Puvel Posted January 14, 2019 (edited) I've been working on this house for way too long now. Had lots of issues with the roof, the front of the house used to be more tilted forward but I changed that and I'm happy enough with it now. The scenery around the house is the problem now. Tried some different things and I like the current colour combination but overall I think it doesn't look lively enough. There's probably a lot of things I can do about it but just haven't thought of yet. Already missed Challenge I because of this so figured I'd ask for advice here so I can start on something for Challenge II instead of looking at this one in frustration for another couple of weeks :D The idea is that my character comes home after the wars and his family is happy to see him so they run to him, in case you were wondering why the minifigs are placed like that. This can be changed as well of course. So feel free to give some ideas/comments, I know there's a lot of room for improvement. UPDATED PICS: Edited April 5, 2019 by Puvel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
W Navarre Posted January 14, 2019 Excellent, those walls are top notch! My biggest wish that you didn't do is that you put more of those light flesh tiles into the ground. I know that you probably haven't got any most likely, but anyways use more tiles and wedges in the landscape to avoid square color changes too. Other than that it really is incredible! Well done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccoyed Posted January 14, 2019 I think the issue I see when I look at the color palette is the same one that a lot of fairly detailed, high quality builds have: they include a lot of green, but no other colors. With this many shades of brown, a balance of colorful foliage seems like it would be nice. The build itself is top notch. Maybe you're too hard on yourself. :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zoth33 Posted January 15, 2019 Nice Job. Theres not much to critique except I wish there were more pictures. The sloped walls with the stone corners are fantastic and the tile roof is great. The color variation in the walls make a nice visual. The chimney has nice texture. The landscaping is well done, I like the trees and the pathways fits right in. The figs look good too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Basiliscus Posted January 15, 2019 The house itself is exquisite - the stonework is well detailed and not too overpowering, the walls have some crazy angles, and the roof looks believable and the whole thing uses a fantastic colour palette. I like the colours you've used for the landscape, the dark green grass and light flesh/dark orange road go well together. My only critique is that while the trees look good, those three leaf plants are almost too big for minifig scale MOCs unless you use them as jungle or something. They make it feel like it's a gnome's house or something. You've been way too hard on yourself in the description - this is a top notch MOC and you should be proud of it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Puvel Posted January 15, 2019 19 hours ago, W Navarre said: Excellent, those walls are top notch! My biggest wish that you didn't do is that you put more of those light flesh tiles into the ground. I know that you probably haven't got any most likely, but anyways use more tiles and wedges in the landscape to avoid square color changes too. Other than that it really is incredible! Well done! Thanks! Don't really have light flesh tiles, but I'm sure I have some tiles and wedges in green so I'll look into updating the landscape a bit. 17 hours ago, mccoyed said: I think the issue I see when I look at the color palette is the same one that a lot of fairly detailed, high quality builds have: they include a lot of green, but no other colors. With this many shades of brown, a balance of colorful foliage seems like it would be nice. The build itself is top notch. Maybe you're too hard on yourself. :P Thanks! Good point about all the green, added the white flowers to counter balance that. A little more colours will be added! 12 hours ago, zoth33 said: Nice Job. Theres not much to critique except I wish there were more pictures. The sloped walls with the stone corners are fantastic and the tile roof is great. The color variation in the walls make a nice visual. The chimney has nice texture. The landscaping is well done, I like the trees and the pathways fits right in. The figs look good too. Thanks! I'll take more picture once I updated the build 8 hours ago, Basiliscus said: The house itself is exquisite - the stonework is well detailed and not too overpowering, the walls have some crazy angles, and the roof looks believable and the whole thing uses a fantastic colour palette. I like the colours you've used for the landscape, the dark green grass and light flesh/dark orange road go well together. My only critique is that while the trees look good, those three leaf plants are almost too big for minifig scale MOCs unless you use them as jungle or something. They make it feel like it's a gnome's house or something. You've been way too hard on yourself in the description - this is a top notch MOC and you should be proud of it! Thanks! Good point about the three leaf plants, never though of that! I'll see what I can do about replacing those with grass stems, flowers and so on. Anyway, you have to hard on yourself sometimes in order to improve :D Whenever I posted a build I was happy with before, there were always people suggesting little things that would have made the builds better. So I figured I'll ask for tips since I'm not completely happy with this one. Have to agree, the house was fun to build (not including the roof), always wanted to do something in that style and I'm happy with those walls. Guess I sounded more grumpy than intended in the description The house was more or less finished a couple of months ago. When I took it from the building table to take photos, I dropped the freaking thing... guess that's when I started getting a bit frustrated with it. Have some fresh ideas now so thanks for again for the tips! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
en_zoo Posted January 16, 2019 I think it's a very nice build, I'm not sure why you're so unhappy about it! If you want it more 'lively', then maybe instead of the plants more tools around, or, even better, more activity for the figs? I guess the palette you picked also calms everything down, but I like it as it is. Oh and those walls are awesome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grover Posted January 19, 2019 Great build! I will echo what others have said, and agree that the house itself is fantastic. I wouldn't change anything. Love the detail in the tudor work with the curved tiles and the varied color walls of tan and white. The stone work looks good for the building, and the roof is spot-on. The main road looks good, and I think the color choice is good as well. The dark green looks good for areas that are shaded, but for the large leaf plants, you could go with less grass, or even some olive green to signify the grass struggling there under the shade of the plants. As Bas said, the large leafy plants kind of look too big for figures, but, if you do something like what en_zoo did in his latest build, you can add large flowers (en used colored radar dishes) to them and then it just looks like a large leafy, flowering plant and it appears to be more proportional in my opinion. Hard to critique this, though, as it's very good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soccerkid6 Posted February 5, 2019 Beautiful tudor building! The stone first story is also top-notch, and you were able to make the angle of the walls look like a deliberate design choice rather than a run down building, which I think works perfectly here. Lovely roof with the staggered tiles of various colors And the pile of sacks, barrels, and sticks on the side is a nice touch Any chance of you taking more pictures in the future? Would love to see some more angles of this build Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garmadon Posted February 13, 2019 Lovely build, Puvel! That stone-work is superb, and the whole cottage is really nicely done I'll second SK's request for more pics if you've still got the build around, though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henjin_Quilones Posted March 4, 2019 Looks pretty good for a WIP! I love the stonework in the columns of the house. The earth colors are nice and unique, too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Puvel Posted April 5, 2019 Updated the landscape with more tiles, cheese slopes, colourful flowers and an extra tree. It looks a lot livelier now so thanks for all the tips! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Stad Posted April 6, 2019 It does indeed look much livelier now, and excellent job refining this MOC, I don't have the patience to stick with something in an iterative process like that. Job well done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eoin Wallace Posted April 12, 2019 Nice house! I like the sloping walls and cool plants! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tezclatipoca Posted April 12, 2019 That's a great MOC and the house is quite good like that ! For the exterior, I like it much with the flowers. Perhaps try more variations on the flowers by using reversed antenna supports on the stacks to create some bell-like flowers : tulips for example. And perhaps higher trees could help to make the house less dominating the scene or adding a coop or a rabbit house on a side too. Otherwise it's already a great build like it is and congrats on that ! Keep up the good job ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Last of Nergoue Posted April 12, 2019 Great moc the building is outstanding the corners really make the moc pop Share this post Link to post Share on other sites