Juan Cuello creations

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
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Bruce N H
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Juan Cuello creations

Post by Bruce N H »

Hi all,

I don't think he's posting in this forum, so I'll post the links. Juan Cuello has recently posted three great Castle creations on Brickshelf:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=58853
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=58980
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=29010
Check 'em out!

Bruce
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Re: Juan Cuello creations

Post by jcrasterman »

Hi there.....
Bruce N H wrote:Hi all,
I don't think he's posting in this forum, so I'll post the links.
Bruce
weap.... you are 'half-wrong' ;-),
I'm Juan Cuello (jcrasterman) and I usually post here, but with my nickname (rasterman) with jc (Juan Cuello)....
You are 'half-right' since I'didn't post the new creations here, so lots of thanks for your interest.....
Bruce N H wrote: Juan Cuello has recently posted three great Castle creations on Brickshelf:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=58853
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=58980
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=29010
Check 'em out!
In fact there is only two 'new' creations.....
The Blacksmith is an old one, but I have made some little modifications (black roof and preview picture....)

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=29010

I'm used to post the MOCs on lugnet, I will post here too.... (but I think that all of us who read here, read lugnet too, so the MOCs will not be forgiben.....)

I'm very proud of the Santiago's Gate.... It's based on a real Gate. Someone ask me for pictures of the real building.... I will post some of them if you like.....

I would like to ask for some advices to the 'great' builders. I know they read this forum, and I think it would be very interesting..... (share with others the..... 'skills' and 'tricks' of build castles).
I use the 'real' inspiration (real buildings) to do that, but I found some problems with scale..... (the first try is allways a huge monster :-D)
I draw the MOC first in box-paper, so one box is one brick. This usually introduce some errors, because of the proportions of bricks. (height not equals width)
The colors is other important choice.... the apropiate colors could make the difference......
Finally the 'atmosphere' with the little details.... I try to 'imagine' some recreation based on true history or some legend, folk, lore...... that helps me a lot (If I could found it.....)

And you??? What is your process of building castles???


juan
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Jojo
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Post by Jojo »

Hallo!

I would like to ask for some advices to the 'great' builders. I know they read this forum, and I think it would be very interesting.....
Hehe! Now, who will reveal himself being self-absorbed enough to call himself a "great builder"? ;-)

Well, I've at least 23 years of building experience, not as long in Castle building though (never owned a 375 as child). So I claim to be an advanced builder and dare to share my knowledge.

When I start building a large building I first search for fitting boxes to transport the finished model. Most of my creations are meant to be shown on conventions like 1000steine-Land or similiar, so it's important that I build them the way they are modular and transportable. To this end I take one or more boxes that fit into my car boot and place base plates into them. So I get the maximum base I can build on. And I know where I have to take apart the building into several modules.

The building process itself is more intuitional. Brick on brick, as long as it's needed to complete the building :-) I don't draw any sketches beforehand. But I build some details or even major building segments separately and insert them into the structure as a whole.

Sometimes I have an idea for a detail and build it, without having a building for it. For example the main gate of my last (and so far only) big castle had been built long before I started building this castle itself. So later I just had to build the surrounding structure.

It doesn't happen too seldom that I come to a point when i don't know how to build any further. In these cases I just puzzle a bit until it fits.

So you see, my building style is chaotic.


Bye
Jojo

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Bruce N H
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Post by Bruce N H »

Hi Juan,

Sorry, I didn't make the connection "Juan Cuello" = "jcrasterman". Great work. I do like the new color on the blacksmith shop roof. The other building was just too much red. This used to be a big problem, as when I was a kid I only remember red slopes. Even now there seem to be a lot of red slopes out there, so a lot more red roofs than seem warranted by real life buildings.

On the other, I certainly won't make any claims to be a "great builder" of castles, though I think I do pretty good with landscapes. Most of my castle-themed building is for my Tolkien story, so my inspiration comes from multiple rereadings, also things like Tolkien calendars etc over the years that have helped form my imagination of Middle Earth. Not so much the recent movie, though I think that Peter Jackson drew on many of the same inspirations. I don't get anywhere near the amount of building time I'd like, so I spend a lot of time thinking about a scene before I get around to actually building it. So by the time I build I have a pretty solid mental picture. Then I just start building. Even if the scene will have some sort of building, I start by making the landscape as natural as I can, which basically just means stacking things randomly enough to avoid long straight lines. My buildings still tend to be a little blocky, and that's an area I really need to work on, especially before I get to the more urban Minas Tirith scenes. One other thing--I'm building almost exclusively for the camera, so things only have to look good from one side, so the back is usually pretty ugly.

