Exotic, bursting with color and beautifully detailed… Get the lowdown behind three eye-popping LEGO reptile models! A huge congratulations to legotruman for reaching 10,000 supporters with their LEGO REPTILES submission.
ABOUT YOURSELF
- What is your first name + last name?
Truman Cheng.
- Where are you from?
Hong Kong.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I did Biomedical engineering in college. I got my PhD in surgery 3 years ago, and now I’m doing medical robotics research - mostly hardware designs, coding, and a lot of paperwork. Not as fancy as it may sound lol!
- What hobbies do you have?
As well as building LEGO sets and Gunpla model kits, I enjoy painting and learning random science/history stuff on YouTube and Wikipedia. I like watching nature documentaries, too.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I post many of my LEGO creations on my Instagram page: Legotruman.
- 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 guess I have the happiest memories with the Starry Night project. Not only was it a dream project that I had a lot of fun designing, but it also became a real set enjoyed by many LEGO fans, through the LEGO Ideas platform. I am really happy to be able to pay tribute to one of my favorite artists, Vincent van Gogh, with this project. While he didn’t get the love and respect, he deserved during his lifetime, we are celebrating his work, passion and complete dedication to art, around the world, right now and hopefully for many, many years to come.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
I became a LEGO fan when I was a kid, playing with those red buckets of bricks that encouraged free play and creativity. My older brother and I used to make many toys for ourselves. I also loved the Deep Reef Refuge (6441) set, which is similar to the later LEGO City Ocean/diver themed sets. As a child, I’d play with it and feel like I was having real ocean adventures, imagining deep sea missions and marine animal encounters! While video games/graphics are mind-blowing nowadays, I wish more children could have those make-believe moments in their childhood - making up adventures with the simplest tools and objects. I believe these are critical to one’s creative development growing up.
- What does the LEGO hobby mean to you? How does it fit into your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games or 'just' watch the cartoons.
To me, the LEGO hobby is more than ‘toys’. It’s something similar to painting. I can express myself and create characters and sculptures from my imagination. It’s a very relaxing experience where I can forget about the petty troubles of everyday life and get lost in my own imagination. It's also like a puzzle game because there are rules and “maths” to how bricks can be connected, so there are “creative limitations” going on, too. In this way, the LEGO hobby is a unique synthesis of artistic expression and puzzle-solving.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
I have been watching many reptile videos on YouTube, finding these animals more and more beautiful and cool. I’m not ready to commit the time and effort needed to make a good habitat and keep real reptiles - so I instead decided to celebrate these wonderful creatures by making LEGO models to represent them, with decent realism and details. For LEGO fans who love animals, and who are similarly not ready to keep real animals in their home, I hope these models can allow them to have something that’s as beautiful, but without the responsibility and time-commitment that pets require.
- How long did the process of making the project take and what did you have to research? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
I think it took two to three weeks. Like other animal models I made in the past, I began with video + images research. Then I tried to draw the animals from memory, at various angles/perspectives. This helped in making a clearer mental image of the animals. Once I felt ready, I began making the LEGO models, cross-checking with reference photos from time to time. I’d start each model by choosing a part of the body that seemed the most challenging to design - the head for the veiled chameleon and leopard gecko, and the shell for the box turtle. After getting that part right, I could then build the rest of the animal model, referencing the first completed part for size and color. This way, I didn’t need to re-do parts too much because of proportions, colors or texture inconsistency.
- What special challenges or frustrations did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
The chameleon’s head was a bit challenging to design, as it has some unique angles and textural features. I didn’t want to oversimplify it and omit key details, but I also didn’t want to make it unreasonably difficult to build. I tried many versions before being satisfied with the model. I feel lucky I chose to start the project with this particular sub-model, as most other parts were easy to make afterwards.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
I am excited to find there are many LEGO fans who are also fascinated with these beautiful animals! I had always thought reptiles are a lot more niche, especially compared to mammals like cats and dogs, and only a small community of reptile fans truly appreciate these creatures. Turns out a lot more people like and appreciate reptiles than I previously believed : )
- What is your favorite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
Probably the Scooby-Doo printed dish, which I used for the chameleon’s eyes. Somehow it fitted perfectly in shape, color and size - a happy coincidence that I stumbled upon. Sometimes that beats fancy techniques and assembly structures!
