Ananasiki stands here, strong-willed, confident, and slightly defiant. She wants to make sure we are reminded that she can be whoever she wants to be, love whoever she wants to love, and do anything she puts her mind to. And hopefully one day, live in a country with a woman president.

Details and behind-the-scenes

This fierce, independent girl was inspired by the personality and art style of my teenage daughter. An artist herself, she has lately been creating a lot of characters in this style: slightly kawaii, slightly anime, with giant heads and huge detailed eyes. I thought the cartoonish style would look great as a sculpture made with LEGO bricks. And I felt it would be apt to make the girl’s personality more like my daughter’s… an independent, fiercely intelligent, strong female character. The world seems to need more of this right now!

My daughter also helped make decisions on the character’s final look… including her pose, eye color, hair color, and attire. She wasn’t happy with the clothes I’d designed, so she grabbed my laptop and drew a big, blocky pineapple onto the shirt. This became the inspiration for her name: “ananas” means “pineapple” in many European languages, including in The Netherlands where we live.

This sculpture now travels as part of my new exhibition, Brick Masters Studio. I built three copies: one fully complete, one 66% complete, and one 33% complete. These stand next to each other like a real-life time-lapse. You can look inside at the internal structure and markings to learn how I build my sculptures.

I love building cartoon sculptures with LEGO bricks! Making soft, chubby shapes belies the hard rectilinear LEGO bricks they are built from. As a cartoonist myself, these always feel very “me”, and this one — inspired so much by my daughter — is one of my favorites to date. 😊