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    Minecraft Middle Earth is a Minecraft community that recreates the world described by JRR Tolkien and his writings. Everyone can participate in organized events in which we collaborate to create major landmarks, terrain, caves, castles, towns, farms and more.

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    IP: build.mcmiddleearth.com

Artist/builder Feedback

Yep, I am not an artist, I only have the rank for my project I am working on. It is building camps on the road between Linhir and Pelargir. And I probably won't be able to go on this weekend as I have a hockey tournament in Deleware. But I will try to find some time very soon where I am free.
 
Hi Will_em
I really want to get artist and help out building on the server. I would appreciate if you could give me some tips on how I can become artist and what I could do to improve my application :)
 
jeppe_26 said:
Hi Will_em
I really want to get artist and help out building on the server. I would appreciate if you could give me some tips on how I can become artist and what I could do to improve my application :)
Click to expand...
Ok a couple of standard things first:

- Adding houses from jobs on your app is a good idea but they are not that good at showing how well you can build. Those houses all have a tutorial so the layout/style isn't an original idea which means that we can't really know how creative you can be. In general they show that you are dedicated which is always nice to know since MCME requires a lot of dedicated work.

- Having only 2 builds that are your own, it's a little early to tell where you are on the building scale. The builds you already have seem pretty standard and are to my opinion not yet artist level. Don't fret though, because I think you are showing a lot of potential to learn how to raise your epicness factor on your builds.

- If I were you, I'd try to check out how others do their builds, and how certain cool builds that you like, are constructed. Realising how many blocks you need for a certain arch or a certain tower can learn a lot on how to construct certain things. Don't be afraid to copy a certain part just to see how they're made so you can learn from it. Working out how to do a good turn in a road or how many blocks you need for the height of a house can be very informative.

Brandywine bridge:
First of all, this theme build is a bit difficult to do because there isn't a whole load of stuff to build right off the bat. A bridge and that's most of it. However people tend to forget that there can be a lot of more stuff to detail the whole build, bringing it to another level. I'm talking about vegetation, like trees or bushes, or maybe a small house nearby for a bridgekeeper (doesn't have to be big though), or changing the riverbed so it looks more natural,... Those small little things makes your build more immersive, as you'd be walking in a real life middle earth. From what I can see on your build, I think you could have added a bush or maybe added some more rocks in the riverbed. Small things like that can be a gamechanger.

The bridge itself you made, is pretty standard: the slopes are good, the bridge-arch is balanced and rounded and the decorations aren't over-the-top. The arches over the bridge are a bit simple in shape. They still seem to be blocky, which is something you want to prevent in minecraft (I know, that's difficult). Overall I think it's a nice bridge and I can't think of anything that I would do entirely different.

Aldburg Fortress:
This is a better theme build to be able to showcase your skills. There is a lot you can build and a lot of things you can add to make a small lot feel immersive.
I thing I immediatly notice is that your fortress seems low. I don't mean you have to build a new minas tirith mountain, but it looks flat. Even without making the walls much higher, you can use different details and shapes to make it seem like it's tall. For example, in the first picture of the theme which shows the front of the walls, you can see there is a clear horizontal line in your build. It's the line of stone slabs in the middle of the wall with wooden staircases on top and below it. If you'd break up that line and try to have more vertical lines, I'm sure it would look taller.
Another solution would be to add an extra block in between the staircases that you use for details. It would add more depth and in the end might help on making it more impressive. However, you don't want to get a wavy pattern on your wall because that can look really weird. Best thing to do, is to not use 2 staircases on top of each other.
I see a lot of inexperienced people add an upside down staircase on top of a regular one, to add depth into their details. But for some reason it never works. Go on main and try to find a build that uses that and that looks cool. One of the reasons I think it looks weird, is that it doesn't add depth. You only get half a block of depth while you want to aim for a full block at least. Try experimenting with that.

