How did you find out about us: It was recommended to me by a friend (MatthewVP)
How old are you?: 17
Where are you from?: America
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 and Yes
Why do you want to help with this project?:
Which Tolkien-related works have you read, seen or listened to?: [This includes any books Tolkien wrote, any films made of his work, and any audiobooks made from his work] I have read the Hobbit at least 4 times and have read the Lord of the Rings twice. I’ve attempted the Silmarillion but ended up reading bits and pieces. I have also seen all six films, theatrical and extended.
Plot ID: -14,36 Are there any styles that you excel at? Any styles which you have difficulty with?: I’m confident with my Dunland. I’m sure my Hobbit style is fine though I feel I could improve.
There are some things regarding your Hobbit house:
Your interior could do with more furniture and general decoration, it’s a little bit plain. Things you can add to fill it up are things like a dining table/defined kitchen area/cupboard units/desk/a window or 2/fireplace for a living/chill area etc. Your kitchen seems to be a bit minimal from what I can tell so I would advise to check out other kitchens around the shire (revamped ones) and replicate them. If you have an open area in a certain room you can cover the floor with a carpet. Another option that you can do to split your house interior up a bit is dividing the bedrooms into separate rooms (with a regular door).
Another thing you can improve upon is your use of gradients ie. for your Dunland hut. Your thatch blocks are a bit too splattered, and should have more of a gradual gradient.
I think the greatest tip I can offer you is to definitely check out and evaluate other houses you see in the Shire (Bywater or the Marish for example) and try to replicate them as best as you can without 1:1 copying them. Mixing several houses together with a little personal touch will almost always get you to Apprentice.
Other than that (perhaps a Dunland leader has more tips to offer) what you’ve done is so far pretty good, you’re not far off! Your exteriors seem to be your strong suit so improving your interiors should be a focus.
I’m a leader for the Dunland settlements. Overall it’s not horrible and most of these things get fixed through the use of templates and time. But some critique for you.
The most important thing overall with the Dunland style is that you shouldn’t have to try to be super detailed. The detail comes in the simplicity of the style. Make sure you follow the guide closely.
These are all very small but important details.
As we look at the roof, we need to be looking more for a rounded cone shape. I would highly recommend warping to villages like /warp Loch Thiar or Ard Phuing to check out some roofs.
For the roof gradient. It just seems like a splatter and we want it to stay connected and transition smoothly. Use the mossy acacia wood for the oldest thatch and the grey thatch for older thatch and slowly transition it from North to South (Mossy Acacia to Yellow Thatch) Your mossy acacia should be rather limited while you’ll see more grey as it follows to the lighter thatch. You’ll also tend to see more grey on the west/north side due to the sun rising and less on the east side due to the Misty Mountains blocking the sun before it goes down.
Make sure you put coarse dirt underneath all of the roof
It’s honestly hard to see the inside of your house but the important thing for the interior is that you use dark thatch on the inside of the roof. An easy way to check if you are using the dark thatch correctly is to turn the fire off and add the dark thatch, then turn the fire back on.
Another thing is that though you are using the 4 main beams, we need more supports, so I would look further into the beam blocks that you can add connecting to the main beams to support the roof.
Though I gave you good amount of feedback, I would highly, highly recommend rechecking with the Dunland guide at /warp dunlandguide because you are headed in the right direction but are missing some major important details.
Your changes are definitely a very big improvement for your hobbit house. However I think a little bit more practice for both your interior and exterior will help you reach Apprentice, therefore I’d like you to try one more Hobbit house and implement the feedback you’ve been given on a clean slate. Just remember to check out the Hobbit guide and main-map houses to help you replicate their detailing.
As for your Lorien house perhaps @MrBanana has some feedback to give.
Thanks for the changes again! Still has some minor flaws but practice on the main map and guidance will get you there soon enough. That being said I think you’re ready 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.
Seems you’re ready for Builder at this stage. Good job and thanks for keeping your app up to date during your stint as apprentice. We look forward to having you as Builder on AC, congrats!
