With the fame (and fortune) surrounding Bart Simpson, it is only fitting for him to have a life-size Lego model made in his image. This model, in particular, measures about three and a half feet in length. Lego Artist Eric claims that it balanced his color supply out perfectly.
My fondest memory of Bart Simpson was watching it on Friday afternoons with my Grandfather. We never missed an episode. Bart was screened on the South African channel MNet, but only to the fortunate people who had an MNet decoder. (being the early nineties.) Luckily, MNet had an “open time” between 5pm and 7pm, and everyday Friday my 5pm time slot belonged to my Grandfather and Bart Simpson. If I could, I would own a Lego Bart Simpson.
A whole bunch of yellow bricks were used to make the Lego Bart Simpson, and Eric Harshbarger joked that it helped him to balance his Lego brick supply, since he hardly used any white or black bricks to make Bart and all the previous projects he worked on severely limited his color choices. Lego Bart weighs 30 pounds, give or take a pound.
If you take a closer look at the detail, you will realize just how much effort Eric went to in his creation of Bart Simpson. He had to work off a 2 dimensional picture, and transform his masterpiece into a 3D work of art. When Bart Simpson was created for TV, it was relatively easy to give the illusion of perspective. You, the viewer, only saw the front. On a TV screen, there was only one angle to consider. Sure, the artists had to give the impression that it was 3D, adding curves and contours where needed; however, you still only saw Bart’s “best side.” Eric’s model is an actual 3D piece. Regardless of which angle you look, the contours had to be perfect. I can only imagine how much effort went into getting the shape of Bart’s head, his nose and his eyes, just right. And of course, his spiky hair.
But wait, there’s more! It’s Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten! Like Bart, it took a lot of time and patience to get the facial expressions right. A different shade of yellow was used, but other than that, the detail is spot on. From his trademark nose and blue hair, right down to the red pants.
These days, Eric focuses on 2D mostly, as well as Murals built out of LEGO bricks. He creates very few 3D sculptures. His works have appeared on television shows including The Today Show, and even Ripley’s Believe It or Not on NBC, featuring him as one of the top Lego Sculptors and mosaicists in the world. If you love the Simpsons, no doubt you would also like Weird Bart Simpson’s Look Alike Sculpture with LED and Zombie Homer Simpson Tattoo: Homer’s Finally Been Inked!.
