Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! =) ... Here's wishing you happy holidays and a wonderful year ahead! ^^ ... Here's a "blocky" Christmas greeting I created ... Hehehee ...

nanoblock motion Choro-Q Optimus Prime Unboxing

Here is a quick unboxing video for the new nanoblock motion Choro-Q Transformers Optimus Prime from Takara Tomy. 

It is basically a bluetooth enabled remote control truck which you can control using your iPhone or Android smartphones using an app. It comes with all the bricks needed to build both the robot and vehicle at the same time. It takes 10 seconds to charge and plays for about 60 seconds. 

I got it from here. 

Instagram : Best Moments of 2014

Here are the most liked photos on my Instagram for 2014 =) ... Do follow me on Instagram if you haven't already done so ^^

A video posted by Christopher Tan (@christan) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:04pm PST

nanoblock Singapore Airlines Plane

This is my design for a Singapore Airlines plane =) ... It was originally based on the Airbus A380, but there were details that I could not replicate at this size unless I printed it on stickers ... so it's more like A380 inspired, rather than a A380 replica =) ...

Just Passed 18,000 Fans On Facebook

I just wanted to say a big Thank You to all of you for your support =) ... A year ago today, my Facebook page only had 3,320 likes, so that's 14,680+ new fans in the past 12 months ^^ ... Hopefully, next year today, the number will grow to over 50,000? =P ... Hehehe ... 

Apart from Facebook, you can also follow me on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

nanoblock Build Instructions: Paddington Bear

Here are the build instructions below. Do check out my Snapguide for all my other build instructions.

Check out How to Build Nanoblock Paddington Bear by Christopher Tan on Snapguide.

nanoblock Paddington Bear

Here's my nanoblock Paddington Bear =) ... Have you watched the movie?

Quick Tour of My Design Studio

Here's a quick tour of my office where I design all my nanoblock creations =)

nanoblock Penguins of Madagascar

Have you watched the movie "Penguins of Madagascar"? ... Try and guess who this is =D ...

My nanoblock Bulldog Build Instructions

Here are the instructions for my tiny nanoblock bulldog. It uses many of the new nanoblock bricks.

How It's Done : nanoblock Escher's "Ascending and Descending"

Many of you have seen my nanoblock version of Escher's "Ascending and Descending" and asked me how it was done. How is it possible to build a seemingly impossible stairs? Well, the video below will show you how this was achieved.

After watching the above video, you are probably thinking it looks easy, right? Well, it is not as straight forward as it appears.

In order to achieve this optical illusion, everything had to be just right. I had to build several test prototypes to get the dimensions and positions of the stairs just right for the angle I want the building photographed. I also tested different stair layouts to find the one that minimizes the gap distance between the two ends of the stairs. 

You can see some of my prototypes here

Foundations and part of the ground floor completed

About to start building the stairs. The prototype
stairs fitted in to make sure everything looks right.

The photos below shows the hidden portion of the building. I could have just left the hidden portion empty, but I decided to fill it up anyway and built a secret staircase. I think this makes it more "complete" as a building, although it will not make any difference to the optical illusion.

A hidden staircase at the back

Also, for the actual photo, I used a long focal length to shoot the photo in order to compress the perspective, thereby ensuring the size of the objects at the back matches the size of the objects in front, completing the optical illusion.

How the photo was shot

Well, I hope you guys found this interesting. It was really fun building this and I am thinking of attempting another of Escher's masterpiece in the near future.

nanoblock Chicken from Crossy Road Game

The Chicken from the game "Crossy Road" =) ... Who likes this game? Hehe ... For those who didn't know, it's like a clone of the old game "Frogger" ... 

nanoblock Princess Ida from Monument Valley

If you are a fan of the popular game Monument Valley, this is for you =) ... Here is the nanoblock version of Princes Ida ^^

nanoblock Escher's Ascending and Descending

nanoblock version of "Ascending and Descending", a lithograph print by M.C. Escher in 1960. My nanoblock version uses an estimated 2000+ bricks and weights 853g. It took me 2 days to create this.

