Brick colors

[Endriu]

This thread might be a little weird, forgive me :)

I am a little bit new to lego and was wondering about brick colors in historic/castle context. My question is which brick colors can actually be used, where are the boundaries?

For example I was thinking about buying the lego creator beach hut (31035), mainly because of the roof tiles, on the other hand its got a lot of yellow bricks which might be a little bit off.

What are your opinions?

Which non standard colors can be used for what?

[MAB]

Any genuine Lego colour is fine by me.

[Endriu]

Any genuine Lego colour is fine by me.

Any color?

I am no expert but I thought that yellow would be a little bit off in regard to historic contexts...

[Deathleech]

I am no expert but I thought that yellow would be a little bit off in regard to historic contexts...

Whachu talking about? One of the first Lego Castles was yellow!

In all seriousness though, history sets seem to stick primarily to grays, browns, and blacks. Basically a lot of neutral colors. Of course they usually have splashes of colors here and there like red, blue, and sand green. Really anything works though. I have seen some amazing MOCs that use colors generally not associated with history.

[Vorkosigan]

If we're talking about medieval times I think there are plenty of opportunities for use of bright color. Of course a lot of stone and wood were used but there were bright paints and tapestries and clothing as well. It all depends on specific setting and context.

[Endriu]

Whachu talking about? One of the first Lego Castles was yellow!

In all seriousness though, history sets seem to stick primarily to grays, browns, and blacks. Basically a lot of neutral colors. Of course they usually have splashes of colors here and there like red, blue, and sand green. Really anything works though. I have seen some amazing MOCs that use colors generally not associated with history.

Exactly, they seem to stick mostly to grays and browns... thats why I was wondering about less usual colors and how they could work. As it is now, there arent actually too many sets out there that deal with historic context. So in order to get some sets at all I am trying to buy sets that I could somehow re-build into something historic, at least thats my plan. And with this beach I wasnt really sure... btw, I wouldnt want to have a yellow castle :)

If we're talking about medieval times I think there are plenty of opportunities for use of bright color. Of course a lot of stone and wood were used but there were bright paints and tapestries and clothing as well. It all depends on specific setting and context.

As a matter of fact medieval times were most colorful in regard to clothing, a fact that is generally misrepresented in media

[Lord Vladivus]

There's a castle near me that used to be painted bright green!

[MAB]

Any color?

I am no expert but I thought that yellow would be a little bit off in regard to historic contexts...

Looks fine to me ...

[Endriu]

Looks fine to me ...

that was convincing!!!

the third house is amazing - (others as well!) thats the way I wanna go... it will be a long way Im afraid

Edited May 12, 2015 by kabel
Please do not quote pics!

[Schabengetier]

When I first started looking up the MOCs of adults in the internet, I thought "God, there is no way you can ever build stuff like that." But as I built up my first one to upload, I was just like "This isn't that hard after all." The point of building MOCs is just to have fun and maybe show your imagination to other people.

-> Y.O.U.R. imagination. The means you can build anything that you like (MOC = my own creation). So go on and build a pink Castle as long as you like it and tell anyone complaining about it: "Screw you, it's MY imagination, not yours!"

This should help you with your question. Any colour should suit your creations, as long as you thik it is looking good.

Have fun creating stuff,

Schabe

Edited May 1, 2015 by Schabengetier

[Vorkosigan]

the third house is amazing - (others as well!) thats the way I wanna go... it will be a long way Im afraid

Its not as hard as you think. Use bricklink to build up your supply of key parts and go for it. Also the set "Medieval Market Village" is a great introduction to these sorts of buildings in an official set. It is getting pricy these days for new in box but really not bad compared to discontinued modulars.

[Endriu]

When I first started looking up the MOCs of adults in the internet, I thought "God, there is no way you can ever build stuff like that." But as I built up my first one to upload, I was just like "This isn't that hard after all." The point of building MOCs is just to have fun and maybe show your imagination to other people.

-> Y.O.U.R. imagination. The means you can build anything that you like (MOC = my own creation). So go on and build a pink Castle as long as you like it and tell anyone complaining about it: "Screw you, it's MY imagination, not yours!"

This should help you with your question. Any colour should suit your creations, as long as you thik it is looking good.

Have fun creating stuff,

Schabe

Thanks! :)

[Blakstone]

For beaches, I would recommend tan and dark tan (for the wet sand). Also trans clear and trans blue is good for water. Below is a quick example I made for the Xmas Raffle last year.

[Endriu]

For beaches, I would recommend tan and dark tan (for the wet sand). Also trans clear and trans blue is good for water. Below is a quick example I made for the Xmas Raffle last year.

Thanks a lot! Havent thought about wet sand before... good to keep in mind

Looks fine to me ...

just by the way: Looking at your pics I realized that you used some more 'modern' windows and fences. What about those? Of course its your moc and your freedom of choice...

Until now I was heading towards the 'medieval market village' example (some parts are really hard to get btw).

Edited May 12, 2015 by kabel
Please do not quote pics!

[MAB]

They aren't actually mine.

But my view, using what you have is better than nothing at all.

