Hi Antio,
Thanks for your last challenge build! I have a little bit of feedback for you, but nicely done! There’s a few small details that are a little off, but you’re got the general gist of things.
- Firstly, Fairmarket houses don’t have stone corner supports, as they are usually connected to the neighbouring house for additional support. Despite that, the palette is nicely done. You’ve also given the roof upturned ends, similar to those in White Harbour. Fairmarket doesn’t incorporate this practice, and all roofs should be a straight line of full slate blocks.
- I can see that you’ve used crates as detailing in the building facades; it’s good that you’ve noticed this trend in Fairmarket, but you’re not actually using them correctly. Crates should only be used in a way that one side is visible, whereas yours, we can see the front, bottom and a bit of both sides. They are used in place of your upside down stair blocks as detailed supports for the overhanging floor. Builders often use them purely for the “X” shape detail on the block, and as such you need to make sure that every one you use has the same pattern; your middle one on the front facade isn’t the same as the others. To get all your crates with the same pattern, use the ‘Grapes Crate’ block, as these always have crosses on the sides.
- The facade of your shop looks more like rear of a Fairmarket house, than the front. This isn’t obviously a shop, and your strange washing line and unfinished sign don’t make a lot of sense. Most shop fronts in the town are made of wood, or utilise the stone front a little more interestingly. Your doorway really should be in the centre, or far off the the side, and its quite rare to have glass in the brickwork like that also. Take a closer look at some of the shops on the main square and the long street running the width of the main town.
- When making shop signs, as the instructions explain on the block, you need to make a 1x2 block for them to work. Place the sign blocks one beneath the other, and you’ll end up with a swinging sign. You’ve put half of it in, but not the bottom. These signs should be hung from the overhang above the door, or from a chain/hook on the front of the building. Not on a line out the front.
- The back side of the house is good, but i’d recommend using more of the diagonal daub and wattle blocks, instead of the crosses. If you use too many of them, it looks a little strange. Other than that, this is a good attempt.
- Your shed roof is a little lumpy. Sometimes less is more; a simple diagonally sloping roof looks better than one that’s deliberately been made to look weathered.
- The shop interiors are nice, but try to use shutters rather than the vanilla gate block, it just looks a little more realistic.
- Your room with blood on the floor looks a little bit of a mess. I’d perhaps try to limit how much you put in there. Again, less is more. You don’t need tons of blood all over the floor, and if you’re going to have some ice, it would be kept in a separate room, not amongst all the blood and thatch. Ice would have been very expensive to keep, and where it is at the moment, it’s a waste.
- The kitchen is nice, but try not to mix different carpet types; stick to one. If you want a coloured, carpet, just use the colours together, but remember that they should probably be in a square or rectangle. Thatch carpet on the floor can be a little more sporadic.
- In the first floor bedroom, you can see that you’ve used crates in the daub and wattle; this isn’t seen anywhere in Fairmarket and should be avoided. It doesn’t really make sense to have large pieces of wood in the walls like that. I’ve also noticed that your floor height is a little too high, making the windows touch the floor. You should always have at least one block up from the floor before a window starts, which indicates that your floor is too high. Take a look at the cutaway style guide houses that EStoop has made at Fairmarket as a guideline; this will explain how the houses should be built.
- You’re missing supporting rafters in the roof (usually made of a contrasting wood type). Examples of these can be found again, in Stoop’s cutaway guides, but also in every house in Fairmarket.
All together this isn’t a bad first attempt at a Fairmarket style house. This is definitely one of the harder styles to build, and well done for giving it a go! For your next challenge, I’d like you to build a middle class house in the style of /warp woodwright. These are the houses with slate roofs. Good luck!
