What better way to start a week than with meeting another 10K Club Member! Today we meet Ben Osborne and his HOLLOW KNIGHT: FORGOTTEN CROSSROAD project. Fans of Hollow Knight will be sure to love this one! You can show Ben and his project some support by leaving a like!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Hi, I’m Ben Osborne!
- Where are you from?
I’m from the Bay Area in California.
- How old are you?
I’m 21 years old.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I’m a third-year college student studying Marketing and Management Information Systems and I do some video editing on the side.
- What hobbies do you have?
Aside from the LEGO hobby, I’m interested in graphic design, 3D modelling, video games, and running.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I’ve got a Flickr, but most of the stuff on there is pretty old.
- 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?
Most of the MOCs that I actually finish end up on here, so I’d say I’m pretty proud of my most recent project, The Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
One of my earliest memories is getting the BNSF Locomotive set, and I’ve loved LEGO building pretty much ever since. I somewhat fell out of the hobby around middle school, but got back into it in high school when I started learning 3D modelling and rendering. Since LEGO bricks and minifigures are relatively easy to model and have pretty basic materials, they ended up in a lot of my practice projects. Eventually, I stumbled across stud.io and learned how much LEGO building had changed since I was a kid and got back into the hobby.
- 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.
These days I do mostly digital MOC building since I’m in college, but I still try to get my hands on physical bricks whenever I’ve got some extra cash (or extra space to display them). I’m also a contributor over at @tipsandbricks on Instagram, so make sure to give us a follow over there!
- 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’ve been a fan of the Ideas theme since back when it was CUUSSO. Obviously, it’s super cool just to get fan-designed sets that don’t necessarily fit into other existing themes or lines, but on top of that, I think Ideas consistently has some of the best techniques and part usage out there.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
I really love the 10277 Crocodile Locomotive from 2020. It’s super nice looking and has some awesome techniques, but at the same time, it’s super robust and isn’t overengineered at all. On top of that, I just have a lot of really nice memories of getting and building it. I’d had a really rough week, but I had Friday off work and the LEGO store near my house had finally opened for in-person shopping for the first time in months, so I picked it up on launch day and built it all in one sitting!
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
I think 22885 is a pretty great get-out-of-jail-free card for MOC building since it lets you build sideways super easily and not have to worry about stud ratios.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
I think @hachiroku24 is super great! He’s super knowledgeable about the LEGO part library and is great at capturing odd shapes using creative techniques. I even Bricklinked the parts for his Metal Gear Rex last year, and I’m super happy that his insect project got approved.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
I’m a bit biased, but I’m super inspired by all the cool techniques and MOCS I find on www.tipsandbricks.co.uk.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
Back when the first wave of Mario blind boxes came out, I noticed that the new 3x3 round tile that they were using for the Shy Guys had printed eyes that would work perfectly for a MOC of the main character Hollow Knight. I started designing the MOC in stud.io and it eventually evolved into something entirely different.
- 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?
From start to finish, it probably took me about three months to go from my first draft to my finished project There was a lot of trial and error in that process, especially in creating the figures. For The Knight alone I probably went through half a dozen drafts!
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
I spent the most time on The Last Stag for sure. The first thing I built was the head, and I was super happy with how it turned out! Unfortunately the rest of the build was a lot harder and I almost gave up multiple times. I think the only reason I actually finished the build was just because I didn’t want the head to go to waste.
- 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?
Be careful when saving over your work! Messing up your project and not being able to go back because you already saved is seriously the worst feeling in the world.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It was a huge surprise! I spent close to a year straight promoting it like crazy on every platform I could, only for it to barely reach 2k. I was just about to give up, only for it to close to 8,000 supporters in under a year! It turns out I was just promoting it in all the wrong places. The gaming site Kotaku wrote an article about it and a few Tweets from prominent creators on Twitter were all it took to get it to the 10k mark.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
It’s hard to say since I made so many different versions of all the builds, but the final model I uploaded on Ideas is right around 600 pieces.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
I’m pretty happy with how the legs on The Stag turned out. Each leg uses a few of the 1x1 cone pieces over a flex tube, which was originally a compromise because I couldn’t come up with anything better, but I ended up sticking with them and I’m glad I did! I could probably rework them to be more stable, but I think they ended up looking really faithful to the game.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
The whole thing was made in Stud.io and Part Designer.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
All the textures were made in Adobe Illustrator, and the backgrounds for the project were taken directly from the game.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
It’s all about perseverance and constant improvement. If a project fails, take a step back, look at what could be improved, and then take another shot at it!
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I shared it on Eurobricks and Reddit as often as I could, but the secret is getting boosted by someone with a platform (like a YouTuber or a journalist).
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
That would probably be the original CUUSSO Portal project from 2012. Both the quality of the build and the overall presentation of the project were super impressive for the time, and I remember being so disappointed when it wasn’t approved! At least Portal got a second chance in LEGO Dimensions (and not to mention all the cool portal and Portal 2 Ideas projects we’ve seen since then), but I still want to see a full official set!
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
Getting nice renders is just as important as a good build, and effectively marketing your project is more important than both.
- 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 actually just submitted my next project, and it’s the Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop. Check it out on my page if you get the chance!
