I need some hint!

[Lord Grifo]

Finally I decided to start to create my personal MOC.

To make practice and to understand some building skills I bought the Official Pet Shop.

But my goal is to realize something similar to your masterpieces.

Now the questions...

1- The project: I'm not very good with PC so LDD is out of range to me... Did you project the MOC on paper or it's all in your mind?

2- For a beginner it's better (or easier) to copy a real building or realize a fantasy building?

Sorry if this questions seem too simple! And if you have other hint I will be very happy to hear them!

My first idea is to recreate a Bavarian restaurant who exist near my home, and when I saw a minifigure from series 8 I found my waiters!

Thank you for all the replies!

[TheLegoDr]

I do everything in my mind. I think in Lego actually. Any building I see I imagine what pieces are needed to build it in Lego. It actually is troublesome because I want to think about other things and not Lego all the time, so after this Modular Madness build I am taking a little break and hopefully that will help.

As far as being a new builder, I would recommend looking at various buildings in the style that you like and see if you can get some ideas in the shapes and structures and what you could use to resemble the areas that interest you.

You can certainly draw out the buildings and see what you need. Sometimes that will help. I've drawn out pieces/sections of buildings before to see what I could use to build it. It depends on how you like to work. Some people do it on LDD completely, some do it on paper, and some only in their minds.

Since there is a building near you, I would recommend getting pictures of it at different angles and trying to copy it to work on build skills. Then modify it to suit your needs. You may need to purchase many more specialty bricks. I would recommend pick-a-brick from Lego Shop at home, or bricklink.com. It depends on what you need for which one to be cheaper.

Good luck on building and can't wait to see your designs.

[CarsonBrick]

The number one thing I do whenever i want to build a specific thing or type of architecture, I look up photos for reference. Just do tons of research of all kinds of different buildings to see what you are looking for. Once you find the photos you would like to base your building on, start building! For my recent "French Cafe" building, it all started with the outdoor heaters Just find a certain detail you want to work on first and keep going from there! But remember, it's better to take your time and think of different ways of building. You will always get a better result!

[streifen]

When doing MOC Modular Buildings, open your eyes when you are out on the street. looking at surrounding buildings and architecture. Take photos or jot down what comes to mind when you see something that can be "Legofied".

Have a look/browse at Architecture books and/or travel books (DK travel guides have lots of photos).

All the pointers given out in this and the above posts sound like a lot of work but is really fun when you get the hang of it.