How do those people create MOC?

[koalayummies]

  On 9/11/2021 at 9:40 PM, Peppermint_M said:

I built that when I was 13. Look at it.

Look at the rainbow colours. Look at all the old bricks and the actual clone brand parts (we were poor. No word of a lie. That is why I defend cheaper brands.)

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Its glorious! That's actually one of my favorite things to see; when people build sets they don't have or can't afford with the random assortment of bricks they have available. Like rainbow Millennium Falcons or your Mondrian-esq ship.

[Peppermint_M]

As I said, it was a proud creation and I am glad I got a photo. These days I could probably build something like this only using brown bricks 

Though many years of building later, hopefully I could make something a little more boat like. 

[TeriXeri]

  On 9/12/2021 at 8:23 PM, Peppermint_M said:

As I said, it was a proud creation and I am glad I got a photo. These days I could probably build something like this only using brown bricks 

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I remember the times before the mid 90s where Brown / Green / Tan bricks and plates were pretty much almost non-existent.

Turning point seems to be after 1996, with themes like Western , Ninja and Adventurers, and Star Wars including a lot more regular brick types of green/tan/darkgrey/brown, before that it used to be mostly only seen in specialized parts like palm trees, bridges, pirateships, cart wheels etc.

And bulk brick boxes usually mainly had a few base colors as well, with later including colors like green and others.

I had a 15+ year break from LEGO after 2001 so haven't fully experienced LEGO's development in the early 2000s but color wise 1985-1995 looks a lot different from say 1996-2010, and even now, themes/sets like Star Wars Star Destroyers/Falcon/AT-AT will dominate in greys, while themes like Friends has more pastel tints.

But even now LEGO is evolving colors, with prominent colors like Coral being used in more and more parts now, and Turquoise made a big comeback, while it seems Neon orange is phasing out.

Edited September 13, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Faefrost]

If you are looking to be MOC’ing buildings part of it is looking at the world around you, spotting interesting shapes, and thinking through how to simplify and recreate the feel of them using Lego pieces. Part of it is practice. And building some sets. Just learning some basic tricks that add depth to buildings, such as Windows are never flush with the wall. And from that learning how to use things like 1x2 offsets to slightly recess them. 
 

These two books are fantastic for learning how to do some basic tricks and combine them for ever more detailed MOCs. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084SNYXVJ?searchxofy=true&binding=kindle_edition&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&qid=1631661929&sr=8-1

But much of it you can just learn from practice. 
 

[MasterTyvokka]

Quite new to MOCing myself. I've been on a bit of a hiatus but have gotten back into things. I don't like using the CAD programs because I spend all of my work day on a computer and use Lego as a break from the screen. I have found the best way for me is to sit down with a basic idea of what I want to do and a very basic idea of how I want to do it and start building. I am currently working on a creature from Star Wars. I have discovered the more organic shape of the creature is far more difficult than buildings. Anyways I have found that I had one idea of how I was going to build it and that has changed several times once I started putting parts together.

This creature will go in a building eventually and I plan to do the same with that. Take my basic idea and just start building. So I think you aren't far off. Just start building your walls and ceiling, etc, like you said, and go from there. When you get to the detailing I think its really a matter of putting pieces together and see if they accomplish what you are going for. If not try something different.

[danth]

  On 9/10/2021 at 1:13 AM, TeriXeri said:

If you don't want to go through the added time of sorting sets, start with alternate builds, also adds the challenge of a limited parts availability (especially on smaller sets).

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Yes! Alt builds are fun, and not only is the limited set of parts challenging, it's freeing! You don't have to go looking for "just the right part". You just have what you have.

  On 9/10/2021 at 9:19 PM, pombe said:

I find that a lot of AFOLs who are set builders don't MOC because they are paralyzed by a fear of not being able to build well right out of the gate.

They see incredible MOCs at Eurobricks, via Flickr or Instagram, through their LUGs, or at conventions and say to themselves "I'll never be as good as these builders, why bother?".

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Yeah, absolutely. Definitely happened to me. Other people's MOCs (SECs?) are great for inspiration, but don't compare your stuff to theirs.

  On 9/10/2021 at 9:19 PM, pombe said:

I'm just going to paraphrase what has already been said: just MOC.  Don't worry about being good.  That will come naturally if you keep MOCing.

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Perfect.

 

My own advice for @ks6349? Look at Stud.io. It's easy to use and you don't have to worry about sorting. You can look up pieces by description and it'll even tell you if the color you have selected is available for that piece (in real bricks at least).

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/download.page

Edited September 17, 2021 by danth

[ks6349]

  On 9/15/2021 at 1:05 AM, danth said:

Yes! Alt builds are fun, and not only is the limited set of parts challenging, it's freeing! You don't have to go looking for "just the right part". You just have what you have.

Yeah, absolutely. Definitely happened to me. Other people's MOCs (SOCs?) are great for inspiration, but don't compare your stuff to theirs.

Perfect.

 

My own advice for @ks6349? Look at Stud.io. It's easy to use and you don't have to worry about sorting. You can look up pieces by description and it'll even tell you if the color you have selected is available for that piece (in real bricks at least).

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/download.page

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What is Stud.io ?

[MAB]

  On 9/15/2021 at 6:58 AM, ks6349 said:

What is Stud.io ?

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@danth posted to link to it. Click on it and you will find out.

 

[CP5670]

I started off building modded and upgraded versions of official space sets. There was often something about the original set I wasn't happy with, so I would use the pieces to build something bigger and better. New trans colored parts are often a source of inspiration too, since we don't get them very often. Any single part in large quantities (like what you get from PAB walls) also leads to new ideas and new ways of looking at a piece. Over time you develop a set of patterns and techniques you are comfortable with, and reuse them across several models.