Book IV Prelude Challenge: Category B: The Archery Lesson

[bmohnsen]

Ethelfieda has been discreetly recruiting young women into her spy ring. Under the guise of teaching them gardening skills, she has actually been imparting spy-craft expertise. These skills include coding, undercover infiltration, equestrian abilities, and most recently, archery proficiency. Ethelfieda is an exacting teacher, demanding that the women adhere to the precise techniques. She meets with each woman, observes their technique, and provides them with constructive feedback. In this particular scenario, Ethelfieda instructs the woman to raise her right hand under her jawbone while keeping her elbow level with the hand.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/163555704@N06/54748274394/in/dateposted-public/

Edited August 27 by bmohnsen

[Simon_S]

Nice one! I really like the facial expressions - they are so simple but it looks like they're having so much fun. Great job! Why did you choose transparent eyes instead of printed ones? I also like the different NPUs in there. Using the chain as a belt is clever. As is using the minifigure fur piece for a large figure shoe fur thing (no idea how this is called hehe). The color scheme of the figures also works great. As advice I would say: The base feels really rushed. I think the figures are really good - and the base kinda is way too bad for them. Give them a nice irregular ground to stand on!

The photography feels overexposed. Try taking pictures not in direct sunlight. And I took a Quick Look at your camera settings on flickr. I'd open the aperture way more (yours is almost completely closed), which means you should get down the number next to the f. and when you open it it allows for a much shorter exposure time.

[bmohnsen]

Thank you for the feedback. I have the aperture closed down to ensure a sharp image. I did have trouble with the lighting on the blond hair - it was not taking in direct sunlight - it was taken in a light box.

[MrLind]

Nice to see the character building. It's hard to build brick figures with correct propination. You've done a great job. Correct character, I would have preferred a shorter neck and longer legs. It gives you the opportunity to give the character a more dynamic pose. The two arches are very well done.

[bmohnsen]

Thank you for the feedback.

The student has shorter legs because she is younger.

The standing position of the student is actually the correct technique - which is what the teacher is emphasizing.

 

[TalusMoonbreaker]

Nice job on the big figs! I really like the design for the bows. 

[SimWies]

Great work on the big figures, that's something really difficult to get right! I also really like the bow design!

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

Seconded on the bow design, that’s a good use of the tail part and the string!

[jtooker]

Great job using the larger figs!  It lets the plant and built-bow pieces work differently and better at this scale.

[mrcp6d]

Love to see the bigger scale figures used for GoH.  As others have mentioned, the bow designs are really good!

[Kai NRG]

Really nice design on the bow here!  Good proportions on the figures though the heads feel a touch blocky, but this is a tricky scale to work with for sure!

[Ben S]

Very cool bows! Great use of furs for the Ethelfieda's boots, too. I especially like how you have made the hands of the student, really nice pose. Is that an antenna for the thumb? 

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

Sweet bow-shaping and fun idea with brickbuilt figures. Posing is nice, like someone mentioned a tad overexposure in the photo.
 

Are these your first character-builds or have you done others as well? (Its hard and frustrating so I never muster the will to do them myself 😂)

[Grover]

Well done!  I was so impressed by the out of the box approach to the challenge prompt. This is the only non-minifig scale build, and you did a very nice job with it.  As others have said, it's pretty difficult to pose a mini with a bow, and your lessons are depicted well with the larger figures and posing.  Both the recurve and the long bow designs are great, and it's very obvious what is going on. The figures are posed well, and you did a great job with the colors.  Some others have noted some photography advice, although I really like the neutral background. One thought for something to give you more flexibility would be to have an irregular base with this build. The call was for a 16x16 area, so 256 studs. Instead of a 16x16 square, with some plates, particularly wedge or curved plates around the feet of the figures, you could minimize the area and then have a 1 or 2 stud wide plate running out maybe 20-40 studs into a small 4x4 area with a target, taking advantage of your area requirement. In any case, it is a very creative and well made build for the challenge!  I look forward to seeing more!