[Anthology]- Small- Finding The Dark Side

[TheBeeze]

After years of turmoil between his parents, young Ben Solo has reached a turning point in his life. The strain of training to be a Jedi under his Uncle Luke's wing has been unbearable. The legacy of having the blood of royalty, evil and greatness tears at him. After a rigorous day of training with his Uncle and the other students, Ben Solo leaves the temple grounds on a worker transport platform. Passing the lush jungle and natural landscapes of Yavin 4, Ben felt a cold chill up his spine. A mysterious haze of curiosity and calmness overcame him to find the source of his experience. Looking below the short cliff, he found a waterfall that seemed to be calling to him. Banking hard and fast toward the waterfall, Ben felt a heightened state of anxiety, anger, and fear. Drawing his custom lightsaber while approaching the waterfall Ben Solo stood in cautious while peering into an apparition of his own likeness. Masked by the mist of the waterfall, a robotic voice called to Ben from beyond its own darkness.

I have not participated in any of these contests before so I hope I'm doing this right. This small MOC sits on a 32x32 baseplate.When I first read about this contest, this image popped in my head and I thought it would be interesting to visualize. Creating the rockfaces on boths sides is a technique I do not normally employ, but decided to challenge myself and try for this.This was built very much with a perspective and point of view in mind. One look from another angle the internal workings and behind the scenes become visible.

Here is the picture unedited. The picture above had minimal editing of some sharpness, color and brightness correction based on the angle of the lighting and camera positioning.

Here is a zoomed out shot of the entire MOC.

I don't know if this is frowned upon or not, but here are the behind the scenes Pictures

Top Down shot showing the wiring for the lighting running from the waterfall to the platform.

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Shot of the open back panel to control lighting and revealing our apparition from behind the waterfall. I achieved the silhouette of the Vader Force ghost by shining a bright white LED straight at the background white board which in turn caused a soft white reflection of light on Vader creating his shadow on the waterfall. That took countless attempts to get it to look halfway decent. I contemplated removing pieces of the waterfall to expose him but ultimately decided against it.

So I hope you enjoyed. Like I said this is my first time doing this so input on what is expected and what is wrong is appreciated. I hurried to get this done as I will be traveling for a portion of the month starting next week. I look forward to participating in more of these.

My Flickr

https://www.flickr.c...0925@N08/qx9iR1

Edited May 11, 2016 by Thebeeze111

[LucasLaughing]

Welcome to Eurobricks! This is an excellent build - I really like how you show Vader behind the waterfall and your lighting effects work well.

Personally, I always appreciate behind the scenes pics - it's nice to see what techniques other builders use.

My only suggestion for improvement would be to use the same building technique for the whole waterfall, rather than switching halfway through. It's a bit distracting, IMO, but that's just a minor point - this is a great build overall!

[TheBeeze]

Thanks Man! I totally agree with you on the waterfall, it's the one thing that I'm iffy about. I originally built it the same way all the way up like it looks on the bottom, but it made my lighting trick next to impossible. I may try something else if time permits. I appreciate the feedback.

[naugem]

Wow, that was fast. Very nice build!

[Galactic13]

This is a very nice design! Good luck on the contest! :D

[CP5670]

The water effects are great, and I like how you planned out the lighting. It's often hard to get interior lighting to look right through transparent bricks.

[TheBeeze]

Thanks All!

[MontyPython]

Great entry! I like the rock-work and ofcourse the waterfall. Good luck!

[Junior Shark]

Wow that was fast! You've got a great entry here. The rockwork is great, and from a story perspective I can totally dig this.

[MKJoshA]

Fantastic waterfall and good job on the rock work!

[TheBeeze]

Thank you everyone. I appreciate it. Sorry for the late response, I've been traveling.

[VaderFan2187]

Wow, looking back, this looks awesome!