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Henjin_Quilones

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  1. Henjin_Quilones
    I like the shots you have here, and the story is nice, as well. The build itself is quite simple, but simple is not the same thing as bad! The tree thing confuses me, too, since it is always cropped in the pictures (what's on top - is it connected to something, like a vine, or is it a free-standing tree, or what?) and the bottom looks like it is just resting on the snow surface, making it very vine-like.
  2. Henjin_Quilones
    Very nice micro, SK! Glad you found a use for the boat design, and thanks for the shout out - though it's entirely possible I copied it from somewhere ultimately. I have a hard time keeping track of where I got this or that technique or idea, so it might be original, or maybe not! The differentiation in roof color between the town and the castle is nice, and the colors overall are crisp and clear. I think I am in agreement with Kai about the pink trees - they are nice enough, but they don't seem to match the rest in scale. Perhaps it is because with the way you did them, they seem to only have a shallow top canopy and not any lower branches, making the size of the pink flowers seem off. The rest is scaled beautifully, and I love your headlight brick windows, of all sizes. Well done!
  3. Henjin_Quilones
    This is pretty epic! I like how you used different greys (old light grey and new light bley, for example) mixed together, as it gives a subtle bit of aging to the appearance. The all-LEGO shots are great, too, especially the one with the forced perspective. I will say, however, that a lower camera angle will help the scenes become more immersive. For example, in the first picture, the viewer is peering down at the top of the flagpole, rather than looking up at the figs at the top of the stairs, where a person in the scene would be expected to be standing. In immersive, all-LEGO scenes, camera angle becomes even more critical to really sell the moment than in regular LEGO building. I would try to compose the build with the final shots you want to get in mind, so that you don't have to make odd choices at photography time because you made the foreground too narrow and thus you need a high-angled shot to crop out the exposed table surface beneath it. It is frustrating how wide the front of a build often has to be in order to not have bits of unwanted material showing through; the front portion with the steps would need to be probably at least three times as wide to get a really sweet, minifig-perspective shot of the build. Shooting from lower allows details like the excellent windows to come into the shots, too, resulting in less of the build effort going for naught. That being said, the build is awesome. I love the inlaid mosaics everywhere, the great use of different depths to create visual interest among all of the grey, the very cool and massive columns and angled beams, the wands used for chair backs, the scaffolding denoting the work in progress, and the great posing of the figs. Keep up the good work, and I hope my advice makes sense for the photography. All-LEGO shots is my current preoccupation in building, so it comes from a place of love, not judgement! I hope to see you doing more of it, and soon!
  4. Henjin_Quilones
    Small, crisp, precise, clean! These are your dwellings' hallmarks, and this does not disappoint. I love the use of colors, the balance of the proportions, and the integration of everything into the landscape. The joining of the roof elements at the ridgeline is surprisingly smooth. The one thing I don't particularly care for is the headlight bricks visible inside; a necessary accommodation for attaching the tiles to the outside, I know, but it mucks up the interior aesthetics a bit. By the way, if I were to vote for someone from the Guilds to be a LEGO set designer, it would be you, because your builds are typically small, compact, and sturdy looking (and sometimes even with play features), rather than delicate, complex, and sprawling; that translates better into playability. Just saying. Someday soon, perhaps, if you desire it and LEGO is hiring; God knows you have a portfolio that is thematically diverse and almost universally well-received by the fan community...
  5. Henjin_Quilones
    As mentioned above, some sort of opening for smoke to escape would have been nice to see; not a chimney, but some sort of hole. I like the house a lot; it is nicely sized for the people and its function, and it is well equipped for their needs. I don't like the landscape that much, and I think it is because, as Basiliscus said, it is too cluttered. It is visually busy with too many colors and too many textures, and it detracts from the pleasing visual simplicity of the house (likewise, I think the multi-colored and -textured floor inside detracts from the detail of the house - straight tan, with no round tiles or dark tan elements, would make excellent and intricate interior details pop better). In fact, I think it might be a good idea, for builds like this, to ditch the border (which adds to the confusion with its black green, and yellow, as well as a gap for the river to flow up to, but not through) and instead make an irregular base to complement the house. The house deserves better than a cramped and cluttered square to show it off.
  6. Henjin_Quilones
    I really like your tree here, and the snow on the branches is lovely. The ruined monument is fittingly draped with snow, too, which is nice. However, I wonder why there is no snow at all beneath the tree; the branches are not that dense, and are rather high of the ground to boot, so even a very slight breeze would have resulted in nearly equal snow levels under the tree compared to the rest of the landscape. If that is a path, who clears the snow on presumably seldom-used paths deep inland? Beyond the questions, I like what I see. I think that a lower camera angle would be better, however, as it would let us see things from closer to regular minifig perspective, rather than from a hidden watcher up in a neighboring tree's perspective.
