Slegengr Posted October 4, 2014 (edited) ***Please see updated build and photos*** Erland Blar was born and raised in Avalonia. His father, Erling Blar, was a highly regarded noble, lord over lands that bordered Mitgardia. Seeking to aid his son in winning glory, Erling provided the best trainers available to teach Erland the art of the sword from a young age. When Erland’s father died, though, his younger brother Fiske, backed by his friends, took over the household and became lord of the lands. Erland saw little value in disputing his brother’s claim, as he did not desire the life of a nobleman. Instead, he crossed the border into Mitgardia to seek out his fortune with his sword skills. Through his skill and might, Erland soon became a highly esteemed warrior and chief of a new clan. He began building a village in a valley between a mountain off the coast and a forested hill. Erland named the village Falkidalr (or Falcon Valley) and made the falcon the representative symbol to commemorate an incident where a falcon aided Erland in his trials. In commemoration of his namesake, the banner color for his province was blue for House Blar (blue). One incident during his younger roaming days in Mitgardia played a key role in Erland’s established power. As he was travelling to find the perfect location to begin his settlement after acquiring some followers, he encountered a lone man dressed entirely in black. This man would not allow Erland to pass and challenged him to a test of sword skills. The two sparred for quite some time, neither one able to gain the advantage over the other. In the heat of the test, the man in black suddenly stumbled on a stone and dropped his sword as Erland forced him back against a boulder. Instantly, several other men in black appeared and fended off Erland. The first man rose from the ground and introduced himself as Fell of House Blakkr. He had never before been matched with an equal in the art of the sword since his childhood training days. This became the start of a lasting strong alliance, the alliance between houses Blar and Blakkr. AoM-BarracksPhase1-3 by Slegengr, on Flickr AoM-BarracksPhase1-4 by Slegengr, on Flickr AoM-BarracksPhase1-5 by Slegengr, on Flickr AoM-BarracksPhase1-6 by Slegengr, on Flickr Without Minifigures: AoM-BarracksPhase1-7 by Slegengr, on Flickr AoM-BarracksPhase1-8 by Slegengr, on Flickr Minifigures: AoM-BarracksPhase1-10 by Slegengr, on Flickr Constructive criticism is welcome. I should soon have access to Photoshop, so I will be able to better edit my photos and improve on quality. I also keep doing my photo-shoots at night, so my lighting is not very good. I have made a white box to take photos in to aid in removing background and make lighting better, but I have not yet perfected lighting. I am very open to tips on photography, as I have little experience. Edited October 7, 2014 by Slegengr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alfadas Posted October 4, 2014 Nice landscaping, and those rocks are awesome! Great work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IenjoyLego89 Posted October 4, 2014 Nice scene, and the snotted rock work is excellent :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord Vladivus Posted October 4, 2014 Great rocks! Nice build! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheRedViper Posted October 4, 2014 Nice rocks and vegetation, cool scene! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robuko Posted October 4, 2014 Slick rocks and vegetation. The plate at front right looks a little out of place and the tonal balance of the composition makes the figures blend in to the back ground. Very nice build. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted October 4, 2014 (edited) Nice landscaping, and those rocks are awesome! Great work! Nice scene, and the snotted rock work is excellent :) Great rocks! Nice build! Nice rocks and vegetation, cool scene! Thanks, all. The rock was definitely where I spent the most time. I really enjoy building landscapes. Slick rocks and vegetation. The plate at front right looks a little out of place and the tonal balance of the composition makes the figures blend in to the back ground. Very nice build. Thanks. I noticed that I left that corner of the plate empty after I took pictures. I will likely change this and cover the edges with more vegetation. Do you have tips on how to avoid the tonal balance? Is it the shadows in the build due to poor lighting or the choice of dark green and dark bley for the background and black and dark gray for the minifigures? Should I change my angle so more of the empty background is behind the minifigures rather than the dark-colored build? Edited October 4, 2014 by Slegengr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-Carson Haupt- Posted October 4, 2014 This is some great landscaping! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cablefoxley Posted October 4, 2014 Lovely rocks and landscaping. I really need to get some olive green foliage, it looks really nice on those rocks, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted October 4, 2014 Great job on the rockwork! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Gareth Posted October 5, 2014 Nice build. Excellent rockwork and landscape. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
de Gothia Posted October 5, 2014 Great rocks and landscape! You should edit your pics. Mocs with this quality surely deserves better presentation! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scaevola Posted October 5, 2014 Nice build, very interesting rockwork Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted October 6, 2014 This is some great landscaping! Thanks, I really enjoy doing LEGO landscapes. Lovely rocks and landscaping. I really need to get some olive green foliage, it looks really nice on those rocks, I absolutely love the olive green foliage pieces along with the other color variants. I hope LEGO continues to expand the color variation. Great job on the rockwork! Thanks, the rock is definetely where I spent the most time. Nice build. Excellent rockwork and landscape. Thanks! Great rocks and landscape! You should edit your pics. Mocs with this quality surely deserves better presentation! Thanks for the compliment! I may have gotten access to Adobe Photoshop over the weekend. I had plans to edit the pictures, but did not yet have good editing software on my computer. This build will be improved and new edited images will be posted. Nice build, very interesting rockwork Thanks for noticing my work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccoyed Posted October 6, 2014 Really nice landscaping but with a build this size, closer in pics would be good to go with the farther ones. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted October 6, 2014 Really nice landscaping but with a build this size, closer in pics would be good to go with the farther ones. Thanks for the feedback. I plan to fix this build up and retake pictures now that I have white poster-board for background, controlled individual lighting, and (hopefully) photo editing software. I will be incorporating tips given in feedback and will also take some closer detail pictures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garmadon Posted October 6, 2014 Nice little build, great job with the rock-work Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted October 7, 2014 I have updated this build and photos based on comments and things I wanted to improve. I still do not have photo-editing software, but it should be arriving on Friday. Thanks for all the comments and constructive criticism! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunman Posted October 7, 2014 Excellent rockwork there Slegengr the folliage is also great. amazing phase 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted October 7, 2014 Excellent rockwork there Slegengr the folliage is also great. amazing phase 1 Awesome scenery! Thanks for the compliments from such excellent MOCing members of the guild! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cesbrick Posted October 7, 2014 I'm a fan of snoted rockwork and foliage and yours is excellent! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slegengr Posted October 7, 2014 I'm a fan of snoted rockwork and foliage and yours is excellent! Thanks! Coming from an excellent MOCer like yourself, I take this as quite a compliment! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soccerkid6 Posted October 12, 2014 Great to see some older Castle figs used Sweet landscape here, the boulder in the background looks great Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wat Tambor Posted October 12, 2014 I can only agree with the others, the landscaping is fantastic, especially the rockwork. It's nice to see that you use some older LEGO Castle minifigs but I think they don't fit in this scene, because this old minifigs are less detailed than the new ones and a scene like this one, with such a detailed landscape could do with some more detailed minifigs. I hope you undestand what I wanted to say. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
