Grover

That was a surprise to me too! You did a nice job in any case. I'm also sorry for the delay, we ran up against BrickWorld, and a lot of our staff is prepping for that this coming weekend, so we are a bit delayed on judging!

First, congratulations! Despite being the only entry in this category, you have a really creative use of the technique and a great build! Brilliant use of the technique on small scale and use of the curved arches to act as borders and guides. I love your choice of color. The trans light blue can be difficult to use since it frequently looks like tropical water. Your use of the black under it gives it a much deeper ocean appearance, and it's fantastic. In such a small space, you do a great job depicting the wave height and the foamy break. The trans clear pieces are well placed and the whole build has implied motion. It's a compact, well-built vignette that truly deserves a win. As for the story, I love it. You have a serious and dramatic buildup, giving some background on Zîrân but leaving open enough that others could add if they wished, speaking more to his character than anything else, which is great. And the invention of surfing is hilarious! I love little bits of humor tossed into stories in subtle ways like this. Well done!

Always! We love extra storylines in the Guilds of course! Add to that your spectacular builds and no one is complaining! Your build is really fantastic. It's a work of art. I love how you keep the whole picture Lego, apart from the sky, and even the sky has rooflines and trees peeking over the wall to give everything a more realistic appearance. You have a great level of detail on the walls with the many plates without going crazy on greebling and making it look messy. I love your large stone/plate/tile etc road. The colors are great and the technique looks fantastic. The oblique angle of the picture make it understated, but it looks fantastic. I love your trees. The shape is great, and you have a nice dense outer canopy that is very organic. Not to be outdone are the vines, which are probably some of the most realistic I have seen. The combo of the red falcon body with the new scale mail legs is great, and I love seeing that detailed Tudor behind the figs in the open gate. Someone else pointed out that the design of the gate (and the inclusion of so much foliage and a small guard structure next to the wall) is not the most defensible from a military perspective, I would argue that the prosperity of this area due to the architecture, vines growing on the walls etc. suggests that this is not a heavily war torn area, and such features like the guard house, would be more likely for commerce than purely tactical. Along with the great build, we get a wonderful story with a lot of open plot to go where you want, making this whole build exquisite. Good to see you posting again! We hope to see more of you around this summer!

After the campus ceremonies and the inaugural lecture, the town had turned out to see the Queen's caravan off as it left Albion. The Queen had a wonderful time at the University, but her thoughts kept drifting off to the kind vendor she had met in the marketplace while in disguise. As her carriage slowly made its way down toward the great gate, she looked out at the marketplace and spotted Zîrân at his market stall amongst the throng of onlookers. "Halt!" the Queen cried to her driver, who immediately reigned in the horses. The procession stopped, and the Queen exited her carriage. Her guards immediately flanked her and pushed the crowd back. The Queen made her way to Zîrân's stall, where he stood agape. He quickly remembered his manners and cast his gaze to the ground, kneeling in front of the Queen. "Your Majesty," he said in his accented Avalonian. "I am honored by your presence. How may I be of service?" he asked, still looking at the ground. The Queen smiled and touched him on the shoulder. "Rise, Zîrân. It is I who am honored by your presence in my kingdom... and your generosity to feed penniless and hungry strangers." Zîrân slowly raised his gaze and his expression of bewilderment changed to one of surprise and understanding as he realized it was the Queen who had visited him the previous day. He bowed his head again. "I am again honored, and humbled, your Majesty." Queen Ylspeth smiled. "My dear sir, I would be honored if you would keep in touch with me." She produced from her robes a small scroll that she had prepared the previous evening. "Do write." She handed him the scroll and smiled before returning to her carriage. She looked back as the royal procession began moving again, catching the glimpse out of the corner of her eye as her seneschal handed Zîrân a generous bag of coin as payment for his food the previous day. N'ri smiled to herself, seeing the Queen happy. It had been a rarity in recent years, and she hoped that this was the beginning of something good.

Sometimes these situations: low on money, little space, only a few bricks... can inspire ingenuity. The good news is that light is cheap. The best light is natural light, as long as it's not direct. In the shade near a window or an indirect sunlight outdoors can be awesome. I sometimes still use flashlights to spotlight dark corners. I think @Kai NRG uses a lot of natural light settings, so you don't need to spend a lot, just play with what you have to see what works best!

Love the big rocks as the foundation with the cracks and small rocks as mortar. The round tree looks great too! I like the 360° viewing. The stream is lovely, but I had a thought about where it pours off the edge: if you have some time, swapping out the falling water with trans clear to make it look more white might give it a natural look. If you look at pictures of streams, generally you see that where the water velocity is highest, you have the most white where the water is splashing, and in the case of the water falling off the edge of your build, it would seem to be falling a long way. In the linked picture, the tallest falls have the fastest moving water and the most white. Where the water is a little slower, you can see some of the rocks behind the water. I tend to use fewer tiles and more plates with studs on falling water to show the splashing as well. Gorgeous build, can't wait to see more!

Woo hoo! I'm excited to see where you go with this. I have always wanted to use this to make a huge tree!

