This 10,000-vote author interview column finally ushered in a Chinese fan designer! Let's meet Yang Yang, a new member of the 10K Club, who brought lego Ideas submission "Carl's House", inspired by the famous Disney Pixar's 2009 "Flying House". Next, let's follow the official perspective of LEGO Ideas to get to know him.
About yourself
1. What's your name?
Hi, hello everyone, my name is Yang Yang.
2. Where are you from?
I am from Kunming, China.
3. How old are you?
33 years old.
4. What does your job do?
I work in a bank.
5. Do you usually have any hobbies?
I love painting, design, clay sculpture, photography, and of course, lego sets and mocs.
6. Do you have your own LEGO title account to share with us?
You can search for my name "Enzo Young" on Flickr, which has my LEGO moc work to share.
7. Have you ever created a LEGO MOCs that you are particularly proud of? Which piece is it, and why does it make you proud? Do you have any photos to show us?
Carl's House was my first moc work. I'm proud of it. My wife and I love the movie Flying House. There is a saying in the movie that "happiness is the fulfillment of every small wish in life". I wish I could have a model of Flying House, and then I made this room out of Lego bricks, recreating every detail I could do in the movie.
8. When did you become interested in LEGO? How did it come about?
When I was a kid, I had my first LEGO set. I think every scene, every kid has their own story. Since then, Lego has become another little world for me.
9. What is LEGO for you? Is there any special significance? How does it fit into your life? For example: building, showing, player gatherings, playing games, or "just" watching cartoons.
As a child, Lego was my best friend. I always like to take the suit apart and build the buildings and vehicles I imagined. In 2008, I was exposed to the LEGO Star Wars series and the Street View series, which evoked my childhood memories. Now my wife and I are very fond of LEGO and we buy a lot of sets to display and collect.
10. What is your favorite LEGO theme (either recent or previous)? Why? Has there ever been a theme that has particularly inspired your building style or preference?
My favorite themes all along are the Street View series and the Star Wars UCS series. My first Street View set was the 10185 Green Grocery Store. In the process of building this set, I found that not only was the exterior of the building beautifully decorated, but the interior of the building also had exquisite furniture and decorations. It impressed me and made me fall in love with the Street View collection. When you put together many sets of street scenes, it feels as if the people on the street are all alive. I've been thinking about how complicated and wonderful the whole process is.
As a Star Wars fan, how could I miss the Star Wars UCS series. The details of the vehicles in the movie are vigorously restored with Lego bricks.
11. What is your favorite LEGO official set? Why?
The 75192 Deluxe Millennium Falcon is my favorite LEGO set. It is restored in proportion to lego figures. This lego extremely restores every detail of the appearance and interior of the Millennium Falcon in the movie.
12. What's your favorite LEGO element? Why?
In my opinion, the 1x1 brick is lego's most original and symbolic brick. It defines the proportions of lego bricks in length, width, and height, so the Ideas series also uses it as a logo.
13. Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who is your source of inspiration and object of admiration? Who is it and why?
Jamie Berard is my favorite LEGO designer. Especially when I discovered that most of the Street Scape collection was designed by Jamie Berard, I admired him even more. I was amazed at every detail in these sets and how they were combined.
14. Are there any LEGO-related websites (not LEGO's official website) that you frequently visit or are inspired by?
I often browse Bricklink.
About your work
1. Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
As I said before, my wife and I are very fond of the movie Flying House. This film symbolizes the realization of the most beautiful love and dreams. Carl's House is a classic throughout the film. The moment the house flies is the most exciting moment in the whole movie. The design and colour scheme of the house is very homely. So after learning about LDD and Studio 2.0, I decided to build it as soon as possible.
2. How long did it take to make this project, and what did you have to study? What kind of preparation, research, and design stages did you go through to complete your creation?
The whole process took about a month. The early plan was to build the house at the same scale of 32x32, which could be better integrated with the Street View series. I plan to design two modes, the state on the ground and the state of take-off. During this time, I repeatedly played back every shot of the house in the movie. I wanted to recreate every detail of the interior and exterior of the house in the film.
3. Did you encounter any particular challenges when creating this model? What do you think are the hardest parts to reproduce?
In the process of making models, there are many difficulties. For example, I had to adjust the internal structure of the house because I found that the house in the film had some irrational layout, which made it impossible for me to reproduce the film prototype under certain conditions.
When it came to the balloon section, I actually wanted to make enough balloons, like on the movie poster. However, after a few attempts, I realized that too many balloons can lead to too much weight. The load-bearing capacity of the roof is a big problem. Then I decided to let the balloon fly straight out of Brie. In this way, the weight of the balloon can be reduced, and at the same time, the scene of the most classic house taking off in the movie can be reproduced.
4. If you could talk to yourself before starting this project, what would you tell him/her? Is there anything you wish you had known at the time?
"After thinking about it a little more, there must be a better way to put them together." Good work requires repeated thinking.
5. How long did it take to complete this model? Did you do it quickly or did it take a long time? Also, how would you compare your time building with the time you promote your "product idea" to reach 10,000 votes of support?
Because I am usually very busy at work, I have very little time to create. Moreover, new problems kept arising during the creative process, and the plan needed to be constantly revised, so the whole process took a month. I was very touched and grateful to see other LEGO IDEAS players helping me share my creations.
6. How does it feel when you reach the amazing 10,000 votes, and how long did it take you to achieve that achievement?
When I reached 10,000 votes, my wife and I were very happy. I'm really happy to see that my work has been affirmed by the players. At the same time, I was also very touched and grateful to see the comments of other players. Because it's been a dream I've had for years. The work was uploaded on July 14, 2020 and reached 10,000 votes on August 9, 2021.
7. Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to make your model?
I used 2988 blocks to create this model.
8. What is your favorite building technique or part/part used in your work?
The slope of the roof adopts a triangular fixed assembly technology, which makes the roof more in line with the shape of the house in the movie, while ensuring the stability of the roof.
9. If you build your model with software, what software do you use to build and render your model?
To make the work complete, I used LDD, Studio 2.0, and Photoshop.
10. If you use custom stickers or prints in your design, how do you make them, or where do you get them from?
The stickers I use in my work are all redesigned and finished with Photoshop based on the designs in the film.
About LEGO Ideas
1. Do you have any good advice on how to create a successful LEGO Idea project?
First of all, you need to love Lego very much. Second, the chosen theme must be popular. Finally, you need to consider whether using existing LEGO elements can fully display its details, whether the whole structure is stable, and whether you can create the model you want with fewer bricks, and whether the building process is boring.
You can also create it slowly. Good ideas always come up out of nowhere during the production process.
2. What methods( if any) do you use to promote and attract support for your product ideas?
A good cover is key.
3. What is your favorite LEGO Idea (except of your own creativity of course)? Is there anything you think is undervalued?
My favorite LEGO Idea set is 21322 Barracuda Bay Pirates. First of all, it reminds me of the LEGO Classic Set 6285, which is really classic. Secondly, it comes in two forms that really amaze me. The design is really nice.
I think Sabfan's Bag End work is underrated. Its expression is very artistic and storytelling, but I regret the final failure.
4. What attracted you to the Ideas platform? What advice would you give to those who are thinking about uploading ideas?
As a LEGO fan, this platform is very attractive. This platform allows LEGO players all over the world to see my work. Every support I get on this platform means a lot to me.
I can also see excellent works from other players on this platform. As long as your work meets the requirements, boldly try it.
5. Do you have plans to submit additional product ideas in the future? If so, can you give us a hint, what could it be?
Yes, that might be a model with a Chinoiserie.