Building things and making them look epic in Minecraft is tough. (Especially with the default texture pack) You have to have the right sense for aesthetics and know how colors mix and match. You have to know how to add depth and detail, and you have to know how it ultimately affects the build as a whole. Building in Minecraft is like painting on a 3D canvas, and this post is devoted to teaching you the basics of how to turn a very simple build into something people will admire. This will teach you the fundamental concepts for building epic things in Minecraft.
The picture above is a building that my friend and I built. We worked the building it out in a creative world, and slowly built it into the survival world. It took four days to work out everything. Now you may ask, "What the heck is this thing?!" It is a 'shell' or covering for a gold farm. The second layer is more squared and it resembles buildings from cities like Venice and Paris. It was made to cover the countless number of nether portals that are now inside of it.
I personally have a very high standard for building in Minecraft. I love making epic buildings. This was definitely an accomplishment and a first in my book. We wanted a big foundation for the build, and I decided to use a circle, a BIG circle. It has a diameter of (I believe) around 53 blocks, and who doesn't love building in circles...ya. Creating circles in Minecraft is challenging, and I will touch on that later in the article.
This is a zoomed in picture of the top part of the first layer (where the dome ends and the square structure begins). It is a mix of countless cobblestone and their stair variants. In the end, when you put all this together, it adds very intricate-looking details that make the build even better. Adding details to buildings is one of the most important concepts you need to understand, and knowing how to is even more important.
Take this flat and plain wall for example. It is 5 blocks wide and 4 blocks tall. Step 1 in adding detail is Variation. As you can see below, I added a strip of cobblestone on the bottom. This wall already looks better. But we can improve upon this.
Transitioning from different materials is an important point to consider. To make a transition from one material to the other, I often use stairs or upside down stairs to make the transition "more smoother" on the eyes and bring in a hint of depth.
Again, the above picture is another example of variation. But let's give this wall more depth.
In the picture above, I added support structures. In Minecraft, this is simply to add more depth to the build. I can't stress this enough, adding depth is so important to making a build really pop out!
Now I added stairs facing inwards towards each other on each side of the 'supports' to add more shape. ^^
This is the wall fully decorated with a mix of variation, depth, and shape.
The pictures below show another example of how to add details and depth to a plain wall.
Circles: many people don't like to build with circles. I think it's because many have tried and think it is too hard. It is not! Do you need a circle generator that will help you plan out any size circle you could imagine? Do you need help building spheres or ellipses?
Check these sites out:
>> Circle Generator
>> Plotz: Very Useful Shape Generator
Now it is time to take some simple things we learned and put them into practice on a real house!
I think we can all agree this is a very plain house. It has the typical "one material for the walls and one material for the roof vibe!" Let's see how we can make this house nice looking!
This is another view of the house without any modifications to it yet. ^^
Remember to use Variation! I added stone bricks on the bottom layer simply to use different materials. It also makes the house look like it has a real foundation!
Adding even more variation. This time I continue the stone bricks around the door and outline it.
Why not inset the door one block like this? ^^ It only adds more depth to the house which it desperately needs.
Now I added an awning. Again, simple things like this adds more depth and gives the house "character."
Let's get rid of that plain looking roof and make a more interesting shape...
I added (what I call) a "warehouse" style roof. It moves up every two blocks or so. Here are some closer pictures of the roof below.
On the top-center of the roof is a line of half slabs to finish the curve.
On the corners I decided to take out the oak wood planks and add logs. They look much better for the "framework". (Keep in mind that logs are perfect for the framework of your building. You don't have to always use them, but they are a great material for building the frames.) Now look at what we have done to a simple and boring house! We have made it more varied, detailed, and it has more shape to it!
Aesthetic Reminders: Lighting is so important that it actually helps create the "mood" for the area/building. Here are two example pictures comparing the two extremes for the brightness setting in Minecraft.
In my opinion, turning the brightness on full really kills the mood of the area. Granted I use it when I truly need it. (when caving or doing things that require high brightness settings). Just remember this about lighting: when placing lights around your base or building, be sure to use them "strategically" so that the areas you want to stand out, stand out! Having a mix of brightness, dimness, and darkness in an area is important for creating a cool "mood". But in the end, this comes down to personal preference and making sure your area doesn't get flooded with monsters!
