The Garden Path

[Commander Laquiet]

Brickshelf

Thanks for viewing!

Edited December 8, 2009 by SlyOwl

[Lorentzen]

I like this entry very much.

It works very well with your story. I get the feeling that the weather is nice, and I can almost smell the wonderful nature.

The many round 1x1 bricks are a good choice for fungi and smaller flowers. It's nice to keep things simple like that. The chef's hat is perfectly placed as a huge mushroom of some sort.

I really love your big fat tree and how it curves a bit. I think it would look even better with a much larger tree top full of leaves and fruits.

Do you have more grey bricks in one colour? I just think that since the rocky formations in youe MOC are so small, it would look better if they had the same colour all around, with very few exceptions.

Here's an example of a rocks with different colours:

(Made by Etzel)

The five soldiers all have the same face. I suggest that you change that up a bit and had them look different from each other. Otherwise it becomes a bit generic for my taste.

But all in all a wonderful looking MOC with room for small improvements if you ask me

I particularly think that you could spice the whole thing up with more plants.

Here's a great looking MOC with a lot of plants all over, but it still doesn't look too crowded. Perhaps you can use some of the things as an inspiration (even though the general mood in that MOC is quite different from yours)

(Made by SirNadroj)

[saberwing]

That's very nice commander Laquiet!

A perfect day out in the lives of a redcoat soldier.

But what is the "thing" we see in picture 3 ;

I really like the story too!

[Ratshot]

This is pretty good. The forest is very lush. The apple tree looks great

[Ingmar]

Nice and true are the only words I think about, building short stories from lego scenes is a rich idea when a single pic is so meaning and sensesful as this one ; I would be very curious to see other experiences like that. The new uniforms are pretty but not as charming as the old wearing of the armada, and the colours of your scene are greatly arranged, those pics nearly enabled us to catch the rising sunlight and the different noises of the romantic forest.

[badboytje88]

I think you have a very good thing going on here. I love all the vibrant colours you used, and really like the use of the 1x1 round plates for flowers! There is however some room for improvement:

-I'd use some green plates to create some hight difference in the land the soldiers are walking on. It would be great if the road would be lower than the rocks and such.

-I'd make the rock slightly bigger as suggested above.

-Personally I'm not a big fan of the 1x1 round brick with flower peddels. But that's just me. May I suggest some of these idea":

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1001151

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=570100

That's all

~Badboy

Edited October 8, 2009 by badboytje88

[MetroiD]

Cheers for posting such a refreshing entry :)

I must agree with the other EB members, the flowers could use some work in order to look even more varied. Aside from the techniques already mentioned, I would suggest using inverted cones as flower petals, those do look very nicely (you may check out the flower shop from my signature for a reference). There's plenty of ways to use the standard "greenery" bricks and I think that the more of those you utilise, the more weird & wonderful this walk in the garden will look!

I would also recommend trying to get more foliage on the big tree - compared to its massive trunk, the leaves do look a bit disproportionate. I must admit, I failed to determine what the thing growing out of the stump (?) across the path from the big tree is... Perhaps adding some more to it would make it look more obvious? As for mushrooms - a pretty good way to do those is by using a round 1x1 plate with a red worker's helmet on top - it looks almost as good as the real thing, perhaps you should give it a shot

Last but not least, I was wondering why you've used those white bricks there... If they're supposed to represent a different kind of rock, I believe a great way to implement that would be by following Lorentzen's advice. After you're satisfied, you might even consider adding a little stream running down the rock - personally, I would _love_ to see that implemented in this scenery - water (even if it's represented by LEGO plastic) adds so much more to a MOC...

Good luck in the contest mate!

[The Alchemyst]

First word that comes to mind? Cute.

It really has a Willy Wonka-esque [The original movie and book, mind you] feel to it, with the bright lush forest and colored studs dotting the landscape. It's nearly surreal.

After that I noticed that except for the leader, they all had the same "Rascus" face from the Knight's Kingdom II sets. I'm assuming you got them from the impulse? But anyway it just seems really creepy and unnatural. Some variation in all their faces would be nice.

The foliage here and there with the colored flowers are nice and all, but I think the large tree could use work. It has a palm tree-like trunk, but at the top there are no branches and the leaves are much too flat and much too little. If you could add a sense of fullness, life and overall another dimension to them, that'd be great. A simple example that comes to mind is the one in Medieval Market Village.

The rock formations seem funny, especially since some slope down while other parts slope up.

On the other hand you could make this an entirely surreal trip fest. With crazy smiling rocks, nonsensical trees, and such. You already have the background colors and little dots of craziness down.

It could make for a very interesting entry, but it's all up to you! I'll be awaiting any new revisions!

Best of luck.

[-TA-]

[Commander Laquiet]

Thanks for all the positive and constructive comments!

