Building LEGO MOCs is like every other creative process… and many of us have experienced the annoying creative block. It happens when you sit down to build something and then—blank. You have the parts, but there is no inspiration—your brain is empty and you feel like you will never build anything good again.

When I first started building, I had these “episodes” of builders block a lot more often than nowadays. I was used to the creative block as my job is to design graphics, but with LEGO everything should be fun, but I was more stressed than I had to be. There were weeks and months without building anything, and most of the time when I tried to build, I failed.

It took a few months, but I finally figured out I found out what to do when I was stuck with builders block. The answer was simple. “Build more.” I increased from building an average of five to 10 actual MOCs from start to finish a year to achieving 50 builds just between September and December in 2020. This year so far, I have built more than 80 thing.

How do you simply build more? Here are a few ideas and inspiration that help me get building more LEGO creations.

Organize and Learn

I know each builder has his own way of organizing and sorting parts, but initially, I didn't have one. All of my parts were in plastic zip bags and finding anything was a huge struggle. This was one of the reasons that kept me away from building my own things, so I preferred official sets. Then I finally bought a few organizers, basically suitcases for nuts and bolts, and I sorted most of the loose small parts in them. I had to remember the position of each part, but this made a huge difference. “Organize” isn’t much in terms of advice, I guess, but hey, it helped me a lot to learn what parts I had and where could I find them.

Here are some interesting sorting articles from my fellow builders here on BrickNerd that may help kickstart your creative thinking:

Follow Other Builders and Take Notes

I don’t mean follow other people literally, but online. There are a lot of great builders on social media, and I would definitely recommend checking out Instagram and Flickr, searching for LEGO. (Or check out BrickNerd’s Instagram and follow who we link to when they are featured.) You can search for themes, find the ones that you like, and follow their creators. Check their builds and how they do it. You can even try to copy their work or do a variation of it. You shouldn’t steal, but to learn, you should always credit the authors.

The process is like building an official LEGO set—you follow the instructions and somewhere along the way you find an interesting connection or solution to a problem. It can help you see how others are doing it and how their imagination works. You can ask other builders for help or how they have achieved a certain effect. Most of the times people will answer back and will share their wisdom with you. This is what I like about the LEGO community—builders are so many and colorful, but they are always open to chat and help.

Here are a few of my favorite builds from builders who also happen to be BrickNerd contributors. I’ve been following their work for some time now. They all have been great inspirations to me.

Start Small

We all want to create big and immersive builds, but the truth is that these projects need a lot of time… and a lot of parts, which equals money and also space to display or at least store them. And most of the time when you’re working on something big, your building space looks like two raccoon gangs were fighting for a stolen camera all over the place. (Mine looks like this even when I’m building small though :D)

The point is, that if you don’t have a lot of space, or you might get in trouble at home for buying too much LEGO, or you just want to scratch your itch and just build something, start small. I would recommend starting even smaller—try to use only 10 to 20 parts and make something recognizable. This will challenge you enough to get the creative juices flowing, and it takes less time and space than a big build.

Few ideas to start with: build an animal, a house or a castle, a character or a an object you use in everyday life.

Don’t Overthink It

Whenever I try to make something perfect… I never finish it. In the last year, I have started very few things that never saw the light of day. And these types of builds were almost all of my builds before. Every creation can probably be more refined, more beautiful, but who really needs that?

I don’t want to offend anyone, but I had to come to the realization that there always is a more skilled builder, or one with more parts or more time out there. Building LEGO is not a competition, we are here to have fun and follow our passions! (Unless you are on LEGO Masters of course…) But otherwise, leave the stress in the other room when you play with your bricks.

Enter a Contest!

For me, building contests are probably the best way to start building more. The moment I started building for contests and challenges I got addicted to the thrill. Not because of the prizes but building along with other builders envigorates me. I was never the competing type and I don’t mind losing, but the building itself, coming up with ideas, the whole process felt amazing. And when you see what others can do with the same topic, even with the same parts sometimes, is just mesmerizing.

