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Thorsten has taken two things he loves, LEGO and The Elder Scrolls Online, and combined them into a collection of incredibly detailed, custom-made scenes, all built from scratch! In this new Community Spotlight, we talk to him about his amazing ESO-inspired LEGO builds.
How did you get started building custom LEGO scenes?
Actually, I didn't even know that there were official sets when I first came in contact with LEGO. I have brother who is seven years older than me, so I grew up with his collections of bricks and pieces.
Since my brother managed to lose the set boxes and instructions, I started to build my own creations right from the beginning. Later, I bought some sets of my own (well, my lovely grandmother bought them for me), but I always came back to build custom scenes.
You've crafted a lot of intricate, ESO-inspired scenes. What is it about the game that makes you want to capture some of its in-game locations?
Over the years (I started playing shortly after the beta) ESO grew very close to me. It was my first real MMO, and I instantly fell in love with the landscapes, clothing styles, and architecture in combination with the lore. It was this combination that made ESO so unique and interesting to me.
Many games have extraordinary graphics, but lack substance. That is why ESO – even after so many years – is still a source of inspiration for me. Well, this and the fact that I'm a slow gamer and it takes me ages to explore everything - I love doing it!
Just an example: When you see a chair or a stable in ESO, you can instantly tell that it is an Orc chair or a Breton stable. The world of ESO is perfectly designed while also following and even expanding upon the lore. This allows me to get lost in it, and as a designer who is easily bored (like every designer) I'm happy that I found ESO. It's an almost never-ending source of inspiration.
What is the process for planning and crafting of these custom scenes? How long does it usually take?
The short answer to both questions is: “It depends."
It always starts with me exploring a new location in Tamriel. It can be a huge one, like a dolmen, or a small one, like a skeleton behind some rocks. I take some screenshots, print them out, hide in my LEGO room, ignore my social life for a few days, and begin building.
For the more complex models, I draw some sketches here and there, like, for example, when I try to fit the essence of a whole city (such as Orsinium) into a reasonably sized creation.
After so many years, the size of my LEGO collection allows me to build a scene without running out of parts easily. Therefore, I can concentrate completely on the building process, which nevertheless contains a lot of trial and error. People always see the final result, but they almost never see all the attempts where I had to start from scratch because I failed.
This, along with the different levels of complexity and size, is the reason why there is no clear answer to the question asking how long it takes. Sometimes I'm done after only a few evenings, and sometimes after several weeks or even months!
When the model is finished, the only thing left is taking pictures – a step that some people really underestimate. Photos are the only link between your creation and the outside world (apart from fairs and exhibitions, of course). Therefore, you should put similar effort into taking pictures that you had put into the building of your model. I'm an average photographer at best, but luckily I can cover it up with my Photoshop skills.
Your creations seem extremely detailed and complex. What is the most challenging part of creating a unique scene?
For me personally, building organic structures is always the hardest part. Have a look at my Tava's Beak model (below) – it nearly drove me mad, and I had to rebuild the head several times.
I'm a huge fan of architecture, but sometimes, architecture comes accompanied with challenging organic structures, like a statue or a relief. This is especially so in medieval-themed source material such as ESO. In such a case, I always start with the organic structure, because when I realize that I'm not able to build a presentable LEGO statue or relief, I can abandon the whole scene and focus on another one.
It is also not easy to transform what you see in ESO, with its high level of detail and realism, into a simplified LEGO model of a rather small scale. There is no way you can do this one-to-one, and instead you have to find the right techniques to capture the essence of a scene.
Oh, and it's a good thing that there are no cars in ESO – I'm terrible at building them.
You've captured and created parts of Orsinium, Hew's Bane, Dark Anchors, and more. What is your favorite ESO-inspired creation so far?
It is probably the last one that I finished: the Nord Wayshrine. This was something I wanted to do for a very long time, especially since I'm a huge fan of the Nord architecture, which is also a reason that I liked playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim so much (and I can't wait to one day finally read the announcement for a Whiterun-themed DLC).
How difficult is it to find the perfect bricks for your creations? How do you source what you need to create something unique?
Like I mentioned before, I'm in the happy position of owning a decent LEGO collection. Yet I can assure you, no matter how many parts you own, no matter how large your collection is, you always need to order parts when you build your next model. Always! Even though I disassemble my models after I've taken the pictures in order to use the bricks for my next creation.
Back to your question – it is not very difficult as long as you always stay up to date. From time to time, I buy new LEGO sets, not because I'm interested in those sets themselves, but to catch up on new pieces and colors that come with them.
And then there is BrickLink – the source for single LEGO bricks and parts (also for everything else LEGO related, like sets, boxes, and instructions). Without BrickLink, none of us LEGO fans would be able to build large custom creations.
Do you have any advice for other custom LEGO creators who might also be inspired by The Elder Scrolls Online?
Oh yes: Don't rush through anything in the game, including quests, dungeons etc.
Take your time to look around and enjoy the beautiful architecture, the detailed landscapes, the costumes, the armor, and the weapons. The designers put so much effort into every single bit, so you should appreciate it. And when you do, you'll find plenty of inspiration.
Always have the size of your LEGO collection in mind – even if it is not a huge collection, there are still places that you can build. Take the little scene from Hew's Bane for example (below) – so small and yet so spectacular.
Do you have any plans to create some new ESO-inspired scenes in the future?
Constantly! The problem is that you guys come up with more inspiring scenes and locations than I can build. I'm working on one based on ESO: Morrowind at the moment, but that is all I want to say about it now. No spoilers!
Where can fans find more of your work?
I publish almost all of my LEGO creations on flickr: www.flickr.com/xenomurphy
In addition to that, you can find work-in-progress pictures or creations that went horribly wrong (but still are too interesting to be disassembled before showing) on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/xenomurphy
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We're thrilled to be able to share Thorsten's story and some of his amazing ESO-inspired LEGO creations! Thank you! If you'd like to see more, don't forget to check out his Flickr and Twitter pages above. Have you created something unique that was inspired by The Elder Scrolls Online? We love sharing all the amazing creative things the ESO community comes up with, so let us know about it on Twitter @TESOnline and Facebook!