  7. Henjin_Quilones
    Another top-notch build from you! I enjoy your colors here, and the contrast in textures between the different parts of the build is pleasing to the eye. The wattle and daub portion is nice - and I'm happy it isn't white - with some good-looking trim around it. As for the string attached to the wall, noted by Kai, perhaps you could have had it lifting up some wood for a workshop above, or something, allowing it to hang down without looking awkward; the stiffness of LEGO strings can be a pain, since it would likely not fall believably on its own. I also think some sort of solution could be found for hiding or filling the gap at the top of the gables, where the very nice trimwork comes to an end abruptly with a hole. Those, however, are minor things that I had to look hard for to comment on, and otherwise it is a very nice build, and quite pretty.
  8. Henjin_Quilones
    I enjoy that you did not use tan or dark tan in any appreciable amount in this build, despite it being in Kali. It is good to see that there is more to the guild than sand! The task of cleanup in any city is a daunting task, but I'm not sure this fellow is up to it, based on his reaction to the rat. I was not aware that the old rats came in brown (I've only seen light bley). I like your brick-built cart very much, as it does not look out of proportion to the figure - and carts are actually quite hard to make, as I found out in a recent build of my own. My one critique is that I don't like the outfit of the fig, as it seems a bit too modern for the scene (unless plaid button-ups are in vogue in Kali!). A fitting conclusion to the mess you Kaliphlinites have made of the forum lately with your sandstorm - now someone has to clean up all of the dirt...
  9. Henjin_Quilones
    Nice introduction! I am glad to see you introducing a new race into the mix of the Guilds. I hope you flesh out their culture extensively, as they seem quite interesting! As for the build, all of the green and orange serves well to tie into the colors of Ein himself, even if the textures seem a bit haphazard.
  10. Henjin_Quilones
    Glad to have (perhaps?) inspired you to try lighting a build entirely as it would be lit for the figs themselves, without the more typical diffuse light that we usually use for crisp LEGO pictures. This is perfect, with a molten glass bottle coming out of the glass furnace, lit exquisitely! What are LifeLites? Are they a 3rd party LEGO accessory, or just something that you decided could do a good job for an excellently lighted picture? The shadows on the floor are wonderful, as well as the subtle variation in tile color, and the warm light throughout is beautiful. My one critique is the end of the beam visible in the top middle; it ruins the all-LEGO look slightly, since a viewer would presumably not see that if they were in the scene themselves. Also (since it has been brought up for my builds before) you have a bit of light shining through the wall in the back. But that's relatively minor in an otherwise wonderful build!
  11. Henjin_Quilones
    Very nice use of color here! I enjoy all of the browns and oranges. The foliage matches the ground pretty closely in feel, which is nice. The abundance of reddish brown does not especially bother me, but Kai might be on to something. Dark brown for one of the two (dirt or roof) might have improved it a tad. One thing I appreciate about your builds in the guilds is how consistent each of them is in a particular color scheme, and this is no exception. It is beautiful! I look forward to seeing some more about the story, and especially to seeing your take on Kaliphlin!
  12. Henjin_Quilones
    This build is so quintessentially SK! It is everything I look for in a build from you (except snow and interiors, which is a lot of what I look for, but I mean stylistically), with clean textures, smooth tiles everywhere, no unwanted studs exposed - seriously, there are like five studs visible, not counting the rougher cobblestone. The scale of the houses is not that small, it seems to me; I was watching a show last night (Vikings, from the History Channel) and the houses in York seemed small and narrow just like these, and the streets were small, too. So you are in line, visually, with the set designers for that show, at least! The sloped street is quite nice, and the houses are all so similar and yet visually distinct, with different gables and colors and small details to set them apart. I don't like the owl on the roof, though, and the bits of grass near the door of the left-most house seem out of place in a well-maintained and cobblestoned city. Other than that, looks great!
