Sparring by the Sea

[Beleg the Ranger]

On the coast of southern Mitgardia, remains of an ancient building can be found. These ruins are used by the local militia to practice swordplay and drill tactics. This is my entry for AoM military challenge "Sparring" and I hope you like it. C&C welcome. Question: Where do you post a link for AoM builds?

[Grover]

The Age of Mitgardia index thread is a free-floating thread (not stickied), so you have to go searching for it.  It's linked on the first post of the Mitgardia thread.   Post a link to this there and state what it's for.

As for the build, welcome!  It's great to see your first MOC post here!  I like the realistic color usage you have,a nd the plates leading into the water.  The gold fire helmet is unique but interesting as well.  I also appreciate your use of the white background, which helps keep the scene clear.  As you build more and take more pictures, you'll learn tricks along the way to help out.  For instance, when photographing, more light usually helps, more than you would think, actually, but a flash usually creates problems.  I like how you have kept the angle of the camera low so that it's at approximately eye level with the figures--it helps draw the viewer in.  It would be nice to see a few different angles, as I would like to see the plates with the plants you have built up, and when there's action, it's nice to see closeups, such as of the two combatants.  Getting those in focus can be a challenge depending on your camera.  As for the ocean, if you have a lot of trans-colored tiles, you can mix those with some trans clear tiles or plates near the shore to give a surf.  The plates look good, and if you want to have more 'rounded' appearance, you can use angled plates to help smooth blocky edges.  The rock nearest the camera is pretty flat and boxy, so you can add some slopes, a few plates of off color, rounded, or even missing, or perhaps a small limb element to help disguise the edges from the eye, unless of course, it's meant to be the edge of a dock, in which case I would say to use brown if it's wood, or put some decoration along the edges to define it specifically so the viewer knows it's a stone dock edge.

I'm curious to see your character's introduction!  Keep building, and thank you for sharing your first MOC here!

[Beleg the Ranger]

1 hour ago, Grover said:

The Age of Mitgardia index thread is a free-floating thread (not stickied), so you have to go searching for it.  It's linked on the first post of the Mitgardia thread.   Post a link to this there and state what it's for.

As for the build, welcome!  It's great to see your first MOC post here!  I like the realistic color usage you have,a nd the plates leading into the water.  The gold fire helmet is unique but interesting as well.  I also appreciate your use of the white background, which helps keep the scene clear.  As you build more and take more pictures, you'll learn tricks along the way to help out.  For instance, when photographing, more light usually helps, more than you would think, actually, but a flash usually creates problems.  I like how you have kept the angle of the camera low so that it's at approximately eye level with the figures--it helps draw the viewer in.  It would be nice to see a few different angles, as I would like to see the plates with the plants you have built up, and when there's action, it's nice to see closeups, such as of the two combatants.  Getting those in focus can be a challenge depending on your camera.  As for the ocean, if you have a lot of trans-colored tiles, you can mix those with some trans clear tiles or plates near the shore to give a surf.  The plates look good, and if you want to have more 'rounded' appearance, you can use angled plates to help smooth blocky edges.  The rock nearest the camera is pretty flat and boxy, so you can add some slopes, a few plates of off color, rounded, or even missing, or perhaps a small limb element to help disguise the edges from the eye, unless of course, it's meant to be the edge of a dock, in which case I would say to use brown if it's wood, or put some decoration along the edges to define it specifically so the viewer knows it's a stone dock edge.

I'm curious to see your character's introduction!  Keep building, and thank you for sharing your first MOC here!

Thanks for your feedback! I have had a few challenges with the photography, but that will be resolved over time. As for the rock nearest the camera, it is meant to be a platform of sorts, although I probably should have spent more time on it. Thanks again for the feedback!

[Grover]

You're welcome!  I love the GoH for just this reason: people here provide great feedback.  Most of us who have started here have come a long way thanks to the critiques and suggestions of others.  If you don't put your builds out there, you don't improve, and the members here are pretty nice.  I'd say you're doing well.  Keep up the building!  I set myself a goal of using one new technique (either for building or photography) each time I build something, in order to improve.

I think things are kind of dead around here right now, with people working on the challenge and the virus causing problems.  It's usually a little more busy.  Maybe we will all start posting free builds like crazy once we are stuck at home for a few more weeks!