About a year ago, I had just finished re-reading Jurassic Park for the umpteenth time. I was also watching my way through all the movies in preparation for Jurassic World: Dominion. It occurred to me that the 30th anniversary of the original movie was coming. I already knew I wanted to host a Jurassic Week here at True North Bricks. However, I wanted there to be something really special that I could showcase, and maybe even give away. I decided to create instructions for a Jurassic Park logo that other fans could have for free. While I had built LEGO® Art sets like the World Map before, I had never designed one myself. However, with a year of time to figure out, I went on my way towards designing a Jurassic Art MOC.
I began by downloading Bricklink Studio. It has a mosaic generating function I wanted to try. I gave it a go, but the result was ugly. It seemed there was no easy road, and I scrapped that idea. With that said, I used Studio quite a bit for this project. In fact, that’s how the instructions came about. I was very new to Studio when I began this process, and looking back, there are time saving measures I would do differently next time. However, I just didn’t really know how to use the program when I started. It was a learning process, for sure.
I wanted the red in the Jurassic Park lettering to appear at a width of 1 stud.
In the beginning, I had no idea how big my Jurassic Art MOC would turn out. I figured it needed enough resolution for the red in the lettering to be the width of a 1×1 round tile. With that as my starting point, I printed an 8.5″x11″ copy of the Jurassic Park logo. Subsequently, I proceeded to divide the page up into tiny squares such that one square width roughly coincided with the red interior of the lettering. Then I realized how HUGE the logo needed to be. At 128 studs wide and 96 studs high, it was larger than the World Map. I needed 48 of the 16×16 Technic bricks used in the LEGO® Art theme. Incidentally, the World Map is 128 studs by 80 studs, or 40 of the 16×16 Technic bricks.
With that established, I started placing 1×1 tiles in Studio. Even with my printed and subdivided guide, the process was challenging. When one of my pixels contained more than one color, I had to decide which color to use in the MOC. That is harder than it sounds. One misplaced tile can throw off the look of a rounded edge. Additionally, I altered the lettering for it to work in brick form. And, the circle was super challenging. I went through multiple iterations. In fact, I even modified it this past week when I finished physically building. I stood back to look at it, and the circle simply didn’t look right. So, I made the whole canvas bigger to expand the circle. The final product is 128 studs wide by 98 studs high. I added two rows to the bottom of the design using Technic bricks and plates.
I made changes to the design right through the end of the final build.
My digital instructions employ four colors to build the logo using only 1×1 round tiles, or dots. However, my final built model is different. At some point during the last year, I decided to physically build this model and not just create digital instructions. I have acquired numerous LEGO® Art sets over the years on liquidation or sale. I realized if I simply altered the colors a little and played with the texture, I had most of the parts needed in my collection already. Instead of red 1×1 round tiles, I used dark red 1×1 round plates. Subsequently, I replaced the round yellow 1×1 tiles with round 1×1 gold plates. The black exterior of the logo remained round tiles. However, the interior turned into 1×1 round black plates. Consequently, the whole logo has a rougher, slightly raised texture compared to the black background.
Many of you are likely wondering how much this build costs. The cost calculator in Studio estimates $1395 CAD. I can guarantee it did not cost me that much. Perhaps if you are in a rush and you need to order all the part right now, it will cost you that much. However, I collected the parts gradually over a year whenever I saw Art sets with relevant colors on sale. Additionally, two of the colors I needed popped up on the Pick-And-Build wall at the LEGO® Store, and I filled cups. In the end, I used elements from two Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests sets, one Marilyn Monroe, one Mickey Mouse, one Batman, one Create Together Art Project, plus two PAB cups, a Bricklink order, and a Pick-A-Brick order.
This build cost me about $385 CAD.
I bought all the sets on sale, I have never paid full price for a LEGO® Art kit. Now, I have loads of pieces left over from those for future projects too. But, I used almost all of the 16×16 Technic bricks. It’s kind of hard to say exactly how much the components of those sets actually cost me. If I consider only the parts I used from each kit and break it down simply using cost/brick, I extracted about $176 CAD worth of parts based on the sale prices I paid. I ordered an additional $170 CAD from Bricklink and Pick-A-Brick. Add the two Pick-and-Build cups, and my total is somewhere around $385 CAD. That is a little more expensive than the World Map ($350 CAD). However, my build also has substantially more parts.
The World Map comes with 11,695 bricks, resulting in a cost/brick of about $0.029 CAD. My Jurassic Park logo has 13,124 pieces with the frame added on (the frame is not included in the instructions). Consequently, my cost/brick was about $0.029 CAD as well. Had I not been on a timeline to finish this for the June 11 anniversary of Jurassic Park, I probably could have cut the price down even more by waiting for more sales and PAB turnovers. Ordering from Bricklink and LEGO® directly upped my cost a lot. Those parts made up about 25% of the build, but cost me almost half the total price of the project. So, if you plan to build this, give yourself time to slowly collect the parts you need.
Ordering from Bricklink and LEGO.com really upped the price of this build.
With that said, the process of sourcing the bricks and anticipating the orders from LEGO® and Bricklink was kind of fun. Additionally, I don’t think $385 CAD for a build this big is a bad price at all. Plus, now I have an awesome display and a set of digital instructions to share with all of you! I would love to see what others do with this project. Will you change the colors? Perhaps build with all round tiles or all round plates? Will you source parts cheaper or pricier than I did? Add a frame? The possibilities are endless. One thing is for sure, if you build it, I want to see it. So please take pictures and tag me @truenorthbricks on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. Even if you don’t plan to build it, let me know what you think in the comments or on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
Before you download…
NOTE: By downloading these instructions, you agree that you will use them for personal display purposes only. You will not sell or profit from any part of this production or derivative of it. You also agree you will not reproduce or repost these instructions in any way, shape, or form. These instructions were produced for fun for the FREE enjoyment of LEGO® and Jurassic Park fans. The LEGO® Group, Universal Studios, and Amblin Entertainment were not involved in the production of this artwork and in no way endorse this production.
CLICK HERE to download instructions for my Jurassic Art MOC.
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Pretty cool. Well done.
Thank you!