Bruce
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re gate tower

Post by Magnus »

I love that gate tower, it has such a great continental European look!
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Post by stuifzand »

Bruce N H wrote:so a lot more red roofs than seem warranted by real life buildings.
Slightly off topic, but in The Netherlands a lot of houses have red roofs. Maybe even 70% of them. :)
If you're a Dutch legofan, visit [url=http://www.lowlug.nl]Lowlug[/url]!
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Post by jcrasterman »

Jojo wrote:Hallo!
Hehe! Now, who will reveal himself being self-absorbed enough to call himself a "great builder"? ;-)
Well, I've at least 23 years of building experience....
ummmmmm.....

I think this is enought time to be an 'elder' builder.... ;-)
Jojo wrote: The building process itself is more intuitional. Brick on brick, as long as it's needed to complete the building :-) I don't draw any sketches beforehand.
But sure you have some mental-drawings of what you want build.....
I can imagine some details like doors, windows, some roofs.... but I found really dificult to merge each in the whole MOC.... This is the reason I draw first on paper my design..... and for large MOCs it's a must do....
Jojo wrote: Sometimes I have an idea for a detail and build it, without having a building for it.
yes.... I use to do it so.... for example the window cages of Santiago's Gate were build four months ago, when I visit Trujillo.
Jojo wrote: It doesn't happen too seldom that I come to a point when i don't know how to build any further. In these cases I just puzzle a bit until it fits.
pufff.... I spend hours thinking How can I continue my MOCs when I reach a ....... "deadline". In this case I build some other things and let apart the other MOC for a while..... One day I see something on a picture or even in my dreams :-) and then the solution is "revealed" to me......
Jojo wrote: So you see, my building style is chaotic.
Chaotic or not this is not the questions.... your MOCs are one of the best, I visit often your pages to seek the inspiration..... keep on with your.......chaotic work ;-)
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Post by jcrasterman »

Bruce N H wrote:Hi Juan,
Sorry, I didn't make the connection "Juan Cuello" = "jcrasterman". Great work.
There is nothing to be sorry about.... I thank you for post the MOCs here.... look, you start this topic and..... ok it's going a bit off but It's very interesting.... Is not it???
Bruce N H wrote: I do like the new color on the blacksmith shop roof. The other building was just too much red.
you are true....
In fact this MOC was based on a Vollmer set.
http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh/euro ... tock=V3696
And as you can see the original had black roof.....
When I build the blacksmith shop for the first time, I don't had enought black slopes.....
Bruce N H wrote: On the other, I certainly won't make any claims to be a "great builder" of castles
Yes, yes, yes... you "are not" another great builder,.... as jojo isn't too ;-)
Bruce N H wrote: I think I do pretty good with landscapes.
Yes you do....
I'm very interesed in landscapes because I think landscapes introduce a great atmosphere.....
I must ask you.... do you have tons and tons of green brickes or you use some trick to do the landscapes???
I found that I need thousands of green bricks to build a landscape of 3 or 4 bricks height.....

Bruce N H wrote: I spend a lot of time thinking about a scene before I get around to actually building it. So by the time I build I have a pretty solid mental picture.
I thing this is very important.... With a good idea of what you want to build is easier to build it.
Bruce N H wrote: My buildings still tend to be a little blocky, and that's an area I really need to work on...
And who not???
Bruce N H wrote: I'm building almost exclusively for the camera.....
pufff ......this opens another great topic one day whe must affront. Cameras, lights, macros, perfect ambient, focus...
I think we can learn a lot from each other
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Bruce N H
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Post by Bruce N H »

Juan,

"do you have tons and tons of green brickes or you use some trick to do the landscapes???"

I don't have so many green bricks, but I do have lots of green plates. Any time I do a Bricklink order I always get a few dollars worth of green plates. Over time it builds up (literally :) ). As far as "tricks", I do occasionally us Photoshop to fill in the edges. For instance, if you look closely at the second photo on this page:
http://www.ozbricks.net/bricktales/lotr ... 09-03.html
The blue bricks in front of Orthanc are real, but I didn't have enough to completely flood Isengard, so the ones in the back left and right are added using the "rubber stamp" tool on Photoshop. Finally, camera angles and photo cropping make a huge difference. If you put the camera very low, the scene seems much larger, at least to me, and as long as the landscape extends one stud beyond the edge of the photo it looks like it just keeps going.

Bruce
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