Does anyone else here struggle with MOCs?

[SerenityInFire]

I don't know what it is with me, I just can't seem to put anything together. I don't know how to translate my ideas into Lego form and I just get really frustrated. Anyone else out there have any suggestions for me or anything?

[Mahtion]

I don't know what it is with me, I just can't seem to put anything together. I don't know how to translate my ideas into Lego form and I just get really frustrated. Anyone else out there have any suggestions for me or anything?

It may sound overly simplistic but I just say have fun. If you just play and feel for the design, you will be more openly creative allowing for the ideas to flow into brick form. Often, if you plan too much it can actually be a hindrance to the creative process. When I made my largest displays and some SW starfighters I wasn't even planning on this being the time or pieces to use. By just playing with the bricks it eventually became a full project.

At least this how it has worked for me. Not sure how much planning goes on for others here. Hopefully they too will share with you soon.

[Gremer]

I have the trouble of not having enough pieces in a single color to moc anything. I've become more of a small modder myself.

[Slobey]

I agree with Mahtion, don't plan too much and just let the creativity flow. sometimes all it takes is putting a few pieces together to inspire you to make it bigger.....

For example: I planned this MOC meticulously and I lost inspiration pretty quick. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=80556&hl=concentric but this one just sort of happened while I was experimenting with some building techniques http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=98384

[Ranger_Elegost]

Hey, I have to admit I have trouble sometimes building my MOC'S. I eventually manage to build what I want, but it can take ages for me to build. I start to overthink about building, 'Is it going to be good enough', 'Is it as good as other's', 'What if it turns not really bad', 'What if I make a mistake' :-/ Sometimes I hate building, to be honest, because I experience these thoughts. But what I believe is that you've just got to go for it, start building and then you won't be able to stop your imagination :P If you make a mistake, take it apart and rebuild it, it's easy and you'll thank yourself afterwards and at times the second build comes out better than before :)

Hope this has been of some help :)

[Blufiji]

Sometimes I'll build something and think it's good..as time goes on I'll look at it, see other people's stuff and see a bunch of great techniques or look pieces and figure out new connections for things. At that point I just break it down and start all over or rebuild it to get the idea I was originally going for. The best way to translate your ideas from mind to brick IMO is to go through the rebuild process..always critique yourself..worry about "what if they don't like it?" and all of that later.

Edited August 17, 2014 by blufiji

[Cyberbricker]

I don't know what it is with me, I just can't seem to put anything together. I don't know how to translate my ideas into Lego form and I just get really frustrated. Anyone else out there have any suggestions for me or anything?

I have/had the same thing, but after a long hard frustrating few months I realized I was beginning with way to complicated MOC's.

Just an example, I was building my first MOC, a BIG castle that was over 20.000 Bricks and It was not even finished!

The castle was okay, nice shape and all, but I it was lacking detail and ingenuity.

So I took a break and started looking up tutorials, and looked at other peoples ideas. I saw many MOC's, some of them small and some of them very big!

Then I realized I should just start with something small and fun an just made a blacksmith and a Little tavern, and didn't over think it to much and ideas just started growing and now I have 2 nice medieval building with nice detail and good techniques!

Recently I started to rebuild my castle with the same techniques and its really starting to come together!

So keep it simple if your just starting and eventually your MOC's will become bigger and bigger!

[kreimkoek]

It is easy to say to just start building but you have to have a general idea of what you are trying to achieve. You have to take into account the amount of bricks you have and at what scale you want to build. I also think the right use of colors can make or break a moc. I have alot of sand green and bley from my lotr/hobbit collection and those are ideal for building castle's/ fortresses in that style.

Also start with something small like a watchtower to learn some basic building techniques. My creations got bigger when i had more bricks at my disposal, I only have orthanc on display all my other sets

are used for parts.

For my last creation I drew a sketch of a island with a fortress on rocks and a bridge connected to a watchtower. So I started with building a sturdy foundation. After that I just used my imagination but I did not forget what i wanted to achieve.

In the picturre below you can see the beginning of my rock foundation and you can also see a little "cave".

And here is the finished island.

This took me a whole month to build so you got to have some patience when building something bigger.

Good luck and don't give up. I also get frustrated at times (searching for parts is my bane).

