In the bustling marketplace of Barqa, where poor artisans and farmers from miles around gather to trade wares and stories, John and his son Martin work long hours in their modest outdoor space. It’s a small start, but that doesn’t keep these craftsmen from dreaming big and working hard.
(This scene is the first part in a collaborative story I worked on with three other builders–you can see their parts here!)
My first focus when building an all-LEGO scene like this is composition. You’ve got to make sure that things you need in the final shot aren’t blocking each other, and even more importantly, you want to do everything you can to draw the viewer’s eye to the central stage of your photo, the part that tells the story. In this case, that was the glassblower and his father. So while we have lots of other characters doing their things–a farmer bringing cows to market:
–a customer inspecting the merchandise with her little son in tow–
(some of these even make for some decently composed shots of their own)
–activity at the cheesemongers–
–the critical thing is to not let any of the supporting cast steal the show from our main actor. And one big way to do that is with a careful use of color.
So here was my first go around at laying out this MOC. I set up the roof and awnings and a bit of the floor, which set the tone for the general colors of the build. Then I grabbed my figs (actually, the minifigures were the first things I put together) and got started laying them out.
You might notice that a couple of the background figures changed places for the final shot. It felt right to balance the nougat roof with a nougat cow on the other side. And the red lady lost all her red completely. It just was too distracting, claiming attention that needed to be focused on the glassblower. The same goes for that transparent orange glass in the customer’s hand.
A touch of blue on the background awning compliments the sand blue floor.
And although our farmer is wearing bright blue (as is the cheese customer in the background), there’s enough other blue in the build to mute it.
Meanwhile, I’m filling in background details–taking frequent looks through the camera to make sure I’m filling the frame. With the final shot almost ready, I took a last WIP picture: practically nothing changes after this as far as placement goes, but what will change is the lighting. I added a diffuser to my bulb to reduce glare. I also increased the aperture on the camera so that the background would be a little more in focus.
One advantage to taking WIP pictures as you go when building a full-LEGO scene is that it helps you know the size of the frame and not spend time on corners that won’t end up in the final shot. As you can see from this photo, the edges are just messy support structures.
And that’s it for this build! Just remember these two tips for all-LEGO scenes: keep the camera handy so you have the final shot always in mind, and use color and composition to your advantage so you can tell a cohesive story.
Enjoyed taking a closer look at this LEGO build? You might also have fun with:
Geneva D 
What do you think?