Article by Cole Edmonson | May 15, 2014
Introduction
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how to become a better builder. People have asked me online and at conventions if I can give them any tips on how to improve their builds, and I feel honored that they should come to me for advice.
This article is a brief look at the common characteristics which great MOCs share and a few ideas of how to improve one’s building. Because my knowledge in this area is far from complete, I’ve asked for advice from some of the top builders on the Internet; their combined feedback on ‘what makes a MOC great’ is an invaluable contribution to the topic. A huge thank-you to all who responded and shared their thoughts! This article is also a work in progress; I really appreciate readers’ feedback on how to make this article a better resource, and I would love to incorporate some of your ideas in future thought-pieces, like I did with my previous article on LEGO purism.
‘What Makes a MOC Great?’ is dedicated to my fellow builders who are serious about improving their craft. Thanks for reading, and I hope that you all may find this helpful.
~ Cole Edmonson
Defining the Term ‘Great’
“A great MOC is one that the builder likes. If the builder likes it, that’s all that really matters.”
Tyler Clites
First off, how are we defining ‘great’ in this article? I believe that a MOC is great when it achieves its purpose and is virtually the best it can be at fulfilling that purpose. With this definition, every MOC can be great depending on its purpose. Like I mentioned before, if you’re just building something for your own enjoyment, that’s great; however, if you’re reading this article, you probably desire to share your work with others in the hope that they enjoy it too. In that case, your MOC’s purpose (pleasing your viewers) depends on their standards (their likes/dislikes), and the question becomes, “What do people like about MOCs?” Listed below are some of the most common favorable attributes of popular MOCs, as found in comments by viewers. People typically say they enjoy MOCs that are:
- Detailed; the builder has gone to the trouble to include a large amount of special surface variation (or information) within a small amount of space.
- Realistic; the MOC’s purpose is to closely resemble a given subject, and it does so to the extent that the MOC doesn’t look like it’s composed of LEGO elements.
- A creative choice of LEGO elements (think NPU); the MOC uses existing LEGO elements in ways that are new to the viewers.
- Functional; the MOC contains “working” mechanical and/or electrically-powered features.
These are just a few of the aspects that viewers appreciate in the MOCs that they consider to be great. However, there are many models that share these characteristics but aren’t considered ‘great;’ they fail to engage many viewers, and for one reason or another, they just don’t stand out from the horde of other MOCs that are out there. What is different about the great MOCs versus the good ones?
What common traits do great MOCs share which help set these models apart? To go a little deeper, I decided to pose the question, “What makes a MOC great?” to some of the most celebrated builders in the AFOL community. Often, these individuals have been blogged by the likes of The Brothers Brick and BrickNerd, featured in publications such as BrickJournal and HispaBrick, and/or selected as winners in major competitions such as Iron Builder, the MOCathalons, and other building challenges. My reason for contacting these people was simple; they have repeatedly produced MOCs that stand out from the crowd, and despite the hundreds of other incredible MOCs that have come before, these builders know how to keep putting a different spin on LEGO, to keep improving themselves, and to keep catching the viewer’s eye. I was really encouraged by the responses they gave me; many of the AFOLs I contacted were very kind and quickly provided me with material I could include in this article. Their help and encouragement is greatly appreciated, and I hope that they may find this article an interesting read. (If you’re not familiar with their work, be sure to click on the links I’ve provided to their galleries!)
Builder Quotes
“I think what makes a MOC great is first and foremost the builder’s own satisfaction with it. Beyond that, I think an interesting subject matter, clever or new usage of parts and building techniques, and making people say, ‘I didn’t know it was LEGO!’ all contribute to making a MOC great.”
Bruce Lowell
“A great MOC is one that leaves an impression on the viewer whether through its quality of construction, innovative theme, or sheer size. Every memorable creation has at least one feature of being intricate, novel, or grandiose.”
Nannan Zhang
“MOCs are art so it follows that a great MOC should adhere to the elements of art and the principles of design. Things like color theory, shape, balance, unity, etc. all play a crucial part in creating a MOC of art.
Tyler Clites
“A great MOC is one that is presented well. If you’re taking a photo of the model, take time to do it right and show off all your hard work.”
