So you’ve probably been wondering why I’ve been off the radar for the past few days. Well, if you’ve been reading my blog for very long you know that when I have a project, I tend to let everything else slide.
So here’s my latest creation
I have decided to start selling portrait mosaics but in order to do that, I needed a sample to show my skills. This is a picture of my friend Tiffeny’s baby Colby. Its the first time I’ve done a portrait, although my Remembering 9/11 mosaic was my first based off a real picture.
I wanted to make a smaller mosaic than my standard size of 2 feet tall, so I decided to go with 1 foot tall as I felt it was a nice size, but I could still retain the likeness of the image.
Since I know you are always curious about my process I took a picture of the brick paper design I made for this mosaic.
It looks like kind of a mess, but trust me, it makes sense.
What I do is take the original picture, then I use Photoshop and Bricksaic to find the color values. If you are not familiar with Bricksaic it is a freeware program created by Bob Kojima. Bob is also the man behind BrickShirts. Bricksaic is a program to help you design mosaics. It can be helpful, but it doesn’t work fully for my technique. The best part of it though is that you can constrain the image to only the LEGO colors you want to use. So instead of the mosaic having weird colors in random places you only have the colors you want.
Here’s an up close shot so you can kind of see what I’m doing.
The model took my 40 hours or so to make.
Its funny, I never would have thought that I would be able to create something like this a decade ago when I started in the Model Shop. But after so many years, and so many mosaics, it was relatively easy.
I am selling them on my Etsy shop, if you’re interested, but I admit, it’s not cheap.
The pictures were impressive, but didn’t really highlight the shear size of this model. This new video released by LEGO gives you a much better perspective on how really massive this model is.
Kingdom’s Joust was just unveiled for the first time last night at BrickCon. And yes, it looks just as gorgeous, if not more so, in person as it does in the pictures.
Jousting sets have a special place in my heart because one of my favorite Castle sets, Knight’s Challenge, came out when I was a kid. And yes, I know I’m showing my age.
I’ve always loved Castle theme, Forestmen most of all which debuted the same year — 1988. I also created a Miniland scale Renn Fair when I was at LEGOLAND California with a jousting scene.
This new set, similar in the feel and design of the Medieval Market Village, is elegant and fun all rolled into one! Now all we need is the rest of the castle to go with it.
10223 Kingdoms Joust
Ages 12+. 1,575 pieces.
US $119.99 CA $149.99 DE 119.99 € UK 99.99 £ DK 1099.00 DKK AU 199.99 AUD
Watch the Knights battle it out at the Royal Joust!
It’s the most exciting event on the LEGO Kingdoms calendar! Join the King and Queen at the Royal Joust as the knights on horseback battle it out for the hand of the beautiful Princess. This detailed set recreates all the majesty of a medieval pageant, from the large, 6-roomed castle with linked wall extensions, 2 knights’ weapons tents, royal viewing box, jousting fence and of course 2 magnificent jousting horses. Combine 2 Kingdoms Joust sets for a scene that is truly fit for a King! Includes 9 minifigures: king, queen, princess, lion knight, falcon knight, young squire, nobleman and 2 soldiers.
• Includes 9 minifigures: king, queen, princess,, lion knight, falcon knight, young squire, nobleman and 2 soldiers!
• Knight minifigures include armor decoration, helmet, jousting pole, shield and 2 extra weapons!
• Features castle with 6 detailed rooms with lots of accessorie and 2 knight’s tents with weapon holders!
• Open back for easy access to linked wall extensions!
• Also features royal viewing box with flags and coat of arms!
• Includes 2 knight’s horses with detailed decoration, weapon holder and armored headgear!
• Explore the castle rooms!
• Battle it out for the hand of the princess!
• Combine 2 Kingdoms Joust sets for a scene fit for King!
• Castle measures 20″ (51 cm) wide and 12″ (30 cm) tall!
Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning
January 2012 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone
I love the lady in the green dress!
So much awesomeness, so little money. Once again my wallet is already hurting from the sets I want to buy next year.
You can check out this cool video about the new LEGO Master Builder Academy.
I’m pretty excited for this program. Its kind of what I’ve been doing and wanting to do all along. The only downside is that its only available in the US for now. Here’s hoping it will be worldwide soon.
Disney and LEGO, two licences that were fated to be together. And the newly remodeled Orland LEGO Imagination Center in Orlando, Florida shows just what those two iconic powerhouses can do.
Yes, that’s all LEGO, and yes, it is the final battle scene from Sleeping Beauty — LEGO-fied.
The Master Model Builders have created these amazing new Disney LEGO models.
Here is Minifig Snow White
And even the LEGO Family has been Disney-fied
(I don’t know why you’d bring your four dogs to Disney World, but that’s just me )
I still haven’t gotten to the Sunshine State yet, but maybe someday I’ll get there. So if you happen to be near Disney World, check out all the new amazing models.
And thanks to Michael Huffman for taking all these great pictures.
Thursday March 31st, 2011 marked the grand opening of Star Wars Miniland. After much anticipation and just a few teaser pictures from LEGOLAND, it was nice to finally see the finished product. I tried to get in on the actual official opening, but it was so packed that I didn’t get a chance to even get into the park until it was all over.
It is really cool, especially to see the Millennium Falcon at over 4 feet long.
There are 6 clusters, focusing on main scenes from the 6 different movies. My only complaint was that some of the classic scenes were so far away from the viewing public (2-3 feet or more) that its really hard to see the details.