That's very nice commander Laquiet!

A perfect day out in the lives of a redcoat soldier.

But what is the "thing" we see in picture 3?

By 'the thing' I think you mean the dead tree stump. The tan bricks with studs on top are to represent fungi - but I'm still not sure whether this works or not.

-I'd use some green plates to create some hight difference in the land the soldiers are walking on. It would be great if the road would be lower than the rocks and such.

-I'd make the rock slightly bigger as suggested above.

-Personally I'm not a big fan of the 1x1 round brick with flower peddels.

Thanks. These are all very good ideas! I understand what you mean about height difference - it could look really good. The rock would look better bigger, but I also have to juggle it with space as the size is only 16x16.

Cheers for posting such a refreshing entry :)

I must agree with the other EB members, the flowers could use some work in order to look even more varied. Aside from the techniques already mentioned, I would suggest using inverted cones as flower petals, those do look very nicely. There's plenty of ways to use the standard "greenery" bricks and I think that the more of those you utilise, the more weird & wonderful this walk in the garden will look!

I would also recommend trying to get more foliage on the big tree - compared to its massive trunk, the leaves do look a bit disproportionate. As for mushrooms - a pretty good way to do those is by using a round 1x1 plate with a red worker's helmet on top - it looks almost as good as the real thing, perhaps you should give it a shot

Thanks again! I think, as it has been mentioned before, that I will add some variety into the sizes and shapes of the petals and fungi. More foliage on the tree would be good as well. I especially like your suggestion of workers hats as mushrooms, I could create a mushroom patch!

About the faces - you are right, it is weird them all having the same face, hadn't really thought about that. Will work on this.

Thanks for all the great comments!

[MetroiD]

Glad you liked the idea, Commander :)

Here are a few MOCs where the builders have showcased some nice ways of making mushrooms: Chris' Road Less Travelled and Beowulf's Last Battle.

Hope that helps!

The plates used for fungi growing from the dead stump could for example be replaced by leaves/ foliage pieces, put on top of minifig hands - that way you could portray their thinness compared to regular plants...

As to the similar faces - that could be used as a major advantage, but I guess Star Trek-esque technologies (AND storyline ) would be required for that.

[Big Cam]

Oh, very nice. I love the clever grin the one soldier gives us through the brick wall. That was set up perfectly. This is going to be one tough contest.

I love how there is so much greenery and foiliage but not too much where it isn't believable.

Great job!

[Commander Laquiet]

Thanks for all the input - I have now edited the post to show the 'new' version.

I have basically rebuilt the scene, with larger rock formations on both sides, more foliage and branches on the tree, and a small stream running through. I have changed the story of the scene too - they have stopped for lunch!

Many new details have been added.

Enjoy!

[badboytje88]

Wow the update is very very good! This looks like a very cosy break! I like the soldier who is trying to stab the fishes out of the water. Look out for that odd green duck! I love the foliage, the flowers, shrooms, fruits and such. I really think you made a big improvement on your first version. Way to go!

~Badboy

[Commander Laquiet]

Wow the update is very very good! This looks like a very cosy break! I like the soldier who is trying to stab the fishes out of the water. Look out for that odd green duck! I love the foliage, the flowers, shrooms, fruits and such. I really think you made a big improvement on your first version. Way to go!

~Badboy

Thank you very much!

[MetroiD]

Ah! A stream!!! I absolutely it! Nice mushrooms too ;) I have to ask though - what do those pink and orange 1x1 round plates represent?

The update is very nice and adds much more that's actually "happening" to the soldiers, way to go! I'm not too sure about the soldier's hat being used as a stove , but it's a fun little touch nevertheless. My only real suggestion would be to do some more work on that stream - adding trans-clear plates and slopes should help make it look more realistic, and a few splashes here and there won't go amiss either.

Edited October 10, 2009 by TheOtters

[martinsuper]

Hey, really cool MOC! I love how you have shown your scene of the soldier's relaxing and enjoying themselves. I think that I like the fact that you have a lot going on without showing too much. My only gripe would be that the officer is in a wierd spot and because of that I also don't like his wierd hair. I often don't mind non-pirate hair used in pirate MOCs, but because of the location and placement, it somewhat bothers me.

Other than that, the whole thing look great!

Good Job!

-martinsuper

[Captain Blackmoor]

Check out the frontpage tomorrow! Your garden path has been blogged.

Edited November 17, 2009 by Captain Blackmoor

[Commander Laquiet]

Check out the frontpage tomorrow! Your garden path has been blogged.

Thank you!

[Captain M]

Can I ask you where you got that blue bird? :3

[Commander Laquiet]

Can I ask you where you got that blue bird? :3

The bird was from Bricklink, in an Australian store which I believe has now closed.

I think it was called 'Technic Wreckers'.