“The best MOCs are the ones that showcase the talent, hard work, and personality of the artist. They may manifest these qualities differently from builder to builder, but the variety is what makes the LEGO community diverse and unique. Viewers think one creation is better than another just based on how the variety and style appeals to their tastes. This is why the best MOCs can withstand critical peer review and are acclaimed in the public eye. They have both the talent that we LEGO fans appreciate, and the beauty and fineness of form that the public likes to see.”
Blake Baer
“In my opinion, the key to a successful MOC is that you should (a) do a lot of research before you begin building, (b) add many reasonable details to your creation while you are building, and (c) be patient and try to put as much effort into taking pictures of your MOC as you have put into building it.”
Thorsten Bonsch
“The most important characteristic that all great models share is originality. Whether in subject matter or technique, a model that is unique is always better than one that is ordinary.”
Jordan Schwartz
“There are a lot of things that come together in a good model. Build techniques, in the sense of using clever combinations of parts oriented in a certain way to recreate a shape are just part of it. I think the overall look of a model is more important than specific techniques and to get that right, plenty of care and attention should be given to the bits that might not seem all that exciting.”
Ralph Savelsberg
“A great MOC inspires others to build.”
Mike Nieves
“There’s a small window or opportunity to grab a viewer’s attention. A good MOC is able to get it and a great MOC can hold it.”
“First, I feel that it would benefit our community to get away from the term MOC – I prefer the word ‘build’ because it better signifies our process.
Dave Kaleta
“…There are countless ‘good’ builds, and even ‘excellent’ builds, but I feel for a build to be ‘great,’ it needs to contribute something new and original to the world, convey some sort of sense of who the builder is and what they have to say, and have some sort of connection to the larger world. There are many technically excellent builds that utilize brilliant techniques and part usage, but this alone cannot make a build ‘great.’ [For it] to truly be a great build, a connection must occur between the viewers and the creator that connotes a deeper meaning beyond an assembled collection of plastic interlocking bricks.
While the quotes above have slightly-different areas of focus, what big picture do they form when they’re all connected? It seems that a MOC’s greatness is in its ability to engage the viewer, to connect with them personally and leave an impression on them through a well-presented combination of originality, clever building techniques, and detail. Something about it needs to really ‘pop’ and draw the viewer’s interest. While pondering these builder-responses, I have also been thinking about a few quotes I recently found in a book called The Elements of Graphic Design (2nd Edition), by Alexander White [©2011, Allworth Press]. Be sure to consider these:
“The creative act does not create something out of nothing. It uncovers, selects, reshuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, faculties, skills. Typically, the more familiar the parts, the more striking the new whole.”
Arthur Koestler
“Good design isn’t just good looks. People don’t buy aesthetics, they buy emotions. They want an experience: what it does for them, how it behaves, how it works for them. And most importantly, how it makes them feel.”
Robert Brunner
How to Improve One’s Building: Some Ideas
So now that we know what makes a MOC great, how do we apply this to our design/building process? Here are some ideas that have helped me improve over the years, which you may find helpful:
- If you’re not already posting your own creations online and you’re just looking at other builders’ work, you are missing out on a huge opportunity for constructive feedback. This also applies to people who attend LEGO fan conventions and exhibitions but don’t bring anything of their own to display. It is okay if your MOCs don’t look that polished compared to other people’s work; everyone has to start somewhere, and you’ll get better with practice, especially if you can look at your MOCs through other builders’ eyes. They’ll see things you hadn’t considered and give you tips on how to refine the model, but only if you allow them to see it! Building for an audience, especially in a contest, will make you more conscientious about both the quality and presentation of your work, and these will certainly improve as a result.
- Comment on other builders’ work. When you analyze another person’s model and take the time to give them constructive criticism in written form, you help them out by showing them what would make their MOC better. By doing so, you also benefit yourself as well by developing an eye for what improves a MOC and being able to look at your own models more objectively. (You also strengthen your relationships with others in the community, which is another plus!)
