[ENTRY] [SMALL] Steve's Origins in the Desert

[Horation]

Here's what Steve was up to when he was young :

A pirate!

Wait, is that an apple he's holding?, and what kind of a boat is that?

Ah, now it makes sense. He stole the apple from that unlucky merchant, here he is seen smiling at an unseen observer.

In the sietch of the proud fremen (the residents of the sea of sand we would call a desert), water is precious, and fruit even more so. This kind of crime is bound to increase the bounty on his head to such an extent that he will have to flee these lands. Where will he go next? What shall he see next? It remains to be seen...

As you can see, he shall have to pay quite the price if he is caught...

@Math Wizard, I've updated it, what do ya think

[Mister Phes]

8 hours ago, Horation said:

@Mister Phes, I accidentally put the entry in the wrong section, can you move it?

Yes, indeed!

Well done for boldly taking Steve away from more familiar maritime setting and placing him in an environment where one would not expect to see him.

Perhaps this "sea of sand" is near the Barbary Coast, which we all know is infested with Corsairs!

Steve's Origins in the Desert has been incorporated into the Entries Index.

[Horation]

20 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

Perhaps this "sea of sand" is near the Barbary Coast, which we all know is infested with Corsairs!

Thanks for moving the post.

Yes, he will face corsairs next, but let's put it like this, they shall be in much more distant waters for his liking...

[Mister Phes]

On 7/18/2024 at 6:54 AM, Horation said:

As for this entry...  is it possible to get a render with better framing and Steve facing the front/audience?

Also, the background seems to be influencing the colour temperature of the entire image - is it possible to colour balance the MOC so it doesn't have a blue hue and enhance the brightness and contrast so it stands out more from the background?

 

[Horation]

On 7/18/2024 at 10:52 PM, Mister Phes said:

As for this entry...  is it possible to get a render with better framing and Steve facing the front/audience?

Also, the background seems to be influencing the colour temperature of the entire image - is it possible to colour balance the MOC so it doesn't have a blue hue and enhance the brightness and contrast so it stands out more from the background?

I have gone ahead and remade my entry pictures a little, hopefully it is at least a little better, I'm not much of an online builder, but nearly all of my physical parts are under use for MOCs...

[Mister Phes]

On 7/18/2024 at 6:54 AM, Horation said:

I have gone ahead and remade my entry pictures a little, hopefully it is at least a little better,

This is much better presentation!  Well done!

Now we can clearly identify young Steve while the action is taking place.

Rather than having to stitch multiple images together to get the full picture, like I did for the Entries Index.

Before:

[SevenDeadlyStreamers]

I never knew Steve was actually Aladdin until now, lol

This is a fun little build and that wanted poster made me laugh. And seeing Steve’s first vessel is a nice treat too! Not much to critique, I would just say the flag should be flowing with the wind to give us the sense that Steve is really flying down that hill!

[Horation]

2 hours ago, SevenDeadlyStreamers said:

I never knew Steve was actually Aladdin until now, lol

This is a fun little build and that wanted poster made me laugh. And seeing Steve’s first vessel is a nice treat too! Not much to critique, I would just say the flag should be flowing with the wind to give us the sense that Steve is really flying down that hill!

I agree, I'll see If there's any way to make a sticker on the tattered flag piece (the one used on castles), and if I can pull it off I will.

[Mister Phes]

Also, my another minor nitpick in the new render is the flag - it's facing towards the viewer so you can't really see what it is.

That could be resolved by simply rotating the flag to our right.

 

[NOD]

This is a very good build and a funny story! 

 

First picture: Only the face and the flag are visible. This reminds me of spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone

Second picture: We can see Steve with an apple.

Third picture: We see Steve passing a merchant on his ship, holding an apple he found in his hand.

Fourth picture: Some boy is wanted.

It looks funny how Steve drives down the sloping cobblestone street with his wooden box on wheels. On the mast pirate flag, a grinning face, an apple in his hand.

[Math Wizard]

Ahoy Matey!

They call me Captain Crit in these parts and I heard that polly wants a sandwich (They’re fed up with crackers apparently) - a criticism sandwich that is! (For you landlubbers, that’s 3 seas [Cs]- Compliment, Constructive Criticism, and another Compliment).

Ye did a great job buildin’ this and writin’ a story to go along with it. I love the way the first couple photos keep zooming out to reveal the whole scene, which keeps changing the readers perspective.

It was a tough task to come up with a critique for this build, as it looks quite fine already. Only a few small things really come to mind. On the wanted sign the sticker appears to be off center, which really bothers me. In the second picture it looks like the flag is coming out of steve’s head. Perhaps a slightly angled photo would be better? The other nitpick has already been noted by others, but it would be great if the flag was rotated slightly so we could see it in the 3rd photo.

Me favorite part o’ the build itself, is the sloped ground and cart. The cobblestones look great, taking us to a desert scene, and the cart is super simple yet effective. The sloped ground really adds to the story of how young Steve would pull this off in the first place. 

Fair Winds Matey!

Edited August 2, 2024 by Math Wizard
misspelling

[Horation]

3 minutes ago, Math Wizard said:

On the wanted sign the sticker appears to be off center, which really bothers me. In the second picture it looks like the flag is coming out of steve’s head. Perhaps a slightly angled photo would be better? 

