Welcome back! Today we meet Tatsuya Arai, a.k.a. Spacemanship and their beautifully crafted THE SCREAM project. Fans of Edward Munch's work will be sure to SCREAM out for this one! Let us know if you're one of them!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Tatsuya Arai.
- Where are you from?
I’m from Japan.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I’m an engineer.
- What hobbies do you have?
I have recently re-acquired the LEGO hobby.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
My LEGO IDEAS account is my best portfolio, but there are some social media accounts such as Flickr (Space-themes and Non-space themes) and Instagram (space-themes and non-space themes)
- 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 like to introduce my MOC, Nike of Samothrace, the world-famous sculpture of the wingless goddess from ancient Greek. The complex contours and textures are implemented with LEGO bricks.
Another MOC I’d like to show is Live from Space, a realistic minifig-scale space habitat in partial gravity or microgravity. The wall-mount racks and other space gadgets are all in one package. - How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
My interest in LEGO building came back when I found @20tauri’s Women of NASA at a LEGO store as a present for my wife, but I was not aware of the LEGO IDEAS program back then. Years later, when our kids started to play with LEGO bricks, somehow I encountered the LEGO IDEAS website and saw @cubbierc’s Spaceship Earth and @LuisPG’s Voyager. They blew my mind and I realized that I want to create something fun like these builds!
- 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.
It’s hard to fit the LEGO hobby into my life because, like everyone else, I need more than 24 hours a day! But other than the pure joy of building things from scratch, I like the creativity that LEGO builders show by using the same parts for totally different purposes. Many droid heads can be great building façade, animal claws can be table legs… LEGO building makes our brains “click” to see things differently.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
I like them all, but especially ICONS, City (Space), and Art. It’s impossible to pick one!
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
Among the ones I physically built, I liked Harley-Davidson (10269) because it has a realistic combustion engine with moving pistons linked to the wheels, and you can’t even see the engine action from outside at all (like the real engine)… such a modest implementation of the great function. The set 10269 is my favourite also because my spacesuit MOC happens to be compatible with it! - What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
61287 cylinder hemisphere 2x2 with cutout. I found it compatible with many LEGO animal figures to make them look like they are conducting spacewalks.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
I follow many websites including Jay’s Brick Blog, the Brothers Brick, Brick Keeper on Instagram, studs.jp on Twitter for LEGO news in Japanese, LEGO – Biggest Fans and other Facebook groups.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
The current anxiety and uncertainty in the world reminded me of the painting “Scream” by Edvard Munch. First I wanted to make the main figure of the painting, the Screamer (although he or she is not screaming but hearing the scream) in 3D. While building it, I thought it would be nice to have a background like the painting, and started working on the background as well.
- 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?
For a few days, I studied “The Scream” online to find that the swirl on the right is actually a cliff, and the water behind the character is by a fjord.The masts of the boats are very thin, so I used the Minecraft 1x1 plate with a black square pattern to draw such thin vertical lines. There were several tries and errors of how to make the boardwalk, cliff, and fjords, too.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
Making the face of the Screamer was challenging to begin with, and after finding that the open wedges (41749, 41750) can be used as parts of the face and hands, the Screamer build went ok. Then the background consumed lots of pieces and it became challenging to keep the piece count below 3000.
- If you could talk to yourself before you started on this project, what would you tell them? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
I would not tell anything. I don’t want to spoil the surprise and joy.
- 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 was working on the build for a short period at a time and it took 8 months to finish submitting the idea. I promoted the idea on social media occasionally over the ~50 days while the project was gathering support.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
I felt grateful for all who voted for this project and Staff Pick. It is still hard to believe this happened. I had never had so much support every day on the other projects. Some people made their LEGO account in order to vote for this project. I really appreciate their time and effort!
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
2999.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
The use of open wedges 41749 and 41750 made the face and hands possible.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
Studio 2.0.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I used PartDesigner to add a border to a 2x4 oval tile (66857) to make the mouth.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
I refer to all the other interviews on the LEGO IDEAS blog and @brentwaller- the main image is the most important thing. Make it catchy. Also, when you advertise your idea on social media, try to make new images of your idea instead of using the same ones repeatedly.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
To demonstrate that the Screamer can be detached from the frame and displayed by itself, I uploaded images (memes) of the Screamer in different scenes on social media.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
The LEGO IDEAS platform gives us the opportunity to showcase and share LEGO creations without social media presence. When you upload your idea, don’t be hasty! If you think you made the best main image, sleep on it and look at it with your fresh eyes the next day. You’ll find something to improve.
- 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?
Not at the moment!
