I'm New (Kinda) to Building, and Would Like some Advice, Please!

blogzilly

Hello, I'm an AFOL, late 40s, and was away from LEGO since my teens. My career (ironically in the toy business just not building toys) kept me busy but I semi-retired early. Played LEGO Dimensions and it awakened the magic, and I am all-in with the brick now. 

Built some sets, lots of smaller stuff...some medium sized Creator and Star Wars, have not cracked open any if the Expert pieces I have bought, though I am about to tackle the UCS Tumbler, as soon as I get the parts cleaned off all the way (used dontcha know). I'm sorting pieces as best I can, and am getting the urge to start tackling my own projects. 

So, the question in the title pertains mainly to books. I'd like to get some opinions on what you all think are solid books on building techniques, both intermediate and advanced. Other books that might give me the right pushes or knowledge are certainly welcome as well, and so is any wisdom anyone might wish to share. 

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place!

-Ken

catwrangler

I really love The Lego Ideas Book:

http://brickset.com/sets/ISBN0756686067-1/The-LEGO-Ideas-Book

It's nice because it goes into SNOT (Studs Not On Top) and other techniques that I didn't grow up with, and it also just covers a really broad range of stuff. You can sit down with an ice cream tub full of bricks and try out some of the themed ideas for, say, spaceships or cars or ice-cream vans, or you can go with something more ambitious and larger scale. And it's not just a how-to book, there are also interviews with various builders who do really huge/ambitious work and which have given me inspiration to think about pieces very differently. 

blogzilly

catwrangler said:

I really love The Lego Ideas Book:

http://brickset.com/sets/ISBN0756686067-1/The-LEGO-Ideas-Book

It's nice because it goes into SNOT (Studs Not On Top) and other techniques that I didn't grow up with, and it also just covers a really broad range of stuff. You can sit down with an ice cream tub full of bricks and try out some of the themed ideas for, say, spaceships or cars or ice-cream vans, or you can go with something more ambitious and larger scale. And it's not just a how-to book, there are also interviews with various builders who do really huge/ambitious work and which have given me inspiration to think about pieces very differently. 

Thanks catwrangler I'll definitely take a look at the tome. Appreciate it very much. 

akunthita

I will second that; the LEGO Ideas books are some of my favorites. And I also like the LEGO Adventures book series published by No Starch Press. They are similar to the LEGO Ideas books, but with bit more advanced projects.

Both the LEGO Ideas books and the LEGO Adventures books feature a great variety of projects - so they are sort of like a buffet for sampling. However if you want to get into specific niches (LEGO Technic, cars, buildings, micro-building, mosaics, robots, etc.) there are specific books for each subject.

I highly recommend you check out the entire selection of LEGO books by No Starch Press. They have a very large collection of LEGO books on all kinds of specific topics, most with detailed tutorials and building instructions. You can see them all here: https://www.nostarch.com/catalog/lego

blogzilly

Thanks I'll check out the whole batch. 

plasmodium

I've had a copy of "Brick City: Lego for Grown Ups" on my shelf for a while. It's mostly about building micro-scale landmarks etc, but you could learn some neat techniques from it. I haven't actually built anything from it because (as a student) I don't have the space or budget, but it is a neat book.

Bumblepants

swooshable . com has some pretty useful building techniques to browse through.

binaryeye

Beyond books, I recommend looking at MOCs, e.g. those posted at The Brothers Brick. You can learn a lot of building techniques by studying how other people build.

New Elementary is also useful for building techniques and interesting part usage.

blogzilly

I'll take a look at the LEGO for Grown Ups book. Swooshable I saw a bit a couple of days back, the glossary they had was helpful. There was a link to a slightly older PDF that was cool. And I have TBB and a handful of other websites that I am bookmarking/adding to some new folders in my Favorites as I go along. All part of the ongoing education. I've never visited New Elementary I'll check that out when I get some time tonight.

Thanks, keep em comin!

plasmodium

If it's websites you're after, there's MOCpages (a fair variety of wheat and chaff, but the good stuff on there is good), and you could always follow the Flickr etc accounts of good builders to see how they do stuff.

catwrangler

Re: No Starch Press, their Lego (and other) stuff shows up intermittently on Humble Bundle when they are doing book bundles - it can be a very good value way to get a selection of their books. 

Fauch

the most obvious to me are set instructions on brickset

blogzilly

Hadn't heard of humble bumble, thanks for that tip. 

I do do follow some Flickr accounts, Instagram and such. Hard to get detailed info from that but I get a TON of inspiration. 

