About this creation
Imagine opening a box and seeing a LEGO sculpture of yourself! This life-size bust sculpture of LEGO-maniac Zach (and his brother Burk) was commissioned by their mother and given to him as a Christmas present. It was a great honor to have created something so special for these boys.
The sculpture is about 20 inches tall and contains about 2,500 LEGO pieces.
Creating curved shapes with LEGO bricks is quite challenging. Creating human faces is even more challenging. And creating the face of someone you've never met is definitely the toughest challenge any artist can face! It was also a great experience and a lot of fun, because I was given the luxury of spending my entire summer working on these two busts (unlike lots of other projects when I must rush like crazy to complete them).
Brothers
I built sculptures of these two brothers together. See more photos of the other sculpture. (After building Zach, in the blue shirt, Burk specifically requested a shirtless bust, so he would look more like a classic Roman sculpture.) Those two dark-tan 2x2 bricks are possibly the world's first LEGO nipples. :)
How'd he do that??
Creating human faces with LEGO bricks is always very challenging. I began by getting lots of photos of Zach ... side views, front views, and anything I could get ahold of. I drew his face onto specially-designed graph paper that has a grid designed to the same proportions of LEGO bricks. Then, using the drawings as a guide and looking at all the photos, I built a test face. Then another, and another, each time making little changes until after lots and lots of test models and prototypes, the sculpture eventually started to take shape. It takes lots of time and patience!
The eyes are always the hardest part. Here's a sneak-peek into how I built them... (they are mini-fig frying pans!) Eyes are always really hard, because if they are even the tiniest bit off they look completely ridiculous. Since Zach's eyes are rather narrow-set, I mounted them with clips and turned them a bit so that they appear offset by a quarter-stud. In addition, the jumper plates around his eyes are offset in two directions, creating corners that are only a quarter-of-a-plate using a fair bit of fancy LEGO voodoo.
Comments
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May 23, 2011 |
for facial sculpture, slopes placed vertical, could maybe add more combinations possible...although, i have no experience in that art! but, moc pages is a good thing in my life, i feel i owe you, so, maybe an observation can help? it s the intention that count, right? lol! thank you a lot sean!!! great work!
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May 23, 2011 |
i must congratulate you for your good taste in design, and organisation! it s done in such good taste! i love your busts, in a pic, there are 3, the one in the center is awesome!!!!they are all great, but, this one stands out for me! it also occurs me while i look at your technique, that it will evolve into partial snot someday... |
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May 10, 2011 |
Cool, but they'll probably scrap them for tan goodness in no time :) |
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May 9, 2011 |
His eyes follow you EVERYWHERE. But anyways, nice job. |
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April 27, 2011 |
It's really stunning how -in the hands of an artist- squared-off, cornered bricks can create such life-like sculptures. |
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December 29, 2010 |
Incredible work, great job! |
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December 29, 2010 |
These sculptures ROCK! The brickiness is not dead. And we're lucky it's not. |
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December 29, 2010 |
Crazy cool work Sean, its great to know us AFOLs have such a 'Master of the Brick' to inspire us. ~Thoy |
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December 28, 2010 |
Little did the mother know that it would lead to a LEGO first. LOL Awesome work with the design of the eyes.~H |
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December 28, 2010 |
Ha! The first Lego nipples ever! You're right: human faces are difficult to create in ANY medium let alone Lego, but you've done it masterfully. |
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December 28, 2010 |
Having painted numerous portraits over the years I can certainly relate to the difficulty of capturing the human face - stunning work, Sean! I hope the recipients were pleased and will treasure your work for years to come. |
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December 28, 2010 |
Amazing. And thanks for sharing your technique with us. |
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December 28, 2010 |
Nice job, I like how you used pans for the eyes! |
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December 28, 2010 |
Those are amazingly realistic! |
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More from Sean More across MOCpages
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