Another thing I notice, is overflow of details. Try to count how many different blocks you use (with different colours) on your wall alone. Having such a busy pattern causes an overkill of details and it isn't easy on the eyes. Go for a more simple colour pallet, something that shows how the structure of the build is made. For example, go to one of the massive and epic castles or towers on the server and count how many different textures they are using in their build. You'd be surprised how few are there. Osgiliath dome for example only uses 1 brick colour, smooth stone and black shingles as the primairy colours. That's only 4 blocks on one of the most intricated builds designed on here. (I'm talking about the outside though, not the inside)

Another small detail, you need to avoid is putting slabs in walls to make a sort of half-block slot into your walls. Like the staircases above, it doesn't add depth and it looks weird for some reason. On main server builds, I have never used them before, because they don't work.

Keep your layout of your builds. The layout of the fortress seems pretty good, and through expanding certain things or adding less square layouts, you will get a really cool build.
I also notice you try to make a complete fortress inside a theme build lot. Don't be expected to make everything in such a small space. You can easily take a slice of the fortress you have imagined and just build that part. At the moment, the fortress seems really small, and because you don't have a lot of space, you need to add everything inside a very small area. Don't do that, it will only make it less impressive and more unrealistic. For example, that house you made on the left side from the front? It would look way better if you'd have a little more space to shape it like you want it to. Another trick to maximise space is to stick a house like that against the wall of the fortress.

I can give more tips and tricks like these but I think it's better if I can talk to you online and show you some first hand examples. Talk to me on teamspeak or send a forum conversation my way, and we'll meet up.

Cheers!
 
Will_em said:
Ok a couple of standard things first:

- Adding houses from jobs on your app is a good idea but they are not that good at showing how well you can build. Those houses all have a tutorial so the layout/style isn't an original idea which means that we can't really know how creative you can be. In general they show that you are dedicated which is always nice to know since MCME requires a lot of dedicated work.

- Having only 2 builds that are your own, it's a little early to tell where you are on the building scale. The builds you already have seem pretty standard and are to my opinion not yet artist level. Don't fret though, because I think you are showing a lot of potential to learn how to raise your epicness factor on your builds.

- If I were you, I'd try to check out how others do their builds, and how certain cool builds that you like, are constructed. Realising how many blocks you need for a certain arch or a certain tower can learn a lot on how to construct certain things. Don't be afraid to copy a certain part just to see how they're made so you can learn from it. Working out how to do a good turn in a road or how many blocks you need for the height of a house can be very informative.

Brandywine bridge:
First of all, this theme build is a bit difficult to do because there isn't a whole load of stuff to build right off the bat. A bridge and that's most of it. However people tend to forget that there can be a lot of more stuff to detail the whole build, bringing it to another level. I'm talking about vegetation, like trees or bushes, or maybe a small house nearby for a bridgekeeper (doesn't have to be big though), or changing the riverbed so it looks more natural,... Those small little things makes your build more immersive, as you'd be walking in a real life middle earth. From what I can see on your build, I think you could have added a bush or maybe added some more rocks in the riverbed. Small things like that can be a gamechanger.

The bridge itself you made, is pretty standard: the slopes are good, the bridge-arch is balanced and rounded and the decorations aren't over-the-top. The arches over the bridge are a bit simple in shape. They still seem to be blocky, which is something you want to prevent in minecraft (I know, that's difficult). Overall I think it's a nice bridge and I can't think of anything that I would do entirely different.

Aldburg Fortress:
This is a better theme build to be able to showcase your skills. There is a lot you can build and a lot of things you can add to make a small lot feel immersive.
I thing I immediatly notice is that your fortress seems low. I don't mean you have to build a new minas tirith mountain, but it looks flat. Even without making the walls much higher, you can use different details and shapes to make it seem like it's tall. For example, in the first picture of the theme which shows the front of the walls, you can see there is a clear horizontal line in your build. It's the line of stone slabs in the middle of the wall with wooden staircases on top and below it. If you'd break up that line and try to have more vertical lines, I'm sure it would look taller.
Another solution would be to add an extra block in between the staircases that you use for details. It would add more depth and in the end might help on making it more impressive. However, you don't want to get a wavy pattern on your wall because that can look really weird. Best thing to do, is to not use 2 staircases on top of each other.
I see a lot of inexperienced people add an upside down staircase on top of a regular one, to add depth into their details. But for some reason it never works. Go on main and try to find a build that uses that and that looks cool. One of the reasons I think it looks weird, is that it doesn't add depth. You only get half a block of depth while you want to aim for a full block at least. Try experimenting with that.