LEGO_Dad77

Did you see the HUMONGOUS Hogwarts that a woman up in Oregon (or Washington?) built in the last couple of years? I'm pretty sure she won a LEGO contest with that moc, and it was very well deserved. I enjoy just perusing YouTube and checking out other AFOL moc builds and techniques, kinda face to face you know?

Longtime fan of you & your work, very happy to see you here, and can't wait to see what you've got in store for LEGO. :D

blogzilly

Thanks no I didn't see that. Is that the same woman from the LEGO documentary who built a Rivendell? I also never thought of just tooling around YouTube that's a great idea...usually I just watch it with my son but I'll give your suggestion a go. 

You know it's weird. LEGO intimidates me. Don't know why but it does. I've built a bunch of smaller things since I got back into it. But nothing really big yet. I have a bunch of Expert level stuff that I haven't touched yet. Partially because I'm still working on where that's gonna happen, but the other part, if I'm being totally honest, is good old fashioned intimidation. 

I'm sure I'll move beyond it as I learn new things, but it's interesting. 

GeordiePaul

@blogzilly If it helps any, I'm intimidated too when it comes to building MOCs and posting them. My stuff looks like it was built by an eight year old in the 80's. I'm
pretty clueless when it comes to modern building techniques, but luckily for me my four year old son isn't too critical of my attempts (yet). I suppose with practice, looking at other people's MOCs and doing a little research on newer techniques, I'll get better.

Just jump right in and have fun. That's what it's all about, right? :-)

dougts

blogzilly said:

Thanks no I didn't see that. Is that the same woman from the LEGO documentary who built a Rivendell? I also never thought of just tooling around YouTube that's a great idea...usually I just watch it with my son but I'll give your suggestion a go. 

You know it's weird. LEGO intimidates me. Don't know why but it does. I've built a bunch of smaller things since I got back into it. But nothing really big yet. I have a bunch of Expert level stuff that I haven't touched yet. Partially because I'm still working on where that's gonna happen, but the other part, if I'm being totally honest, is good old fashioned intimidation. 

I'm sure I'll move beyond it as I learn new things, but it's interesting. 

same person.  Alice Finch:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bippitybricks/

blogzilly

GeordiePaul said:

@blogzilly If it helps any, I'm intimidated too when it comes to building MOCs and posting them. My stuff looks like it was built by an eight year old in the 80's. I'm
pretty clueless when it comes to modern building techniques, but luckily for me my four year old son isn't too critical of my attempts (yet). I suppose with practice, looking at other people's MOCs and doing a little research on newer techniques, I'll get better.

Just jump right in and have fun. That's what it's all about, right? :-)

I thought so. Though I find that the forum community has its share of condescending attitudes. But what doesn't? But I really appreciate your thoughts. I also thought I might try doing some actual pencil drawings first then convert to LEGO. Why that idea didn't occur to me in the first place I have NO idea. Oh yeah...intimidation! :)

blogzilly

dougts said:

blogzilly said:

Thanks no I didn't see that. Is that the same woman from the LEGO documentary who built a Rivendell? I also never thought of just tooling around YouTube that's a great idea...usually I just watch it with my son but I'll give your suggestion a go. 

You know it's weird. LEGO intimidates me. Don't know why but it does. I've built a bunch of smaller things since I got back into it. But nothing really big yet. I have a bunch of Expert level stuff that I haven't touched yet. Partially because I'm still working on where that's gonna happen, but the other part, if I'm being totally honest, is good old fashioned intimidation. 

I'm sure I'll move beyond it as I learn new things, but it's interesting. 

same person.  Alice Finch:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bippitybricks/

Yes, that's perfect, thanks for the link! I have no idea how all you talented folks get your hands on so many bricks!

dougts

money.  lots and lots of money.  ;-)

and i certainly don't put myself into the "talented" category. I usually can't finish any of my MOC ideas.  I have half a dozen half-completed mocs and haven't mocced in months.  

BillyBricks84

After coming out of my dark ages about 7 months ago, I only built my first MOC this month. I decided to just jump in and create an entry for the September build contest on this forum. Otherwise, I probably would never have created something of my own because I was making the mistake of comparing what I could do to the creations of people who 1) have been working on this for years and 2) have tens of thousands of more pieces than I do. Instead, I should have been just learning from the techniques they used. Youtube is a fantastic resource. Just watching the results of the search "LEGO MOC techniques" could fill up your whole day. 

Maybe you could try your first MOC for this site for whatever the October contest calls for. Usually the builds are fairly small, so it is a less intimidating way to get started. 

blogzilly

@BillyBricks84 Thanks that's a good idea. Might try that. Some of the recent holiday vignettes I've been assembling have got me thinking about some small ones to tackle. 

And @dougts, your comment made me laugh...the "I haven't mocc'ed in months". Sounds like something I'd say at a party. :)