Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
Post Reply
User avatar
friskywhiskers
Landlord
Posts: 926
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2009 11:46 pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by friskywhiskers »

While everyone has their own unique personal style of medieval building, the past decade has seen a widespread evolution of MOC styles. For a while now I've thought about doing an analysis of popular medieval building styles, so here it goes.

The way I see it, most styles today fit under one of two ranges (or a mixture of both): Clean and Rough.

I. The Clean Building Range

This style is categorized by textures that are relatively smooth, and a colour palate that is bright and simple. The realism of builds of this style can vary, ranging from cartoonish to highly realistic. I would say that this style has its roots in popular MOCs from 2005 to 2010 (by builders such as slyowl and DNL), and has evolved over the last five years to the range of styles found today.

Some noteworthy (in my opinion) builders of this style include Mark of Falworth and Disco86. Here are some of their builds that I think are prototypical of the Clean Range of Styles:

The Battle of St. Lucia - Mark of Falworth, 2013
Image

Notice the bright colors of the foliage and minifigures. The textures are just rough enough to be believable. The over all build really pops.

Imperial Fort - Disco86, 2014
Image

Again, the darkest color here is the rocks. The sand, fort, water, and ship are all bright and crisp. The mottling of the walls is effective, but smooth. In another example of balance, the water and rocks are just textured enough to look life like. The overall impression of the build is clean and simple; without any sacrifice to realism.

I myself have built several MOCs in this style. Here is my most Popular:

Elvyrston Castle, Myself - 2013
Image

I'm not gonna review my own MOC, but I think you get the overall idea of this style.

II. The Rough Building Range
In contrast, this style is dirtier, darker and grittier. The textures are far rougher, and the colors are often dark and/or fantastical. Most builders of this style use a similar rough stone wall technique. This style emerged more recently, and has roots in the builds of Derfal Cadarn (who I think is possibly the most realistic medieval builder of all time). Noteworthy builders of this style include DC himself, Legonardo, Digger1221, and Cesbrick. Here are some prototypical rough builds:

All Hallows Keep - Derfal Cadarn, 2015
Image

A good example of the fantastical colors sometimes used in this style. The walls, tree trunks, and roofing are all highly textured and rather darkly colored. There are countless minute details, and the overall build is foreboding and hyper-realistic.

Blacksmith Shop - Legonardo, 2014
Image

This build is slightly brighter, and offer a great example of the griminess of this style. The street and white wash are streaked with dirt, and weeds grow uncontrollably around the building. The roofing and stone work are again highly textured.

So there you have it, the two major types of building styles. Obviously, its foolish to attempt to place every build in this framework. There are countless styles out their that don't really fit into either. I've just listed these as the ones that I feel are the most prevalent and popular types of styles. I myself used to build in the clean style, but my more recent builds are much rougher.

What about you? What did you think of my analysis? Do you appreciate it, or do you think such over-catogrization is silly? Which range do you think your building style fits in? :)
User avatar
soccerkid6
Admin
Admin
Posts: 2169
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:41 pm
Location: Nordheim Keep
Contact:

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by soccerkid6 »

I think you did a good job with your analysis, and I agree that most Castle builds now fall into one of the two categories.
Personally, I've always thought of myself as a 'clean' style builder :)
John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Brickbuilt: http://www.brickbuilt.org/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/isaacsnyder/
User avatar
Brickninja
Here there be dragons
Posts: 976
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:41 pm
Location: Roawia!
Contact:

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by Brickninja »

This is a good analysis. I think there are many sub-categories, often defined by personal style inspiring others. But you've nailed the 2 main categories. I think I'd probably fall into the rough category.
lego3364!
Gong Farmer
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:48 pm

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by lego3364! »

I myself prefer the Clean building catagory. The Dirty style just hurts my eyes to look at truthfully.
User avatar
OverLoad
Steward
Posts: 595
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:34 am
Location: Windfall Island

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by OverLoad »

Interesting analysis. I made a post a while ago talking about the rise of hyper-detailed MOCs (in the style of DC's earlier buildings, which were currently the biggest splashes in the Castle world at the time). I've noticed that the trend has really taken off recently, probably due in part to the flood of Castle builders joining GoH, LoR, and such games.
lego3364! wrote:I myself prefer the Clean building catagory. The Dirty style just hurts my eyes to look at truthfully.
I've always been of the same mentality. Some of the "rougher" MOCs certainly do leave me stunned, but on the whole I will always prefer my LEGO builds to look at least somewhat LEGOish. To each his/her own!
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/128569443@N02/]-New Flickr-[/url] [url=http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=MrGray]-Brickshelf-[/url] [url=http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtop ... =4&t=24758]-Tales of the Nortlen-[/url]
User avatar
LittleJohn
Admin
Admin
Posts: 467
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:10 pm

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by LittleJohn »

Great analysis! I think I'm a clean builder personally :)
User avatar
Bruce N H
Precentor of the Scriptorium
Posts: 6311
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:11 pm
Location: Middle Zealand
Contact:

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by Bruce N H »

I'm going back through old posts, since I was really swamped this spring and missed a lot. This is an interesting analysis. I'd go further back on the roots of the 'clean' builds, and would include official sets in the roots. Other possible trends to analyze would be studded vs studless (or as you will sometimes see, studded for ground/vegetation but studless for the castle), solid color blocking vs heavy mottling (vs a mix of these), studs-up vs SNOT in walls, studs-up vs SNOT for landscape, and all-connected vs loose pieces (the latter often being used for water in recent years). I'd love for someone to do a full article looking at these and maybe other trends (or maybe if I have time someday I'll try my hand at this).

To make it easier to look through the history of these trends, you could look back at the winners of past CCCs, given that here we see an annual snapshot of some of the best castle builders and MOCs.

Bruce
[url=http://comicbricks.blogspot.com/]ComicBricks[/url] [url=http://godbricks.blogspot.com/]GodBricks[/url] [url=http://microbricks.blogspot.com/]MicroBricks[/url] [url=http://minilandbricks.blogspot.com/]MinilandBricks[/url] [url=http://scibricks.blogspot.com/]SciBricks[/url] [url=http://vignettebricks.blogspot.com/]VignetteBricks[/url] [url=http://www.classic-castle.com/bricktales/]Brick Tales[/url]
User avatar
Maedhros
Knight Templar
Knight Templar
Posts: 1885
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2005 8:22 pm
Location: The dark forests of Sweden
Contact:

Re: Analysis of Medieval Building Styles

Post by Maedhros »

I agree with Bruce, I'd however add that the studless trend that had its heyday in ca 2007-2008 (which I would say was the start of the "clean" style described above) seems to have influenced official sets as well, castle as well as others. Aaron Andrews (DARKspawn) was very important in propagating that style I'd say, but it's been quite some time since I saw any signs of him. I'd also advise newer members interested in that style to check out the works of RebelRock, who also mastered that.

Since I myself have been in something of a dim age for quite some years I'm still catching up on this newer "rough" style. I really like the look of it but old habits keep dragging me back to the studless and clean look of my early (and most prolific) years in the hobby. It is very interesting to see styles evolving, however, and maybe one day even a studophobic old-timer like me will dare try something new ;)
"Hinc satis elucet maiorem habere uim ad discenda ista liberam curiositatem quam meticulosam necessitatem.”
- Augustinus Hipponensis
Post Reply