I’ve spent a lot of time in the swamps and bayous of the southern United States fishing, hunting, photographing wildlife and generally avoiding venomous snakes and hungry alligators. The bottoms – as we affectionally call them down here – are also one of my favorite sources of inspiration for LEGO building. I recently completed this bayou-related build, my dream house set in the swamps: Perhaps the scene feels a little lifeless but I purposefully chose not to include minifigs in this creation as I thought they would detract from the overall aesthetics. Using a fog machine and some LED lights I was able to create a creepy though strangely alluring atmosphere in this shot: A fog machine can be a lot of fun to create mood in a LEGO scene, as can well-placed lighting. For outdoor scenes like this, I find it helpful to shoot outside at dusk with a single...

With the latest round of Iron Builder underway, expect to see a flurry of LEGO creations featuring the Friends balloon piece, as we noted a few days ago with the lovely LEGO lotus blossom. Contestant Grant Davis is cranking out something new just about every day — and sometimes more than one new creation a day. One of my favorites so far is this Whack-a-Mole machine. The ill-fated victims of whackage peeking with their single eyes out of their holes are also the tips of the bulbous balloon piece, and I just love their adorable little hats. The post Whack some moles at the Iron Arcade appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Andrew

We’re huge fans of Chris McVeigh here at The Brothers Brick, and I’ve enjoyed each of the custom LEGO kits I’ve bought from his online store — custom kits that I can only describe as artisanal LEGO kits, with beautifully printed packaging lovingly arranged in the shipping box with tissue paper. We featured Chris’s LEGO Macintosh desktop last year (which I bought for myself last Christmas and love, love, love!) and his LEGO Amiga 500 last month, and now Chris has posted the final design for his DOS desk kit, which will be available on his website soon. The desk drawers are fully functional, with a bunch of accessories to make you more productive — or keep you distracted during the workday. One of the things that makes us love Chris and his designs all the more is that he puts his detailed instructions online for free. Yes, you can buy...

It’s easy to get over-excited while constructing mecha, since it’s easy to over-greeble details to the point that it becomes too complicated and loses its humanoid look. Khairul Nizam’s build stands out as it has good proportions and great flexibility in poses. That huge rotary canon-like weapon looks like it could do some major harm if someone gets upset. What makes this build stand out is that even thought it’s built in shades of grey and black, you still get a great visual which sometimes can be hard to pull off with a minimal use of colors to separate one section of the build from another. The post Stand down! The slightest movement may risk you being disintegrated appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Edwinder

The Near-Future LEGO Starfighter contest is prompting the creation of some lovely realistic-looking space vehicles. This entry from xiei22 is a cracker — all angled shielding, sharp colour blocking, and nice functional touches. Good photo editing too, depicting the ship in its role as a Martian patrol vehicle. You can see even more of the model’s fine details in this cool schematic image. It’s worth zooming-in for a closer look, especially of the cockpit interior and those chunky-looking railguns… The post Mars Defends! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Rod