Watch The Orange

Sometimes all you need in life is a little bit of color to brighten up your day. And just by looking at this watchtower, I’m sure Ayrlego can agree with that. It has a perfect combination of interesting techniques and beautiful palettes to make me feel all happy inside and fuel my imagination. Now I can’t help but ask, orange you glad I didn’t make any puns? I just ruined it didn’t I? I guess I’ll see myself out now.

Knight's Hall

Medieval times had their fare share of hardships. Yes, everything was lit with candlelight. Sure, guys in metal suits were always trying to take your castle. Of course large swaths of the population might be killed off by disease. But if you were fortunate enough to actually live in a castle what a wonder it must have been. I mean who wouldn’t want to spend time in a space like this one from builder Lego_fan? I want to eat some food at that table or play a game or read a book by that fire, right now!

Chocolate Box Cottage

This lovely little cottage by builder Full Plate looks right out of the pages of a classic fairytale. With it’s picture perfect setting and rustic charm it’s very welcoming. And while the overall MOC is fantastic, that thatched roof is the stand-out feature. It’s a huge investment in bars and clips, but you’ll have to agree it’s worth it.

Medieval Triptych

This trio of fantastic builds and shots comes to us courtesy of the mad skills of Travis Brickle, Simon NH and Ralf Langer. The task was to show a medieval building process, so the team each built one part and assembled them into a three panel triptych. The lighting in these shots is top notch, building a real mood.

Medieval Facade

This is like a cool combination of fantasy book illustration, MOC and movie set. On a movie, you really only build what's going to be seen, and usually it's just the front so everything's thin and single sided. I don't know what's on the other side of this lovely creation by builder ranghaal, but I like to imagine it's where craft service has set up, and there's a bunch of crew members standing around eating bagels.

Daydelon

I know much of the US, and the world is enduring a cold snap at the moment, so the charm of a snowy medieval village might be lessened a bit. But just look at this excellent diorama by builder soccersnyderi. Despite it's apparent scale, the whole thing fits on a 48x48 baseplate. It also has a feature I've never seen before, pull out room interiors. Three little vignettes that slide out of the structures to reveal a little bit if medieval life.

Blacksmith

I've often wondered what I'd be if I lived in medieval times. Clearly I wouldn't work on movies, they won't be invented for a few hundred years, and we can certainly toss out LEGO blogging. I'm pretty sure I'd be a blacksmith, they're the makers of the period. And if I got to work in a space even partially as charming and picturesque as this little cottage workshop by builder Simon NH, then I'd be totally cool with it. Just look at this place, with it's lively colors and rustic charm you can't help but be drawn in.

Dwarf House

This may be an odd tangent, but would't this make an nifty Airbnb? I've stayed at several over the years, most pretty normal, a couple unorthodox (an RV in someone's back yard?) but nothing even close to this interesting. Tell me you would't love to stay here at this wonderful and whimsical house by builder jaapxaap for just a couple nights, it would be awesome.

Medieval Village

I often can't decide which genre I like more: science fiction or castle. Recently, I've been leaning more towards sci-fi, since SHIPtember's coming pretty soon. But this wonderful build by Mark of Falworth is swaying me back in the other direction. I really like the style of all the buildings; the more rustic wood-and-plaster houses combine beautifully with the elegant stone church. It's too bad that we don't see stone buildings built from tan more often, since this one is splendid.

The Tiny Village

This microscale village by -Balbo- shows off some lovely techniques. My favorite is the way he's built up the shoreline: the layering of angled plates makes for a very cool, non-blocky look. The water is really well done as well, since its dark coloring is much more realistic than the bright blue so often seen in landscape builds. Also, the technique of clear bricks laid sideways allows for a really cool reflection which adds a lot to the realism of this scene.

One, Two, Tree Reasons to Build Landscapes

I always love it when a good solid landscaping build shows up in my Flickr feed. This build by Markus1984 is a really good example of many different landscaping techniques. The path and rocks are very nicely integrated into the greenery. I particularly like how the path is built at an angle; it makes the build feel a lot more realistic. Also, even though I would normally advise against taking pictures in direct sunlight, it looks great here, since the way the light filters through the LEGO leaves is just gorgeous.

Medieval Smithy

Life in medieval times must have been a strange combination of difficult yet simple. Not that the art of smithing is easy in any way, it's hard work all the way back to the quarry, but you knew if you took this rock, smashed it up, built a really hot fire and threw it in, you'd end up with some metal that you could then shape (yes, I super simplified the art of smelting). And you could sell or trade that metal stuff for goods or food you didn't make or grow yourself, like the smith depicted in this beautiful MOC by Julandrius, seems pretty blissful. Sure the average life expectancy was 31 years and every other small country around you wanted you dead, but at least when you sat down at a meal everyone didn't pull out their damn iPhone.

Where The Wild Things Are!

Wild indeed!  Luke Watkins Hutchinson has been a busy guy.  In fact, he's announced a project with Bricks magazine where he'll be demonstrating, month by month, how he builds these amazing scenes.  That's why he's only posted the one pic, you'll have to get a subscription to see the rest. 

Both Bricks and Brick Culture are high quality publications, and for those of us in North America, not particularly expensive, even with the postage.  Definitely worth checking out!

Fantasy Characters

This is like a video game or fantasy movie that just hasn't been made yet. Builder Amida Na has crafted not only a collection of fantastic characters but has also developed those characters with back story and personality. Click through to see just who these wonderful characters (and more) are and get to know them a little better.

Blacksmith

Is it weird that the first thing I thought when I looked at this MOC by LL was "movie set"? I guess I've just been in that mode lately (then again, I've been in movie mode since I was twelve) with lots of animation going on. Since it's just a section of castle wall it sort of looks like a classic facade. And really, look at it, can't you just see a little drama or comedy playing out in this wonderful little scene?