Welcome, everyone! Today we have two new additions to the 10K Club. Meet SJs Workshop, and his grand PARKS AND RECREATION project + ONE DIRECTION - WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL project. Show your support and find out more below.
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Where are you from?
Oxford, UK.
- How old are you?
18.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I’m a student at university, studying music.
- What hobbies do you have?
Other than LEGO building, I also enjoy other creative hobbies such as singing, musical theatre, and comedy.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
My Lego Ideas profile is where you’ll find most of my builds - but there are a few extra MOCs on my Instagram: www.instagram.com/sjs.workshop/
- 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 super proud of my Lego garden gnomes, which I built for Lego ideas. I love their personality and they always cheer me up when I see them on my shelf!
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
Since I was very young, I have been steadily accumulating sets and adding to my collection. The first set I remember building was the Lego City Airport: 7894, which I still own today. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started building MOCs, but since then I have been an even more avid fan and eager participant in the community.
- 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.
I love to use Lego to share things I am passionate about with the world. I find it is an excellent form of expression and the limitless possibilities with a pile of Lego bricks mean you can build what you love.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
Personally, Lego Ideas will always be my favourite theme. The amount of variety and creativity is outstanding. The sense of community created by the fan input is really unique and special.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
A difficult question! I absolutely love minifigure scale sets that are packed with detail. Ninjago City Gardens (71741) and Pirates of Barracuda Bay (21322) are both up there.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
The humble Lego Minifigure - I love the personality that the graphic designers manage to capture in each one, and they are core to the imagination and storytelling of every build.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
I love the work of Justin Ramsden - his larger scale sets such as Welcome to Apocalypseburg (70840) and Hogwarts Castle (71043) are full of personality and details that I admire so much.
The fan community is also packed with incredible designers! There are too many to name all the builders I look up to, but a particular standout is Marius Herrmann (aka Steponabrick), whose current build in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery is simply breathtaking.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
The Brothers Brick has a great archive of some amazing MOCs, and I have found it to be a great source of inspiration.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
Both of my models came from source material that I am really passionate about. Parks and Recreation is one of my favourite shows of all time, and I’ve seen it too many times to count! The One Direction project came from the nostalgia I felt when I recently heard that song again for the first time in years and was taken back to my childhood.
- 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?
What Makes You Beautiful took about a week for me to design and build after analysing the music video and picking out the key details I wanted to create. Parks and Rec took much longer! Arguably it’s been in the works for years because every time I watched the show I would think about recreating it with LEGO bricks. It wasn’t an approved IP for a while though, so all my ideas built up until it finally became an approved IP and I designed this project. I made sure to include as many details as possible, so the sticker and minifigure graphic design took almost as long as the building process. The final project probably took about 3 weeks from start to finish.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
For Parks and Rec, it was the floor plan that was the hardest. Finding the right balance between a compact design and accurate representation was challenging, as well as working out where to place walls whilst keeping the feeling of ‘openness.’ The solution of removable offices was inspired by The Office set, and helped with that problem.For One Direction, it was finding the best way to create organic shaping for all the landscaping, but overall I was pleased with the final result.
- 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’d tell myself all the things I know now about rendering! The learning curve for using blender (the software I use) is slow, and with every new model, I find something new that can improve the final images. The Parks and Rec images in particular were not at the standard I would have liked, and there were a few colouring issues that I wish I had figured out how to fix back then.
- 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 me about a week to finish building both models, although on top of that the extra graphic design elements such as minifigures and stickers, as well as renderings make the process slightly longer. Time spent promoting is always much more than that. For Parks and Rec, it took me 2 months to complete the halfway promotional video, which was something I really wanted to do because the number 5,000 has such significance in the show.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
Both times I was over the moon! Parks and Rec took about 6 months to make it, which at the time felt incredibly fast and I was really grateful. Then One Direction took 4 days and I was completely blown away. The online fandom really pulled through on that one!
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
Parks and Rec: 2000
One Direction: 2900
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
Parks and Rec: I love all the compact details such as the copier and desks, because finding the right parts to create detail at that scale is a fun challenge! A highlight is the desk made of books in Ron’s office.
One Direction: I really like the crashing waves and sideways-built curving road.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
For both projects, I used the digital software Mecabricks to design and build, and then Blender to render.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I designed all the custom prints using an online photo editor and the Mecabricks custom part tool.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Build something you are passionate about, whether that is an original idea or based on a third-party IP. This will give you the drive to make it the best you can, and also help you find the motivation to promote it, which is also very important. Sharing the project as much as possible online, and finding new and original ways to promote it is extremely helpful.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I used social media as a key source for attracting supporters for both projects. Knowing each fanbase is important, as after one day on Twitter and Tik Tok, the One Direction project had reached 10k thanks to the incredible fandom there, whereas Facebook and Reddit were more effective for Parks and Rec.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
I love the Golden Clifftop Temple by FirstOrderLuka. It’s a really beautiful building style and I’m hoping it gets approved!
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
The platform is great because the product ideas have almost no limits when it comes to what they can be - if it can be imagined, it can be built! I love seeing the never-ending creativity in the community - every day I see a new build that blows me away. If you’re new to the platform, I found that participating in contests and activities first helped me build my skills before I felt ready to submit a product idea. But if you have an idea you are passionate about - go for it!
- 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?
There’s plenty more new ideas in the works, but next will probably be some big updates to current projects! Stay tuned :)
By
Hani2