Awesome Waves

Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa is one of the world’s most iconic artworks. It’s been the subject of countless tributes over the years. LEGO builder Jumpei Mitsui assembled an enormous 3D model of the wave using 50,000 bricks and shared this time-lapse video of the build. He created the piece for an installation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

It’s time to expand your LEGO art museum with this pixelated version of Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The kit brings the Japanese masterpiece to life with 1,810 LEGO bricks. The finished piece measures 20.5″ w x 15.5″ h, and comes with hangers, a Hokusai signature tile, and a QR code linked to an accompanying soundtrack.

The USS Brickster sets sail into the roughest seas a minifig has ever seen. Canvas 23 Studios took a model of the LEGO City Ocean Exploration Ship, fitted it with a GoPro Hero 10 camera, and dropped it into the ocean to see how it and a smaller LEGO craft would withstand the surf.

We’ve seen artists create miniature and LEGO versions of The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Now watch as Minibricks crafts an incredible 3D rendition of Hokusai’s iconic Japanese illustration by sculpting foam blocks, then coating them with blue and white resins. The 3D-printed boats are even filled with tiny passengers.

We’ve never lived through a tsunami, but we know they can be terrifying and quite deadly. In this video from RED SIDE, they used CGI wave simulations to compare just how big the biggest tsunami waves can get relative to everyday surf. Can you even imagine a 1700-foot-tall wave?

Australia’s Surf Lakes has developed this amazing wave machine that works in concert with man-made shorelines to break waves at multiple sizes and shapes with each pulse, so it can accommodate numerous surfers of different skill levels at the same time. Check out more footage of the machine in action here.

We’ve all seen how nasty waves can get for fishermen on The Deadliest Catch. Though it seems they’ve done a better job bolting things down on their boats than these guys have done. Maybe they need seatbelts for their couch?