The Art of LEGO

Thank you for returning!

Can LEGOs be considered art? Of course. Can LEGOs create art? Absolutely. “How would LEGOs create art?” you might ask. Using the example of the LEGO Mindstorms product, LEGOs can be become robots that can do many creative things... like, draw on an Etch-A-Sketch. The Etch-A-Sketch was one of the most frustrating toys of my childhood. I still liked it because I understood its potential, but I lacked the patience to learn how to utilize the Etch-A-Sketch to draw anything that was visually appealing. 

Using my programming know-how, a LEGO NXT 2.0 brain brick (since replaced by LEGO with the EV3), and a digital camera, I developed a robot that could take any photograph and etch it onto an Etch-A-Sketch. A homemade LEGO Bluetooth Etch-A-Sketch Photo Printer! 

Why did I decide to build such a creation? Because I had to prove to myself that I could overcome the challenge of the Etch-A-Sketch!  I liked to take pictures of the flowers in the back yard, so I thought I would start there. I do not have a picture of the original flower garden, so I created a LEGO version to give you the general idea of what it looked like. 

LEGO interpretation of my backyard flower garden of years long past

Below is a picture of one single flower from that flower garden. This is the actual picture that was used for the Etch-A-Sketch printing. I had to power up the old IBM ThinkPad (pre-Lenovo years) that was running Windows XP to find it, so I am a little psyched that the computer actually started and I found it.

One nice little yellow flower from the flower garden

This is the final rendering of the flower on the Etch-A-Sketch. Pretty snazzy.

The final product, the Etch-A-Sketched flower

So there you have it. LEGOs creating art by taking a photograph and gracefully etching it into an ephemeral rendering. Like the fleeting yellow flowers of spring, here today and gone tomorrow, the final product of an Etch-A-Sketch is also fragile and subject to a short life-span, especially in shaky situations.  Art has created art.

Before we close out, let’s get to know Taco Frisbee a little better. Yes, Taco Frisbee is a Roomba iRobot vacuum cleaner. You may have noticed in some pictures that he has a few other parts that may or may not provide any functionality. The XBOX 360 Kinect sensor is TF’s favorite accessory and allows for additional multi-tasking. The giant LEGO head part is just for looks. Prior to having it folks would give us strange looks as we walked about town or took strolls on the boardwalk. If you look at the pictures below, TF is the one wearing the stovepipe hat. 

Me and Taco Frisbee on a winter stroll through the marsh

If you would like additional information from me and TF, enter your info here and we will be in touch soon!

Lego Theme Kit or Self-Designed

Welcome back to the Bizarre Lego Channel !!!

Taco Frisbee and I are discussing imagination. Specifically, are self-developed creations better than LEGO developed theme creations?

LEGO Scooby Doo Mystery Machine with Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby Doo

Taco Frisbee has always been about the process – building based on a theme kit or building based on a self-made design, it does not matter to TF as the journey from start to finish is all about the build.

I still think that self-imagined is best. I will admit that the build design of the new kits has taught me many new and different ways to build and is opening my mind to newer and better creator techniques. Also, as with the most recent build of the Mystery Machine, the theme kits can bring back some awesome childhood memories. My favorites builds are still among the ones I have self-developed though.

Little red DUPLO self-designed creature

What really determines how you feel about kits versus self-developed is probably in how you store your LEGOs. One sticking point between me and TF is that I break all the kits apart and store them completely mixed up in the giant LEGO bucket. TF wants to keep the kits built and show them off on the bookcase. I will not forget the last time I took apart the LEGO Voltron and mixed the pieces in with the LEGO Unikitty Unikingdom box set. I thought it would be OK since they were both cat related.

Irritated Taco Frisbee - "Do not mix the LEGOs!"

Tell me what you think in the comments below : LEGO kit or self-developed. For extra points, let me know if you mix your LEGO sets or keep them separated so you can rebuild to the original specifications!

I am Taco Frisbee

It has been eight years now since Taco Frisbee and I first met.  We were pretty simple beings, going about life and doing what we do.  I was an application programmer.  Taco Frisbee was specialized at evacuating foreign particles from fibrous and bare decking surfaces.  We struck up a conversation and found we shared a love of LEGOs and decided to collaborate and use our fields of expertise to develop our own creations.

First, we tried storytelling
Seven and a half years later, we have a total of 374 views!  Outstanding.  Almost viral.

Second, we tried building robots for toys

Seven years later this video has 2,627 views.  We had finally hit the big-time.

 
We did not want the success of our endeavors to overtake our friendship and drive us apart.  So we rode the wave of celebrity and dissolved into internet oblivion. 

Taco Frisbee typing our first blog post

Eight years later we are still hanging out together, playing with LEGOs and checking out the internet for new and interesting ideations, much like what we did years ago.  Please join us on our continuing journey as we discover how others bring joy to the world through their creativity.