Building Guide
This is going to be a guide on improving 5 different aspects of building in minecraft.
By Gogar72
Building in minecraft can be a challenge when you are limited on resources and are dealing with cubes. There are many many many many things you need to think about when you are building in minecraft.
1.) Details
2.) Purpose
3.) Atmosphere
4.) Style (Kinda optional)
5.) Perspective (Kinda like atmosphere)
Details
Adding detail is extremely important when it comes to the actual building itself. This doesn't really have anything to do with the area around your interior/exteriors. When I say detail, I am referring to the thing you are making. Now detail goes with Style very well. When you pick a style, you need to find details that you can add onto that style. You should also pick blocks that go very well together. I will discuss randomization later.
Bad Example: A very nice house with emerald bricks in front. The emeralds are very in the way of the build unless if the entire other build can support it. So if your house was made of wood, it will look pretty bad.
Good Example: A castle made with randomized stone bricks with a gate and all sorts of decoration. This is really good as it gains many different blocks while at the same time, it isn't that hard.
Purpose
Purpose is quite easy in my opinion. It is basically common sense. I will just put a bunch of examples so that way you guys can get the point.
Bad Examples: Good Examples:
A church next to a mine A house that supports the needs of someone living there
A huge dock, but no storage A village that has the requirements for it to sustain
A farmhouse, but 80% of it is wheat Blacksmith stuff with a blacksmith (Duh)
A park with a flat surface Windmills pointing the same way
To many supports for a small building A huge house with space to walk around outside
A window that you can't get to. A pathway between different places
Atmosphere
Atmosphere is really important guys. Making a really nice house is one thing. But if your feeling around it lacks, than it brings the epicness down by 50% in my opinion. And remember, Atmosphere isn't just plants or trees. Atmosphere is the feeling around your build. There are not really bad examples of this one, so I will just give out good ones. One huge tip that made me a better builder, was to stop making notch trees. They are highly un-realistic and will drop your atmospheric level by a ton. Learn how to make realistic trees, if you need help, look some designs up from other people.
Good Examples: A swamp house that is covered with greenery.
A lumbermill with cut down looking trees near it.
Style
Your style is what makes your building unique, so don't copy others unless if it is very minor. I can't give many tips on this one as it is very tied in with detail. Choose something you wanna build, and make it super easy to tell what it is. You can do that with Purpose as well. Once again, make your style, it isn't easy and can take many many hours of practice. Always try to improve what you already have as well.
Perspective
This one is really hard. I have many troubles with it but I will give you info on what I know. When you are building in minecraft, there are many small details or what most people like to go by 'Emphasis.' You need to make your building look 3d even if it's a wall. A really simple example is glass panes vs. glass blocks. It is so amazing on the difference between those 2 blocks that can throw a build off so easily. Glass panes give more perspective while glass blocks are flat against your build. Best way to improve on this is to get other people to look at your builds and ask them to criticize it. Even if you don't like being judged, sometimes it helps you get better at things.
Randomization
This is good for people who are a bit more experienced but why not start early? Randomization really isn't something you can learn. You just need to feel the blocks and stop being so symmetrical/ocd.
Block Combos
Pretty simple, block combos are just blocks that go nicely together. Of course there is a lot more when it comes to the blocks themselves. I will go over the basics, Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal. Those 3 things need to be approached with the right blocks. It adds Perspective to your build as well. Quartz blocks is a great way of explaining it. You have pillars which are obviously used for vertical situations. The normal block which could be used for any of them or filling in spots. And the chiseled blocks are used only on unique builds. Diagonal is good when you have a solid block that doesn't emphasis anything.
Good Block Combos:
Wood, stone, cobblestone, wood planks
Quartz, stone slabs, glass panes
Netherbrick, obsidian, quartz
Etc.. Just pick something that looks nice together.
Layouts/Planning
This is optional, if you like building without any ideas in front of your face, then ignore this step. Layouts are ways of putting something in front of you that way you can build the exterior faster/better. In my city, Gorland, I use layouts for every single building.
How do I build? What is my secret?
This one is going to be a long one but I highly suggest your read this. First of all, all of you that come to my homes and see good builds isn't because I used these tips. These tips aren't the secrets to being a god at building. They are simply just here to tell you how you can improve by these certain topics in building. I used to be one of the worst builders in minecraft since early beta.
How did you get good at building? I practiced. It wasn't easy, it really does suck up time on your hands. You constantly need to change things in your builds and test things out to see if you like it or not. Adding 1 block to a build can change the whole way someone looks at it. But again, I simply practiced.
So how do you build? I have started building with all of these techniques for about a month now. Since then, I have seen huge growth amount and I am pretty glad I tried that hard to get to where I am now. Overall, I have probably built for a total of 200 hours. So you will really need to find some time on your free time to practice. I build mostly medieval and a little modern. I can do everything else, it just is to much to list and some are weaker than others. I use layouts personally. I think they are the best way to start improving in my opinion.
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Bonus Tips
These are my opinions, but I think they help a lot. Post yours down as well!
-Notch trees :(
-Look up some videos on how to build faster (It really does improve your speed)
-Ask for help
-Build on many servers if you have the time
-Get involved with other people's projects as you will get ideas over time
-Watch how other people build
-Build with the land, not against it.
I wanna give some credit to Jamziboy (Go check him out) He is an outstanding builder and also did a building guide like this. Mine just gives a different perspective from a person who started out as a terrible builder to someone that actually can build now.
Again feel free to ask me any questions of the forum emails or replies. I will respond to all of them.
Check out my Gorland thread, you may get some ideas! http://www.opticraft.net/index.php/topic,19206.0.html
Look at the Accepted Project/Hall of fame Applications. They also give good inspiration.