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Subject: 
Re: Top 8 ways to get out of a slump ...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.castle, lugnet.build
Date: 
Tue, 16 Jan 2001 00:03:52 GMT
Viewed: 
756 times
  
In lugnet.castle, Pawel Nazarewicz writes:
I'm sure I'm not the only one that has been in one of those.  They tend to
last anywhere from a day to six months to maybe even longer.  The questions
is:  What can you do about them once they are there?  I have been through
enough of them to accumulate a few ideas from personal experience.  These
are some of the things that worked as a pick-me-up for me:

1)  Get Detail Oriented.  What I mean here is build something simple.  Like
a normal house.  Or an Inn.  Or a ... forest meadow.  Now - start thinking
about details ... does the house have
a creek running right by it?  Should there be flowers?  Different
elevations?  Who lives there?  Why does he or she live there?  Does the house
have everything it needs - a bed, a table, a kitchen?  Where is the house?
In a village?  A part of a castle?  If it's a village, what else does it need?
A well?  A barn?  If it's a castle, what part of the castle is it in?

2)  Take It Easy.  If you are building something huge, like a castle, it's
easy to get burned out.  Do something simple at first - like barracks.  From
there, do a section of the wall and maybe a tower.  Draw everything out
first on a sheet of paper - you will know what you need to work with.  What
works for me is using graph paper and letting every square be a small 16 x
16 baseplate.  I can design my castle and then follow the draft.  This way
you have an idea of what you are planning to do and if it works.  Of course
a HUGE singular castle is infitely more complicated, but if you are
planning on doing of of those and haven't done one on baseplates yet, the
baseplates might be a better place to start.

Ill have to try the planning out on paper thing. especially with my castle
at chyste and forestmen's underground hideout.


3)  Let Things Come Together.  Dave Eaton didn't just sit down one day and
decide to build his village.  It all started with a house, which lead to a few
houses, then he built a mill.  He just thought about what might be good and
built this and that.  Same with my big castle (Strombrachter).  The
church was done for a different project as was the Inn.  When I wanted to
build my castle, I already had two things to plug in, and I could work
around them instead of staring at a blank page.

4)  Listen To Music.  And think of a story that goes with the music.  Write
some of the stuff down - this is mostly brainstorming.  What movie scenes
would  you make with this music?  Listen to a variety too ... here are some
good ones to start with, but this is obviously your own area.  If you have
Napster, get these and gro from there:

a)  Standing Outside The Fire - Garth Brooks.
b)  Higher - Creed
c)  Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
d)  Four Seasons - Vivaldi
e)  Paint It Black - Rolling Stones
f)  Crazy Train - Ozzy Osborne

5)  Watch Movies.  Same idea as above - just watch and pick out what you
like :)  Here are a few good starters:

a)  Willow - possibly the best movie for getting you out of your rut.
b)  Gladiator
c)  Ninja Scroll.  Not for kids, but very, very good.

great movie and I know this is off topic but the sequal ninja resurection is
pretty bad.

d)  The Princess Bride.

6)  Think Small.  Start with a character and then think of what crazy stuff
happens to them.  Before you know it, they need an enemy, a friend, a
setting (forest, castle, etc), and you are on your way.


think small:  I've been trying to build a Large, Minifig scale Mech and have
not been successful.  so yesterday after seeing the grey and blue 8 legged
mech (and it's black and yellow cosin) sorry I don't remember who built it.
I decieded to try again but instead I was just going to build a small
powered armor mech.  well many bricks and a few hours later I had a rather
successful mech (the powered armor idea went out the windw when I finished
the firs leg and decieded that it was a real good leg but too big for a
powered armor.  It is approx 9 times as tall as a a minifig)  I am 95% happy
with the legs 50% happy with the hips/lower torso 70% happy with the upper
torso and head and I haen't built the arms yet (I ran out of bricks had to
run to brickbay to purchase more click hinges and slopes)

this is an example of at least 2 ways to get out of a rut.  the first grows
from think small. the best way to get out of a rut is to build.  and it is
easier to start something small than something big.  second lugnet is a
great way to get inspired what ever your particular LEGO theme addition. (or
to start a new theme addition)

John

7)  Write A Story.  This will help you get detail oriented too ... you can
pack in a lot of action into  a small setting (like an inn or tavern).

8)  Browse Old Creations.  Some ideas here that are often overlooked are
Eric Brok's stuff:

http://homepages.svc.fcj.hvu.nl/brok/legomind/models/index.htm

And Frank's page:

http://www.mindspring.com/~ffilz/Lego/castle.html

I'm sure there are many other ways to get of a slump, but this should give
you good start.

-- Pawel



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Top 8 ways to get out of a slump ...
 
(...) I was having a temporary builder's block last night - not the kind of month-long slump that we've been discussing here, but an inability to make what I wantedto build (oddly enough, a minifig-scale mech) come out right. I had some parts joined (...) (24 years ago, 16-Jan-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.build)
  Re: Top 8 ways to get out of a slump ...
 
John Carroll <johnc@digitalacropolis.com> wrote in message news:G78AuG.28C@lugnet.com... (...) have (...) it. (...) happy (...) grows (...) (or (...) John brings up a good point here - revise, revise, revise. Rarely do I sit down and build (...) (24 years ago, 16-Jan-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.build)

Message is in Reply To:
  Top 8 ways to get out of a slump ...
 
I'm sure I'm not the only one that has been in one of those. They tend to last anywhere from a day to six months to maybe even longer. The questions is: What can you do about them once they are there? I have been through enough of them to accumulate (...) (24 years ago, 15-Jan-01, to lugnet.castle) ! 

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