60 sec review: The Art of Lego Design
The Art of LEGO Design: Creative Ways to Build Amazing Models
by Jordan Schwartz
No Starch Press is really doubling down on their Lego books. Their latest is a stunner. The Art of Lego Design by Jordan Schwartz is less of an art book and more of a hands on guide. It shows actual techniques used by the Lego artists featured in other No Starch books like Mike Doyle’s Beautiful Lego.
As one of the LEGO Group’s youngest staff designers; Jordan Schwartz worked on a number of official LEGO sets. His attention to detail and gift for teaching really come through in the book. Many of the models that seem impossible at first, such as stained glass windows, are actually pretty simple once explained in the book.
The Art of Lego Design is the perfect entry point to rabbit hole that is Lego sculpture. With Lego specific jargon like cheese slopes, SNOT (Studs Not On Top), and the Lowell sphere; it would be easy to get lost; but Jordan explains it all clearly, along with general design principles like texture and composition.
The book takes the reader through many styles of construction and technical advantages of different pieces, with as dash of Lego history thrown in. I didn’t know there once was a Lego set with a fuzzy bear rug or a line of big Lego people for the Technic sets.
Read or Read Not? Read!