Ahoy, everyone! Welcome to today's 10K Club Interview. Brought to you by Alex, a.k.a. Adwind on LEGO Ideas, we present his SMALL SHRIMPING BOAT project. Get ready for a sail-away toward the deep sea of passion and creativity. Leave your comments and show your support below!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Hi, I’m Alex Storozhuk!
- Where are you from?
I’m from Ukraine, temporarily relocated to Poland.
- How old are you?
I'm 31.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I have a medical degree. I used to lead classes at a university for foreign students. Now I manage a small trucking dispatchers’ team.
- What hobbies do you have?
Lego is my biggest hobby at the moment. I love to build sets, create MOCs, collect, and play with my daughter of course!
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
Here is my Youtube and Instagram:
https://www.youtube.com/@adwind.homealone.fandesigner/videos
https://www.instagram.com/lego.adwind/
- Have you created any LEGO MOCs (my own creations) that you’re particularly proud of? What is it, why are you proud of it and do you have a photo of it?
I still love one of my older MOCs called Lifeguard Shack. It’s quite small but I like the vibe! And of course, my famous “yellow fish build” too :)
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
When I was around 4 years old my godmother and father gave me a little pirate set that I instantly fell in love with! Even a 10-20-piece set was enough to have a ton of fun! I rediscovered the fun of building in 2015 when my wife and I bought our first Lego set to build during Christmas holidays. Then it became a tradition and then an addiction :)
- What is the LEGO hobby to you? What does it mean to you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games or 'just' watch the cartoons.
Somehow (and I still can’t figure out how) over the last few years these shiny bricks got into almost every field of our life. It started as a lovely Christmas tradition and now it’s everywhere! It can be just fun family time building a set, teaching my daughter math or English with Lego, or just my own creativity tool. I met a lot of new people thanks to Lego bricks too!
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
Lego Ideas and Creator Expert (or Icons now?) are my favorites. I appreciate that these sets at the same time have a display value, fun play features, and superb building experience.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
Oh, it’s so hard to pick one, let’s name three at least. It’s the Old Fishing Store, Downtown Diner, and Motorized Lighthouse.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
The new 3386 is an incredibly useful element. Let it be it :)
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
I would mention Exesandbox and Mexx Rustamov - both are super skillful designers. I am also a fan of Mike Psiaki’s works :)
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
It was really spontaneous this time! I remember the day when I entered the living room with a huge Lego box in my hands. It was an amazing set called Motorized Lighthouse. And, naturally, my 3-year-old daughter’s curious mind started to ask questions straightaway :) And then a very uncomfortable one followed. I was asked if we have a ship to go with the lighthouse after I explained what the lighthouse is. As you probably guessed already - I didn’t have any ships, but it’s too late - the seed was planted! I thought it would be fun to make something unusual and playable, so I decided to go with a shrimper - something that I didn’t know a lot about when I started this project but also something that looked super curious to discover! The story you see on my project’s page I made up while designing this boat to entertain Anna so that while she’s listening I could place a few more bricks into the new project :) Don’t judge me please, I spend a lot of time with her ha-ha!
- How long was the process of making the project, and what did you have to research as well? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
My knowledge of shrimp boats was quite mediocre, to put it mildly! So I watched a film about Louisiana shrimping boats and even found a vlogger girl who shows their life on these boats. I also found some blueprint images showing how these boats work. So, after that, I did my best to implement as much of what I had just discovered in my project as I could while staying on a reasonable scale of course.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
I started with the nose of the boat as I knew that this was going to be the most crucial part of the overall look. I tried a ton of different options before I was satisfied with the curvature and stability.
Another section that was quite complicated and challenging was the cabin since I wanted to give it some nice wooden plank texture. So I built it using a lot of snot techniques. Sometimes the build went upside down, and the windscreen for example stayed in place without being attached to studs.
Quite obviously, any shrimping boat needs shrimps :) So another fun challenge was to find out how to represent a shrimp! I think I found a funny solution - turns out that Tauntaun’s horn in transparent black looks like a giant shrimp ha-ha!
- How long did it take to complete the model? Did you finish it fairly quickly, or did it take a long time? And how did the build time compare to the time you spent promoting your Product Idea to reach 10,000 supporters?
I believe it took me about a month to finish the model, and then maybe 1.5 months to finish my presentation. I made a short animation to tell the story I wrote about and animation is quite time consuming thing! Around 800 Studio 2.0 renders went into that mini-cartoon :)
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It was definitely faster than I thought it would be, roughly 2,5 months. And what can I say it always feels amazing! By tradition - we celebrate 10k with a cake!
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
1196 bricks.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
It is really hard to say. I used a lot of unconventional building techniques here. I would probably highlight the stand the boat sits on. I tried to replicate one of those trendy wooden tables with blue epoxy tar in its texture to represent water. I think it really compliments the boat!
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I use Studio 2.0 and Part Designer.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
There’s one custom print I made myself in Photoshop - it’s the name of the boat “Anna”, and also 2 black stripes for the roof and tail of the boat.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
The more I think about it, the more I realize - it is mostly about the Idea. As simple as that. Of course, your presentation and advertising campaign are important, but at the end of the day, whether it’s approved or not, your Idea matters the most in my opinion.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I used all social media out there, all groups on Facebook and Reddit, I also posted it on ship modeling forums where it was very warmly accepted!
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
The motorized lighthouse is close to perfect. Not only as a Lego Ideas set, but as a Lego set in general. I am still a fan of the Old Fishing Store - I think it was way ahead of its time!
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
I like creating Lego sets, concepts, and seeing others' Ideas! This community is full of creative minds from all over the world - it’s a joy to see what tomorrow will bring us!
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint what that might be?
I have just posted my new Idea called “Desktop Rock ‘N’ Roll”!
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f6b91ee4-90ef-4f8c-9fef-d896c7ebe0d9 &...I still have some more in mind, but for now, let’s manage these :)
By
Hani2