Free Build - Lost Tomb of Shady Sands

[Yzalirk]

Those who trek the desert alone, don't go on too far. With the scorching sun and continuous dry dunes, dehydration kicks in rapidly. But the legend in of the Lost Tomb of Shady Sands in one every adventurer knows about. Most people don't deem it wise to look for this place but those in seek of fortune, thrive to find this place. No one really knows what's inside. The old stories say all the furnishings are carved from gold crafted by the beings from the sky. But who knows? Everyone who's seen it never returned. Perhaps the desert got them?

Those who live in Kaliphlin heard this story as children. There are those, though, that believe the place is real and others don't. It could very well be a hallucination due to dehydration...

[NOTE] This is my first MOC!

Edited August 4, 2014 by Behemoth

[-Carson Haupt-]

Very cool fp!

[Scaevola]

Nice start. Great forced perspective on this, and the dunes are certainly a nice start to desert landscaping . Overall, this is a good first moc

Edited August 4, 2014 by Scaevola

[Yzalirk]

Very cool fp!

Thank you!

I know I can do better but I don't have a lot of pieces like most members here so I tried to make do with the plates I have to make a scene of something that looks far away.

Nice start. Great forced perspective on this, and the dunes are certainly a nice start to desert landscaping . Overall, this is a good first moc

Thanks!

I have quite a bit of the tan slope pieces but I didn't use very much since I tried to make this seem "far away".

Edited August 4, 2014 by Behemoth

[MassEditor]

Great to see your first MOC Behemoth, looks like you're well on the way towards building an adventuresome story for your character. Look forward to seeing more of this tomb.

[Kayne]

Nice job behemoth! I think the comment you made about being appropriate for your amount of pieces is most important. If you over reach your resources, the MOC suffers. When you stick to a scale and style you know you have the pieces for you are much better off.

[Yzalirk]

Great to see your first MOC Behemoth, looks like you're well on the way towards building an adventuresome story for your character. Look forward to seeing more of this tomb.

Thanks, that means a lot!

I'll probably kill off this poor fellow until later or I may reveal an interesting plot twist. Having a human character wasn't my intention but I'll stick with him for a bit and it will make for an interesting story.

Nice job behemoth! I think the comment you made about being appropriate for your amount of pieces is most important. If you over reach your resources, the MOC suffers. When you stick to a scale and style you know you have the pieces for you are much better off.

Thanks!

Whenever I have a big space to work on, I add more stuff. But when I keep it small (like this one), I'll use less pieces to give off an image that seems like there's a lot of distance between something so it's not too cluttered with pieces. So if I where to have made this up close, it would probably just be a massive wall.

[Lord Vladivus]

Nice forced perspective! Clever idea with the crystals as bushes in the distance!

[Yzalirk]

Nice forced perspective! Clever idea with the crystals as bushes in the distance!

Thanks man!

In all honesty, using those crystals wasn't my intention for bushes. They were originally used as large ore veins to symbolize the wealth and possible treasure of the mysterious place. But they could make for excellent bushes from a far perspective. Just wish they weren't that color though.

[ZCerberus]

Did you try making the photo the "opposite" as in the foreground in focus and the tomb out of focus? I think that could look really cool. Good job on your first MOC!

[Yzalirk]

Did you try making the photo the "opposite" as in the foreground in focus and the tomb out of focus? I think that could look really cool. Good job on your first MOC!

Thank you!

In a way, yes. It's interesting to make it focus more on the tomb itself and what's close a bit more blurry though. I'll have to do it the other way around with another MOC.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Behemoth

[MKJoshA]

This is a great first MOC! Great forced perspective and I think your build has just the right amount of details. The lighting isn't perfect, but for your first, it's pretty darn good.

Edited August 4, 2014 by MKJoshA

[Yzalirk]

This is a great first MOC! Great forced perspective and I think your build has just the right amount of details. The lighting isn't perfect, but for your first, it's pretty darn good.

Thanks!

I have only one light so I had to make do with it. And note that the background is actually a shelf.

[ZCerberus]

In a way, yes. It's interesting to make it focus more on the tomb itself and what's close a bit more blurry though. I'll have to do it the other way around with another MOC.

To me at least, the forced perspective type thing works best when the forced part is a bit out of focus since the general shape is more important than the detail in that situation. You're right, this way can be interesting too, I would just be interested in seeing how it looked.

