You saw a picture of a basic miniland-scale character in Figure 4-3. Then, in the last section, you saw some of the most useful LEGO elements for creating these whimsical people. To get you started building your own cast of characters, I’ll show you six easy steps you can use to make a basic version of this type of model. From there, you can explore the variations on hair, outfits, and poses that I’ll talk about in the following pages.
Figure 4-4 shows you the first three steps to follow. I haven’t included a Bill of Materials for this model, but by looking at the toolkit I provided for you in Tables Table 4-1 through Table 4-3 and the steps themselves, you should easily be able to figure out which pieces you need.
Notice that in steps 1 through 3 (Figure 4-4), I have added more than one layer of parts per step. Because this is such a small model, it’s easy to understand instructions like this. They help save steps by instructing you to add several pieces, at different layers, all at once. I use this same technique with steps 4 through 6 (Figure 4-5).
One interesting feature of this basic miniland figure is that you can pose the arms at any angle you like. Note in Figure 4-5 (steps 4 and 5) that the hinge element, representing the arm, simply sticks into a 1x1 cylinder plate that itself is stuck into a 1x2 Technic brick. There is just enough friction between the stud (on the hinge) and the cylinder plate to hold the arm up just a little or even straight up in the air! The head, as you can see in steps 4 and 5, is centered on the torso thanks to a single offset plate.
You just saw how to create a very basic version of a miniland person. Now it’s time to make that character come alive by adding some additional details. In this section, you’ll examine various ways to create not only heads, arms, and legs, but also clothing and accessories to match. The following categories are similar to the toolkit I detailed earlier, but they differ slightly in how the figure is broken down.
Once you get the hang of building these parts separately, you can use different combinations of them to create your own world of miniland-sized people, each with a unique personality. Where possible, I’ll try to draw on pieces I included in the toolkit I provided earlier (Tables Table 4-1 through Table 4-3).
By now, you may have noticed that the faces of miniland people are somewhat abstract; they have no eyes or nose to speak of. In fact, their entire composition is really just representations of a person, not the hands, movable arms, and detailed faces that you see in the minifig world.
Therefore, creating a “face” for your miniland person becomes a matter of trying to suggest where the skin is located and where things like hair and hats begin. In Figure 4-6, I isolated the elements used to create the impression of a face and neck. Use whatever color plates you like in these locations to make each character unique.
Figure 4-6. The solid elements represent the character’s face in this figure; the clear elements represent the char-acter’s hair or hat, and perhaps its neck. Use different colors of plates to create realistic skin tones for your miniland folk.
You can also experiment with combinations of plates, cylindrical plates, and other parts, like the 1x1 plate with studs to create items like hats and hair for your miniland people. In Figure 4-7, you can see that the head in the middle appears to be wearing a baseball cap, whereas the head on the far right looks like someone who’s good with a curling iron.
In the toolkit I provided earlier in this chapter (Tables Table 4-1 through Table 4-3), I broke down each figure into its head, torso, and legs. Of course, in reality, you might be building an astronaut who wears a suit that covers the entire body. Or, your figure might be a lovely lady in a dress where again, you would want to consider the torso and the upper-leg design together. This section looks at how to dress a character.
You give the impression of a miniland person’s career or hobby by combining the parts you use and the colors in which you select them. For example, in Figure 4-8, you see three very different outfits that you could use to help populate your miniland world. On the far left is a soccer referee’s uniform, in the middle is a classy cocktail dress, and on the right is the plain gray suit of a businessman.
Figure 4-8. Clothes do make the miniland person. Remember that little details and careful color choices can add a great deal of realism and charm.
How do you know that the outfit on the left in Figure 4-8 is that of a referee? The striped appearance of the shirt and black pants are pretty good clues. You might finish this particular character off by adding a cap, such as the one you saw in Figure 4-7 and perhaps something to represent a whistle or flag that the character might be holding.
