[Freebuild] The Aerima Archery Workshop

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

This is part 2 of Chapter 2 in the tale of Erdil. It is a freebuild also to keep up the HSS-progress for Dandelume. 

Many changes could be made to improve this one, thanks to @jtooker for a great feedback on discord. However, haha, I honestly kept it with minor additions/changes to be able to start building for the Book IV challenge instead 😃

Storyline:
After being sworn in and fully equipped with his uniform, sword and shield from the swordmens barracks, Erdil and Dweldin made there way to the Aerima Archery Workshop. Dweldin needed to pick up his new bow, quiver and arrows crafted by the skilled members of the archery workshop. The bowyers, fletchers, stringers and arrowsmiths were all from places by the Aerima river of Dandelume- therefore they used the river in the name of their workshop. 

As the sun stood high in a tangerine sky, Erdil and Dweldin passed through the gate of Old Town and went further in to the workshop district. Large buildings for different crafts and workers towering up, merged with older stone towers, buildings and city wall. The street outside filled with life from people, carts and animals. From the inside you could here the hard work being done in rooms of wood, forges, steam, fire and hammers on anvils.

Inside the Aerima archery workshop the four sections worked together as a perfect integrated unit: 
Bowyers shaping and tillering the actual bows from yew, ash, or elm.
Fletchers making arrow-shafts from the finest birch and aspen wood and attaching feathers from geese to the shafts. 
Stringers twisting and looping sinew to perfect bowstring. 
Arrowsmiths taking heated iron and steel through fire and anvil. Forging, hardening and shaping it into various arrowheads. 

Erdil and Dweldin made there way down the street closing in on the entrance of the workshop. They could see carts with equipment for arbelists and archers rolling by under the red blooming vines. A quiver, fine bow and arrows were supposed to be waiting inside for the new archer-recruit, ordered by Duke Wifgrir himself….

Edited March 8 by T-86(swebrickLUG)

[SimWies]

That's a great build @T-86(swebrickLUG). I really like the color choices you made and the proportions of the building are great too. My favourite detail are the red vines on the left side.

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

9 hours ago, SimWies said:

That's a great build @T-86(swebrickLUG). I really like the color choices you made and the proportions of the building are great too. My favourite detail are the red vines on the left side.

Thanks man! I really enjoy making vegetation of different kind so I'm glad you mentioned the vines! 

[Grover]

Very lovely build. I really like the nice color blocking you did.  Technically, the whole build is put together well.  It has a high point that attracts the eye, then draws it lower and around the scene. You have nicely contrasted colors, and you have excellent detail in the stonework and roof without going overboard in greebling.  Since you mentioned this was a WIP that got cut short to do the challenge, I won't go too in depth, only point out a few details, such as the grey underlayment on the road. It would be nice to see a dark tan or something to differentiate the grey stone.  The color retouch may have been a bit overzealous. I can't quite tell what color the tudor is. Is it dark orange? Medium nougat? The mini skin tones are washed out, so maybe that's dark orange?  The dark brown and dark red look good, but some of the other color tones are a bit off.  From a logical perspective, I must ask: where are their chimneys?  Heat and food require fire, as does the steam used to bend wood for bows.  It could be that the chimney is on the other side, but not having a chimney on one of the stone sides of the tower is unusual.  My other logistical question is how does one know this is a bowyer or a fletcher?  I would recommend a rack of bows outside, a rack with a guy pulling the strings, or something like that.  Without Lego arrows, it's hard to depict one, but sometimes those antenna work ok.  A target nearby on maybe a tree or a haystack could be good.  The pulley wheel on the nearby house looks good, but without other clues, could be mistaken for a spinning wheel.  The guy pulling the cart of crossbows is OK, but it's unclear if he's just a guy pulling a cart of bows by this house or if he's coming from the building that is a shop.

Regardless of these nitpicks, you have splendid foliage. The dark red vines are the star of the show.  The other detail you built in that I don't think I've seen before is the greebling along the front wall such that you realize it's two layers of stone. So often now we think of a single layer of stone or brick veneer, when even just 100 years ago walls were built with 3-4 layers of solid brick or stone.  The double brick layer there is fantastic in my opinion.  Very nice design on the arrow loop at the peak of the stone tower. The headlight bricks with the 1x1 plates really adds texture and is a clever way to achieve it. I also applaud your choice of dark grey for the stone to differentiate it from the street, and the dark brown roof to separate it from the Tudor and tower. You do an excellent job in detailing it with plates and studs without going overboard and without the need for an accent color, while you do the opposite with the tower, mixing new and old light grey and adding the accent with olive, while minimizing the greebling comparatively, which helps to differentiate it further.  This build really is a masterclass in color and texture blocking, usually only found in city modulars.  I see a lot of intentional color blocking there, where it is easy to see the rectangular levels, but in medieval builds, we have so much more irregular buildings, it is harder for us to see that sometimes. You have a very nice eye for the art of the build, and it shows.  I also like your continuity within your own storyline, mentioning old town and consistently using the dark red plant vines.  Awesome work, and thank you for sharing!

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

12 hours ago, Grover said:

It would be nice to see a dark tan or something to differentiate the grey stone.  The color retouch may have been a bit overzealous. I can't quite tell what color the tudor is. Is it dark orange? Medium nougat? The mini skin tones are washed out, so maybe that's dark orange?  The dark brown and dark red look good, but some of the other color tones are a bit off.  From a logical perspective, I must ask: where are their chimneys?  Heat and food require fire, as does the steam used to bend wood for bows.  It could be that the chimney is on the other side, but not having a chimney on one of the stone sides of the tower is unusual.  My other logistical question is how does one know this is a bowyer or a fletcher?  I would recommend a rack of bows outside, a rack with a guy pulling the strings, or something like that.  Without Lego arrows, it's hard to depict one, but sometimes those antenna work ok.  A target nearby on maybe a tree or a haystack could be good.  The pulley wheel on the nearby house looks good, but without other clues, could be mistaken for a spinning wheel.

Thanks as always for feedback @Grover, always fun to see your viewpoint. Its medium nougat to answer your initial question.

As for your suggestions I completely agree on them, some tan in the ground would break of well! I had ideas for a sign portraying a bow and perhaps a fig working outside or something like that. As you suggest, a rack of bows or a target could help as well! 

The chimney is on the other side….or I mean…uh… I forgot it hahahah! 😂😀 thanks again for C&C dude!

Edited March 12 by T-86(swebrickLUG)

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Perfect architectural style!

My favorite part is the red vegetation covering the various sides of the building, creating the right vibes.

The loading pulley is a stunning detail!

[Seagull King of Vaughan]

The well-mentioned vines are very nice, but what caught my eye was the roof on the stone tower. Are those slope pieces? They create a very interesting effect!

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

22 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Perfect architectural style!

My favorite part is the red vegetation covering the various sides of the building, creating the right vibes.

The loading pulley is a stunning detail!

Thanks 🙏 

8 hours ago, Seagull King of Vaughan said:

The well-mentioned vines are very nice, but what caught my eye was the roof on the stone tower. Are those slope pieces? They create a very interesting effect!

Thanks! Yup those are Curved slope no 50950 in dark brown.

[Kalais]

Looks great! I like toned colors!

[T-86(swebrickLUG)]

11 hours ago, Kalais said:

Looks great! I like toned colors!

Thanks a lot! 🙏