Grover

Thanks to all of you who participated, even if you weren't able to finish! We appreciate the thanks, and hope that you all had fun. I'm looking forward to @Kai NRG's technique next!

What a great build! You have a lot of great things going on here, not the least of which is the story. I loved how the story was clear, coherent, and fit the new campus build quite clearly from the contest. As I mentioned above, it also has a great lead for some interesting backstory for your sigfig, which is fantastic. The black border around the build is sharp, and you have a nice contrast on the left and right sides, somewhat similar to color blocking of levels in modular city builds. The idea of a study tower is a lot of fun, and makes sense in a city where horizontal real estate is expensive and vertical is cheap. I hope they get a canopy or maybe a vine filled roof for sunny summer days! The tower itself is very clean and looks uniform. The tower should be in good repair since it is new, but depending on how you wanted to look at the stone, you could potentially substitute a 1x2 plate, ingot tile, or a slightly off color (e.g., dark bley, tan, sand green, sand blue, etc.) occasionally to signify some variation in the stone. Future looks may include adding a door or window, which is more complex but can add detail. The foliage is solid, and I appreciate that you have taken the time to make sure of some details that are often overlooked, like making the grass and dirt on the side of the walking area higher than the walking area where people would compact the soil more. Trees in particular I think are difficult to put too much foliage on, and adding more branches here, even if simply joining more of the leaf pieces to one another, could help fill the tree out a bit. I like how you have the trunk headed in various directions rather than straight. It looks more organic. The wedge green plates for grass help break up the right angles, but since you have a strong rectangular base on a smaller build, even more detail on this, such as more edge 1x1 tiles and plates plus some stones or flowers could help with breaking up the lines. If you want to try something fun in your next build, you can add water or dirt pouring over the edge to help the eye break up the border. The photography is clean and you have a nice background, although it could use a bit more light. The top of the tower is pretty good, but because of the taller structures, some direct horizontal light might help brighten things up. I have had trouble with this, particularly on black, dark brown, dark green, or dark blue builds, but it is a very tricky thing to master. Last but not least, as I mentioned above, I think the staircase is the real standout here, and your story potential from it is excellent. All in all a very nice build, and I look forward to seeing how you use some of these techniques in your future builds as we learn more about Sam!

Outstanding work! Very nice use of the tower technique. It stands out well on the top of the island. The build is very colorful, and your choice of the grey stone for the castle makes the bright butterfly colors stand out even more. The tower at first glance seems a bit odd without crenellations, but when you read the story and realize it's a study tower and not a military one, it makes sense. You also did a nice job smoothing over and hiding the back of the sticks. That is not as simple as it might first appear. I like how you filled in a few small holes with the 3 leaf stemmed plant pieces, and the vine and yellow flowered tree on the left. The foliage is dense and looks organic. I like how your rockwork avoids the 'vertical line' syndrome of a thousand slopes all parallel to one another. The rockwork is predominantly slopes, so you have a lot of right angles, but you made the angles small and avoided the parallel lines, making the scene more organic. The depth in the underlying water is also nice by the small rock and the boat. Overall, the photography is almost too bright, and I'm not sure that's from too much light. I struggle with this issue myself, which is how much post processing is ideal? It doesn't seem like you have too much light, but then some of the colors are starting to wash out a bit, so it's a little hard to say. The close up shots are better than the larger one. It makes me wonder if a different color background might help... this could be difficult since the grey blends with the tower and the rocks, and a light blue would blend with the water... it is challenging. I love the use of the butterfly in the foreground for depth! The tower itself is very nice. The top I mentioned above is great, and looking at the base you did a nice job hiding the intersection with the ground, both by photo angle, and other items like barrels, etc. In one of the few intersections you can see, it is nice and flat on a tile. The windows look great, and I love their shape! The corbeling at the top of the tower is very nice, and your use of various grey colors breaks up the big solid color tower effect. I am interested to see how you connected that door too! Great work, and congrats on the contest!

Congrats to @kahir88 on 1st place in Category A with his Grand Auditorium build! @T-86(swebrickLUG) came in 2nd, and @Ben S took Cat B alone. This is not at all to in any way discourage or disparage the work of @SimWies with his Study Sanctuary Among the Trees, as this scoring was quite close amongst all 3 entries in this category. I hope that those of you who were unable to finish your entries have better luck next time, and we will probably put out a couple of questions in the near future to see what we could do to raise participation (better timing, etc.). Thanks to all who participated, and stay tuned for the next challenge due in August when @Kai NRG is the next guest professor!

