 2 x 2 without Sill Dish 2 x 2 with Rim
Building
He-Man as seen in the cartoons. [TM & © Mattel]
Minifig Customization 101:
By the Power of Inkjet Printing! Article by Chris Campbell and Jared Burks Jared Burks: I have written several articles with the help, inspiration, or direct input from my friend, Chris Campbell, who is a co-writer of today’s article. Chris has recently started Geeky Ink Studios, a new custom minifigure printing company. To tackle and understand just what is possible using his new printer, we decided to create a He-Man, Masters of the Universe figure as an initial study. I call this a study as we are learning how to print and what the technology can offer, that will alter or expand the creative process. In order to create a He-Man figure in a LEGO format, we had to understand what He-Man looks like. Because this is something from many of our childhoods, it is more what we recall it looking like, versus what he actually looked like. This gets more complicated with the Netflix reboot of the cartoon with the new version of the character. We actually showed people the art I created from the cartoon, and many started asking about details from the toys. For some reason, the cartoon He-Man was missing details like the red accents on the chest armor that were on the toy. It turns out that we have biased memories from our childhood based on a merged view of the cartoon and the toy. If you happened to be a big He-Man fan, you may also have memories from the comic books, which further diluted the representation of the character. For now we settled on a hybrid version of He-Man to include details from the original toy, as well as details from the show. Chris Campbell: I’m a longtime fan of MOTU (yes, since the early ’80s toys were released, which was before the cartoon). I’ve seen every iteration of the cartoons, starting with the original commercials and ’80s Filmation series ranging to the not-so-great 1990s The New Adventures of He-Man and the 2002
He-Man figures.
reboot (that I did like) to the current Netflix 2021 Masters of the Universe cartoon. I also read way too many comics and all the mini-comics included with the various Mattel figures. I could basically write a thesis about MOTU at this point, but I digress. I had MOTU toys before I ever even had LEGO. I’ve been wanting a proper custom LEGO He-Man figure for a long time, and sure, there are some bad Chinese knockoffs out there, as well as the Mega-Construx version, but nothing that really brought home the real feel and experience in a custom LEGO minifigure form. After finally convincing Jared to work on a design for it, he delivered… unfortunately, he didn’t deliver what I wanted/ remembered, so we had to make several modifications.
He-Man minifigures.
While Jared is amazing at design, I like to tinker and modify more, so I took Jared’s initial design and immediately texted him saying, “It’s missing the chest armor boxes.” His response was, “It wasn’t in the reference pictures.” We realized after chatting that he was only looking at references from the ’80s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe from Filmation. While that’s where probably 99% of the world “knows” He-Man from originally, the Filmation cartoon had taken the original figures/characters and had to simplify them for animation production purposes. When looking at the cartoon, many details are lost for most of the characters (though Duncan aka Man-At-Arms was given an extra mustache in order to differentiate him from the rest of the royal guard). Back to the minifigure, after explaining (okay, vehemently complaining for days), I got a new art file with the boxes added. At this point I started nitpicking again, as I could barely see the boxes. This is where I stepped in to start the modification process. To be able to chronicle my changes, I created a new file anytime I modded the figure. Basically, I considered Jared’s new file with the boxes to be file Mark 0 as my starting place (hence abbreviated Mk#). And like a good Star Trek film, I only took the even number modifications to physically print after the first one. I started a Mk1 file and immediately took the chest armor and stretched it a bit. While generally LEGO prints to a specific gap at the edge of the torso, I decided I wanted to go just as close as we could to the edges of the figure for a few reasons. First, I thought it would look better; and second, I really wanted to see how precise our figure template was, as well as the jig/fixture that was made for the
Minifigure jig for printer.
He-Man figure in package.
Minifigure print Mark I.
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You Can Build It MINI Build
Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck
Imperial Troop Transport (ITT) Parts List
Main Body
(Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)
Qty Color Part 3 Light-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 32952.dat
Hello everybody, I’m glad to see you all back for our next mini-building session! Today I want to take you back to the recent animated television series Star Wars: Rebels! While we usually focus on the spot-on starships, I’d like to show you a ground vehicle today. It looks quite ordinary at a first glance, but the trickiness is its interior. The Imperial Troop Transport, or ITT for short, is present throughout the entire series. It is employed as troop transport, recon vessel and cargo transport. Although the head looks bulky, the real shape is of a rarely seen wedged type. To get a close match for this shape built in bricks, I was really happy to see those new 3x3 wedge slopes (part numbers 42862 and 48165)! When attaching those with a 1x1 snot brick to the sides, you get almost a width of five studs. Thus, the rest of the transport had to have this width, too. So, the inner speeder construction contains a connection from two to three studs by using a 1x6 Technic plate (part 4262) and a 3x2 plate with hole (part 3176). You can see this in building steps 2 and 3. The construction is stabilized by a one to two studs connection using a 1x1 brick with single stud on the side (part 87087) and a standard Technic 1x2 brick (part 3700). This is shown in steps 10 and 11. So, although we continue to get more and more new piece types like the 1x3 double jumper plate (part 34103), which also allows a shift from two to three studs in width, previously designed elements still are a great (alternative) choice for building. I wish you happy building and I’ll see you next time!
