How Instagram helped a Malaysian content creator improve his art.
We recently got an opportunity to collaborate with Adly Syairi from Malaysia. In his own words he is a professional content solution provider at Thinker Studios, a music lover and a huge fan of Lego Minfigures. Adly’s instagram is a visual bliss for any Lego lover and this is what caught our eye. Adly believes that Instagram is not just about interactions but he sees it more as a medium of improving his art. We got some wise advice from Adly for budding content creators —
How did Lego inspire you ?
I can’t recall how and why I started photographing my LEGO. Get to think of it, I have to credit Instagram for what I have achieved to date. The mobile photo sharing service gave me a window to display and share things that I like, first with friends and today with fans of LEGO from all over the world, I guess. Most importantly, it became my photographic yardstick, not in the number of interactions, but more on how I can improve my art.
My first Instagram post on LEGO was on Monday Dec 12, 2011. It was a photo of my LEGO Collectable Minifigure Series that was in my collection at that point of time. The caption was “Takde penyakit cari penyakit. My new obsession.
In the beginning, all my LEGO posts were mainly minifigures in playful sometime cynical settings as well LEGO sets and minifigures that I wanted or just bought. It was totally random and as you can see, it was shot without any much thoughts being put into it.
Then I went into composing the minifigures into certain scene that somehow that a story, most of the time with a twisted sense of humor.
After a while I kind of ran out of inspirations. Since I’m a music lover who loves to play with LEGO, it’s minifigures especially, it’s only natural for me to start experimenting on how can I pay tribute to the bands and musicians and personalities that I like using LEGO minifigures.
Things just escalated from then on.
What’s the secret sauce behind your Instagram content
I will normally start off with a picture of a subject that I want to “Legolised”. From there I would compose each character using existing LEGO minifigure elements — hairpiece, face, torso and legs — that is in my minifigures collection.
Once I’m happy with the “Legolised” version of each characters, I will start toying with composition ideas — is it a promo shot, a scene from their live shows, etc. Then I will start taking photographs of it using my iPhone.
I normally shoot on a white background, a white mounting board works like a charm. No special lighting, just your normal ceiling lights.
Additional editing — the T-Shirt designs, logo, etc, were also done on my iPhone using Superimpose app. As for how long it takes for me to come up with a “Legolised” shot, I’d say between 30 minutes to an hour. Depending on how much detailed work is required.
Creativity often connects to inspiration. From where do you get your dose of inspiration for your work?
The best inspiration will alway be subjects that are very close to you. In my case, it’s music and streetwear.
Check Out Adly’s latest work in collaboration with Photomoolah and Lego where he recreates the magic of Kampung life using Lego.