[Yzalirk]

To me at least, the forced perspective type thing works best when the forced part is a bit out of focus since the general shape is more important than the detail in that situation. You're right, this way can be interesting too, I would just be interested in seeing how it looked.

Yeah, that would probably be best to demonstrate something being further away.

[Gunman]

Nice start at mocing my friend, have fun bricking! I would suggest photographing the mocs outside house at shade (ni direct sunlight), without flash.

[Yzalirk]

Nice start at mocing my friend, have fun bricking! I would suggest photographing the mocs outside house at shade (ni direct sunlight), without flash.

Thanks man!

That is actually a really good idea! I looked through some of your MOCs (Awesome by the way) and did you do that technique with them?

[Gabe]

Huzzah, good to see you are in the mood for moccing (moc'ing? moc-ing?) Behemoth! Nice start too, the FP works well. I thought those ore elements were meant to be bushes as well, but i guess that's the power of suggestion due to having the larger bush in the foreground.

A couple of notes about composition - you have a very cinematic shot here, with the top and bottom of the moc cropped out - this is fine, but it does tend to draw attention to the empty wings of the image. I find that if you are going for this kind of immersive feel, it can look better if you try to fill the entire image with brick. I totes understand that you are working with part restriction here, it's just something to keep in mind for the future. Also, FP can be a powerful compositional tool, but if you have the FP part physically connected to the fore/middleground section, it can restrict the number of angles you can take your shots from. Something i like to do is separate them so that i can move the FP section around, allowing me greater flexibility when it comes to photography.

If you are keen to improve your building skills, you might want to check out The University of Petraea's Doctorate of Historica program - you can claim credits for this build in the thread if you are interested.

Again, good to see you underway in GoH!

[Yzalirk]

Huzzah, good to see you are in the mood for moccing (moc'ing? moc-ing?) Behemoth! Nice start too, the FP works well. I thought those ore elements were meant to be bushes as well, but i guess that's the power of suggestion due to having the larger bush in the foreground.

A couple of notes about composition - you have a very cinematic shot here, with the top and bottom of the moc cropped out - this is fine, but it does tend to draw attention to the empty wings of the image. I find that if you are going for this kind of immersive feel, it can look better if you try to fill the entire image with brick. I totes understand that you are working with part restriction here, it's just something to keep in mind for the future. Also, FP can be a powerful compositional tool, but if you have the FP part physically connected to the fore/middleground section, it can restrict the number of angles you can take your shots from. Something i like to do is separate them so that i can move the FP section around, allowing me greater flexibility when it comes to photography.

If you are keen to improve your building skills, you might want to check out The University of Petraea's Doctorate of Historica program - you can claim credits for this build in the thread if you are interested.

Again, good to see you underway in GoH!

Thanks man, it means a lot!

I'll try to build even greater builds in the upcoming months one I buy lots of pieces I need badly. I'll check The University of Petraea's Doctorate of Historica program sometime in the near future. I'll probably make a few more build this month, not guaranteed but I'll try. Are there are threads where I can see good examples for castle walls, water, landscaping, nature, ect.? You know, to improve myself as a MOC'er.

[Gabe]

Have you checked out all the guides in the "History Guides and Indices" sticky? In particular, DC's guide is excellent.

[Yzalirk]

Have you checked out all the guides in the "History Guides and Indices" sticky? In particular, DC's guide is excellent.

No, but there are some very helpful guides there for moi! Thank you for the link!

[-Horizon-]

Nice to see a build from you Behemoth. Now the pressure is on me.

Edited August 5, 2014 by lego3364

[Yzalirk]

Nice to see a build from you Behemoth not the pressure is on me.

Thank you!

Don't rush yourself with your MOC. Take the time to get in all the correct details for what you plan to build. This being my first MOC, it's just getting my feet wet. Pretty soon, I'll be getting soaked!

I have no idea where I am going with that but what I guess I'm trying to say is you get better at MOC building when you progress... and get more parts and pieces.

[soccerkid6]

Good forced perspective The scorpion and crystals work well as decorations for the micro-scale building

[Yzalirk]

Good forced perspective The scorpion and crystals work well as decorations for the micro-scale building

Thank you!

I found those pieces laying around so I figured I might as well use them.