The Artful Brick - 1st Anniversary

Has it been a year already? 

Over the past year I have written 80 posts, with no shortage of more on the way. Being able to schedule them has really helped, especially given how topsy-turvy things can be: some weeks I have plenty of time to build and blog, building up a backstock for other times when I'm too busy to even touch a LEGO brick. I know that consistency is key online, which is why I have always made sure to have a regular post scheduled for Sunday morning each week. That way I can use any Wednesday posts for MOCs, non-review posts, or reviews of hot new sets that I want to get out while they're still in stores and therefore are more relevant (for example The Four Weapons Blacksmith, The Dragon of Life, and Cole's Mission Mech).

My goal with this blog has always been to build more mindfully, using my posts as a way to not only immerse myself deeper in the building process but also to put my thoughts into words, exploring why I like a set, determining what works and what doesn't, and learning new techniques for my own creations. To that end, it has been a success: I feel like I've grown more as a builder this past year than I have since I was a kid playing with LEGOs on the carpet while watching Saturday morning cartoons.

An added bonus, however, is finding out that I'm not just shouting into the ether, sending my blog posts like little bottled messages to float on an empty sea; instead, it turns out that folks are actually reading what I've written! As of right now, my top 3 posts of all time are:

    3: RebrickMat 2.0 - my review of the updated workmat from Rebrickable

    2: 75418 LEGO Star Wars 2025 Advent calendar - my review detailing the ups and downs of one of the least-successful Advent calendars I've had the opportunity to open.

    1: Lego Illustration - describing my process of creating two brick-built images for the grand opening of my local Bricks & Minifigs shop

The fact that the post about my illustrations is the most viewed so far is both surprising and pleasing. We are all, after all, our own worst critics, and the fact that so many people were curious about my artistic approach and result is heartening. My recent post, Miso & Lucca LEGO Painting, seems to be on the road to gathering even more views, possibly due in part to being featured in my local LEGO User Group's newsletter, or possibly because the idea of doing paintings of minifigures is unusual enough to warrant a further look.

Some other notable posts that have generated a lot of interest are the I Like Trains house and Spider Society—likely thanks to the addition of QR codes to the physical models while on display, driving curious viewers to the relevant posts so they can read about my construction process—and the Urban Jungle post. This latter was called out by Minifigures Plus on their page detailing the three winning builds.

I'm grateful to them for the additional traffic, as well as for being an excellent resource for obtaining the latest CMFs. I've actually preordered the complete CMF 29 set from them, and am looking forward to mentioning them when I review it.

That ties in with one of the things I've learned in the course of this past year: the value of teamwork. First helping out with the local Bricks & Minifigs shop's opening and making those illustrations for them, then joining my local RLUG, and even doing mutual references with Minifigures Plus, have all broadened my horizons. As a child—and later as an adult—LEGO has always been a solitary pastime for me: something I did to soothe jangling nerves or exercise creativity, but by myself; now, however, I see that there can be a lot of fun in playing with (and collecting, and discussing, and otherwise enjoying) LEGO with others, a lot more that can be shared and a richness that isn't always there when it's just you all alone.

I have learned a lot over the course of this year: how to take better photos of my builds, how to talk about sets in a way that is both engaging and informative, and even how to build better. My studio has undergone a massive overhaul, resulting in more efficient storage and organization of my LEGO pieces, which has allowed me to bring my ideas to life much more quickly (as was mentioned in my Pirate Stories MOC post).

I'm looking forward to the next year and future collaborations, and want to thank all my readers for giving my writings some of their time and energy. Here's to another year of building and blogging, and hopefully many more after that!