Posts Tagged ‘Lego Portraits’
“Mom and Bill” (2007)
(This entry is part of a look at early mosaics I’ve made).
“Mom and Bill” was the first commissioned piece I created, for a good friend who wanted a unique and original Christmas gift for her mom.After a few emails to figure out what she was looking for, and a mock up of two, I was able to start on the piece, which turned out swimmingly. Have a look at the comparison below.
One of the most memorable parts of the build was the night that S came over and actually helped put some of the final pieces in place. It was also the night I discovered that over the course of a year or so, I had developed some dexterity with the pieces, as we both started out with same amount to add it, and I was finished much earlier.
Not sure why there are many butterflies on the TV, but they’re very pretty. You can also see in this shot that the design used both 48 stud grey baseplates and 32 stud green baseplates.
In this last shot, I’m taking the baseplates apart, in order to pack them. She was taking the piece on a plane, and we were able to pack it in the box from a computer LCD monitor.
The rest of September and beginning of October are booked up, but I still have room for one or two custom pieces in time for the holidays. If you’re interested, drop me line at dave@brickwares.com
Albert (2007)
(This entry is part of a look at early mosaics I’ve made).
My good friend Albert Howell, comedian, star of stage and screen, and comedy writer, jokingly suggested that I make a mosaic of him. So, I did. I think it turned out very well, and taught me more still about portraits and shadowing.
I usually don’t like the “side by side” comparison. Other people are amazed at how close the picture is, etc, but having spend hours staring at the pictures, I usually just see the flaws and what I’ve missed. (In this one, Al’s hair bleeds into the shadow behind him).
As usual, I took a few pictures with Finny sitting on or near the piece, to add scale. It occurs to me now that as he gets bigger, I’ll need to either make bigger mosaics, or accept that the scale will be less impressive.
I also experimented with building up parts of the mosaic to make it a bit more 3D. I didn’t think it really added much, and it seemed weird, so I stopped.
As Albert is “Canadian Famous”, he didn’t actually purchase the mosaic, but I made up for that by renting space to a fellow who wanted to build a castle. I think this makes this mosaic fairly unique, as I can’t think of any other LEGO creation that uses a portrait as it’s baseplate.
Thanks for visiting and allowing me to ramble on about the work. Hope you enjoyed it, and as always, Brickwares is available for custom mosaics. You can’t buy THIS mosaic, as it’s of Albert, and that would be weird. Oh, unless you ARE Albert, or maybe his parents, possibly his sister. Otherwise, it’s right out. Contact me at dave@brickwares.com if you have any questions.
Zach (2007)
(This entry is part of a look at early mosaics I’ve made).
One of my brilliant ideas early on was to create a LEGO mosaic portrait of a celebrity who was web-saavy and therefore likely to stumble across the photos, be amazed and flattered, and purchase it immediately. It totally worked. Well, except for the stumbling, flattery, and purchase parts.
When I was searching for black and white portrait images, I came across a photo of Zach Braff from “Scrubs”. I was a big fan of the show, and decided to make the picture into a mosaic. This one used a bit of cross-hatching, and made use of shadow and light. I like how it turned out, but I think the “commercialism” of it makes me a bit, well, ashamed of this piece. Not of the result, of course, but of the fact that I let the commercial aspect call the shots. Also, I then have to explain it to whomever is looking through the pics, and convince them i’m not a celebrity stalker or anything.
I’ve been faced with that decision a few times since, and I find that when I choose “art”, things generally work out better. One thing that I learned early on, is that when you spend between 40-100 hours (spread out over evenings throughout a month) on a piece, you HAVE to be inspired by the image, otherwise it becomes a grind, and isn’t fun at all.
“Shh Zach, don’t say anything. It will be our secret.”
The biggest positive that came out of this piece is that it made me want to make more portraits, and that led to one of my 2 favorite mosaics. But more on that later.
Thanks for visiting and allowing me to ramble on about the work. Hope you enjoyed it, and as always, Brickwares is available for custom mosaics. contact me at dave@brickwares.com if you have any questions.