Our interview with custom nanoblock™ builder, Chris!
Last week, we spoke to one of our favourite nanoblock™ inspirations, Chris, and asked him some questions. Read on for the interview!
How did you get into nanoblock™?
I have always loved building things and Lego was one of my favourite childhood toys. When I came across nanoblock™, I immediately loved it. The much smaller blocks allowed me to build much more detailed models right on my desktop.
How do you think in 3D when it comes to making your models?
I work in much the same way an artist or sculptor would work. I would first look for photos showing the model I want to build from a few different angles, just so I can get a feel for the dimensions in 3D. I then proceed to build the rough shapes of the model using the bigger blocks, and refine it using the smaller blocks until I get the final design.
Do you have any larger custom nanoblock™ models that you'd eventually like to build?
There are many things that I would love to build on a larger scale, like characters from my favourite animted or SciFi movies. Building an entire city would be really cool too. Unfortunately, I don't really have enough blocks to build really big models. Even though I probably have close to 20,000 blocks, they are split among many colours and block types. My largest build to date is a nanoblock™ Star Wars Stormtrooper figure that took over 2000 blocks to build and it used up pretty much every single white block I have.
Is there a challenge with building nanoblock™ models for you? Or is it away for you to de-stress?
Oh, there is definitely a challenge. It comes down to trying to make it look as close to the real thing as possible, within the limitations of working in blocks. I guess it does help to de-stress, in that your mind is fully focused on the build.
What's your favourite nanoblock™ piece?
I don't think I actually have any favourite piece. Every piece is useful in its own way.
Do you like the new nanoblock™ pieces that have come out (the spherical ones from the Moon Jellyfish and the angular ones from the Fiddler Crab)?
I haven't gotten my hands on them yet, but I can imagine the angular ones would be quite useful in many of my builds, if only I can get them in large numbers ... Hahaaa ...
Chris also passed on one of his favourite creation builds, the Grey Kangaroo, and the story behind it. Head here for the build instructions!
The Story:
When I first started nanoblocking, I was mainly building cartoon/scifi characters. One day, someone asked me if I could do animals too, so I started looking around for an interesting animal to build. After much thought, I decided to make a Kangaroo, because it is unique in the animal kingdom, and I have always liked Kangaroos.
Huge thanks to Chris for sharing with us. Head on over to his Facebook page for plenty more custom builds and inspiration!