The dress in the middle of Figure 4-8 shows how you can use things like the 2x1x3 75-degree slopes to create a very feminine look. These slopes are centered under two offset plates, which help give this character a more slender waist. In addition, the 1x2 at the very top center can be matched to the figure’s facial color, thereby giving the illusion that the dress has an open neckline.
Lastly, on the very right of Figure 4-8, you see the clothes of a hurried businessman. Don’t be afraid to use little tricks like attaching his tie off center in order to let the white of his shirt show a bit and to give the impression that he has just rushed off a busy subway car. It’s these little details that add character to your characters.
Heads and clothing are important, but then so are the legs and feet upon which your characters stand. Figure 4-9 shows some simple and subtle variations on the basic leg/shoe design you first saw in the standard figure earlier in this chapter (see Figure 4-3).
Figure 4-9. Most leg designs eventually create the two stud by three stud base upon which you then build the torso.
You can use the design on the left of Figure 4-9 for just about any character who is wearing long pants. To add a little fun to a figure, put him (or her) in pants that are too short (such as those in the middle image of Figure 4-9). Maybe your person is a nerdy scientist who has trouble picking properly fitting clothes. The more shapely arrangement of elements on the right of Figure 4-9 might suggest the legs and cycling shorts of an athletic character who just got off a mountain bike. Here again, match the lower 1x1 cylinder bricks with the flesh color you chose for the face and arms.
Part of what makes miniland figures so interesting is that the pieces you use to create certain parts of them will vary from character to character. For example, in the basic figure in Figure 4-3, you saw that a simple 2x2 hinge plate was enough to suggest the presence of arms. But they didn’t portray any particular action or suggest any occupation that this figure might have.
Simple part substitutions and setting the arms at different angles can indicate a wide variety of actions or gestures. Figure 4-10 illustrates some ideas on how to add some life to your characters by simply adding flair to their arms and hands.
Figure 4-10. Hailing a taxi, saluting an officer, or watching birds—miniland folk can do just about anything you can dream up for them.
One interesting thing to note in Figure 4-10 is that the two leftmost characters both have hands made from 1x1 plates with clips on the side. The character to the right, however, has no hands at all. Rather, I’ve used offset plates to extend the arms so they hold the binoculars. This helps illustrate the idea that it’s more important to achieve the look and feel of the thing you are trying to create as opposed to fretting over how to model every last detail. The basic miniland character, as shown in Figure 4-3, has no hands either. But it looks like a person nonetheless. Keep that goal in mind as you build.
Now you know how to model miniland figures and even how to dress them in various outfits. The next step is to give them the feeling of motion or action. They can’t all just stand there at attention with their legs perfectly straight. But unlike minifigs, miniland figures have no hinges on their legs. Thus, making it appear as if they are moving or doing something is a matter of selecting elements that once again give the appearance of something that isn’t really there.
As you can see in following examples, the action being undertaken is implied by the position in which you, the builder, pose the figure.
The character shown in Figure 4-11 appears to be in motion rather than just standing still.
With her arms swinging out from her body, the woman in Figure 4-11 looks like she may be walking. Notice the 75-degree outside corner slopes that I used to create the illusion that her long dress is moving with her legs. Rearranging the elements you used to create the legs and/or substituting other pieces is all that it takes to add some life to an otherwise motionless figure.
Now take a look at the person in Figure 4-12.
Figure 4-11. You can make a character appear to be walking by simply moving the arms and legs slightly ahead and behind the body, as shown in this illustration.
Figure 4-12. A few subtle changes (different pieces or just pieces in different positions) can give the impression of lots of action.
This fellow is crouched down, perhaps calling to a pet dog or watching as his bowling ball rolls down the lane. What you may notice is that he’s really not all that different from the very first character you saw back in Figure 4-3. In fact, to make him bend down, you only have to change or move a few pieces. In Figure 4-13, I colored those pieces in black so you can see which ones are different than those in Figure 4-3.
