Kai NRG Posted March 25, 2018 (edited) What do you get when you smash Venice and Japan together on the edge of a cliff? Welcome to Shinmizu village, where small canals thread their way between houses before rushing over the rocks in foamy waterfalls, where arabesque domes stand side-by-side flowering Japanese-style trees, and where, no matter how straight the border, everything is at an angle. This build is a collaborative effort between @Garmadon and myself! I built the nearer half, Garmadon the farther half. To save on slopes, we decided to angle the rockwork... but that sure made building an overhanging balcony difficult! This tan house was pretty fun, but getting the roof right was a pain. I generally regret doing non-rectangular houses by the time I get to the roof, and this one was no exception! There's a little garden off to the side of the black and white house! Here's the front of the tan house. And duplo bricks for the canals... those were a gift from a well-meaning friend. As a matter of fact though, they're pretty useful! This black and white house is one of my favorite of all the houses I've ever built! Had fun mashing together Gothic and Japanese styles for this little chapel. I believe I took flying buttresses to another level! When I built this little boat I was actually surprised that I had never built one like this before, it was so obvious. Lots of waterfalls on this build, and lots of crazy rockwork too! One of my favorite details has to be the little cave! Moving on to Garmadon's section, he did a great job on that little gondola - bringing back the Venice theme! Enter the village over this little bridge! Garmadon really likes his tried and true Japanese roof here. This round pavilion looks like a pleasant place to spend a summer afternoon! A traditional Ninjago Japanese minifigure drinks tea on the brink of a waterfall! And one last shot of the cave! This was initially going to be an entry into the Safe Haven contest, but since we only started four days before the deadline, it's not to surprising that we missed it. In the end, it took us about four weeks. Garmadon will be sure to blame me, although if the truth be told, I finished an hour or so before he did... C&C welcome! Feels good to have a build for GoH again! As for where the village is located, I expect it's somewhere in Kaliphlin. After all we have everything else, why not a Japan-Venice mashup? Edited March 29, 2018 by Kai NRG Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zoth33 Posted March 25, 2018 This whole build is great Kai NRG. The building flow together nicely. The terrain is great. I especially love the trees I don't think i've seen anyone use the grass pieces in that way for tree leaves before. The waterfall is wonderfull. The minifig posing is spot on too. Great job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakbar Posted March 25, 2018 Gorgeous, i love the rockwork alomost as much as the canals and waterfalls. They are amazing! The landscape in general looks awesome. The houses look simple but realistic, The fit the scenery very well. The minifigs do also fit and they make everything look alive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KevinyWu Posted March 25, 2018 The overall build is one of the most aesthetically pleasing ones I've ever seen! I really like the tree design, and the techniques on the white house (the roof, SNOT walls, offset door, sideways window) are great! I also like the winding staircase that is nicely incorporated into the rockwork. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
narbilu Posted March 26, 2018 Fantastic build... especially the mini bridge is very well executed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TitusV Posted March 26, 2018 It surprises me noone has ever combined these two styles before, because the results are lovely! All the little canals and streams and bridges make for a very fresh and beautiful village, whereas the many details show a very busy life. I also recognise the feeling on the non-straight houses, angled roofs are such a pain-in-the-megablock Overall, quite the build. The two of you should do things like this more often Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gedren_y Posted March 26, 2018 Another wonderful Kaliphlin build. As for the location, given the terrain, I would place it somewhere on the mountainous southeastern coast between Mpya Stedor and Berigora. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrcp6d Posted March 27, 2018 This is a really lovely MOC guys! The buildings are great, the water is fantastic, and the cliffs are well executed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccoyed Posted March 27, 2018 Love this for obvious reasons! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muakhah Posted March 28, 2018 As previously said between Mya Stedor and Berigora fits the geography. There have been Japanese influenced builds in the East of Kaliphlin and your own area of Nocturnus so it seems right that it would be somewhere around there. There are so many beautiful details. I was pondering how to do angled rockwork. Is there any chance you could do a bit of a tutorial on it? If its beautiful and skillful then of course it should be in Kaliphlim. This has inspired me to try and break out of a mini dark age! Favorite bit would be the combo Shrine and also the house overhanging the cliff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soccerkid6 Posted March 28, 2018 (edited) Wonderful collaboration! You two certainly didn't skimp on details, and it's a pleasure looking through all the pictures. That toy boat design is perfect! The black and white house is especially pretty, as are the little bridges Nice touch with the little cave too! 4 hours ago, Muakhah said: ... There are so many beautiful details. I was pondering how to do angled rockwork. Is there any chance you could do a bit of a tutorial on it? ... John and I have a tutorial on angled rockwork, that I think uses a similar design to Geneva's and Isaiah's. Edited March 28, 2018 by soccerkid6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleJohn Posted March 28, 2018 Incredible collab, everything from the colors and layout, to the landscaping and architecture is done beautifully! The water is some of the best I've seen, it has just the right balance of trans-light blue and trans-clear. And you incorporated all those angled sections flawlessly, well done! Really liking those pink blossom trees too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Maestro Posted March 28, 2018 Well that's certainly something you don't see everyday. What a weird but wonderful combination. I would certainly like to see the idea expanded upon, because so far it looks sick That rock work is great, and the buildings look on spot as always. