Self-described Train Nerd, Michael Gale takes us through his process to restore old and tarnished track, in various states of deterioration. Hop aboard, and see what he comes up with, today on BrickNerd!
Read MoreWhat do you do when you run out of pieces but want to make a MOC bigger and edit it onto a cool background? You use photography tricks! This is your guide to compositing and editing for LEGO photography.
Read MoreContinuing our series about AFOLs with kids, we take a look at the question of whether or not kids are welcome at LUG meetings and LEGO fan conventions as exhibitors. Spoiler alert: there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.
Read MoreHow do you take better photos of your LEGO creations if you only have a cell phone? Here are some tips to make your photos shine on a budget, no professional camera needed.
Read MoreAdding special effects to a LEGO MOC may seem a daunting task—join me for a breakdown of how I did it for these two separate shots and learn a few different tips and tricks along the way!
Read MoreYou’ve watched the videos, you’ve seen the carnage. Now you want to build your own! Will F is back with Part II of his Combat Robots series, today on BrickNerd!
Read MoreHave you ever taken a photo of your amazing LEGO creation at a convention but the background is too distracting? BrickNerd guest contributor Wayne Tyler shares his process to make MOC photos pop, no matter what is behind them!
Read MoreAre you an AFOL in need of a break or maybe some inspiration? Or are you just getting started trying to build a MOC for the first time? Well, alternate LEGO set builds are the perfect experiment to get your imagination racing!
Read MoreWhat do you do when all of a sudden you have a building block preventing you from finishing your next LEGO creation? Here is a list of all the things that help me have ideas and inspiration to break through creative blocks, but it all comes down to one thing: build more!
Read MoreLighting for LEGO photography doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be as fun as the MOCs themselves by only using what you have on hand to achieve some brilliant effects. So here are few techniques that can inspire your own creativity.
Read MoreSharing LEGO creations usually means you’ll need to take a photo or two, but where do you get started? We have your DIY guide for building your own lightbox as well as other tips about upping your photography game.
Read MoreFor a person coming into the LEGO hobby today, chances are they are probably coming into it due to an IP or specific item that caught their attention. Reading posts in various groups, I see an increasing number of posts asking how one goes from building a set with instructions to building their own design. This is a bigger leap today than it was when I got started in the hobby. It can be a daunting challenge as to where or how to start. Going from the LEGO Black Panther Jet to building your own design can be quite rewarding, but how to start?
Looking back at my journey with the hobby, much has changed. When I started in the hobby in the 90’s, there were alternative builds showcased on the boxes. There was more focus on the building system rather then the IPs. The parts library was also much smaller. Going to the front page of Bricklink, it shows at the time of this writing that there are 54,854 parts listed in the catalog. Comparing sample years, in 1995 there is 442 items identified in the parts catalog verses 2018 has 3040 items identified.
Taking these numbers into account, when you consider the number of possible combinations of two 2x4 bricks is 24 different ways. Three 2x4 bricks can be combined in 1,060 ways. Six 2x4 bricks can be combined in more than 915 million possible combinations. The possibilities are truly mind-boggling when you consider all the possible combinations of all the parts in the catalog.
With all this, it is not intended to scare anyone away from trying to create their designs. One of the most common recommendations offered is to jump in and try. This doesn’t really answer the question as to how does one start. The following is not intended to be “The” answer, but rather one of many possibilities that may or may not work for the reader.LEGO is a construction toy, with a building system at its core. With that in mind, it is important to spend time to learn the system. There are many approaches on how to do this and again, I will focus on one method.
Take any three parts and try to put them together. It doesn’t matter what three parts you choose, just choose any three. For example, I chose: a 1x1 Cylinder, 1x2 Plate and a 2x2 Plate
Studying the images located below, you can see that for some of the examples I have repeated a part. The idea is to start with three LEGO Elements and see how they can connect and what shapes you can create with them.
Why not give it a try yourself and see how fun it can be to experiment with various ways of connecting LEGO Bricks together. Cheers from the Construct-a-Venture Crew!
Editor’s note: Many thanks to Megan Rothrock and Jim Foulds for this guest post
I don't post techniques very often, but I think this is very clever. 6kyubi6 shared this palm tree technique, and it's some of the best palms I've ever seen.
I have a Taco Bell promotional item from Star Wars Episode 1 (yeah, I kept it, whatevs) with this same principle. I remember thinking it would be possible to build in LEGO, but never attempted it. I might just have to put one of these together some day, they're endlessly fascinating.
Moko has stumbled onto a very interesting technique. It would seem that the sprue of the Belville heart shaped accessory part collection has some rather fascinating possibilities. It happens to be the same size as the pin holes on minifigure hair and accessories as well as the underside tube of plates. Check out his blog (in Japanese) for more info.
I don't know if this technique is new or not but I've never seen it before. Flickr user gid617 built a little carpet using it and I had to share. It sort of makes me sad to think of all those amputated Minifigs though.
Iain Heath (OchreJelly) has put together a very amusing and informative video on how to ruin...err, dye your bricks for a stunning effect. It's actually rather simple, once you get over the random staining, chemical burns and hate mail from LEGO purists. WARNING: bricks were indeed harmed in the making of this video (but we understand no animals were, except maybe the fish).
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