[Bennemans]

Okay, I'm not trying to be a bitch here, so please forgive me…

I think there is something inherently wrong with your question "which brick colors can actually be used, where are the boundaries"… just because simply there are no boundaries! I understand your feeling, because I had the exact same, but I learned there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to build your own creations. The whole point of LEGO is to build whatever you like! Now, I understand you want to build something that fits into a certain category, like Medieval Historical, and sure there are specific colors that are associated with that, but please don't let that hinder your creativity… We've seen some absolutely brilliant creations from talented people who used some colors in their MOCs you might dismiss in the first place. Look at Cesar's creations (https://www.flickr.com/photos/124546590@N03 ), his work just screams historical and fantastical, and he has used purples, blues, reds, yellows, oranges… every color in the book! And for the better!

Don't ever ask where the boundaries are… the moment you do that, you limit yourself in your creativity, and that is not the way to go! Do what you want, share, enjoy, and above all (like our friend LightningTiger would say) Brick on!

[Rogue Angel]

I have to disagree. I am also a builder that likes to stay true to what would have been done historically. If you want to build pink or purple or trans&clear castles, go for it, but I need to be able to justify my builds to myself.

I tend to use:

Light bley

Dark bley

Black

Tan

Dark tan

Reddish brown

White

Sand green

I will use the following colors for 'painted' builds

Dark blue

Dark red

Dark green

Earth orange

Medium blue

Sand blue

Sand red

Light yellow

For some reason, basic red, blue and yellow do not look good to me in my historic builds, so I typically avoid those colors.

[Dzoni90]

@Rogue Angel

I agree with you, i also love to see "natural" colors in historic buildings. I posted the similar list a few days before

Edited May 5, 2015 by Dzoni90

[Bennemans]

I have to disagree. I am also a builder that likes to stay true to what would have been done historically.

*ahem*

You can say you prefer mute and natural colors (as do I), but claiming bright colors are historically inaccurate is just plain false. Color isn't a modern invention

[Wodanis]

Your post Bennemans made me laugh! It is true in the ancient world and middle ages that colour was used quite extensively. Roman and Greek statues even had eyes, ear rings and were painted. Contrary to the way we see such statues in museums as slabs of stone. Nor was clothing drab and all earth tones. For example when Romans starting importing silk and making garments from it, it created a scandal (as it was see through) and in huge demand with all sorts of colours.

I tend to use:

Light bley

Dark bley

Black

Tan

Dark tan

Reddish brown

White

Sand green

I will use the following colors for 'painted' builds

Dark blue

Dark red

Dark green

Earth orange

Medium blue

Sand blue

Sand red

Light yellow

In terms of Lego creation the sky is the limit for colour schemes. But I do agree with the above colour palette. Most of us would want something fairly 'realistic' in our eyes. It doesn't mean that the list is set in stone rather a guideline for you to use.

[Sammael]

It should also be noted that all Egyptian temples and other important edifices were painted in REALLY bright colors. The reason they all look tan now is because of sand erosion.

The pyramids were fully covered with polished white sandstone slabs and topped with gold.

[Schabengetier]

The actual question of this thread was:

"which brick colors can actually be used, where are the boundaries?"

So the final conclusion of all the Information here is:

It is up to you.

Thats what matters: Grab some bricks, build up something and scrap it if it doesn't suit your imagination.

If you ask what colours you should use, ask yourself: What colour would look strange to me on a castle?

"What coulour would look odd?"

"Pink castle walls."

"So screw pink."

"Ok, dude."

That is the easyest way: Kick out all coulours that would look odd on your creation and start building with the rest

Edited May 9, 2015 by Schabengetier

[Rogue Angel]

*ahem*

You can say you prefer mute and natural colors (as do I), but claiming bright colors are historically inaccurate is just plain false. Color isn't a modern invention

you can go ahead and pick out whatever colorful historic pieces you want, but I don't build the Kremlin, or 1800's European architecture, or the selected pictures you show. I build castles, revolutionary forts and settlements, medieval villages, western towns, and the bottom half of my colors are all outside the greys and browns. You'll note that I said I didn't like the look of basic red, yellow and blue, not that they weren't used.

[Schabengetier]

You'll note that I said I didn't like the look of basic red, yellow and blue, not that they weren't used.

That was what I was talking about. So calm down you two and concentrate on the topic. Clearly there are many historical buildings thet were really colorful, but I don't think that this was in Endrius mind.

So, we got a whole list of suitable colours for castles (Castles that should look like something real.)

But what about this fantasy/medieval stuff?

Blood red castle walls, Heads of elves on top of towers, Hobbits in torture chambers, pretty colorful wizard towers and other "magic" stuff.

It is also content of the historic part of the forums.

Greetings,

Schabe

[Endriu]

Now I have another color problem! :)

I bought myself some green baseplates - in regard to grassy surfaces dark green seems to be the best IMHO, in fact its the only option if I want to create some uneven grassy terrain as I dont have any of those bright green plates anyway. So dark green is my color of choise for grass.

Now what about that bright yellow-green? What do you think? Can it be useful for something? Would it pass for a grass area? I mean its kinda yellowish...