How is it that the stairs seems to be going up endlessly? Well, it's an optical illusion ... No, I did not edit the photo in Photoshop or anything like that ... Hehehe ... 

Please vote here for nanoblock Award 2014.-2015.

Next to an iPhone for scale

nanoblock PreOrder: Taipei 101, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and Tokyo Tower 2

Please submit your pre-orders by Nov 30, 12pm (GMT+8). Click here for details. If you have pre-ordered stuff for the Nov 2014 releases, you can add on these and I will combine the discounts and shipping =)

Escher in nanoblock

I was playing the game "Monument Valley" (great game by the way), and it gave me the idea to build Esher's work in nanoblock ^^ ... This is an early proof of concept ... 

Stare at it long enough and you might go crazy ... LOL

Please vote for this entry in nanoblock Award 2014-2015 by clicking here.

nanoblock Night of the Living Dead

Night of the living dead? ... I am a month late for Halloween ... LOL ...

Please vote for this entry in nanoblock Award 2014-2015:

http://www.nanoblock-award.com/app-story/post_list/detail/1444?post_id=23268

nanoblock PreOrder - Nov 2014

Preorder the upcoming nanoblock releases now. 15% discount for orders above RM160 worth of products. Ships Worldwide! ... Click here for more information. Please order by 11.59pm, Nov 26, 2014. 

nanoblock Scene from Dune

Scene from the classic movie "Dune" ... That's a giant Sandworm chasing some nanoids ... LOL ... Who here still remembers that movie? ^^ ... And yes, I am from that era ... Hahaa ...

nanoblock Year End Super Sale

Guys, it's been quite some time since I last ran a big sale because it's very time consuming and I don't really make much from these, and it will probably be quite some time before the next big sale, so if there are things you wanna buy, now's the time to do it =) ... and yes, I ship WORLDWIDE ^^

The Facebook event for this sale is over here. Please invite your friends! =)

nanoblock Mr Trumpet from Sugar Moustache

Here is Chacha Rita Ramnarong, a popular Thai actress and singer posing with my designs of the nanoblock versions of Mr. Trumpet character from her fashion brand Sugar Moustache ^^ ... Yes, she's a nanoblock fan too =D

nanoblock Art Piece: Bookworm

I have been thinking about writing a book and that lead me to create this =) ...

nanoblock Colt M1911 Replica

My nanoblock replica of the Colt M1911. I put a lot of effort into capturing as much of the detail as possible. What do you think? =)

nanoblock Art Piece: Flow

An art piece from me today titled "Flow" ... See the dynamics of water in action as presented in nanoblock =) ... and I would really appreciate it if you would vote for my entry in the nanoblock Award 2014-2015. 

nanoblock Funassyi (ふなっし)

Funassyi is the mascot for the city of Funabashi in Chiba, Japan. This is my nanoblock version of Funassyi =) ... 

Chris Featured in China Press Newspaper

Just did an interview with the China Press (a local Malaysian newspaper) a few days ago and it was published in a two page spread today =D ... Thanks to China Press for the feature =)

nanoblock Hikonyan (ひこにゃん)

Here's my nanoblock Hikonyan. He is the mascot for the city of Hikone, Japan.

Tiny nanoblock Bulldog

This tiny little nanoblock bulldog is probably my smallest creation so far =) ... It uses some of the newer types of bricks found in the nanoGauge sets.

Giant nanoblock Moai Statue of Easter Island

It took me about 2 days and around 2,000 nanoblock bricks to create this deluxe sized Moai Statue of Easter Island. It stands at 23cm tall =)

Video for a 360 degree look at the statue: 

nanoblock Award 2014-2015

The annual nanoblock Award is starting in just a few days. Start building! =)

nanoblock Bunny Found Giant Carrot

My latest creation from last weekend =) ... nanoblock bunny found a giant carrot ... Hehee ... Hmm, think maybe I should have made an even bigger carrot? LOL

nanoblock Mecha n-Delta

Here is the second nanoblock Mecha I created =) ... In creating this Mecha series, I was experimenting with new techniques and making use of the new types of nanoblock bricks ... Now I have to go get some more nanoGauge trains ... Hahaha!