Another thing I notice, is overflow of details. Try to count how many different blocks you use (with different colours) on your wall alone. Having such a busy pattern causes an overkill of details and it isn't easy on the eyes. Go for a more simple colour pallet, something that shows how the structure of the build is made. For example, go to one of the massive and epic castles or towers on the server and count how many different textures they are using in their build. You'd be surprised how few are there. Osgiliath dome for example only uses 1 brick colour, smooth stone and black shingles as the primairy colours. That's only 4 blocks on one of the most intricated builds designed on here. (I'm talking about the outside though, not the inside)

Another small detail, you need to avoid is putting slabs in walls to make a sort of half-block slot into your walls. Like the staircases above, it doesn't add depth and it looks weird for some reason. On main server builds, I have never used them before, because they don't work.

Keep your layout of your builds. The layout of the fortress seems pretty good, and through expanding certain things or adding less square layouts, you will get a really cool build.
I also notice you try to make a complete fortress inside a theme build lot. Don't be expected to make everything in such a small space. You can easily take a slice of the fortress you have imagined and just build that part. At the moment, the fortress seems really small, and because you don't have a lot of space, you need to add everything inside a very small area. Don't do that, it will only make it less impressive and more unrealistic. For example, that house you made on the left side from the front? It would look way better if you'd have a little more space to shape it like you want it to. Another trick to maximise space is to stick a house like that against the wall of the fortress.

I can give more tips and tricks like these but I think it's better if I can talk to you online and show you some first hand examples. Talk to me on teamspeak or send a forum conversation my way, and we'll meet up.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, some really helpful tips :)
 
I want to try the theme build for the garden of Lorien, but I don't have the details in my head, and i don't know what to build from.
 
mine_sino said:
I want to try the theme build for the garden of Lorien, but I don't have the details in my head, and i don't know what to build from.
Click to expand...
Euh well, what you have to build you have to find out / make up yourself. What you get is the topic and some lore (check the link in the TB post), but how you imagine that place and how you gonna build it is up to you. We can give feedback whether its good or what you could still do better.
 
mine_sino said:
I want to try the theme build for the garden of Lorien, but I don't have the details in my head, and i don't know what to build from.
Click to expand...
Try something, but I'm afraid you'll have to come up with your own design first before I can give some tips on how to improve on your design.
 
I know this thread is pretty inactive but I'm thinking of applying soon and I just wanted to see what you thought about some of my builds! Ps. I know my tom bombadils house doesn't have a pic showing my name, or much else of the build.


 
Sorry colonel, I was on a holiday before but I'll check your builds and will give some feedback.
 
Hi Will! After trying out the themed build I want some advice for improving my build to "Artist Rank" material. Is there anything I can improve to make it either more Middle-Earthy or just plain better?
 

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FlatBoulders said:
Hi Will! After trying out the themed build I want some advice for improving my build to "Artist Rank" material. Is there anything I can improve to make it either more Middle-Earthy or just plain better?
Click to expand...
Glad to hear, I’ll try to give a short explanation here but if you want more examples/tips, ask me when I’m on discord.

First of all, you want to focus on depth. Your wall doesn’t seem to be pretty flat. If you warp ‘builder school’, you can find lessons on depth in there.

So depending on what you were aiming for, your build would work or not. If you were aiming to build one of the ruined walls of annuminas, then I would not believe that such a tiny wall would be a remnant of the biggest cities of Arnor. If it would be a wall of a farmers town, then I would maybe believe it. In other words, try to convey the story of your construction into the build itself.

On another note, I think we should talk and I can show you some techniques to build fortifications.

Hope this helped! Cheers!
Will
 
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