Whether it’s through art, writing or communication skills classes, there’s always some way for Trinity students to show creativity. But junior Davis French expresses artistic ability in a unique way — with realistic Lego creations. French has a fondness for building scale models of electronic devices, to a point where it’s tough to tell the difference between what he builds and the real thing. French puts particular focus on building scale Nintendo consoles. In fact, his Nintendo-based builds are so strikingly similar to their working counterparts that they were featured in issue No. 282 of Nintendo Power, the video game company’s official magazine. “The first time I ever built something Nintendo-related was when my parents wouldn’t buy me or my brother a GameBoy color, so I tried building one myself,” French said in an interview with Nathan Meunier of Nintendo Power. Some of French’s creations include a Blue GameBoy Advance, an Orange GameBoy Color, and an SNES with a working power light and cartridge eject lever. All can be viewed on his Flickr page, lego27bricks. He said, “I like to build Nintendo consoles for two main reasons: one, because I’ve been a fan of Nintendo for a long time, and also because of the immense challenge it gives me. My console recreations force me to pack as much detail as I can into a one-to-one scale model, because it’s the details that really make these models look realistic.” When considering a piece for his builds, French has to think about whether the object will fit, and whether they will make a stable connection. He said whenever he can’t find a Lego to fit exactly where he needs it, he goes to a website called Bricklink, where one can buy individual bricks. If a piece he needs doesn’t exist or won’t work the way he thought it would, he has to think of a different combination of pieces that will look almost the same. French doesn’t only do Nintendo. He’s currently working on a photorealistic medieval building and has made quite a few vignettes, or little scenes, that take place in an eight-by-eight “stud” area. “I love the things Davis creates,” French’s mother, Mary, said. “I really enjoyed the Vignette a Day idea that he had. One of my favorite creations is a mosaic he created of himself from a photo.” The self-portrait mosaic was published in last year’s Axiom, Trinity’s literary arts magazine. In the future, French plans to build more from Nintendo and other companies, as well as making more vignettes. “Trying to get as much detail as I can on a build can be difficult at times, but that’s what makes it fun,” French said. “I like to think of the solutions to all of the problems that arise, plus I get a cool creation in the end.” Visit Davis French’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59395264@N03/