[MOC] The gates of Obsidian Salt

[vangelisbricks]

The gates of Obsidian Salt

The Dark Caves stretch endlessly beneath the mountains of Krania, their shadowed passages winding through stone. For ages, this subterranean labyrinth has drawn explorers, adventurers, and creatures both mortal and divine.

In the elder days, deep within these realms, the night elves carved their dwellings building cities, passages and bridges. The night elves themselves have vanished like shadows at dawn, leaving no trace other than stone-carved memories. Their citadel, the Obsidian Salt, still haunts treasure seekers and scholars alike.

Few dare venture into these abyssal depths. Even fewer claim to have glimpsed the Obsidian Salt gates. And none speak of what lies beyond — for the claimed tell no tales.

 

My entry for the Summer Joust 2025 "Where No One Dares Go"

The setup was inspired by Dofresh's "The return" digital artwork https://cara.app/post/fe46b4c0-16b0-4246-9f27-1ccb2bc292fd 

Edited July 14 by vangelisbricks
added inspiration

[flyingpancake]

You clearly had fun making this post, Great moc!

[Feuer Zug]

Awesome gate feature. NPU with the D&D head on the guardian. The lighting fits the mood and is perfect.

[Grover]

Great shot with the lighting!  And the Lady of Pain's head is great NPU!  Some of the finer details in the stonework are particularly noteworthy.  The SNOT 33 slopes at the top of the arch are great, and the nexo shields inside the arches give the appearance of curved corners vs. the pointy middle, which is very nice.  The pentagonal element with the stud on top that hardly anyone ever uses you found a great use for on the columns, too. One question: How is the monster suspended? Is there a connection straight back? Is it hung with wire? Are the supports photoshopped out? It looks very clean.  Very nice work overall, thanks for sharing!

[vangelisbricks]

Thanks for the kind words folks 🧡

I always wanted to use the Lady of Pain's head in a monster, but my so far, tests weren't successful. In this shot I feel it works well and the perspective helps.

@Feuer Zug I haven't done any castle before so I wanted to build something interesting, so I said, "ok let's just build a gate". I initially went with lego arch pieces but then I upgraded to a custom built "masonry arch". The "stones" of the arches are connected with clips and plates with bars, but the "keystone" in the middle (the triangular with the 2 * '30363 Slope 18 4 x 2') is actually acting as a keystone. It creates enough tension for it to stay in place, and ensure the rest of the arch has the right shape. I was really happy with it.

@Grover I wanted to build some squarish decoration but not too strict, and the "22385 Tile, Modified 2 x 3 Pentagonal" worked perfectly! I had a few "27928 Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Pentagonal with Center Stud and 1 x 1/2 Raised Tab on Top" laying around for a spaceship, and when I made the columns the parts were just sitting on my desk waiting to be used. One of the best accidents of an untidy desk, but that's not an excuse :P The back of the monster is mounted on transparent bricks - I had to keep everything stable string wouldn't work. The intention was to photoshop them out. However, the light behind them was so strong, for the camera's exposure, that they just melded away in the yellow background.

[Yoggington]

Before I saw the lower half of this, I thought it was an animated drawing. Woah, serious photography skills.

[alphonse]

This pic looks better than I've seen it elsewhere, but both places, stunning, love the detail you've gone into. I have to ask, is this physical or digital, I can't really tell, its so well done. I think I like the gate the most, just the subtleness of the depth.

Edited July 15 by alphonse

[vangelisbricks]

@Yoggington @alphonse thanks for the kind words 🧡

Oh it's a physical build. It's the biggest/tallest thing I've built and it used all my "support" bricks :)

[KotZ]

Really great work! I love how uneven it all is, and of course the photography is top notch.

[Elysiumfountain]

Awesome job! I love the rockwork leading into the gate, it looks so smooth and well done! And the lighting is top notch. 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Amazing...the entire rock structure has a brilliant construction technique!

The light gives the feeling of the perfect D&D atmosphere

The legs of the minifigs made with the plates are excellent!

[vangelisbricks]

@KotZ @Elysiumfountain @LEGO Train 12 Volts thanks for the kind words 🧡

for the rocks I used the technique mentioned in the Tips & Bricks article https://www.tipsandbricks.co.uk/post/2208-techniques-slinky-rock-by-forlornempire/ For most of the stone wall, I didn't use the technique brick and axle, it's snot but it all attached on 16x16 plates. However, I tried to introduce subtle differences in every row, so that it doesn't match the ones above/below. I also went for volume didn't' make the row flat - the light comes from below so it would exaggerate the volume.

An unplanned happy light accident were the few small specks of white light on the stone wall. I generally try to avoid light reflections on bricks, unless they add something in the scene (example the light reflection on the pillars works well). In the beginning I though about deleting the specks in photoshop, but I liked the subtle effect so I decided to leave it as is.

I always try to add some minifig motion, it spices up the scene/photo. When the minifig is facing the camera you can do the trick where you detach one leg, but this wouldn't work here so I had to come up with something else.

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

Sweet build and nice techniques! The overall feel really fits the category as well. Nice work!🙌