Huge grin: Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught with one of his creations. His new book The Bricktionary: An A-Z of Lego is out on March 29. Photo: Mark Roper.
Everyone’s favourite Lego master, The Brickman, is sharing his ideas with other Lego fans in the ultimate guide to the plastic bricks.
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STORY: MAX STAINKAMPH. PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK ROPER
Many kids never want to stop playing with Lego.
If you went to Mooroopna decades ago and asked Ryan McNaught what he wanted to do when he grew up, he might have said “play with Lego”.
The difference between Ryan and most other kids is that he managed to do it.
And he has now written the ultimate A-Z guide to Lego, called The Bricktionary.
The book helps inspire ingenious ideas for your next build and is an indispensable tool for the avid Lego-er.
Putting the book together involved a lot of time spent on hands and knees in piles of Lego, and is The Brickman’s second book.
“When we were working on the first book we realised we had a billion ideas which didn’t make it, so so we realised we needed another one,” Ryan said.
“It’s a privilege to be able to do it, there’s no doubt.
“When you’re a kid and dream of being an astronaut or a pilot or playing with Lego for a living, it’s all very much the same realm of impossibility.”
In brick heaven: Bricktionary author and Lego master Ryan McNaught. Photo: Mark Roper.
He said the book was designed for anyone, no matter how big or small their Lego collection was, with pages like the UFO page asking readers to include a driver, figure out what makes it go — “is it propelled by a jet engine or a flying robot llama?” — and by challenging people to make it look like it’s flying.
Ryan said assembling the ideas wasn’t easy — although it was enjoyable.
"It took a long time to write, it was a lot of fun and at times we found ourselves playing with it and not doing the work we should have been,“ he said, laughing.
“We were often catching ourselves going ‘how cool is this?’.
“We wanted to capture what it was like having a million ideas and it’s not just giving people ideas but it’s also the process of how to come up with those ideas.”
Ryan said the idea of the book was to get people creating and thinking about ideas.
“Hopefully kids reading this are inspired to find their own thing.
“It takes a while to develop that ideas part of your brain but once you do you can’t not see ideas everywhere.”
The Bricktionary is out on March 29 in all good book stores, and you can pre-order your copy now. It’s published by Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99. Head to www.thebrickman.com/shop/for more information.
Zany creations: From Ryan McNaught’s The Bricktionary (Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99). Photo: Mark Roper
Inspirational: From Ryan McNaught’s The Bricktionary (Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99). Photo: Mark Roper
Fun-filled: From Ryan McNaught’s The Bricktionary (Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99). Photo: Mark Roper
Far out: From Ryan McNaught’s The Bricktionary (Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99). Photo: Mark Roper
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