June 28th, 2012 | | Eye-catching sculptures created by talented artist Jason Freeny show the anatomy of LEGO minifigures. Skeleton, teeth, internal organs, and other body parts were hand sculpted into oversized versions of LEGO figures. Also check out: Anatomy of Gadgets and Tattooed LEGOsArtist, illustrator and toy designer Jason Freeny has recently completed his trio of LEGO man dissections. Each figure stands 18 inches tall (45.7 cm) and they are awesome. Jason has documented the process in a fantastic 95 picture photo album on his Facebook page. Below is a brief overview of the build process but be sure to check out the entire album on Facebook. Jason also has his own website, Moist Production, where you can see much more of his incredible work, including his illustrations and online shop. Artwork and Photography by Jason Freeny Born 1970, Silver Spring Maryland. The son of hippies and youngest of three siblings. Jason studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY.
Spending most of the 90’s traveling the globe as a muralist and theatrical designer, Jason joined MTV’s Special Events department in 1997 as a freelance designer. While there, Jason helped design and create stage sets, props, and custom artwork for MTV Networks live events and trade productions worldwide. Jason’s most recognizable contributions were his custom trophies created for MTV’s “Rock-n-Jock” series and “TRL Awards” televised events. Jason created his first fictional anatomy in 2000 with his depiction of the mythological “Incubus”. Armed with a youthful, overactive imagination, Jason creates smart, intricate illustrations that tickle the deviant intellect through a mix of hard graphics, pop iconography and wit. During the day, Jason works in Manhattan as a mild mannered interface designer. At night, after the kids go to sleep, he can be found hunched over his computer developing works of candy colored madness. Around that same time, through a series of hand painted, NSFW “Pin-Up” themed illustrations, Jason’s personal artwork began attaining notoriety, gracing the pages of such magazines as Heavy Metal, Juxtapoz Erotica, Penthouse and Time Out New York.
In 2002, after the birth of his son, Jason surrendered his messy, toxic studio for a nursery and went digital. A year later he took a staff position as a toy designer. And while that only lasted a year, the stylistic influence these two events had on his creations is apparent, spawning a surreal mixture where innocence clashes with maturity. See More from Jason Freeny on Facebook! Adding Monsters to Thrift Store Paintings Breathtaking Landscapes Carved Into Books Giant Fish Sculptures Made from Discarded Plastic BottlesBefore CapnRex101 gets stuck in with reviews of the series one Super Heroes BrickHeadz later today I thought it would be interesting to dissect one and determine what features and dimensions are common to them all, something we could perhaps term the 'BrickHeadz specification v1.0'. Even before their general release people have been designing their own to this specification so I'll take a look at a few of them, too. Let's start at the bottom:
Legs are 4 plates high and are usually constructed from four 1x2 plates. Variations: 41590 Iron Man has Earling/headlight bricks at the front to allow 1x1 plates to be affixed for extra depth and colour contrast, and 41591 Black Widow has 1x2 brackets to provide fixing points on the side. Obviously 41595 Belle is completely different but the overall height of her dress is the same. The torso is usually constructed on a 4x4 plate, and is two bricks and one plate high. Two 22885 Brick 1X2X1 2/3 W/4 Knobs are used to mount the arms. The front and back of the torso are usually constructed using bricks, often printed at the front, but bricks with studs on the sides or brackets such as 99781 Angular Plate 1,5 Top 1X2 1/2 can be used to provide fixing points on the front or back, if required by the character's design. For example, 41591 Black Widow and 41585 Batman use brackets at the front for belts; 41596 Beast has a 1x4 brick with 4 studs on the side for affixing the coat tails at the back.
The arms are usually formed around a 2x2 plate and a 11476 Plate 1X2 W. 1 Horizontal Snap for the hand. Variations: Beast uses 99206 Plate 2X2X2/3 W. 2. Hor. Knob which allows for a tile to be attached to the top thus filling in the gap between the arm and the hair, and 41592 The Hulk features a far more muscular design. The head is the most distinctive part but the core of it is the simplest and common to all models. Twelve 22885 Brick 1X2X1 2/3 W/4 Knobs are mounted on a 4x4 plate or equivalent. This plate usually forms part of the torso's design, or in the case of 41595 Belle, is her neck. The official models have 2x2 bricks and plates inside, with a pink brick at the top, presumably representing the brain :) The eyes are positioned on the second row of studs up, on a 1x4 tile with two studs. However, rather than directly on the bricks, the tile is mounted on a 4x4 plate (omitted here for clarity) which helps give the face some additional depth relative to the body.
Once the core has been built it can be clad to suit whatever character you're building. I suspect that in the majority of cases the most time, effort and parts will go into perfecting the character's head. Armed with the specification you can now go ahead and have a go at building your own. Maybe we should have a BrickHeadz building competition sometime soon! Here's an 'exploded view' of one of the better Super Heroes BrickHeadz, 41591 Black Widow. Her hair is particularly impressive: from the images below you can see how the five sides of her head have been designed to form the contours and curves. Her 'big hair' helps separate the eyes from the side of her face which corrects one of the major cosmetic anomalies of the core design, in my view, and once the five veneers have been attached it looks seamless.View image at flickr Note the belt front and back, and tiles on the sides of her legs: boots, presumably. She's also been fitted with cuffs -- printed 1x2 tiles.