[Missing Brick]

Some good advice on here. Start small. If the moc is minifig based then try to come up with some interesting poses or action first - maybe try some test shots with minifigs only - then build the moc around thoses poses or that scene. And don't be afraid to steal ideas from other builders. Most will be flattered if you give them a credit in your photo description.

[Lind Whisperer]

I don't know what it is with me, I just can't seem to put anything together. I don't know how to translate my ideas into Lego form and I just get really frustrated. Anyone else out there have any suggestions for me or anything?

Build the trees in the forest, before you build the whole forest.

In other words, don't be afraid to build larger creations, but always see the whole creation as a series of smaller builds. Divide it up into small, manageable pieces, and just keep on taking them apart and rebuilding them until they feel right.

Also, if you don't have a large surplus of bricks, try building your models first in LEGO Digital Designer. But, do keep in mind that not all bricks you can create in Universal Mode(the one I prefer), exist in real life(or are still in production.). Try using the Bricklink Color Guide to check your parts against. If it's a part and color that are still in production, and aren't Trans-xxx, then there's a decent chance that you'll see that part be released in real life.

Hope this helps!

[Mr Greeble]

I used to have trouble making MOCs too, for various reasons including wrong colors and not enough bricks, but I make most of my creations in mini scale now, which provides a fun challenge, without having to use tons of bricks. Also, if miniscale is not for you, when you try to build larger models, as enticing as the small details and the creative stuff is, it's a good idea to start out with the walls or something like that.

Happy building!

[Alcarin]

I dont have enough pieces to MOC big creations so I limit myself on smaller creations aka Vignettes that are about 50-200 pieces.....

Ill try something with 2000 pieces when i reach 10.000 pieces sometimes next year.

[TheLazyChicken]

I dont have enough pieces to MOC big creations so I limit myself on smaller creations aka Vignettes that are about 50-200 pieces.....

This is my problem too, I don't have enough pieces to moc big things either.

[Alcarin]

This is my problem too, I don't have enough pieces to moc big things either.

I think currently I have about 2000-2500 parts, but atleast 300-400 are accessories like food, shovels, pickaxe, weapons, hairpieces etc...... Then there are like 1000 1x1 round tiles and 300 1x4 tiles that means I have less than 1000 parts to build...... well unless I take apart all my sets displayed :P

[CastleDefender]

Always start small, and once you are in it...ideas start to flow in and tats when u know wat kind of bricks (colour, type and etc) u need.

[SirBlake]

I just block it out using big simple pieces and then the ways to improve become apparent. I probably build a single MOC 3 or 4 times because I take major sections off and rebuild them. It's actually quite fun this way and works well when you're limited by parts. In fact, I've found that parts limitations can be quite useful in coming up with solutions that you otherwise wouldn't have found if you had unlimited parts to work with.

[Yzalirk]

I have the same problem when it comes to MOC'ing as well. It might be because I don't have a large LEGO collection and I hardly have good ideas that I can build that I invision.

[SerenityInFire]

Thanks for the advice guys. I really appreciate it.

[Swan Dutchman]

Building something can take a long while... take my ship for example, it took me 1.5 years to complete it. I think it's natural that you just cant have inspiration for building the whole year through and breaks are needed, especially in big projects. Currently I am making a big MOC again (I began that one in March) and I already build a big part of it, but at the moment I just can't put myself to it to build further on it because there are some difficult issues to be solved. My solution: taking a break by building another MOC that is smaller and easier to design. I am currently re-inventing an official set of the ninetees with 2014 bricks. And it works! After I am finished I am sure that I have the mojo again to build on my big project.

I design like this: I have a general idea of what I want to build, the scale and than I just start building in real bricks or LDD. Mostly I come up with ideas for components, instead of the total (for example a western MOC: the mine train, next comes the rails, next there's a cactus, next a water barrel on poles, next comes some sluices... and before you know it there's the mine, the rockwork etc.) I build with the pieces I have... the colours are the biggest limitations, but I just go through. After I build a big part I turn to LDD and mostly come up with slight improvements: new colours, cheaper bricks, sturdier constructions, cost-saving, etc. Than I make a list of the parts I still need and order them on the web. After that it's time to finish the MOC completely.

