Today’s article comes from guest contributor Jesse Gros who discusses how AI-generated “LEGO” sets are sparking a debate between inspiration and imitation within the AFOL community. From Pixels to Plastic Is the world of MOC building on the brink of a transformation? This past week, high-quality IA-generated “LEGO” sets started popping up on Instagram on pages like @brick4world. At first glance, these images looked like real sets. When I saw the first one, my heart skipped a beat: “Oh, I’m buying that set for sure!” Seconds later, I read the post and realized it was an AI mockup made up of digital “pieces” that approximate LEGO. This sent my mind whirling. AI creation by brick4world. One of the first comments in the thread below the image expressed anger: “Can we not post that AI crap here?” Responses included comments about the images being used for “inspiration.” Another pointed out that translating...

A new month is upon us which means more competitive building! Are you ready? Here’s the latest batch of LEGO contests and challenges from all around the AFOL community for November 2023 to help you find some inspiration and motivation to build! There’s nothing quite like a theme or a prompt to take you out of your comfort zone and give you something new to try. Besides, contests are the perfect place to interact with other contestants and judges and get to know your fellow builders. And if you’re like me, a deadline helps make sure you actually finish! We’ve listed them in order of deadline so you can plan your building time to the best advantage. Make sure to check the LEGO activity calendar for local challenges and events near you. Here at BrickNerd, some of our fondest memories, greatest building achievements, coolest trophies, and best friendships came from LEGO...

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published November 2, 2022. I first read The Lord of the Rings when I was nine, and since then I’ve been hooked on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional world of Arda and Middle Earth. One of the things that’s always appealed to me about Middle Earth is the incredibly dense worldbuilding that Tolkien imbued it with and the wealth of amazing locations featured within its stories. (That’s one of the characteristics of High Fantasy which was the theme for BrickNerd’s Nerdvember contest in 2022. This year’s contest theme is “survival” which could also work.) When LEGO started releasing sets based on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies back in 2012, they captured many of these stunning locations in brick form to the delight of many LOTR-obsessed LEGO fans. However, while the sets we got were incredible, the theme ended far too quickly and we were...

Who among us hasn’t spent time daydreaming and doodling during those particularly boring days in school? It’s a fair bet that Maxx Davidson certainly did, because this school supply spaceship is a perfect homage to those classroom fantasies. The notebook paper wings are loaded up with pencil missiles and highlighter engines. The push pin lasers mounted to the rulers help keep boredom at bay. And the whole thing is structured around a pencil case cockpit with a LEGO built zipper that we grade as an A+. The pilot is even sitting on an eraser seat! The post The school day is saved thanks to this stationary spacecraft appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: Norm Harper

Forced perspective is one of those artist’s buzzwords (or phrases) that means to achieve the illusion of a vast depth of field within a very narrow space. LEGO artist Jaap Bijl understands forced perspective quite well. The central road bisecting the composition down the middle appears to trail off into the long distance, but from the sky to the foreground, the composition is no more than twenty studs deep. The builder tells us the width is more than a meter across, which certainly helps create the illusion of depth. The other trick Jaap clearly understands is the use of color. This is a world bursting with color for sure but the brightest of which is relegated only to objects in the extreme foreground. Midground is awash in a bit more subdued pastels, clueing us in that, even that far down the road, this is a colorful world but dialing back the...