  13. Henjin_Quilones
    Nicely done! I like how the dark tan in the city wall is distributed in a more natural-looking way, rather than in large brick-sized sections. I also appreciate the wide variety of races and colors present in the crowd, as Kali seems to be the place where all of the different sorts meet, and this shows it well. The "bacon" flag used as an awning over the ostrich is a nice touch. Some points of critique: it seems odd that there are piles of reddish brown dirt/rocks in the middle of the market, at the front edge of the build. It seems like it would be better to just leave that smooth. It also seems unbalanced, visually, to have the highly ornate building on the left and just drab walls on the right; putting the ornate building in the middle and the temple on the left might have fixed that. Finally, as to the ornate building itself: I really like the way the round pieces look for decoration here, but it seems just a bit too much. If you were to take it down a notch, I think it would look better and less busy; at least there is something bugging me about the way it looks, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps all of the round bricks and plates leave holes that make me feel like it is unfinished in some way. Regardless, this is a great build, and I am glad to see how far Mophet has come, and I look forward to seeing more once you get unpacked and back to building!
  14. Henjin_Quilones
    This is excellent, and definitely the best work you have shown here on the Guilds. The building is not overly complex, but still interesting with its different wings, levels, and windows. I also appreciate the level of texture - enough to show some wear, but not so much that one would hesitate to enter the building for fear of collapse. I love the blue, in all its hues and uses, and I hope you continue to develop the use of it; the guilds could use some "unnatural" colors here and there, and your moss fits the bill perfectly. I am also a big fan of the roof technique you used here. My main critique is that you need to spend more time and effort on the photography, because that is holding the build back from true excellence. This is pretty darn good stuff, but the pics, especially the main one, don't do it justice and that's a shame. Another critique is that your irregular base is too regular, with very straight lines in places, like in the front left of the picture. All that said, keep up the good work! If this is what you are cranking out these days, keep cranking! I want to see more stuff like this. Oh, and good story, too! Laesonar always seems to have an eye out for the pretty ladies...
  15. Henjin_Quilones
    This is lovely! I am glad that you are introducing different scales into the Guilds, as we have seen many micro builds in the past, but mostly minifig scale. This is a breath of fresh air, and a new horizon of possibilities for building. While the tools, furniture, and sculpture are all quite nice, the thing that stands out most to me is the triceps muscle on his right arm. It's just a simple 1x2 tile at an angle, but it shows wonderful attention to detail and anatomy. My only critique is that a man with a beard like that needs chest hair...
  16. Henjin_Quilones
    Yes, it should have its own topic. Your suggested title works well, though I might leave off the "Book III" part of it, as it is unnecessary. All builds that are not official challenge builds (and we've only had one challenge so far in Book III) count as free builds for your guild.
  17. Henjin_Quilones
    So many nice features in this build, from the dome, to the canopies, to the arches over the windows (which I have stolen from your brother, who stole it from you originally), to the very nice texture in the walls. My one critique is that the section of wall around the stairs looks out of place with dark tan SNOTed tiles, rather than the dark tan plates and bricks built into the wall like the rest of the structure has. Good job with the different colors in the ground, as you managed to combine so many different "brown/orange" family of colors in the build without making it look drab or jumbled (I count tan, dark tan, reddish brown, dark brown, medium dark flesh, flesh, dark orange, and maybe a nougat of some kind - I lose track of those colors at some point, so they all become orangish-browns to me...).
  18. Henjin_Quilones
    I love your wall texture, as I have mentioned before, and I imagine that this will fit nicely next to the other sections of wall that you have made. Someday you must show us the picture of all of the sections together, so we can drool appropriately. As Muakhah said, the underside of the upside-down hull (so the part that faces the sky here, when mounted on the tower) looks rather unfinished, and I find the supports for the hull a bit odd, with all of the small angles and curves; it seems less elegant than the wall and the lovely curve put into the tower, and so seems a bit out of place. But overall another beautiful build to complement your already beautiful city! Don't forget to update (or create? I don't remember) your HSS entry!
  19. Henjin_Quilones
    This is a nice build! While I am no lover of the hyper-textured style myself, you manage to do it well here. The shaping of the building is nice, and I especially like the gradation of colors in the wattle and daub section of the building. Besides the lack of windows, mentioned by many others, my biggest gripe is that this seems so similar to so many other builds I have seen recently (as hyper-texturalism seems to be quite in vogue amongst castle builders, ever since the success of DC, LD, and others) and it would be nice to see something a bit more "new", which is ever more challenging in an increasingly crowded and competitive LEGO setting. Which is to say, rather than imitating, endeavor to innovate - a challenge for all of us! I am glad to have you in Avalonia, however, and look forward to seeing many more builds from you (even hyper-textured ones).