While at the same time the scene I thought was a little boring was right up close
Now being as I worked at LEGOLAND and I took care of Miniland for 4 years I do understand why models have to be far away. If models are too close grasping little (and big) hands can make off with models. Its happened before, in fact I had to rebuild the hearse for New Orleans as one of my early assignments due to that very reason. And even if the model is too big to be stolen, they can easily be damaged even if they are glued.
There was also a giant mosaic that was built by park guests earlier this month. There was a small 6×6 panel missing, but I’m probably one of the only ones who noticed.
What I found almost more interesting than the finished product was the time lapse video LEGOLAND released of all the Model Makers and maintenance workers hard at work getting the Star Wars area ready. I’ve been there; working long, hard hours for weeks and even months on end to get everything ready for opening day. It is a truly unique experience working so closely with your coworkers for so long on such tight time restraints. A lot of minute details have to be remembered, all while making sure to finish it all on time.
I always enjoy seeing LEGOLAND grow, in some ways there will always be a part of me that remains at LEGOLAND with my friends and former coworkers who still work there. Star Wars Miniland is a nice addition to Miniland USA and a much better replacement than Daytona which I never really liked (even when we installed it). I have to admit, I do miss Miniland Kennedy Space Center, as I created several fun models for that cluster, but I also know that the Space Center lives on at LEGOLAND Florida, Windsor, and Billund.
I have a whole bunch of pictures of the whole Star Wars Miniland area on my Flickr photostream. I was also told by one of my friends in maintenance that it looks almost as amazing at night because of all the LED lights. I’ll have to test that out when the park is open in the summer.
For those in the know Maersk is a worldwide shipping company based out of Denmark. But for LEGO fans Maersk has an entirely different meaning.
Maersk is a rather rare and hard to get color, made in only a small amount of parts in half a dozen or so sets based off the actual Maersk shipping trucks and container ships. It was also made in a larger selection of bricks for the Model Shops, an exception to the “you can get all these parts yourself” rule that is always claimed.
The shipping container seen above has been released twice, once in 2004 and then again last year with only a few minor changes other than packaging and the sticker sheet. It is currently available at LEGO Shop at Home. Up until now it was the only Maersk set that has been commercially available to most LEGO consumers, all previous sets were only available through promotional release. That however, is about to change . . .
Introducing the 10219 Maersk Container Train! Update: Apparently LEGO took the image off its website.
Although very little is known at this time about the set, it does have a five digit set number and the image itself is directly from lego.com leading me to suspect this will also be available to the general public. Looking closely at the image there are a lot of very cool elements new to the color and I know all the Maersk lovers out there will be drooling over this set.
Thanks to Brickset.com for tipping me off to this.
This picture was just posted on LEGOLAND California’s Facebook page. It says that Star Wars Miniland will be opening this March. There’s no other info yet, but if you look at the picture, several of those models look like they will be the ones in the display and from the looks of the models they will be spanning both the original and prequel movie trilogies
Update:I found this from the LATimes:
Eight model makers and two animators based at Legoland Germany have been working for a year with Lucasfilm to create 1:20 scale versions of iconic “Star Wars” characters, spacecraft and landscapes using 1.5 million Lego bricks.
In addition to posing for photos with life-size Lego models of Chewbacca, R2-D2 and Darth Vader, visitors will be able to wander through seven Lego-fied “Star Wars” scenes, including:
Episode I: Naboo
Battle scenes at the royal palace and a flight hangar feature a duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul.
Episode II: Geonosis
Obi-Wan, Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker battle creatures in the Geonosis arena while nearby a battle unfolds between a droid army and Republic fighters.
Episode III: Kashyyyk and Mustafar
A battle rages on the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk while Obi-Wan and Anakin engage in a fateful duel on the volcanic planet of Mustafar.
Episode IV: Tatooine
Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2-D2 appear at Luke Skywalker’s childhood home in addition to scenes featuring the Mos Eisley Cantina band and Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon.
Episode V: Hoth
Imperial AT-ATs as well as Rebel snow speeders and X-wing fighters can be found on the icy planet of Hoth along with Luke, Han, Darth Vader and Princess Leia.
Episode VI: Endor
The Rebel Alliance defeats the evil Empire on the Ewok’s forest moon of Endor.
Clone Wars: Christophis
In a scene that chronologically takes place between Episodes II and III, Jedi Knights Anakin and Obi-Wan appear amid an 8-foot-tall Crystal City building.
This will be the first time Miniland will step out of the “real world” of actual cities and step into a fantasy in a full cluster. When Miniland was created, it was supposed to be real cities and we were limited here in the US because the higher-ups at the time wouldn’t let us build anything but American cities, so all the interesting cities of the world were off-limits.
But at the same time, what’s really interesting was that we were talking about a possible Star Wars Miniland over four years ago when I still worked in the Model Shop. There’s an empty space where Miniland Florida used to be, that might be where they put this, but who knows.
As soon as I know more, you’ll know more, so stay tuned!
Recently I’ve been making a lot of Christmas ornaments to sell on my Etsy Shop Folded Fancy. I created this Miniland scale Ballerina Christmas Ornament last night. It is based off of a ballerina I designed while still working at LEGOLAND as one of 30 or so Halloween Miniland costumes I created when we updated Miniland for Brick or Treat in 2003 (you can see her behind the fairy, one of my other creations).
Now of course, with her feet being the tooth element this ballerina could never stand in Miniland. But, as a Christmas ornament, she doesn’t need to.
I'm Mariann Asanuma, a former LEGO Master Model Designer and now a Freelance LEGO Artist and Author. Thanks for checking out my blog dedicated to all things LEGO. ;)
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in a custom LEGO model.
