Merc
Garheim
Posts: 143 
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Post by Merc on Feb 9, 2016 18:24:06 GMT -8
 Garheim LC #29 by Mike Mercado, on Flickr There is always an action, event, or decision, that creates both heroes and villains. These events shape the world around them whether significant or insignificant. Like all stories mine began with an event, a small event that would ripple across my life and the lives of my family in the most significant way possible. And it's all because four men came to my fathers homestead one fateful day. The day was like any other day. I had gone out for my morning hunting trip with Milo my furry companion. That day should have been like every other day, except it was not. By some twist of fate today was the day that would send me down the path of both glory and ruin. That day men from Whitewell had come down the road to my fathers homestead in Eastern Garheim. As usual my father greeted these men with full honor. One of the men, who looked like an officer inquired about the homestead and the forest surrounding it. And then the question came up, is there enough help to harvest some of the surrounding trees and create lumber out of them. It was an odd request but my father answered truthfully that there was enough lumber but if they were requesting a large amount that help would be needed. The officer then made an offer to pay for the lumber in advance and he would send some laborers to come help. The agreement was set, yet one question remained, and that was why was the lumber important. Being inquisitive, I politely inquired about why such a large amount of lumber was needed. The response I received was ludicrous at first. The officer talked about how Lord Stiendar had heard about dragon sightings in northern Garheim. There was a request from the northern towns that lumber and more importantly, ballasts were built and sent north. Lord Stiendar decided to respond and was sending out officers to the nearest homestead to acquire the needed materials and request help in making this possible. My father being a man of honor and respect readily agreed and said he would being the task the morning of the next day. After the conversation, the men left down the rugged path to continue their journeying back to the city. This is my first really detailed build. If you have any suggestions on techniques I could use please tell me. Any comments and criticisms are most welcome. Mike |
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Post by Ayrlego on Feb 10, 2016 1:57:21 GMT -8
Hi Mike, that's a nice build, One detail I really like is the hanging fish!
As for suggestions, maybe if you have some 1x1 or 1x2 plates in other greens, like olive, sand or even standard green, you could spread these randomly around the dark green areas to create some variation - similar to what you did on the path (dark tan might work as well). I'd also consider raising the green level one or two plates above the tan levels. This creates a beach type effect and the road would then appear worn into the ground.
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Post by dzidek1983 on Feb 10, 2016 2:09:04 GMT -8
Hey... you share the same problem as me, not enough bricks for larger builds  I like the idea of the wood transportation. You dida a nice path with some small rocks scattered on it, what you could use now is - like mentioned above - more green plates in different shades and shapes, so you could build more detailed terrain. Just as an example: farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8295404396_7381a439dd.jpg[\url]You can then break the diagonal pattern of the build. At the beginning i also didnt have ane curved plates, but with time i saw the meaning of those in builds. With those you can start building different heights in terrain, so it also doesnt look so flat. |
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Post by SEdmison on Feb 12, 2016 10:52:23 GMT -8
Hey Mike, I think you have a great start going here. My suggestions would be to break up the long super-straight lines a bit. A sandy beach hardly ever meets the water in a perfectly straight line. Grass tends not to grow out over sand in a perfectly straight line (unless a groundskeeper is tending it like crazy). And as others have pointed out, the ground is hardly ever perfectly flat (again, unless a groundskeeper is mowing a lawn that was first flattened, then planted, then manicured), so you could use some plate to vary the height of the ground a bit. Note that I'm not suggesting that you go crazy with tons of parts; a lot of this you can do with the creative use of a few plates for height, maybe a few angled or curved plates for the beach, etc.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with next!
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Merc
Garheim
Posts: 143
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Post by Merc on Feb 12, 2016 22:09:37 GMT -8
Hey Mike, I think you have a great start going here. My suggestions would be to break up the long super-straight lines a bit. A sandy beach hardly ever meets the water in a perfectly straight line. Grass tends not to grow out over sand in a perfectly straight line (unless a groundskeeper is tending it like crazy). And as others have pointed out, the ground is hardly ever perfectly flat (again, unless a groundskeeper is mowing a lawn that was first flattened, then planted, then manicured), so you could use some plate to vary the height of the ground a bit. Note that I'm not suggesting that you go crazy with tons of parts; a lot of this you can do with the creative use of a few plates for height, maybe a few angled or curved plates for the beach, etc. I look forward to seeing what you come up with next! So you suggested using some plates to create hills and such. Do you recommend using the same colors as the bottom base or should I use a different shade. For example on my grass should I used green or olive to help create a hill or should I just use dark green. |
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Post by SEdmison on Feb 13, 2016 9:45:30 GMT -8
Well, it depends on what type of vegetation you're trying to model. For instance, you could imagine a dense undergrowth of some type of weed that might be dark green, with grass that's a more standard green or even bright green growing up out of it. Or you could imagine an under-layer of a lime-colored moss, with green grass growing out of it. Or you could have brown or even dark brown loamy soil, with grass, weeds, and shrubs growing over it.
What I tend to do is to put down some vaguely "Earth-colored" parts, say, browns or tans to create the general contour. At this point it's fine for things to be largely monochromatic, because I'm going to cover over much of it. Then I start layering other "vegetation-colored" parts, say, limes, greens, olives, etc., over that, filling in enough to create the effect that I want, but not so much that I lose all the color from the under-layer.
At the end of the day, there really is no single right way to handle this. You might try doing an image search, or even just taking a stroll down to a local park, and looking at the various colors you see in the yards, empty lots, open spaces, and hilltops along the way. Once you start to see the world in terms of how you'd model it, it can be quite an inspiration.
Here are some examples: www.flickr.com/photos/sedmison/albums/72157637864919275 |
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Post by Ayrlego on Feb 13, 2016 15:51:33 GMT -8
That is a great album with some fantastic examples! |
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Post by SEdmison on Mar 9, 2016 17:15:51 GMT -8
That is a great album with some fantastic examples! Thanks! I love building landscaping. It's my version of a Zen garden. |
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