1 1 2 1 4 1 3 3 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 6 1 2 1 1
Description Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Brick 1 x 1 x 1.667 with Studs on 1 Side Light-Bluish-Gray 3004.dat Brick 1 x 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3010.dat Brick 1 x 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 3009.dat Brick 1 x 6 Light-Bluish-Gray 30367b.dat Cylinder 2 x 2 with Dome Top with Axle Hole and Blocked Stud Dark-Bluish-Gray 2654.dat Dish 2 x 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 30162.dat Minifig Binoculars with Round Eyepiece Light-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Plate 1 x 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 Trans-Black 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Light-Bluish-Gray 3666.dat Plate 1 x 6 Light-Bluish-Gray 3022.dat Plate 2 x 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat Plate 2 x 3 Light-Bluish-Gray 3795.dat Plate 2 x 6 Light-Bluish-Gray 3176.dat Plate 3 x 2 with Hole Light-Bluish-Gray 11212.dat Plate 3 x 3 Light-Bluish-Gray 85984.dat Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 Light-Bluish-Gray 93604.dat Slope Brick Curved 3 x 4 x 0.667 Rounded Light-Bluish-Gray 3700.dat Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Hole Light-Bluish-Gray 4262.dat Technic Plate 1 x 6 with Holes Dark-Bluish-Gray 2412b.dat Tile 1 x 2 Grille with Groove Light-Bluish-Gray 3069b.dat Tile 1 x 2 with Groove Light-Bluish-Gray 2432.dat Tile 1 x 2 with Handle Light-Bluish-Gray 3068b.dat Tile 2 x 2 with Groove Light-Bluish-Gray 26603.dat Tile 2 x 3 Light-Bluish-Gray 42862.dat Wedge 3 x 3 Sloped Left Light-Bluish-Gray 48165.dat Wedge 3 x 3 Sloped Right
65
The Ebon Hawk.
ebon hawk
Dawud Farid and Gabriel Kirkland’s
Ebon Hawk Article by Steven Smyth, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Alec Turner, www.tfp.nyc
Galactic greetings! I’m Steven Smyth from Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. Since the community’s founding in 2016, on an almost daily basis, I have witnessed amazing and creative Star Wars builds in the best Star Wars-themed building brick group on Facebook. Dash Rendar and Gabriel Kirkland are a very talented MOC builder and instruction designer, respectively, in the community. I thought it would be great to learn more about this skilled building team and this Ebon Hawk design. Steven Smyth: How’s it going gentlemen? I’ve known Dash for some time now through the Facebook group, and everyone in Bantha Bricks has been wowed IF over YOU the ENJOYED THISfor PREVIEW, by your many awesome Star Wars builds years, but the uninitiated CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do. THIS
ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT!
Dash Rendar: Hey Steven, my name is Dawud Farid aka Dash Rendar, and first I would like to thank you for having us. We love the page, the magazine and all of community and philanthropic work you do, especially in the children’s hospitals. Also joining us for this interview is the digital instruction craftsman, Gabriel Kirkland. I would pose the same question, please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do. Gabriel Kirkland: Well, first just to be in this interview gives me goosebumps. When we started talking, I was focused more on getting Dash in the spotlight; working with him has given me a sense of purpose and happiness I have not felt in some time. I do not do well talking about myself, but I will give it a go. I am 33, live in California, married, and only got back into LEGO because of my wife. BRICKJOURNAL She bought me a BB-8 set for Christmas a® few years Man, #71 it Blog was like a light LEGO photography withago. Toy Photographers founder SHELLY CORBETT, and photographers came back on. I moved around a lot and I had a small LEGOASTRID Star HEYLAND, Wars collection NATASJA VOS, and MARCO ZANCONI offer their favorite but during one of the moves it was alltips given toto Goodwill; it look was heartbreaking. and tricks make your creations great! Plus, STEVEN SMYTH’s StarFacebook Wars builds, instructions by CHRISTOPHER Since that BB-8 set, I joined LEGO groups on and kept seeing customs DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and and I felt like I just needed to try that.more! I started out with color variants for the (84-page $9.95 Episode 8 and 9 X-Wing fighters while dabbling inFULL-COLOR Stud.iomagazine) and LDD. (Digital Edition) $4.99
https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_78&products_id=1644