Gideon

It's not clear which side benefits from this build Well done! Some feedback is that I think the inside of the hand is a bit plain, some more detailing would improve that (not necessarily white plates/tiles). I would also recommend you to use a more uniform background, or edit out the one you had now.

I've been describing in words a few times how I've constructed my backdrop for photography, and I found a pic on my iPhone from the last session. (Sorry about the bad quality) The setup is very simple, a drying rack that can be easily disassembled and a roller blind from Ikea which I'm bending in over the living room table. Putting it up and taking it down in less than 5 minutes

I would recommend going for a used DSLR rather than a brand-new smaller camera if the price is similar. Don't fall for the megapixel sales talk, a good lens is more important. Don't forget to think about the photo setup as well, a good camera can't take good pictures if the lighting isn't good as well. A good backdrop helps as well, especially if you want to cut back on post-processing. Semi-offtopic I can describe my setup briefly: I use a tripod and a roller blind (from Ikea), which I hang in a curve in underneath my build when shooting. The camera sits on a tripod (not visible on the picture, sorry!) with the flash directed up towards the white roof of the living room. In that way I get a diffuse light source that is independent of the seasonally very scarce Scandinavian natural light.

Excellent shapes and color use, as we are spoiled by seeing from you as usual! (Am I right in assuming you had dark orange leaves in your LUGBULK? ) My favorite parts are the roof and the lower section of the tree with the parts of the structure blending in so well there. A very plausable explanation, I like it. It also would explain why there is stone wall sections visible at the bottom. But the good thing with building in a fantasy setting is that (regardless of how much I love to have correct physics) there is a lot of space for the builder artist to build something that first of all looks awesome

Really nice interpretation of the category! The tilt of the head makes a huge improvement of the overall impression as well The picture quality seems better on the figless picture however?

The last picture in the first post of this thread only shows the flickr error picture for me?

Excellent entry! The dwarves are definitely showing their strength early in this challenge A good collection of nice parts uses for sure, I especially like the beard and the metallic axe. UoP +1 for the claims.

I agree that 2a seems to be the most plausible and interesting next step Nice vignette, I like that plant on the right side a lot! The presentation however would gave been improved by a solid color backdrop or some editing.

Great entry! It looks a bit to me as if the EB logo to the left is slightly damaged by resizing? Or is it that "pixely" to begin with?

A thought about the maps is that it is not necessarily a good thing they are too detailed. Being able to place a build "in a town in the western part of Mitgardia" or similar can sometimes be enough and can avoid placing unnecessary restrictions on builders. Isn't this first and foremost a building project after all? By that I'm not saying at all that there shouldn't be good maps and that they shouldn't be kept up to date when things are added, I love when we have great maps and the good maps was one of the things that made me join Kaliphlin. Just that keeping large white spaces (isn't that what Mitgardia is known for anyway? ) might be great for creativity.

I am definitely of the opinion that a big build with so-so level of detail is inferior to a mini build with the right level of detail. I try to think that "every stud should have some thought behind it", which typically translates to if I have an area of plate bigger than say 4x4 I try to break it up with some detailing. When it comes to walls and the like, I don't like having more than a couple of similar pieces next to each other before I want to introduce some kind of variation. So for me it is all up to how much time I have for a build when I plan it, and regulate by size and not by quality. But then I'm blessed with a collection that has grown enough over the past 3 years since I started building again that I'm usually not that concerned over the total piece count (except for specific parts of course). So if parts availibility is an issue as well, there is even more reason to not go too big. I'm definitely one of the first kind. I usually have quite a clear view in my head of what I want to build, and even the angle I want to have the "principal photo" from, before I start putting bricks together. That doesn't mean that it isn't a lot of iterative work when I realize that what looked great in my head did not work with bricks

I'm more like: "Aargh! So much ideas of what to build (in GoH and elsewhere), and so little time..." As I've been telling other people, start small and develop your style (which we have already seen you do). With the feedback you will get when you post them here you will grow as a builder and hopefully also grow more confident in your ability to make your ideas materialize in ABS

Nice interior and photography! And the guy hiding in the chest is pure genius

Very nice building and minifig combinations! I really like how this spontaneous communty build is evolving and challenging non-Kaliphlinites to try their hand at our beautiful architecture I agree however that the base could have been a tad bigger when it seems to be supposed to be an environment around the building (only the building would have worked just fine as well).

Ludvika, Sweden

I always build one copy of each set I buy and tend to keep any extra copies, at least of LotR, in the boxes either for building another copy (which rarely happens) or to keep the value of the set (although I never sell any Lego). Running out of space so I'm leaning towards doing a campaign of simply tearing open and sorting a lot of it soon. But I still think I should build one of each of the unbuilt Hobbit sets...

I have a MSc in Engineering Physics and have been working with designing and programming control systems for HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) converters for some years. Nowadays however my most useful skills are not getting lost in large Excel files and staying alert in long meetings (which is always hard when the thoughts are straying away to a WIP or build idea ) In other words, they bumped me up to manager of a team of engineers.

I drew a conceptual circuit diagram of the connections in the build. The reason I used my eLite Advanced 2 was due to a shortage of splits and too short cables, I will probably replace that as soon as I order more stuff from LifeLites if I do not dismantle the MOC before that. The "flicker flame" diodes did not like it's ordinary outputs however even at steady light (probably due to PWM modulation messing with the flickering diode's electronics?) so I had to use the non-controlled output for that. The ModuLites are of the warm-white kind and using two + white interior walls gave quite a lot more light as can be seen on the building to the right. I gladly recommend LifeLites to anyone who wants to light their MOCs! Just be careful with those fragile connectors...

Sorry to hear this, but I hope you will come back to the community after that time! An idea is to use all the boring time (which there is a lot of in military service, I'm talking out of own experience from 15 months "in the green") to come up with great landscaping techniques for your future builds

Some really nice crop desigs there, my favorite is the use of those giant cherries as tomatoes

Great work! I didn't expect entries so soon but great to see that you are setting the bar high!

Mixing in sqare/rectangular tiles and plates also helps a lot I think.

Very nice room, especially the mosaic I like that gathering of minifigs also!

Welcome Grinsebar! The best source for sand green flags is probably Bricklink, buying a whole set to get some sounds expensive...

A tip for fp is to make the foreground and background into separate units. In that way you can move the background to where it looks best compared to the foreground