Thanks for the comment! I based the cobblestone on 10320's, and then modified it to taste (and using desert colours).

I just now noticed the off-centerness of the poster (it bothers me equally much), I used an online template, so I'll redo as soon as possible. As for the flag, I'm working on it, and the issue shall be resolved.

@NOD, thank you for the comment, I'm glad you liked the humour in it.

@SevenDeadlyStreamers, I've checked, and there's unfortunately no way to add a sticker to any wavy flag (and I feel like creating a custom cloth flag would be too many customs, considering the number of recolours...).

[Math Wizard]

15 hours ago, Horation said:

Thanks for the comment! I based the cobblestone on 10320's, and then modified it to taste (and using desert colours).

I just now noticed the off-centerness of the poster (it bothers me equally much), I used an online template, so I'll redo as soon as possible. As for the flag, I'm working on it, and the issue shall be resolved.

Thanks for taking note! I feel like that is one nice thing about digital builds is you can easily modify and re-render them, instead of going through the whole process of rebuilding, rephotographing, and re-editing a physical build. I might also suggest changing the base layer under the stones to either tan or dark tan while you're at it- I don't think the grey quite fits in the desert.

[Horation]

@Math Wizard, agreed about the base layer.

I'll make an update within the hour, it should have : new flag facings, new poster and an updated base layer.

[Math Wizard]

Great work! It looks much better now. Thanks for responding and updating based on the criticism you received!

[Horation]

Well, thank you for that valuable information you provided. I couldn't have made it this good alone.

Edited August 6, 2024 by Horation
punctuation.

[YellowFrog]

Innovative build! The slope is particularly good, and feels natural and well-connected (it lines up with the front as well). Once critique would be that it looks like a skew photo from afar: maybe include something upright behind the main slope, like some more buildings (or just a facade).

[Horation]

I'm glad to see you like the slope! Actually I built with the intent of making it look sideways, so that way it'd be a little bit more unusual than yet another slope with straight buildings on it.

I'm open to change, but I'll ask @Math Wizard for his opinion on this debate. Do you also feel like it is necessary?

Edited August 4, 2024 by Horation
one word too many

[YellowFrog]

Whilst not strictly necessary, I think it would make the build look more complete and refined. And the sloped foreground wouldn't have to change at all, a background would just be added.

[Math Wizard]

1 hour ago, Horation said:

I'm glad to see you like the slope! Actually I built with the intent of making it look sideways, so that way it'd be a little bit more unusual than yet another slope with straight buildings on it.

I'm open to change, but I'll ask @Math Wizard for his opinion on this debate. Do you also feel like it is necessary?

Perhaps you could do both- keep what you have and add a second stand on level ground to the right of it. It would add to the view in looking like a fuller marketplace rather than just one stand, and show that the market ends as the street begins to slope, giving reasoning for why Steve picked that stand to rob

[Horation]

2 hours ago, Math Wizard said:

Perhaps you could do both- keep what you have and add a second stand on level ground to the right of it. It would add to the view in looking like a fuller marketplace rather than just one stand, and show that the market ends as the street begins to slope, giving reasoning for why Steve picked that stand to rob

I can do something small, but it is going to be challenging, as I only have 40 parts remaining, and just a 4x8 plate with cobblestone (the minimum length for an extra stand to fit) would be 25-30 parts, plus a couple parts to support it, plus 15-20 parts for the wall, and I'd already be over the limit

[SevenDeadlyStreamers]

On 8/2/2024 at 6:26 PM, Horation said:

Thanks for the comment! I based the cobblestone on 10320's, and then modified it to taste (and using desert colours).

I just now noticed the off-centerness of the poster (it bothers me equally much), I used an online template, so I'll redo as soon as possible. As for the flag, I'm working on it, and the issue shall be resolved.

@NOD, thank you for the comment, I'm glad you liked the humour in it.

@SevenDeadlyStreamers, I've checked, and there's unfortunately no way to add a sticker to any wavy flag (and I feel like creating a custom cloth flag would be too many customs, considering the number of recolours...).

I wonder is parts designer would allow applying a decal to a cape?

I guess what is was really implying was that the flag should be rotated so that it looks like cart is flying down the hill and the flag is experiencing the force of the wind pushing it upwards. 

[Horation]

@SevenDeadlyStreamers I'll see what I can do, otherwise, would you maybe prefer one of the triangular flags? I can absolutely put a sticker on such a flag, so it might look a little better.

[Math Wizard]

2 hours ago, Horation said:

I can do something small, but it is going to be challenging, as I only have 40 parts remaining, and just a 4x8 plate with cobblestone (the minimum length for an extra stand to fit) would be 25-30 parts, plus a couple parts to support it, plus 15-20 parts for the wall, and I'd already be over the limit

Oh yeah, the piece limit . Kinda forgot about that...

Maybe you could try using those extra pieces to build up the back wall on the left and use slopes to make it appear to be a level horizontal line there, as if this is just a vertical slice out of a scene rather than the whole image seeming somewhat tilted even though its not.

[Horation]

@Math Wizard, that could work, but it's going to be a challenge. See, I am using the same support for the wall and for the slope itself so as to save parts.