  20. Henjin_Quilones
    The trees and landscape are really nice, but that waterfall is way too square and even to look natural. Also, for falls that large, I would expect, I think, a larger pool at the base. Less water coming down might improve the look. I like the goats and the posing, and as Grover said, the trans-clear is nice to see in the waterfall, but I keep coming back to the shape, since the waterfall is the central focus of the build. adde51's example is a great suggestion for improving it in the future.
  21. Henjin_Quilones
    The clothes are from a HP CMF, Professor Trelawney.
  22. Henjin_Quilones
    First of all, for practical concerns: any build counts as a freebuild for your guild, unless it is entered in an official Challenge, so this definitely counts. Also, for the HSS, a build must be substantial enough to really show some effort; in my book (which, as the current admin of the HSS, is the one that matters), this shows effort, and is substantial enough. It's not like you built a small statue on a street corner and called it a shrine or temple... As for the build itself, I am not a big fan of the color scheme of the temple: parts of it work well, but other things seem out of place; I like the white, brown stripe, and tan combo, and the light blue accent is lovely in the wall; but then you add dark green (which is ok, not great with all the others, mostly the blue), black, gold, dark blue, dark red, and red, which just make it too busy in my opinion. Cutting a bunch of the colors out would have made it more satisfying visually. I do like the way you have made a winged serpent for the wall, though. As for the garden side, I really like it! The wall color is lovely with the rest, being very neutral and natural, and I enjoy the plants you have made there. The small roof is nice, I like the small statue, but the best little detail is the root creeping out of a garden box. I don't like mixing fleshies with yellows, but that is a personal decision you have made that I can live with! Keep building up Khadira!
  23. Henjin_Quilones
    Looking good! The decorations on the building are nice touches. The pavement doesn't really work for me, though, I think because of the hollow studs of the jumper plates; those often look out of place to me. The dark red in the walls of the armory is a nice touch, but it would look much better if you inset it by half a stud or half a plate even, just something to break up the smooth texture and give the impression of tan bricks of some kind in the corners but dark red plaster (or whatever material) in between them. This should fit right in in Mophet, though, and I am happy to see the place growing. Nice job keeping the blacksmith in a well-ventilated area, as I am pretty sure working a hot forge in Kali heat would be really really unpleasant without a breeze. Perhaps a canopy over the entrance would have helped, too, to add even more shade to the shop. Also, on a practical note: Hid'ad should probably be holding the sword with tongs, unless he has special abilities that allow him to hold glowing metal straight out of a forge! I would also expect the forge to be a bit lower, for easier access to it, and there should probably be some water in a barrel for quenching nearby. Keep building Mophet, I love how quickly it is growing! You'll have a city in the HSS in no time.
  24. Henjin_Quilones
    I tried, Gideon, I really did. I am not normally the kind of person to just say "yay, nice job"; I take seriously the task of giving constructive criticism. On this build, however, I did not find anything. I don't like the yellow faces, being a fleshie partisan myself, but that is hardly a fair criticism. This was just really darn good building.
  25. Henjin_Quilones
    Druidham, Avalonia Located near the center of the Mystic Isles REQ - Agriculture - Grains & Produce: Farm*, Mill, Granary, Orchard Agriculture - Livestock: Farm*, Cattle/Horse Ranch, Swineherd, Sheepfold, Fishery Nautical: Harbor, Shipwright, Quay, Fishery*, Ferryman REQ - Military: Keep, Barracks, Gatehouse, Tower, Castle, Fort, Armory Religious: Chapel, Monastery, Temple, Shrine Medical: Apothecary, Herbalist, Infirmary, Physician REQ - Hospitality - Food & Beverage: Bakery, Butcher, Winery, Brewery, Tavern, Kitchens Hospitality - Lodging: Inn, Stables, Coach House REQ - Laborers: Lumber Mill, Mine, Stone Cutter, Mason, Wheel-barrower Craftsmen - General Goods: Cooper, Wainwright, Tannery, Dyer, Glass Blower REQ - Craftsmen/Merchant - Arms & Armor: Blacksmith, Bowyer, Fletcher, Armorer Craftsmen/Merchant - Clothing: Cobbler, Seamstress, Furrier, Woolen Mill Craftsmen/Merchant - Specialty: Candle Maker, Wood Carver, Bookbinder, Jeweler, Potter Services: Herald, Cartographer, Money Lender, Scribe, Courier, Shipping House Scholars: Observatory, Alchemist, Philosopher, Astrologer, Library Entertainers: Minstrel, Fortune Teller, Performing Troupe, Theatre Administrative (Town or City only): Town Hall, Chancery, Forum, Courthouse, Meeting Hall
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