This is a good place to share a story from one of my first contests as a participant. It was hosted by New Elementary, where you had to use a specific part as the main focus in a build (a seed part as it’s most known as). The part was the lantern minifig utensil. I don’t know how, but I ended up with 7-8 entries in the contest. From Fred Flintstone making BBQ sauce to a motorcycle and even Baby Yoda, I loved them all!

Around that same time, Brickset was also hosting a contest. Builders had to suggest an idea for a LEGO polybag. I liked one of my builds from the previous contest, so I just added a minifigure to it and posted it as a new entry. Then the results for the New Elementary contest came out and guess what—I didn’t win. But then few weeks later, the results for the polybag contest were announced and I was one of the winners! Suddenly, my whole family was notified about my “success”, some by phone, some in person (I’m crazy like that). I didn’t expect to win with so many other great entries, but I was really happy that I did. It encouraged me to build even more.

Meanwhile, I was also following the Iron Forge build-off, where the idea is pretty much the same—use one part in a creative way. I was in awe seeing the skilled builders and their creativity. But to be honest, I was really scared to try building along with them because the competition was fierce. But that is another story for another time.

There are dozens of LEGO contests every month and BrickNerd collects them all into a contest round-up showcasing all of the major and interesting ones. If you truly are looking for a building challenge and want to improve your game (either to start building more or you want to improve your skills) then join a contest. There’s nothing to be lost there, you can only benefit from it. (And check out the Nerdvember Comics contest BrickNerd is hosting right now. If you were ever motivated by rare prizes alone, you’ll be super excited to start building!)

Play With Some Seed Parts

Because of the contests I’ve participated in, I’ve developed a love for using seed parts in most of my builds. There is something almost mysterious about how a LEGO creation is born starting from only one part as inspiration. Yes, the plan is to build something with the seed part, but sometimes the final build exceeds my initial vision of it. There are times that I even ask myself, did I build this for real? And then I admire it for a few days before moving on to whatever is next.

The idea here is simple – you take one part (the seed part) and use that as the spark of imagination for your build. A seed part can be something you have lots of or it can work even better if the part has a strange shape or is meant to be something entirely different. Try to build anything with it that makes sense to you at least.

Forr example, I have only one crocodile part, originally from a Hidden Side set. After it was lying around for some time, I took it and disassembled it. The body of the crocodile by itself is really a strange part that almost looks like a bottle opener. At that time the Mos Eisley Cantina (75290) set was just released and I was dreaming of buying it, but then an idea hit me—this strange tan crocodile part could be my cantina… and the color was the same!

alMOSt Eisley Cantina

Back View

I started from there then looked for a dome part since in the original cantina had one, and I found the Bith musician’s head was the perfect match! I built a small foundation, added a tile here and there, but to finish it off I needed a Dewback. These are big green-ish animals on Tatooine, I won’t get too nerdy about them... yet… I was looking for a small part that could be interpreted as a Dewback, but then I checked the small animals I had. And I found it! A small chameleon that looked pretty much as close to a Dewback as possible at that scale. The rest of the build probably took me less than an hour to finish, but it was worth it.

With every build like this, my imagination is creates some weird connections with the parts I use. (Is this what a superpower looks like!?) These powers can be yours too, without being bit by a spider or becoming the subject of an illicit experiment. Well actually, you should experiment by combining parts and exploring what they can do, but you know what I mean.

Go Out and Do Stuff

Lastly, our favorite LEGO hobby is something that we all do mostly at home, but our brains need distraction and movement. Even if you have the time, a huge amount of parts, and space to build everything you want, you still need different kinds of inspiration. Going out for a walk can provide that, or just meeting a friend, or just talking to someone.

If you are not into walking or sports, you can always watch a movie, play a game or read a book, and get ideas from there. USe that time to let your imagination run wild, then when you have a moment of brilliant, build more! Start small and upgrade with each new build.

Build More

That is my list of ways to start building more. There are probably a ton more things that can inspire you, but these are what help me to get out of a LEGO building block. So if you’re stuck, try something different and change your point of view—you'll start building more in no time!

Do you have a way of overcoming any creative blocks? Do you have any additional advice you want to share? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, and Megan Lum to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more.