Model #3: Heels (from Spectrum game "Head over Heels")

For completion, here comes "Heels", the companion of the previous model "Head" in the ZX-Spectrum computer game "Head over Heels". It is another example of pixelart using Lego instead of screem pixels.

Model #2: Head (from Spectrum game "Head over Heels")

Pixelart is a drawing technique used in electronic devices with limited display capacity (resolution mainly and color depth). In the past was used in the first generations of home computers and consoles and currently mainly in mobile phones. Consists in building a graphic manually using pixels (screen light dots) rather that letting a powerful 3D engine create a rich realistic image (the mentioned devices use not to have enough computing power to generate such images or display capacity to show the final result).

Lego can also be used to create 2D models similar to the ones generated by pixelart, given that both share similar limitations: limited number of colours (screen colour depth VS brick colours), construction of models based on limited resolution elements (screen pixels VS bricks)

As an example I have built a Lego 2D model of one of the characters from a Spectrum computer game i used to play long time ago: Head over Heels. It was a great game, probably the one i enjoyed the most.

And here an image of the original game

Model #1: the football player

After a few minutes of playing i have created a first basic model: a football player.

Sandbox design rules

I decided to use some rules for the the Lego designs i will create.

Sandbox rule #1: Always use regular Lego bricks

I bought a box of Lego...

I never had Lego when I was a kid (yes, that was some time ago...) but a similar spanish building blocks toy called Tente. I spent hours playing with it, compensating the lack of pieces with whatever i had at hand, from simple stones and wooden sticks to playmovil figures. In some rare ocasions i had the oportunity of playing with Lego in the house of some foreign friends (at that time, Lego was not known in Spain) and I keep nice memories of those far fun times.

I always disliked a very common practice that both Lego and Tente used to have (and still do): instead of packing a lot of standard brick pieces in each box they prefered just a few special blocks to build some specific figure. Of course the final result was both easier to build and more espectacular, but i found the pleasure of inventing something out of the mess of the pieces lying on the ground of my room was less intense, less surprissing, less challenging, since you were directed to some clear target. I think the problem is that those toy companies oriented the product to play and building the toy itself was just a short preliminary phase. In my case i enjoyed far more the building and creation process than the play once the toy was finished.

Once i grew up i always thought from time to time about buying some Lego but i never did. No special reasons for that. Anycase, the other day i just saw a big box o Lego in the supermarket. For a split second was like going back in time to my childhood. The box was exactly was i always wanted: an acceptable big ammount of standard pieces (800). No fancy shapes, no models to build, just regular bricks, just content for a sandbox, a set of pieces waiting for imagination and hands to be worked.

The nature of Lego (and similar block building toys) is that models are temporal, since they have to be destructed to give birth to new ones. First, I thought it could be interesting to keep a record of the models built taking photos of them but later i found more atractive to use a blog for that. Moreover, the public nature of a blog allows to share those creations and have feedbacks or ideas from other people. And that was the reason to create this blog you are reading.

Will i publish a lot of models or invest a lot of time playing with Lego? Honestly i do not know. Only time will say if i move on to a new hobby or i keep on posting on a regular basis.