Builder Application - inAflash: APPRENTICE

Player name: inAflash

How did you find out about us: from Darwin reforged

How old are you?: 14, 15 in spetember

Where are you from?: London, England

**Are you in our Discord? Do you understand that you must have Discord running at all times when at your computer, and that you must check the forums every few days?: yes

Why do you want to help with this project?: it will be a good experience, and also it’ll be really cool to watch the project progress

Which Tolkien-related works have you read, seen or listened to?: watched the movies, and i’ve started reading hobbit, ill then move on to LOTR

Portfolio: https://imgur.com/a/10cczE8
1st UPDATE https://imgur.com/a/2UhmspI
2nd UPDATE https://imgur.com/a/FSkanBX
3rd UPDATE https://imgur.com/a/y1hbLSQ

Plot ID: -20:36
Are there any styles that you excel at? Any styles which you have difficulty with?: i have difficulty with rohan and elven

4 Likes

Hey inAflash, thanks for applying!

Overall a solid job but there are a few issues that you should fix.

Exterior:

  • Your exteriors seem to be your strong suit and there’s not a lot wrong. Your chimneys however are a bit large and look rather strange so I’d recommend downsizing them a lot.
  • The other problem is your use of flowers and plants - Heather for example is a wild plant you find in heathland or moors not in residential gardens. Try to also keep your gardens more tidy and assort your flowers/vegetables in allotments and spaces rather than splattering them around.
  • The only other thing is some of the detailing which is a bit unorthodox like your flat wooden covers (we usually angle them for rain and stuff) and railings around your windows - windows should be round for lore reasons.
  • I won’t comment too much on your diagonal as they’re naturally difficult, but the main issue is that it’s too high (2-high walls is the norm).

Interior:

  • Try to avoid having more than 1 open face for the cupboards/drawers.
  • Your plants are a bit strange. Cypress isn’t normally something they’d keep indoors
  • Ceiling needs to be redone in more of a shire-fashion, look at how other houses do their ceilings. You also have some exposed bits that need fixing.
  • Weird detailing such as a wooden canopy on the bed and holes in brick dividing walls
  • Your rooms are bit hard to tell apart at times, and need more defining detailing inside.

Those are some of the more pressing issues I would try to fix up. Overall though I highly advise to look more thoroughly through the Hobbit guide at /warp hobbitguide and apply what you see there in your house. I would also recommend spending more time observing houses in the shire (Bywater, Hobbiton, The Marish, Bucklebury are good places to check) and how they’re built/detailed. Even if it means copying 95% of a house that already exists, it’s still better than building something inaccurate.

Make those fixes and update your app with pictures when you’re done.

Good job so far! Keep it up.

5 Likes

alrighty, i’ll get straight to it!

3 Likes

As for the Dunland house, I’ve also got a few points that you should improve.

Exterior:

  • You should add coarse dirt underneath the roof

  • Make sure the gradient is less splattery, I saw a while ago that @eag_inc had a good reference pic to clearly visualize how you should do the gradient, maybe he can upload it here or pm it to you?

  • Don’t make the smoke outlets gray or darker

  • I personally don’t recommend trying to make a house shape of your own, but rather just copy an existing shape, since we always use house templates ig, so you wouldn’t have to come up with a shape of your own ever, unless you’re gonna make a leaders house, but that’s rare. It’s fine for now imo since it’s not too bad, but I want you to know that you wouldn’t have to do that.

  • Make sure smoke comes out of your smoke outlet, or if you don’t want to do that put out the campfire, can’t have a campfire without smoke

  • last point exteriorwise: we don’t usually use your door design, it’s not too bad I think, but I’d just change it.

Interior:

  • You have too much light inside, this is because you’ve made a direct connection between inside and outside via the smoke outlets, make sure there’s at least 2 blocks in between outside and inside to block out the light completely, this means you should block of the smoke outlet.

  • Inside thatch should be all gray with a little dark thatch at the top

  • You used a wall material that’s not listed in the guide, please use one that’s in the guide, ig you wouldn’t pick any other material unless told by a project leader to do so.

  • try to make sure the beds are less ‘perfect’, look at other Dunland houses closely to see what I mean, they’re all against the wall mostly, Sheep skins also count as beds. While ur at it, for a house this size I’d have 11-13 beds.

  • don’t do the layer thing next to the campfire

  • Have more storage, preferably in the form of vases, amphoras and baskets, delete the chest, has too much iron in it, something very uncommon in Dunland. They certainly wouldn’t have used the little bit of Iron there is for something like chests.

  • try different seat designs, not only stools, also benches or ‘couches’

  • Beam design overall is nice, but in some places, mainly at the walls they don’t connect (I wouldn’t have them adjecent to the walls anyway btw, but if you do it, make sure you connect them)

  • Instead of a rack of daggers, use a rack of brooms etc.

It’s a long list, I know, but they’re all minor changes, but very important details.
You can always ask me for further explanation if you don’t understand something on the list, you can also ask someone else to explain it if I’m not online (can also PM me on Discord).