That was a surprise to me too! You did a nice job in any case. I'm also sorry for the delay, we are working on it!

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.

This is very nice work. As you state, the big thing is to finish the dome. The smaller pieces in the straight section looks good. The cylinders in between in medium nougat or dark orange may add to some uniformity. The brown almost looks like wood to me, which is odd considering if it were, it would likely be painted. However, those cylinders are NOT easy to come by on PAB walls, so you have to use what you have in many cases. The ingot and curved alternating look very uniform. You have enough detail around the windows and the stairs to break up the 'big uniform object' look, but unless this is some object of perfection, it might be interesting to sub a 1x2 tile or plate in the same color, or the same piece (ingot or curved slope) in a slightly different color to give it a slightly more organic look. A random bird's nest or vine might also add a bit of detail. Perhaps a stud or clip for a flagpole? Personally, I think your windows in LBG look good and your doorways would fit with that as well if you chose that color. Detail wise: what kind of door is there? Security at all on the stairs? Glass in the windows or shutters? The giant eye in the telescope cracks me up. I love it! Look forward to seeing the final shots!

Not at all. You met the WIP criteria. If you change entirely, that's up to you, just less time to complete the project. Sometimes we get a certain way in and realize we can't go that way. You're welcome to submit any WIP shots at any point if you want feedback on them, but you are not required to since you met the requirement by the original date. Up to you.

It is possible. One layer underneath must lay SNOT on the bottommost row to avoid an edge, but the technique I used here does not use brackets. Aside from the first row, it uses 4070 to place the crossmembers, and the rest is studs up.

These are excellent questions that you should answer in your build for Category B!

Gorgeous build. It's funny because it's kind of a micro-macro build. The figures are nano, and there's a lot of microscale building here, but the scale of the whole piece allows for quite a bit of regular building. The scene is great. I love the composition and colors. The use of the new printed trans clear dome is fantastic, and the stairs up are very well done. I like the Nexo shields on the bridge, with some detailing with the new cut tile piece. The SW dome roof is well done, and I like the photography to catch as much Lego as possible. I like the blue of the river. It makes it look cold. My only nitpick is that I think I might have done with some 1x1 trans clear plates mixed with some 1x2 trans clear plates a bit randomly to create a white foaming appearance on the falling portion themselves. I have never seen a waterfall that did not have a whitecap, even frozen in winter. The story with it is fantastic. It really captures the awe and solemn nature of the area. Outstanding work!

I am a little annoyed. I had a very nice reply typed up a couple of weeks ago, then the internet went down here and I lost it after a computer restart. I have been busy in the meantime, but let's try again! This is an awesome castle. It reminds me of combination of the Mountain Fortress (910029) and the Lion Knight's Castle. You do an outstanding job here of providing a lot of detail in a limited footprint by building up, but also incorporating the cliffside into the castle. I also like the amount of detail you have on the walls. They are not bland or boring, but they are also not overly busy. Your use of your previous great hall build in this castle at the top is fantastic! I love the spiral staircase and the fact it is open and playable from the back. That level of detail is superb. It's too large to be a viable set for Lego to sell, but it certainly otherwise could be in terms of detail, connections, and scale. The arch over the entryway is fantastic, and I love how the stairs to the gate is not only bare (to eliminate cover from enemies) but also turns 90 degrees, which is very realistic. Many of the old castles had barbicans that did the same thing to avoid a straight charge to batter down a door. Moving siege equipment on a corner like that would be very difficult. Retaining some of these defensive features are fantastic. The overall shape of the build, with the highest point at one end, causes the eye to descend to the other small tower roof on the opposite side, scanning over the whole build with those awesome flying buttresses, then back down to the left again with the next lower roofline and finally to the gate and back down the stairs. You naturally move the eye across the whole piece. Very well done. The vines also break up some of the monotony of the grey without being overdone. This whole thing is really awesome. Thank you for sharing, and keep up the good work! Also, don't forget to put it in HSS if you're building Rocca Velneria!