There is no doubt that Instagram has gained in popularity in recent years (especially during Covid) with the AFOL community. That community has grown to be quite massive really, and it hosts a variety of builders, set collectors, and smaller communities for one to follow.

Jane Gibbons-Eyre displaying “Down on his luck” at Bricktober 2022

I enjoy chatting with like-minded AFOLs and discovering new creations that I was not aware of when they are often shared by others, which is the reason I continue to spend so much time on the platform (way too much!).

Creative works being shared by others is exactly how I became aware of Jane Gibbons-Eyre. At the time, Bricktober 2022 was running and I was enjoying the highlight of many MOCs coming from that show. And then I spotted Down On His Luck, a MOC that looked like a painting that has popped off the canvas.

Today, I am delighted to share a feature of Jane’s wonderful build and a quick chat with her to go along with it!

Down On HIs Luck by australian artist Fredrick McCubbin. Image via Wikipedia.

Brian: First, thank you very much for providing so many wonderful photos! I have to say, your MOC immediately caught my eye when I saw it, and it was quickly shared with the BrickNerd family. I see this was directly inspired by a real painting, which to me is already interesting coming from an art background. What specifically gave you the inspiration to recreate this painting?

Jane: Many, many years ago as a teen I visited the Golden Summers art exhibition at my state art gallery. This showcased paintings by historic Australian artists, including Frederick McCubbin. These paintings left a strong impression on me, and have influenced many aspects of my creative life since. It was natural for me to choose one of these iconic paintings to interpret in LEGO. The bush setting of “Down On His Luck” feels very much like the bush property where I live.

Brian: I really enjoyed your approach with this creation, taking a painting and making it come to life three-dimensionally. Yet we still get the nice frame standing vertically with an extended ground plane, really lending focus to the subject matter. What made you decide to take this approach, say, versus a mosaic?

Jane: I had seen the Starry Night LEGO set and loved the way the painting was interpreted in 3D. I decided to create a 3D painting but push the third dimension even further. I wanted to be able to build the focal character fully three-dimensional and really embed him in the environment. Figuring out how big to make the base and the background was an interesting challenge, and I went through a few revisions. I wanted the viewer to experience the same visual dimensions of the original painting while at the same time bringing the foreground out a considerable distance.

There was a lot of trial and error to put each aspect of the painting in the correct place when viewed, and maths is not my strong point! As this was built for Western Australia’s Bricktober Exhibition, I calculated the height and distance of the average adult viewer from the build and optimised the layout for that. This means the background picture frame is not as high as the original painting, as the base, after foreshortening, completes the height dimension.

Brian: What was your hardest challenge with this build?

Jane: When starting to plan this build I knew I wanted to include at least one large character. I am intrigued by the incredible character MOCs I see online. I have experimented a lot, trying to achieve different build techniques. Characters are hard, but I love the challenge!

While I had technical and mathematical challenges creating the background, my biggest challenge was building the man. I chose the scale I did because I wanted to use skeleton arms for his fingers. This is also the reason why his skin is tan, as skeleton arms only come in a few colours. His clothing was very challenging as I own a limited range of parts in dark tan, and I rebuilt his body and limbs a few times while trying to achieve an expressive pose. In the end, he was rather fragile, with single stud connections in places such as his shoulders and elbow. If I was to build him again I would try a completely different inner skeleton technique to make him more sturdy and poseable.

Brian: Any big learnings or takeaways from building this MOC?

Jane: I live rurally, surrounded by trees. I am inspired by nature. LEGO is incredible, in that such rigid geometric pieces can be used to create beautiful organic shapes! In this MOC, I wanted to build as organically as possible. I also wanted to use LEGO to showcase a piece of Australia that I love. My son Joshua and I like to build together, and inevitably we choose Australian subjects and stories. We particularly enjoy building birds and animals, as well as human characters.

I love the range of natural greens and browns now available in LEGO. They lend themselves very well to the Australian landscape. I tried to reflect the original colours of the painting as closely as possible within the LEGO colour and part limitations. I got lucky when the olive green leaf pieces covering the background appeared in my closest LEGO Store Pick-a-Brick wall. Interestingly, while olive green and sand green don’t usually go together in a build, they work well as Australian foliage.

Brian: That’s a great way of using what you have. Finally, approximately how long did it take you to construct?

Jane: It is hard to know how long it took me to build, as I would work for a few hours then would have to order parts before continuing the next week. I started the build about two and a half months before Bricktober and finished it when setting up at the exhibition. It was my first time exhibiting (I only started creating MOCs a year earlier), so my build time management wasn’t great!

Brian: Thank you again for sharing your story and your amazing creation. I’m sure we will see lots more from you in the future!

What other artwork would you want to see made in 3D LEGO? Let us know in the comments!

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