Welcome, and well done! I love the storyline that you have here. It is compelling and leaves a lot of open room for you to go wherever you want with it. I'm looking forward to reading more! As for the build, I really love the first shot. It's almost entirely Lego, which really draws the viewer in and makes the picture more alive. It's nice to see the overall shots, especially when there's some crazy technique or something that you have, but getting some good eye-level all Lego shots (or close to it) is very nice. For a first MOC, you really did some fantastic things here, whether consciously or not. For instance, you have three points of varying height across the build at different points. The first is the tallest snow peak in the back left, then the next tallest is the plant in the front right, and finally just below that we have Ellohan in the middle, which draws the viewer's eye across your entire scene in one sweeping motion. You even made these three points contrasting colors, adding even more professionalism. I like that you have the rock/dirt path lower in elevation than the snow around it. Many times for a first build I will see someone put a brown plate on top of a green baseplate to signify a path. While it is OK, the subconscious tends to look at it strangely because in reality, the path is the lowest point and the grass grows taller around it. You hit the realistic path on the first try! One of the biggest challenges we all face at first is photography. I always tell people to use more light than they think is necessary. Once you get too much, you can back off, but you generally need more since using a flash makes Lego look too shiny and has tons of reflections. You have a nice neutral background, but with some more light you can bring this to life. Good photography is what will set apart a winning MOC from a good one every time, even if the latter is a better build. The last top down shot shows one aspect of the build that is a little to regular: the path is quite straight. It isn't as noticeable from the side, but if you have some small wedge plates in brown or white, you can angle them over the path to make it appear to be meandering, or you can add in a small quarter round tile to break up the straight line a bit. All in all, this is great first build and I love the detailed story! With respect to parts, you don't have to destroy all your sets to get pieces (although you certainly can). I keep some of my sets bagged after building so I or other family members can rebuild it. You can borrow a piece or mini from a set if you keep track of it, but this can be a pain for more than an occasional piece. I will sometimes find a set on sale and buy it just to part it out for MOCs, or I will simply order loose parts off of Lego.com to have on hand to build. As you make more MOCs, you'll start to notice certain pieces that are helpful to have a handful of and won't break the bank (quarter round tiles in browns, greens and greys come to mind). Keep your eye peeled for the various small parts that add a lot of detail. If you're lucky, you can find some in bulk at your local Lego store (such as plant parts, etc.). You can sometimes find random bulk parts at a resale Lego shop too, where you can pick what you want off a large table and buy by weight. However you want to do it, keep up the good work, and I can't wait to see what Ellohan does next!

The contest is now officially closed. Thanks to all for participating! I know that a few of you weren't able to complete the full build by the deadline, but I am happy to see participation and excited to see the finished product when you have time to complete it! A congrats to @Ben S, who, as the only entry to Category B, wins the prize! You will of course receive feedback from the judges regardless. I must say, it was a very lovely build with the waves! For the Category A folks, sit tight as we begin scoring, and we will make announcements soon!

REMINDER: Contest ends today! Get your entries in by the end of the day (anywhere in the world)!

Welcome to Ellohan! Glad to have you aboard! I am excited to see his story as it unfolds!

Welcome! I hope you are able to find a home here. To answer your question, you can do whatever you like: post a sigfig and sit back and watch, sit and watch with no sigfig, ask questions, jump right in... we are very flexible here and laid back. We don't have any turn-based rules system or anything at the Guilds, just a build at your own pace freebuild system interspersed with challenges that you can participate in or not (although these have deadlines, there's still no formal turn based rules or whatnot). We focus on collaborative storytelling through builds, so that happens organically. One particular focus of the Guilds that we pride ourselves on is being a place where builders can learn, grow, and exchange ideas with one another. So welcome, and have fun! As for the profile pic... I uploaded mine long ago when the rules were different. There may be something in the general section about the exact dpi and sizing. I recall there being a specific limit on dimensions but that may be outdated. Anyone who has more recently posted a profile pic may be of more help. Any questions, just ask, or feel free to DM me or one of the other Guild leaders. Much of the history is in our sticky threads at the top of the forum with various links, although we are working our way backward chronologially, so some of the oldest stuff isn't up yet.

Yes! End of the day, July 1 is the deadline! Only one Cat B entry so far too!

Since this is an early comment, it will only be on the wall portion that is part of the technique: This is a very lovely use of the curved wall. A long, subtle curve, and it fits your room and contents well. The use of a pattern of sand green on top and bottom gives a very nice border, and the integration of the butterflies is a nice touch. The integration of the windows, and particularly the diplomas with their brick built frames, is excellent and difficult to achieve. You also chose well with the flex tubing to get the curtain rod to match the wall curve. The only suggestion I might have is that you could potentially slip a sand green tile or another tile color under the bottom of the wall to create a footer or base board for the wall bricks if you cared to, but that gap in a few places may have been intentional if it was meant to be an older building with gaps (such as what the mouse squeezes through).

So, as you have posted your project before the deadline, I will give you some WIP comments on the tower portion, in the case you have time and interest in incorporating anything before the final deadline. First, I would say that your tower looks very nice. It is very uniform, which makes sense because it is new. If you wanted to do a lot of work, you might add a window, but if you want some quick and easy details, you could swap out just a couple of tiles for ingots, or maybe a plate. Not a lot since this is a new build, but it could add a hint of detail. Similarly, a few stone corbels could be added in the form of a curved slope like 37352. None of that is necessary of course. The connection of the tower to the bottom plate has some gaps where the tower portion rests on the studs. Simple solution: put some tiles under the tower. If you want to make it look intentional, like they just finished filling the foundation dirt, you could use dark brown or maybe dark tan. Usually these gaps are hidden with plants, but since this tower is new, there would not be enough time for growth. A more time consuming endeavor would be to build up some plates at random angles over the tiles and make it look like dirt was pushed up against the base. If this were a military defense, and not an in-city tower, it would likely have a batter, which could be accomplished with 1x2 cheese wedges SNOTted. However, as a civilian structure, it looks fine. The stairs, as part of the tower and still a round design, look great. The gap between the stairs and tower are interesting, but that free-floating design might be a feature to attract attention (there are examples of this sort of architecture in the real world). Given that Sam is an engineer and a carpenter, that seems like it would fit right in and I could certainly see amazing engineering feats like this as a trademark. I will post my comments on the rest of the build after the judging so we keep things fair for all.