Here at The Brick Post we love a good LEGO inspired book, there are certainly a lot to choose from, but ones that focus on LEGO Minifigures really get us going. We are big Minifigure fans and have many in our collection, so when Chronicle Books gave us the chance to grab a review copy we jumped at it.
Follow us as we take a look at their new upcoming book, The Art Of The Minifigure!
Having had a week or so to really soak up what it has to offer we can honestly say that it’s a keeper. Not only does it showcase some of the Minifigures LEGO have it also goes deeper and explores the humble origins of the much beloved characters and Minifigures we know today, from concept sketches to the final product, you’ll be hooked from start to finish.
If you’re more like me you’ll this book in a different way, the ability to flick through and stop at a bit that interests you. Having chapters you can easily find the subject that you want to find out more about. On my first flick-through I ended up reading the whole section dedicated to ‘Making a Minifigure‘, it was fascinating how it all began.
Starting at the front of the book you’ll see the awesome front cover art, it features the silhouette of a Minifigure in red with the title of the book in the centre, The Art of the Minifigure. There are a ton of Minifigure heads that make up the background and I must say the whole image looks cool.
Opening the book we have the usual publisher information and a short quote from LEGO themselves, it sums up the true essence of Minifigures
I won’t show to much of the books contents as I’d love for you to have that experience yourself if you decide to purchase this it. Follow below for a handful of pages and a taste of what to expect.
Looking at the index you’ll see this book is quite comprehensive and digs deep into most aspects of the LEGO Minifigure.
From ‘Before the Minifigure‘ and ‘Making a Minifigure‘ to ‘What’s Comes Next‘. Each section is a thrilling read and contains so much information.
Having started my LEGO journey quite late in life, I missed out on so much. Looking back there have been so many cool and interesting themes and some have long since been discontinued, such as Classic Castle and Classic Space. This in turn means the many Minifigures that were included in those sets. I do have some LEGO Knights but they cost an arm and a leg.
The ‘Before The Minifigure‘ chapter of the book has opened my eyes to what form LEGO characters took before settling on what we know today. It also shows you what LEGO did before Minifigures and even before the plastic Brick!
Some of the first Minifigures are pictured in the book and just makes you wish you had them, some of you most likely do. From the Ghost and a Skeleton to a Pirate and Santa. Facial expressions came a bit later on with eyebrows, lips, freckles and such which really opened up the characters and ultimately your imagination.
It even goes through the whole process of how the Collectable Minifigure Series is made, from the initial sketches to the finished product. Detailing how Vice President of Design, Matthew Ashton, came up with a lot of the ideas that now appear in real LEGO form.
It’s really interesting to see just how the process plays out and the drawings that are easily recognisable to the ones that we now have in our collections. Most of the derails and accessories look as though they have remained in tact. It’s truly fascinating!
LEGO Star Wars even gets a mention and how it saved the whole company from going under all those years ago.
It highlights the fact that new, shorter, legs were needed as how could Yoda possibly be as tall as Darth Vader!
It touches on the Everyone Is Awesome – Everyone Is Welcome aspect of the companies ethos and focuses on the set that was released, again by Matthew Ashton.
It celebrates the inclusive nature that LEGO brings to the World and allows anyone and everyone to play with and enjoy. The monochrome Minifigures also brought in a lot of collectors who wanted to start or complete a full series of brightly coloured characters.
This book not only focuses on the LEGO Minifigures we know and love but also how others have interpretated them, with specialised art sculptures made from a wide variety or materials, wood, metal, and even defect LEGO Bricks!
Overall The Art of the Minifigure book by Chronicle Books is a book you should most definitely have in your collection, especially if you love Minifigures!
If youd like to grab yourself one of these then follow the links below, depending on your region.
The book releases 26th May 2022.
Chronicle Books (US): https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/lego-the-art-of-the-minifigure
Amazon (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1452182264/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_F7WD3F2E4X5DAJWB6SZZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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[…] like other previous Chronicle Books review (The Art of the Minifigure) we won’t be diving too deep in the book as we don’t want to give all the secrets of it […]