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoModularFan Posted March 29, 2018 (edited) Such a nice beautiful village! It's easy to see why the black and White House is one of your favorites, the roof is just wonderful! The pavilion is a real eye candy! I like waaay too many things to list them all, the rock work and the water and the cute little bridge for instance! Amazing collaborative build! Edited March 29, 2018 by LegoModularFan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muakhah Posted March 30, 2018 On 2018/3/28 at 8:30 PM, soccerkid6 said: Wonderful collaboration! You two certainly didn't skimp on details, and it's a pleasure looking through all the pictures. That toy boat design is perfect! The black and white house is especially pretty, as are the little bridges Nice touch with the little cave too! John and I have a tutorial on angled rockwork, that I think uses a similar design to Geneva's and Isaiah's. Thanks for the link. Sadly Brickbuilt doesn't load up for me here in China. I will try and look when I am next out of this place. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted March 30, 2018 On 3/24/2018 at 11:01 PM, zoth33 said: This whole build is great Kai NRG. The building flow together nicely. The terrain is great. I especially love the trees I don't think i've seen anyone use the grass pieces in that way for tree leaves before. The waterfall is wonderfull. The minifig posing is spot on too. Great job. Thank you! I saw that tree technique on a different Japanese style build a while ago and have used it a couple of times since. It uses a ton of flowers, especially for a big tree, but is really pretty! On 3/25/2018 at 5:41 AM, jakbar said: Gorgeous, i love the rockwork alomost as much as the canals and waterfalls. They are amazing! The landscape in general looks awesome. The houses look simple but realistic, The fit the scenery very well. The minifigs do also fit and they make everything look alive. Thanks jakbar! On 3/25/2018 at 9:49 AM, KevinyWu said: The overall build is one of the most aesthetically pleasing ones I've ever seen! I really like the tree design, and the techniques on the white house (the roof, SNOT walls, offset door, sideways window) are great! I also like the winding staircase that is nicely incorporated into the rockwork. Thank you! I'm really glad you like it so much! On 3/26/2018 at 7:24 AM, narbilu said: Fantastic build... especially the mini bridge is very well executed Thanks narbilu! On 3/26/2018 at 9:35 AM, TitusV said: It surprises me noone has ever combined these two styles before, because the results are lovely! All the little canals and streams and bridges make for a very fresh and beautiful village, whereas the many details show a very busy life. I also recognise the feeling on the non-straight houses, angled roofs are such a pain-in-the-megablock Overall, quite the build. The two of you should do things like this more often Indeed, we might have to revisit our new style sometime, because it turned out great! This is actually our fourth collab I think, although none of the others were GoH collabs, so this one was certainly overdue! Thank you! On 3/26/2018 at 3:36 PM, gedren_y said: Another wonderful Kaliphlin build. As for the location, given the terrain, I would place it somewhere on the mountainous southeastern coast between Mpya Stedor and Berigora. Thanks gedren! Yes, I imagine it somewhere around there. Or maybe to the southwest, since there have been several Japanese-inspired builds there if I recall correctly. On 3/26/2018 at 9:40 PM, mrcp6d said: This is a really lovely MOC guys! The buildings are great, the water is fantastic, and the cliffs are well executed. Thank you! On 3/27/2018 at 5:38 PM, mccoyed said: Love this for obvious reasons! Thanks mccoyed! On 3/28/2018 at 3:08 AM, Muakhah said: As previously said between Mya Stedor and Berigora fits the geography. There have been Japanese influenced builds in the East of Kaliphlin and your own area of Nocturnus so it seems right that it would be somewhere around there. There are so many beautiful details. I was pondering how to do angled rockwork. Is there any chance you could do a bit of a tutorial on it? If its beautiful and skillful then of course it should be in Kaliphlim. This has inspired me to try and break out of a mini dark age! Favorite bit would be the combo Shrine and also the house overhanging the cliff. Thank you! I'm Kaliphlin to the core though, not Nocty. Unfortunately this build was destroyed only a few hours after being photographed, so there's no chance of doing a tutorial from it. But the link SK gave you is a great way to do angled rockwork and that was what I used for the smaller rock out front. For the cliff, we used technic pieces. We did a row of the long + axles parallel to the cliffs and stuck bricks with pin holes through them (8x1s and 10x1s for the most part). Then we stuck dark grey pieces onto those, making sure to cover them in the process of course. On 3/28/2018 at 7:30 AM, soccerkid6 said: Wonderful collaboration! You two certainly didn't skimp on details, and it's a pleasure looking through all the pictures. That toy boat design is perfect! The black and white house is especially pretty, as are the little bridges Nice touch with the little cave too! John and I have a tutorial on angled rockwork, that I think uses a similar design to Geneva's and Isaiah's. Thanks Isaac! We really enjoyed seeing it come together! On 3/28/2018 at 7:33 AM, LittleJohn