Slice of Life: A Tale of Constant Iteration
A MOC genre that has popped up in recent years the “Slice of Life.” Pioneered by Jackson / jermaxmikufan (Flickr/Instagram) in early 2021, it depicts primarily a lived-in Japanese-inspired setting, devoid of minifigures, and “just part of the sprawl of towns and cities.” Its loving take on the mundane quickly garnered a following, with many builders wanting to attempt their own take on the concept, and as a result a collaboration project sprung up.
One of the resulting creations was Bartu Elci-Ozsoy’s “Slice of Life: Townhouse,” a delightful study in bright light orange and light salmon, overgrown and lived-in, and with more details than one can count. The Modulex on display is no accident – Bartu goes by the moniker of “LegoModulexFan” (Flickr) – and his love for the obscure and retired is apparent with each and every brick—light violet fences form a balcony while medium orange is used to weather the brickwork, and an old-dark-gray power pole completes the composition.
Bartu’s excellent use of color and loving details are no accident–they are the result of a long and meticulous design process and honed through numerous feedback loops leaning on fellow expert builders. But to truly see how one ends up with a model like this, we have to go all the way back to its humble beginnings.
Once upon a time, there was a tablescrap, and it was bright light orange.
Bartu’s main goal at that stage was simply to integrate Trolls skirts into a wall, and optimistically he thought by extending it a little more he could quickly call it a day and move on. Little did he know that sharing these humble sketches on the Builder Improvement Initiative (BII) Discord server would kickstart a long process of tweaking and updating this little scene over and over, something he is still doing to this day, even though the MOC has long since been published.
BII members quickly chimed in with input, leading Bartu to sketch over the photo he shared, which in turn led to a lot of additions to the humble wall that you can still see in the final creation today. Bartu added a skirting to the building, and a humble black window now sat underneath a dark grey shingled roof, already showing signs of age. Around it a smorgasbord of trash, an air conditioning unit and an ornamental flower pot further added to the scene. In the corner we can see the beginnings of a wooden door peek out–details that already showed that this would be a quintessential Slice of Life build.
The real struggles started soon after, and they are something that a lot of builders deal with over time: How to not ruin what was already built?
IMAGE VIA Angela Hao
Bartu really loved what he had, and he was constantly worried that whatever he put on top of it would worsen the build. As a result he tried out a variety of color combinations and different techniques, ultimately getting lost in the process, turning to the internet in need of a breakthrough.
A beautiful drawing by Angela Hao caught his eye, and he thought that the pastel pink color of the top floor could work nicely with the bright light orange of the rest of the build. Not that Bartu needed an excuse to sneak in some light salmon Scala panels he had lying around, and as a result the first iteration of the top floor looked like this, before school workload and life in general kept him from continuing further with the build for almost five months:
Originally Bartu had hoped to be done with the MOC. But the pictures had turned out to be dark and gloomy–too dark to post them, and they were not doing the creation justice.
What was initially a low point for Bartu and made him turn to other builders for advice ultimately resulted in all of it finally coming together: What everyone seemed to agree on was that it needed a roof instead of the railing that Angela Hao’s art had inspired. And when one of his friends stopped by in person over spring break with some ideas on how to continue the little townhouse, it quickly took shape. A lack of pieces inspired a rooftop terrace, and when Kit Nugent (Flickr/Instagram) begged Bartu to balance the whole thing out visually, a thicker base was added and transformed it altogether:
The details and clutter had a home now, too, and Bartu considered the build to be pretty much done, only needing a bit of polish here and there. The house was ending too abruptly, for example, and when Jonah Schultz (Flickr/Instagram) suggested extending the footprint and to add a bright light orange tile behind the Modulex aqua green window, things quickly fell into place.
Bartu added some additional greenery, a fence and a power pole to balance the scene, and there it was—his own slice of life, ready to be photographed in a sunny setting similarly to how Jackson does it so nicely. The final photo really shows it off, and makes the colours pop:
To end this tale of constant iteration and builder feedback, we can only recommend to head over to Flickr and take a stroll through Bartu’s slice of life and admire some of the details he snuck in. There’s a reason the photo there is littered with notes from fellow builders, highlighting the smart piece usage and the fun features he hid within.
After all… who but the LEGOModulexfan uses 1x1 Modulex tiles to create a bonsai tree?
Have you leaned on fellow builders to improve your own creations before? Let us know in the comments below!
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