NHhawkeye Builder Application

[NHhawkeye]

I'm 15, almost 16


United States of America


I first saw it in a Minecraft building book I got for Christmas a few years ago, it had the picture from King's Landing, and after I turned 14 last year, I read the Game of Thrones books and I was hooked and decided to try to find this again.


Harry Potter, Ranger's Apprentice, Eragon



Game of Thrones
Clash of Kings
Storm of Swords
Feast for Crows
Dance of Dragons




My favorite character is Jon Snow, because he is an outsider and part of the Night's Watch. I think he is very good at taking orders, as am I, and I think that he is very loyal and tries to be the best person he can be (in his situation).


I've studied medieval history for many years (this is medieval-ish themed). Also, when I start something, I finish it no matter what, unless something important in my life comes up. I listen to advice and take other's opinions into into my work.


I want to build with some of the most experienced builders in the world, and I want to help this server grow in it's size, and accuracy, and I want to create some great friendships with other people.

https://imgur.com/id%3DDU0zw%3Btype%3Dalbum

(Skin wasn't compatible with update version)


YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW

 

[Emoticone11]

Hi NHhawkeye,

Thanks for the application! Your house is a very good start and would fit into the North pretty well, I think we can get you fully up to current server standards pretty quickly. Here's a bit of feedback:

- Avoid using log blocks in houses, this is mostly an outdated practice. It doesn't make sense realistically to have logs mixed in with stone, and log blocks usually just look clunky in houses.

- Instead of making the roof "pinched" in the middle, just make the slope of the roof even & straight. So you can do either just stair blocks (45 degrees) or the following pattern: stair, full block, stair, full block, etc. (60 degrees).

- In general try to avoid having blocks next to each other which contrast badly. For instance, in this room the spruce wood floor contrasts kind of badly with the oak-colored furniture, and the light grey stone brick in the fireplace contrasts badly with the spruce as well as the dark grey stone in the walls.

- The interior seems a bit empty, try to plan stuff out a little more. Think of what it would be like to live in a medieval house, all the things you'd do on a daily basis etc. Try to put yourself into the scene.

- Do some more detailing around the house as well. Vegetable gardens? Foliage? Smaller details as well, like barrels, wheelbarrows, clotheslines, etc. Make it seem lived-in.

- This is an extremely minor thing but in the firewood pile make sure all the firewood blocks are facing the same direction; think of how firewood is stacked in real life.

For a challenge build, please make a middle-class house in the style of /warp sweetport. Good luck!

-Emote

 

[NHhawkeye]

Thank you so much for your feedback and for replying so quickly! I will get to work on it. Also, what would you suggest to use as a frame instead of logs? That is what I have typically used in the past... but I realize now it is unrealistic

Also, there were clotheslines hanging above the fire drying. I was going to put them outside, but decided to put them inside so the fire could dry them.

 

[Emoticone11]

The thing is, you don't really "need" a frame in houses, especially for stone houses (for daub & wattle, the frame is obviously taken care of in the daub & wattle blocks). If you look up old stone houses, you'll notice that they're usually just made up entirely of stone with no framing or anything. Here's one example.

Personally, I would recommend making the house entirely in wool (or some other placeholder blocks) before you even start to add real materials to it, just so you can get the overall shape right. Then later you can replace the wool with stone gradients (see /warp gradient) or another material, and after that add details if you need to. The idea is that if you can get the house to look nice just as a simple 3D shape in wool, all you need to do is add minimal details to it to get a good final result. It's a much better approach than framing imo.

 

[NHhawkeye]

Ok thanks so much. Will do that for this build

 

[NHhawkeye]

Here is the Sweetport Challenge

I think I need a little help with the daub and wattle but other than that I'm pretty happy at how this turned out. I think the upstairs could be a little better also but I couldn't think of anything else to add to the house.

There are two adults and one child living here, the house is nearby the wall closest to the port, hence the fish in the downstairs.

https://imgur.com/BhEeQ

BTW not sure if you need to know right now or not but my IGN is 900cardinals.

Thanks!

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey hawkeye, great work! This house is a huge improvement over before. I'll jump right into feedback:

- I agree that the daub & wattle needs a little bit of work, though it's not too bad. My advice with daub & wattle is to "frame" the emptier variants (for example the "daub wattle white frame" variant, also it looks nice if you use "plain white daub" sometimes) with the cross-beam variants. You also want to frame windows in this manner. It's hard to explain, so it's probably better if I just post an example from Sweetport. Notice how the pattern uses the "plain white daub" around the windows and then frames it neatly with the crossbeams. Also try to avoid having multiple of the "daub wattle white frame" blocks next to each other in a row, it usually looks bad. If you're still confused about this after looking at some more examples in-game, if you catch me online ask me and I can help demonstrate.

- Also avoid having shutters for two windows touching each other (for aesthetic reasons); make them on the opposite side of the window so this doesn't happen.

- Try to make the gradient here a little smoother, it should progress smoothly from dark cobble -> small stone brick -> smooth small stone brick. Check out /warp gradients for more info on this.

- There's a few things with the garden: one, the stone wall seems really large and bulky for such a small garden. I'd just do a wattle fence border instead. Second, try to avoid "bubble yards", where it doesn't really have a well-defined shape. Instead, try to make the walls of the yard polygonal (often a rectangle). Also, you can use bonemeal to grow the vegetables in the yard to full height.

- Using two ash (mycelium) blocks in front of this fireplace would look nice.

- Very minor point, but when using this sort of ladder, which is propped up against the wall, you should make sure it goes all the way to the ground.

- Avoid having the tops of daub & wattle blocks showing through anywhere, like it does here. Just move the wood stairs there in one block.

- Don't have slate showing through in the interiors, like here. You can just use half door blocks to cover it up.

Overall, a lot of this feedback is very minor stuff, you'ved improved a lot since the last house. For another challenge build, let's try a middle-class house in the style of /warp whitegrove. Make sure to do the attached garden in the same style as there too. Good luck!

 

[NHhawkeye]

Thank you for the feedback... I'll get on to it as soon as I can.
Hawk

 

[NHhawkeye]

I'm very sorry about how long this is taking. I've been very busy with school, but am on Spring Break this week so will probably get it done. Just wanted to give you an update.
-Hawk

 

[Emoticone11]

No worries! Thanks for the update

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey NHhawkeye, are you still interested in continuing with this app? I'm going to reject it for inactivity if no response within 2 weeks.