said: Incredible collab, everything from the colors and layout, to the landscaping and architecture is done beautifully! The water is some of the best I've seen, it has just the right balance of trans-light blue and trans-clear. And you incorporated all those angled sections flawlessly, well done! Really liking those pink blossom trees too. Thanks LJ! I absolutely love that water technique and definitely need to get myself some more trans-light-blue tiles. In the end not having enough worked out okay because the extra rock and the landbridge worked well, but I'm sure a couple hundred more would really come in handy! On 3/28/2018 at 4:14 PM, The Maestro said: Well that's certainly something you don't see everyday. What a weird but wonderful combination. I would certainly like to see the idea expanded upon, because so far it looks sick That rock work is great, and the buildings look on spot as always. Thanks! I think we may try to come back to it someday! 17 hours ago, LegoModularFan said: Such a nice beautiful village! It's easy to see why the black and White House is one of your favorites, the roof is just wonderful! The pavilion is a real eye candy! I like waaay too many things to list them all, the rock work and the water and the cute little bridge for instance! Amazing collaborative build! Thank you! I wanted to keep the black and white building together so I could build it its own little scene, but sadly I was going on a trip just after I finished this build so I didn't have time for that! But I hope to rebuild it (or something similar) when I get back to my bricks! 9 hours ago, Muakhah said: Thanks for the link. Sadly Brickbuilt doesn't load up for me here in China. I will try and look when I am next out of this place. Basically that style uses clip pieces to angle the rock, so it's more compact than technic parts. It's not too hard to figure something similar out on your own so if you have enough grey clips or 2x1s with bars you can probably do some experimenting on your own! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
de Gothia Posted April 1, 2018 Wow! Just wow! I love the concept of twisting those styles togheter and the water and the waterfalls makes it just beautiful! Have to spend some time studying those houses as well as they look brilliant!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tezclatipoca Posted April 3, 2018 Excellent build for a Great collab ! Your style and Garmadon's one are great on their own but combined together it's greater ! We want more collab like this ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted April 3, 2018 On 4/1/2018 at 1:52 PM, de Gothia said: Wow! Just wow! I love the concept of twisting those styles togheter and the water and the waterfalls makes it just beautiful! Have to spend some time studying those houses as well as they look brilliant!! Thanks dG! Waterfalls seem to make any MOC beautiful, so they're always a great addition! 8 hours ago, Faladrin said: Excellent build for a Great collab ! Your style and Garmadon's one are great on their own but combined together it's greater ! We want more collab like this ! Thank you Faladrin! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZlatanXVIGustaf Posted April 6, 2018 Fantastic scene! The rockwork and water is excellent! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted April 6, 2018 4 hours ago, ZlatanXVIGustaf said: Fantastic scene! The rockwork and water is excellent! Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henjin_Quilones Posted April 9, 2018 Looks great, and I especially love the variety of roofs you have included here. My favorite small detail is the stone temple building, though I do find it a bit odd that it is joined to another building like it is (right at the edge of the builder transition, perhaps?). The waterfalls are a very nice touch, and it would be cool to see more of this mashup, perhaps with more and wider canals. Good work you two! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted April 9, 2018 38 minutes ago, Henjin_Quilones said: Looks great, and I especially love the variety of roofs you have included here. My favorite small detail is the stone temple building, though I do find it a bit odd that it is joined to another building like it is (right at the edge of the builder transition, perhaps?). The waterfalls are a very nice touch, and it would be cool to see more of this mashup, perhaps with more and wider canals. Good work you two! Yes, that is indeed right at the edge of the builder transition! The buildings aren't attached, but Garmadon's overhanging roof sure didn't give me a lot of room on that lot so I just did what I could! I hear you about the wider canals, would have liked to do that here but we realized that it would have taken too much space away from the houses. Plus, it would have used up way more Duplos than we had on hand! Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MassEditor Posted April 23, 2018 Wonderful creation guys, lots of little details to enjoy and appreciate. The rockwork is fantastic, you two have developed an awesome and very realistic technique here. I'm so intimidated by SNoT rockwork but, man, it can bring a whole new level of detail as evidenced here. The mixed Asian-Venetian architecture is a neat idea. Good call building the structures at an off-angle. Always a great touch! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kai NRG Posted July 2, 2018 On 4/23/2018 at 6:41 PM, MassEditor said: Wonderful creation guys, lots of little details to enjoy and appreciate. The rockwork is fantastic, you two have developed an awesome and very realistic technique here. I'm so intimidated by SNoT rockwork but, man, it can bring a whole new level of detail as evidenced here. The mixed Asian-Venetian architecture is a neat idea. Good call building the structures at an off-angle. Always a great touch! Thanks ME! This is actually I think one of the easier ways to do SNOT rockwork as we could tilt whole segments of rock at a time. And I totally hope to revisit the architectural style we've created here someday! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites