Welcome to today's 10K Club interview. Meet Jonny Campbell, aka Diving Faces, and his fantastic JAWS. Based on the classic movie, Jonny has recreated the iconic shark and boat, with a diorama to go with it! What do you think of Jonny's fantastic creation?
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Jonny Campbell.
- Where are you from?
I’m from Newtownards, which is a small town just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland.
- How old are you?
41.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I work in a government Finance Department which looks after the Northern Ireland budget.
- What hobbies do you have?
My main hobby is of course the LEGO hobby, whether it is building sets, MOCs or sorting pieces. I particularly enjoy re-creating vehicles/scenes from movies and television. I also enjoy building scale models and model railways, drawing, playing video games, going to the cinema and playing football amongst many other things.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
Not really, though I do put some of my MOCs onto Instagram now and again: Jonny Campbell (@divingfaceslego)
- 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’m fairly proud of my Sonic the Hedgehog MOC. I tried to capture the feel of all six zones from the original game. I remember spending hours, if not days, as a kid playing it so it has a special place in my memories. It’s definitely the most colourful MOC I have made that’s for sure. I’ve also made the truck from the movie Convoy (Rubber Duck) and Airwolf, both of which I spent a fair amount of time on to try and get them as detailed as possible at mini-figure scale.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
My interest in LEGO building started when I was around 3 years old. I was kind of fascinated by vehicles at an earlier age so most of my time was spent building various trucks, aircraft and boats from the LEGO bricks that I had. I remember getting the LEGO Airport (6392) for Christmas and spending days building it and then taking it apart and building it all over again.
- 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.
LEGO building has always been a part of my life in some shape or form. I‘ve always enjoyed building with LEGO bricks since a very young age and I also now enjoy building LEGO sets with my wife and our two children. There seems to be something LEGO-related in almost every room of our house. We’ve even replaced the flowers on the table with the ones from the LEGO Flower Bouquet set!
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
Ideas and Creator Expert/Icons are my favourite themes. I like the one-off uniqueness of the sets in the Ideas line like Wall-e, Tron and The Office. For Creator Expert/Icons I like the level of detail that goes into the sets. I’ve gained lots of knowledge about LEGO elements, colours and building techniques from building sets from various themes. I found building LEGO Friends sets with my daughter particularly helpful for learning about the various shades of pink and blue.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
It’s hard to pick a favourite as there are so many great sets for many different reasons. One of my favourites is set 10226 - Sopwith Camel. I really enjoyed building it and it looks super awesome. It reminded me of when I used to make model aircraft kits, only without being covered in glue and paint!
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
I tend to use curved slope elements quite a lot so I’ll say piece 15068 (Slope, Curved 2 x 2 x 2/3). It’s perfect for adding curvature to allow for rounded shapes to be created. I also have to mention piece 15208 (Plate Modified 1 x 2 with 3 Teeth) as without it the shark wouldn’t be quite the same!
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
Carl Merriam (and the Super Mario Team) for the Bowser set. This was a set that I didn’t have that much interest in when I heard about it but seeing how good it looks made me really want one. It’s incredibly difficult to capture characters in LEGO bricks and the designers did an absolutely fantastic job on this one. For fan designers, I look up to everyone that takes the time and effort to create whatever it is they are making. There are some incredibly talented builders out there.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
I often visit Bricklink to buy parts for my MOCs and I enjoy all the various LEGO Facebook and Reddit fan groups. I really enjoy the LEGO set reviews by Tiago Catarino on YouTube as well as the LEGO set speed-build videos by AustrianBrickFan.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
Jaws is my favourite movie of all time so I really wanted to re-create it in LEGO bricks.
- 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?
It took a few weeks. I re-watched Jaws several times, pausing at various stages, to get as many angles of the boat and as much detail as possible. I also looked at loads of pictures of Jaws the animatronic shark to try and capture him as closely as possible too (even including his hinged jaw).
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
The most difficult part was probably the mast of the boat in order to make it sturdy, while not losing any of the detail. I tried lots of different variations until I finally settled on its present design.
- 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 don’t think I would change anything. One thing I have learned though is that making animals/characters out of LEGO bricks is very, very challenging.
- 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?
It took a few days to build the model digitally, at first, and then a day or so to put it together, physically, when I had sourced any parts I needed. I then also made a smaller alternative diorama build which depicts the shark coming out of the water in that iconic scene from the movie.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
I was extremely pleased to reach 10,000 votes. It took just under 8 months to reach the 10k goal and I’d really like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supported the project along the way. I feel that this is a strong idea and would be loved by so many LEGO fans; Jaws; shark and boat fans out there.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
According to the stud.io count, it is 1860 pieces. The alternative diorama of the shark’s head coming out of the water is 800 pieces.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
I really like the shape of the shark’s mouth. It was pretty difficult to achieve but I like how it has turned out. I also like that I was able to add in the hinged jaw (making it look more like the pretend shark from the movie as opposed to a real Great White).
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I used Stud.io to build and render my model. It’s a great piece of software which I use all the time for planning out MOCs and rendering.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
There are only a few custom prints which I designed in MS Paint as they were fairly simple prints.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Just create something that you are passionate about. I find that if it is something you are passionate about then that passion tends to shine through in the final model. If you want to achieve 10k then you will more than likely need to be prepared to promote your idea. Very few ideas seem to reach 10k without either being promoted by the user or by other popular LEGO social media groups/fans. A decent main image will also help you on your way (try to capture the best angle of your build).
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support for your Product Idea?
I promoted the project by posting on some Facebook and Reddit groups and also on Twitter and Instagram but other than that I didn’t really do any other promotion as such. I much prefer designing and building LEGO projects, to the promotion side of things.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
My favourite LEGO Ideas product is probably the Home Alone set. It’s a great build of a very iconic movie. As for product ideas that have been overlooked, I really liked the Johnny 5 from a few years back and the A-Team Van. I also have to mention the Clockwork Aquarium as I got one of those from the Bricklink Designer Program and it’s a great set too.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
The possibility of having your product idea turned into an official LEGO set is every fan’s dream. I also really enjoy taking part in the various challenges that happen throughout the year (often asking for submissions of things that otherwise I would never even think of building). For anyone uploading an Idea, I would just say go for it and see what happens. If it isn’t successful you can always learn from it and try again. My only tip would be to have a plan in place to promote your idea at the beginning as this can really help your project gain a bit of momentum.
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint of what that might be?
I do have a few things in mind. I’ve been developing a flying saucer-related build for a while (I keep tinkering with it) so I might submit that at some point. It’s difficult to get reference images for the real thing!
