From basic Building Blocks

[Pensword]

I like to use the game Minecraft and combine it with drawing, because you can sketch it out on paper and if you like it,
you can build it and look at it in 3d.

Also everything in Drawing as well as in the Game Minecraft is made of Basic Building-Blocks!

In Drawing everything can be made up from the basic Forms: Cube, Sphere, Cylinder and Cone.
Each of those can be replicated from the squared blocks in Minecraft, even the Sphere can be build with those!

So now I am interested in designing a really cool Building/Scenery and build it in that Game.


If you have never looked at Minecraft, you probably expect Buildings in there to look like this:





But there are People, who build amazing Houses and Sceneries! Probably those people put a lot of work in and
have a lot of knowledge about Design-Principles and Color Theory and alike.

Look at these amazing Examples:












(By posting these Examples I probably already post something that is better than everything I will be doing...)



Nevertheless, I generated a new World in Minecraft and it is a very green Djungle with a nice Beach at the Coast Line
in front of the deep blue Ocean. Very nice basic scenery!








My scenario shall be something like a Harbour, first of all a big Warehouse, and the story it should tell
(or I would have in mind) would be, that the settlers came with their ship to this new continent/Island and
are now errecting a settlement.


Here I have a Concept Art Sketch, which shows a harbour-scenery, which I found cool at the time.
It is in no way exactly, what I want to recreate, but it is somewhat a random example.
It is very basic, but still cool.





Here I began to sketch some first ideas for the Colony-Warehouse, beginning with the most basic Boxes and alike:

[darktiste]

Here you can get a cool crane reference for your project i think it would look better than those building as the function is much more visible.

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/medieval...0a2a05b598

If you manage to get a final drawing will you do the build in Minecraft vanilla or are you going to use mod?

One of the problem you will have is that right now your drawing the building like it made of glass that make your design very limited and it also prevent you from choosing what material will be use. You need a way to create the building with scale in mind since Minecraft require a certain level of precision to turn real object into ''voxel" or square equivalent. For example those slanted roof are not possible without mod unless you are ok with the roof looking like step.

It would be useful to create in creative mode what normally called  ascaffold structure to test the scale and placement of your element in the scene. Let me know if you know what is a scaffold structure and no i am not talking about what you see on the side of building during construction.

Being able to save and load as well a rotate your build around would also be great when trying stuff in Minecraft. But i suspect you either need to learn how to use Minecraft command or use mod to help you achieve that.Do you have any experience with any of those two topic?

So even if you have goal right now your kinda designing in a manner that not gonna translate as well as you might think...object use space object overlap those are problem only if you wanna create image... but if you goal is just to design playable map all you really have to worry about is if block occupy the same space... that why being able to copy and paste thing around become so important because it mean you won't have to redesign just to fix what you didn't predicted...


 you should be finding the material the scale of thing and the arrangement is space in Minecraft... but i suspect why you are not doing that is you don't understand Minecraft to the degree require to follow my instruction so big build might be outside of your current capacity unless you spend astronomical amount of time in Minecraft something i don't recommend since there is quick way. 

Big build might sound cool but without proper understanding of minecraft what seem possible will become a headache quicker than you think.

You are talking about turning a 2d representation of a subject into 3d that not the same amount of time required. In Minecraft i have to remind you that you have to place 1 block at a time if you don't know any of the ''more advance'' way to build.

If i was you i would probably learn to download map first from the minecraft community related to the topic and check other people build take some screenshot for inspiration.

The rest is up to you and what kind of time you are willing to spend... i say that if that the type of project you like to do you should invest in learning more about Minecraft since it the end goal.

I joined paper you might find useful to create your build on if you have a digital program you could have infinite copy of it otherwise you can probably find this in a store. Are you familiar with what is orthographic drawing?

[Pensword]

Thanks for suggesting a crane! A crane should definitely be added to complete a cool looking harbour!

This is the basic building that I moulded till now for the beginning:

[darktiste]

Well you surely need wooden dock .Even if you have chest it nice but it doesn't make the outside look like a harbor i would recommend using some  using those barrel type block to make crate outside so the harbor look like the some stuff actually being taken out from ship into the warehouse. Obviously the build need a few ship i recommend you find out how to import other player build if you don't want to spend long hour figuring out how to make ship.

The problem with the crane is it probably only gonna look good with modded block.I recommand the mod

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/ma...cturecraft

it basically give you some addictional block like pillar,arch block,slope roof and other block that make minecraft build a little more realistic. Obviously i can't offer 100% certainty that the mod will be compatible with the version you use but you might be able to import map to a newer version depending if you play with old version.

Also for the floor i would use green carpet instead of green dye it just give the extra thickness that type of attention to detail that really not that hard to implement in creative. Pillar are never made of tree with bark so maybe use an other wood type if you want to add variety anyways that really up to you to decide what level of realism you want.

Where the rock meet the water you can add some mossy rock to add more texture and variety to the stone that touch water.

Here so pic for inspiration.Also you can play around with some texture pack to change the block texture and feel. Some texture are more cartoonish,realistic,horror,minimalistic and so on.

[Pensword]

Here is the current status:






The Color Palette of the scenery obviously is:

Dark Green from the surrounding Trees.
Dark Grey (and a bit light grey sometimes) from Stones being used as building material for the buildings
and
Dark Brown (and sometimes light brown) from Wood being used to construct the roofs.

If now I would place like 5 Buildings and they all have this color scheme,
and I want to sprinkle in 1 Building that has a different color (overall or maybe just the Roof),
what does Color Theory say, which colors would look really awesome in this surrounding color scheme?


And what teacher or lesson or source would teach color theory in a way, that I could answer this question for myself?

[darktiste]

You won't be thinking much about color theory if most of your time is spent building you need to find way to cut time building otherwise adding more different block to your build will become a very difficult reality. That why i suggest you learn about mod and command that really come to do you want to play Minecraft or do you want to build...

What i recommend is you learn about the command in Minecraft that allow you to switch one block for an other type. I am not saying i know how to do that but i know command are very powerful tool and they can surely help you switch block more rapidly to test those color variation.But you also need way to save your idea and to copy them and rotate them where you need them to be. So basically you need a space to test some idea before you move them in place.

All i am gonna say about color theory is try to avoid using to many different color unless it fit the theme which i doubt a harbour need that. Just stick to what you see in the real world don't try to over analyze it.Just look at what block you have and try to match them with what you see in the real world.

It not very realistic to have alot of color in the medieval period as they needed to produce colorant which at that time were not so common. Think about adding variety in the ''same block section'' for example instead of having perfect cobble stone add some moss cobble stone to zone where it make sense add some cracked cooble stone to add variety back when i played i didn't had as much block option as now .Take a look at this list if you need idea about block combination and maybe establish a plan for each build and make a list of the block you want to use before you try a build https://minecraft.wiki/w/Block

But also don't go above your building skill it will evolve overtime you have to adapt your build to your current capacity otherwise your shooting for the impossible.

A harbor is a mid range to a high difficulty build depending on your tool and gameplay.

But basically i can give you alot of ''try this try that'' but it really limited by how you play .Like vanilla vs modded minecraft really change the whole building experience. But to a even higher degree the game mode change the whole experience. Because now not only do you have to farm the block you have to place them according to the rule of whatever limit your set yourself in. Obviously some map are created with the creative option to be able via command.There also the dimension of single player vs server multiplayer gameplay it also an other story because you can get the material by trading or cooperating with friend but you can also loose your progress if you get raided or play in hardcore. It really about learning to play effectively if you play the classical way or just knowing alot about the game and the many mod to help you get what you want.