- Get the color(s) right! There is nothing more distracting about a MOC than if the color is wrong; the human eye will typically see color before shape, images, text, and any other elements. If you don’t have enough pieces in the right color, and you’re striving for realism, then you should probably buy more pieces or build something else. (Everybody starts off building rainbow-colored MOCs and eventually moves on to fully coordinated color-schemes when they improve.)
- Squeeze as much detail as you can into the model’s available space, unless you are intentionally going for a simple or sentimental look. Try to refine every aspect of the MOC, whether it is a life-size car or a microscale boat. Don’t waste this opportunity to show that you take pride in your work and that you want it to be the very best it can be. Keep tweaking the model even after it’s “finished.” If you take the time to get every detail right, people will notice immediately.
- Be a purist and challenge yourself to build only with official, unmodified LEGO elements. If you’ve grown up in North America and/or bought secondhand LEGO bricks in bulk, you have probably picked up some clone parts from cheap toy brands like MEGA-Bloks, Tyco, etc. If you have any of these floating around in your collection (like I once did), be sure to get rid of them. These parts are usually very poor in quality (with discoloration, cracking, and lack of proper connectivity being common), and many viewers will be impressed if you can stick with just LEGO elements and not ‘cheat.’ See my article on purism for more details.
- Pore over LEGO catalogs, magazines, and set reviews, and become ridiculously familiar with all the different parts that TLG has released in their building sets over the years. Go ‘window-shopping’ on BrickLink and stay current on what parts have been produced in what colors. Keep track of new elements that have been released this year and what sets they’re included with (2021 Update: I would highly recommend the blog New Elementary for this purpose). The better you know the LEGO System (which includes its relatives, such as the Technic, Bionicle, Duplo, and even Znap Systems), the more easily you can determine the best possible parts to use when you’re building. You may even start to ‘see in LEGO,’ where your brain automatically starts to break everyday objects that you see into possible parts-connections as you daydream. (Your friends and family will think you’re weird, but your building will definitely improve!)
- Practice your photography, especially your use of lighting and perspective. Focus (literally) on the aspects you want your viewers to see, and don’t overwhelm them with a distracting background. Let the pictures provide a simple, straightforward presentation to the viewer. If your MOC is really complex, that’s great; however, if its visual presentation looks too complicated to the viewer, they may not take the time to appreciate it, and click, they’re looking at something else. While they’re not essential to a good presentation, photo-editing programs like Photoshop and GIMP can make any picture look better; be sure to check these out!
- When you push the envelope in your building and try to achieve things that no one has done before, there will are many times when you run into difficulties, the project becomes a drag, and you are tempted to give up and try building something that is less ambitious. Don’t give up; if you get stuck on a problem, take a short break and do something else before coming back to it with a fresh perspective (and hopefully, a better chance of finding a solution). My greatest and most innovative MOCs are often the ones that I don’t feel like finishing; be patient and remember that it is often easier to build something up once you’ve “broken it down” into smaller, more manageable subsystems. When you start a project, work on the complicated components separately and solve the most difficult problems first. If you manage to get the hard parts out of the way first, the remaining parts of the model will seem much easier (and enjoyable) to complete, and it will be smooth sailing from there.
- Strike a good balance in the MOC between looks, functions, and durability. Know which one of these is most important to you, but be careful to maximize the amount of all three in the design decisions you make. A mosaic that looks really cool would be even more impressive if it was strong enough to resist breaking in transport and had extra working features, like a lenticular surface and motorized functions. An advanced robot with sophisticated working features and a strong skeletal frame would be even better if it was covered with a realistically-sculpted shell that concealed its mechanics and kept its features a surprise until the opportune moment.
- Remember to have fun! If you’re working with LEGO pieces and you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong. Relax and try not to take the hobby too seriously; remember why you started building with LEGO bricks in the first place. Both the journey and the destination are important in any creative endeavor; be sure to enjoy and learn from each stage of the project.
In Closing
These are just a few of the many things you could do to improve your building and create great MOCs. As I mentioned in the introduction, this article is a work-in-progress; as I find more ideas on how to improve one’s building, I hope to keep adding to the article. This is also where you guys come in with your comments; please feel free to join the conversation and share any tips or ideas you have regarding the topic. You can message me directly here.
Thanks for reading!
