Book IV Prelude Challenge: Category B: History Lesson

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

One of the key lessons for any growing noble is the history of Historica. Such lessons are often taught by tutors retained for that purpose, but even they cannot know everything. And so often the young nobles make a trip outside the castle walls, to visit some knowledgeable fellow who can give insight into less known aspects of guild history.

Supervised by the young Lady Reyna Anjou, today they have made a visit outside the castle walls to the town archives of Thanesford. Lessons sometimes bore this group, but weapons are guaranteed to grab their attention.

‘An Axe of Mitgardia!’ said Felix Allothan. ‘These fine treasures were given by the leader of our guild to various lords and towns, in the old days. Clad in our colours, they were – although the handle of this one has been replaced. Need to get that repainted…’

Chief archivist of the town of Thanesford, Felix has been in his profession for over fifty years. In his youth, he collected lore and artifacts from all over Mitgardia, writing about them and teaching others about their significance. Though not his main job, he will also sometimes give young nobles of the town lessons on important matters of Mitgardian history. In his retirement he enjoys telling tales of those days.

His skills also extend to using various sharp objects, and not just on trees. While no contender for the Master-at-arms post, he can teach them the proper way to care for blades.

 

 

I dropped the border for this one because of the size restriction, and I think it turned out better because of it! It was thrown together from the leftover parts I had after Challenge A. Although it doesn’t count toward HSS requirements, I still wanted to explore more of Thanesford and establish characters.

I’m very proud of the carpet – it’s a reuse of parts that were intended for a city apartment kitchen. I added the Mitgardian colours and it seems right at home!

[SimWies]

Great scene and I totally agree with you on the carpet, great design!

[MrLind]

Beautiful rug. It acts as a focal point to the build. And the single wall works really well.

Well done.

[Gideon]

Nice carpet, it steals the show of the build
The mix of details in the background is doing a good job creating a setting full of stories...!

Some tips on the presentation is that when you are taking the photo this close with a wide-angle lens, the front of the build gets "magnified" compared to the rest of the build - making it easy for that part to become very pronounced.
So I would suggest either moving the camera back and zooming/cropping to improve the perspective or to use the "magnified" area a bit more.

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

I’m glad everyone likes the carpet! I was mostly motivated by the fact that I spent 10$ on the ‘Kaliphlin tiles’ (as we seem to be calling them!), and so I need to get good use out of them.

@SimWies Thank you! The carpet really is something I’m proud of, especially since I came up with it on the spot.

@MrLind I do wish I had been able to add a second wall, but I ran out of parts after the one, so I had to make do. Glad it turned out well.

@Gideon Thanks! The background is some improvised stuff, plus the chair and chess table from the recent Medieval Village. On the picture front, it’s my first time doing Lego photography for posting – I’ve only done buses before, and that only casually. Something to learn from, and I will try this in the future.

 

[jtooker]

I too like the carpet.  The wooden supports along the wall frame the build nicely.

[Kai NRG]

I love that carpet!  Those are some great tiles that you used for the border, I need to get some!

For the photography, if you're looking to improve, one thing you can do is go for a less 2D angle--a little off to the right or left, and a touch lower down so we feel like we're more on the minifigures' level, would help us see the MOC more the way we'd see it if we were look at it in real life.

[Ben S]

I agree about the carpet, looks great. Simple build, but the color choice works really well and contrasts nicely the different elements.

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

Rug steals the show here but as others mentioned the wooden beams/supports are great too. I like the fig-placement!

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

@jtooker @Ben S @T-86(swebrickLUG) Thank you all!

I figured that dark red would give the wood a fancier feel. The carpet colours are, of course, Mitgardian.

@Kai NRG If you are looking for the carpet edge tiles, be prepared to use them lots to justify the expense! I will definitely feature them again in the future for this exact reason.

I will also use your photography suggestion as well. I am working on a new build that I might experiment on for that purpose.

[Grover]

Great job!  You have solved one of the problems of photographing a square room not by looking along the diagonal, but by removing a third wall, which actually works nicely here.  I like your lightly textured back wall and love the wooden supports running down the wall. The scene in front is nice, and I like the color choice for the floor. The mitgardian rug is great, and the printed tile border makes a good transition to the dark orange floor. I also appreciate the Mitgardian shield in the back! (Designed by our very own @soccerkid6!)  I like the direction the story is going, leaving some threads for the teacher to go in several directions, and the school setup.  The shadows around the minis are a bit dark, which can be tricky with darker colors. Light photoediting might help, or a little more light, although that can be tricky to avoid washing out light backgrounds like your white wall.  I have at times used a 'spotlight' such as a reasonbly bright LED desk lamp to shine light in tighter, darker color areas that would otherwise be too dark.  One other technique to draw viewers in is to take the shot a little closer to the eye level of the minis. It has a different perspective that tends to help the viewer feel closer to the action.  Overall, a very nice build, and I look forward to reading more of the history and meeting more of the residents of Thanesford!

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

@Grover Thank you!

I had to leave the story a bit open, since I didn’t have time to construct something more elaborate, and also needed to not trap myself for later. Rest assured that at least some of these characters, and the town, should appear again!

After rereading the Mitgardian thread and finding that @soccerkid6 designed the shield, I knew I had to use it. I had already intended to get the Viking Village, but that moved up the timeline a little!

As to the photos, I’m taking many notes! Eye level shots and better lighting are close to the top of my list. I’ve begun browsing the tutorials on the forums as well, for more tips.