2 Likes

Thanks for the advice, i’ll get to doing that too

2 Likes
Gradient

1 Like

i have updated the app with the new images

Thanks for the changes. It’s looking a lot better but still needs a bit of work, therefore I’d like you to make another Hobbit house in the style of Whitfurrows/Budgeford/Bywater and we’ll go from there.

Keep up the good work!

2 Likes

will do!

1 Like

i’ve uploaded the next set of photos

3 Likes

Looking better. Few things though.

Interior:

  • Big improvement on your interior from your previous house. Things to improve upon however are your walls. The line you have in the middle is a bit strange.
  • The ceiling is okay, but I’d try to limit the block palette to 2 different types at the most to avoid cluttering it too much.
  • Furniture is mostly okay, though we have some better furniture ideas at the Hobbit guide that I recommend using (tables/cupboards/drawers etc), and avoid having the fireplace directly touch wood as in your kitchen.

Last point to work on is the interior layout of your house. They’re a bit tricky to get right at first, and so I’ve created a new section in the FB Hobbit-guide specifically for interior layouts and their arrangements so I would highly advise looking through that and picking/imitating one. Exterior walls will already be laid out on the main map for builders but interior walls and rooms are for each builder to make.

Your next house I’d like you to make is one in the style of Scary at /warp Scary. These houses are more or less in the same Hobbit style as you’ve done, with the main difference being more stone and plaster being used for the walls and slate/shingle roofs.

I look forward to seeing your next progression!

1 Like

i have put the photos up

1 Like

Your Scary house looks good. The only issues I see is the layer of tudor that you have going around the top, should just replace it with a slate slab or trapdoor. The interior would also look a bit nicer if you used a separate wood for the floor to make it a bit more interesting. Overall though I think these changes qualify you for Apprentice.

Being an Apprentice means you are a part of the project, but not a full Builder yet. You have this rank so you can learn and understand how we build. We have high standards and a focus on realism which means that there are things for you to learn. Your duties as an Apprentice should give you good grounding to become a Builder, and, as such, you will begin your first lot of on-server building work assisting current Builders on their builds. This will hopefully allow you to obtain the experience needed to build on your own when you feel you can start on building something on your own. When building as an Apprentice, you are only permitted to build on one building at a time. This not only provides you with good practice for your time as a Builder, but also allows project leaders and Overseers to get a good and clear idea of what your building abilities are. This will allow us to give you better and more bespoke feedback, and prevent any unnecessary problems. Finally, as an Apprentice you must always listen to project leaders when they give you feedback, criticisms, and tasks. Ask them if you are unsure of what to build, or how to build it. You have this rank to learn.

In order to eventually obtain Builder, please read the guidelines below: When you build a house in a project and think it is finished, you should post a comment on this application thread with the closest warp and coordinates of your house. Then Builders or Overseers will comment on this thread and give you fair feedback. When you have achieved a standard of building that matches the basic standard of the server, you will be promoted to Builder. This could be on your first build or one further down the line. ArdaCraft is a friendly community that explores the freedom to create and build together. However, when we are dealing with an enormous project like this there are some guidelines we need to follow to make it work. Firstly, always name the stuff you build. We have a set of project blocks that we use - you can read about those in the new player guide at ‘/warp spawn’. Secondly, if you are looking for something to help out with, you can type ‘/warp jobs’. This is where you can find all open jobs like building houses or something similar. You will be provided with instructions on how to get to these projects, and what to build once you get there. Thirdly, do not be afraid to ask members for help and get to know us. This is a community project and it’s important to be part of the community! Stay active on Discord and the forums. Make sure to let an Overseer know who you are on Discord so that he can give you the appropriate rank on there.

5 Likes

I have done 4 tree ground coverings in Caras Galadhon

ive done the - /warp farm3 - homestead

Hey inAflash,

Need to see a bit more activity on your app so we can get you to reach Builder. If you’re too busy or otherwise unable please let us know.

Rejected for inactivity. If you wish to resume your apprenticeship please contact an Overseer and we’ll be happy to have you back.

As you’ve expressed interest in becoming back active, I’ve re-opened this application. You will be reinstated as an apprentice and I will be mentoring you. Welcome back!

Being an Apprentice means you are a part of the project, but not a full Builder yet. You have this rank so you can learn and understand how we build. We have high standards and a focus on realism which means that there are things for you to learn. Your duties as an Apprentice should give you good grounding to become a Builder, and, as such, you will begin your first lot of on-server building work assisting current Builders on their builds. This will hopefully allow you to obtain the experience needed to build on your own when you feel you can start on building something on your own.

When building as an Apprentice, you are only permitted to build on one building at a time. This not only provides you with good practice for your time as a Builder, but also allows project leaders and Overseers to get a good and clear idea of what your building abilities are. This will allow us to give you better and more bespoke feedback, and prevent any unnecessary problems. Keep in mind that you are only allowed to work on something if you have permission from a project leader via an open plot or confirmation if it’s something else. Finally, as an Apprentice you must always listen to project leaders when they give you feedback, criticisms, and tasks. Ask them if you are unsure of what to build, or how to build it. You have this rank to learn.

1 Like