[SerenityInFire]

So far the only MOC's I have built have been based on actual sets; using instructions, substituting pieces here and there, expanding it a bit. I have a lot of trouble coming up with my own ideas.

[cesbrick]

Nice discussion. Well for me the biggest challenge is, of course the limitation in parts, and I have a fairly big collection now. Apart from that I never make a sketch or a design of a MOC. I have an idea of what I want to build and start to imagine in my head the shapes, the colors, the technics that I can use, etc. and go from there. Everytime I do, undo and do it again countless times. That's why I only make MOCs about once a month or so. I like them with lots of details and I build and rebuild lots of times.

When I buy from briclink I try to look for parts that will suit my future MOCs, theme wised. I buy a lot of accessories, rounded plates, tiles in various colors and, of course, lots of masonry bricks and almost everything brown!

[mccoyed]

Start small is the best advice. I was doing a bit of light MOCing before I found out about stuff like GoH or EB and I was a lurker on r/AFOL on Reddit. From my Flickr account, you can see my progression since I joined Guilds of Historica. So my next bit of advice is that you consider joining Guilds of Historica or something similar if you can. Unfortunately, right now there aren't any similar projects for other themes except Star Wars but apparently some are in the works. I've thought of starting a forum for either a Steampunk or Space Opera persistent MOCiverse like Guilds of Historica, but I would hate to disenfranchise from EB (so to speak).

But really, it's really good to join up with a bunch of people creating a story together. Often, their contributions and ideas will inspire you and give you projects to help contribute to or complete on your own. Before getting into EB stuff and GoH specifically, I did a lot of stuff with Mobile Frame Zero and tried to bring the game to my group of friends and fellow tabletop gamers. It didn't really work out but that's a great thing to try if your parts collection is small (or full of technic pieces) and you like mecha and science fiction.

[Bregir]

In Guilds of Historica, there is a lot of good inspiration, I find. In fact, I have the opposite problem - there are a million things I want/need to build, and so little time!

See for instance this task for inspiration.

[Blakstone]

Lots of great advice in here. Some I already do and others I want to incorporate. My addition is:

"To get better at building, you must build."

You don't have to show your work to others. You just have to do it over and over again. You will refine technique and enjoy the process. When you are ready, you can share your work.

One of my major problems is that I often I need a new piece to continue a MOC and then I stop until I order the part to continue. That focus has been really limiting. It makes more for a LEGO part sorter than a MOCer.

Inspiration from another thread lead me to buy a the LEGO calendar set. Each month I have to build a new vignette around the calendar using the pieces that I have. None of these MOCs have been the level where I wanted to share with Eurobricks. But it has been a joy... even if I am not always perfectly happy with the outcome.

[Lind Whisperer]

Start small is the best advice. I was doing a bit of light MOCing before I found out about stuff like GoH or EB and I was a lurker on r/AFOL on Reddit. From my Flickr account, you can see my progression since I joined Guilds of Historica. So my next bit of advice is that you consider joining Guilds of Historica or something similar if you can. Unfortunately, right now there aren't any similar projects for other themes except Star Wars but apparently some are in the works. I've thought of starting a forum for either a Steampunk or Space Opera persistent MOCiverse like Guilds of Historica, but I would hate to disenfranchise from EB (so to speak).

But really, it's really good to join up with a bunch of people creating a story together. Often, their contributions and ideas will inspire you and give you projects to help contribute to or complete on your own. Before getting into EB stuff and GoH specifically, I did a lot of stuff with Mobile Frame Zero and tried to bring the game to my group of friends and fellow tabletop gamers. It didn't really work out but that's a great thing to try if your parts collection is small (or full of technic pieces) and you like mecha and science fiction.

I tried suggesting a Space Sci-Fi story over in in the Sci-Fi thread(Although it would have more been along the lines of Heroica the RPG, with building as more of a side thing), but no one really seemed interested.

One of my major problems is that I often I need a new piece to continue a MOC and then I stop until I order the part to continue. That focus has been really limiting. It makes more for a LEGO part sorter than a MOCer.

One way to combat this is to have multiple projects going on at once, and you keep adding to them slowly over time.