Learning Lego Building Techniques

[Sarah]

I know some Lego Creator sets are billed as "Expert"

Where do you find the "Beginner" sets? How about "Intermediate"

I'm pretty good at putting sets together from regular instructions -- but I have no experience with a lot of the seemingly complicated builds I see in MOCs here. So I am wondering how you learned the more advanced builds? Is there a book that explains different types of building? Is it a matter of doing harder and harder sets (I'm sure part of this is that sets with higher price points can have more complicated builds. Most of my Legos to this point have been in the $25 and under category)?

Recommendations?

[jimmynick]

Often, building great MOCs is to some extent a function of how many bricks you have, but making small things with few pieces requires you to be very crafty. This post on The Brothers Brick highlights such creative uses of parts to make a good MOC.

The LEGO Techniques pool on Flickr is a good place to browse and learn novel ways of putting your bricks together to achieve different effects. A very basic concept is the idea that two studs have the same width as the height of five plates. Combining that knowledge with brackets and hinges, etc., lets you build interesting shapes.

If you want to read some tutorials, take a look at Venunder's guide to trees and Derfel Cadarn's guide to building a medieval village - you can learn interesting techniques to augment your builds in there.

I'm sure I've missed some great resources for learning LEGO building techniques, but I hope what I've included helps you. Happy building!

Also, in my experience, the LEGO Architecture line contains interesting techniques that you pick up just by following the instructions.

[caperberry]

I noticed today that Brick Blogger is running a series of articles on MOCing. I cover techniques on my blog too but specifically relating to individual parts, usually brand new ones. The Lego Math and Patterns group on Flickr is inspiring, I find.

[Andy D]

Thre is a gret pdf on building techniques at http://joncraton.org/media/files/UnofficialLEGOAdvancedBuildingTechniquesGuide.pdf

And a book at Amazon, The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide

http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-LEGO-Builders-Guide-Color/dp/1593274416/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377135981&sr=1-1

I learned a lot from both. I hope this helps.

Andy D

Edited August 22, 2013 by Andy D

[Kivi]

The original instructions and the links and books mentioned above are all very useful sources and great help. So give it a try, the best experience comes from practice. Or if you see something interesting, be it here on EB or at LUG event or anywhere that you can get in touch with the author of the creation, you can also ask in person and get advice from the first hand.

[Peppermint_M]

Practice is also one to work with really. Think of a shape and look at the LEGO parts, find what you think might achieve that shape and stick them together how you think they should go.

Then again, I MOC from a picture I have in my head and just go from there...

[Redhead1982]

Well, I learned few tricks just from building sets, some Creator house, and modular buildings. A lot can be found online, but my best advice is to search for interesting builds, and try to figure out the parts for some details, while keep an open mind to use them in various themes. And most of all, just build. It gets easier with time, as well as more fun.