>> Plotz: Very Useful Shape Generator
Outstanding Minecraft Builders on YouTube:
>> FyreUK
>> Madnes64
>> BdoubleO
>> Jamziboy
The picture above is a building that my friend and I built. We worked the building it out in a creative world, and slowly built it into the survival world. It took four days to work out everything. Now you may ask, "What the heck is this thing?!" It is a 'shell' or covering for a gold farm. The second layer is more squared and it resembles buildings from cities like Venice and Paris. It was made to cover the countless number of nether portals that are now inside of it.
I personally have a very high standard for building in Minecraft. I love making epic buildings. This was definitely an accomplishment and a first in my book. We wanted a big foundation for the build, and I decided to use a circle, a BIG circle. It has a diameter of (I believe) around 53 blocks, and who doesn't love building in circles...ya. Creating circles in Minecraft is challenging, and I will touch on that later in the article.
This is a zoomed in picture of the top part of the first layer (where the dome ends and the square structure begins). It is a mix of countless cobblestone and their stair variants. In the end, when you put all this together, it adds very intricate-looking details that make the build even better. Adding details to buildings is one of the most important concepts you need to understand, and knowing how to is even more important.
Transitioning from different materials is an important point to consider. To make a transition from one material to the other, I often use stairs or upside down stairs to make the transition "more smoother" on the eyes and bring in a hint of depth.
Again, the above picture is another example of variation. But let's give this wall more depth.
In the picture above, I added support structures. In Minecraft, this is simply to add more depth to the build. I can't stress this enough, adding depth is so important to making a build really pop out!
Now I added stairs facing inwards towards each other on each side of the 'supports' to add more shape. ^^
This is the wall fully decorated with a mix of variation, depth, and shape.
The pictures below show another example of how to add details and depth to a plain wall.
Circles: many people don't like to build with circles. I think it's because many have tried and think it is too hard. It is not! Do you need a circle generator that will help you plan out any size circle you could imagine? Do you need help building spheres or ellipses?
Check these sites out:
>> Circle Generator
>> Plotz: Very Useful Shape Generator
Now it is time to take some simple things we learned and put them into practice on a real house!
I think we can all agree this is a very plain house. It has the typical "one material for the walls and one material for the roof vibe!" Let's see how we can make this house nice looking!
This is another view of the house without any modifications to it yet. ^^
Remember to use Variation! I added stone bricks on the bottom layer simply to use different materials. It also makes the house look like it has a real foundation!
Adding even more variation. This time I continue the stone bricks around the door and outline it.
Why not inset the door one block like this? ^^ It only adds more depth to the house which it desperately needs.
Now I added an awning. Again, simple things like this adds more depth and gives the house "character."
Let's get rid of that plain looking roof and make a more interesting shape...
I added (what I call) a "warehouse" style roof. It moves up every two blocks or so. Here are some closer pictures of the roof below.
On the top-center of the roof is a line of half slabs to finish the curve.
On the corners I decided to take out the oak wood planks and add logs. They look much better for the "framework". (Keep in mind that logs are perfect for the framework of your building. You don't have to always use them, but they are a great material for building the frames.) Now look at what we have done to a simple and boring house! We have made it more varied, detailed, and it has more shape to it!
Aesthetic Reminders: Lighting is so important that it actually helps create the "mood" for the area/building. Here are two example pictures comparing the two extremes for the brightness setting in Minecraft.
100% Brightness:
Moody setting:
In my opinion, turning the brightness on full really kills the mood of the area. Granted I use it when I truly need it. (when caving or doing things that require high brightness settings). Just remember this about lighting: when placing lights around your base or building, be sure to use them "strategically" so that the areas you want to stand out, stand out! Having a mix of brightness, dimness, and darkness in an area is important for creating a cool "mood". But in the end, this comes down to personal preference and making sure your area doesn't get flooded with monsters!
We have covered three simple principles to remember when building: variation, depth/detail, and shape. The things I covered were actually fairly simple, and there are many more things to discuss when talking about architecture in Minecraft. Let's take a look at some before and after shots:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
The examples above are just examples. You can use any type of method you prefer to add variation, depth/detail, and shape to a build. Use your imagination! Trying to replicate real life structures exactly in Minecraft is one of the hardest things, and it doesn't usually work out that good.
Remember this: making a building look good is as important as making it functional. Take the gold farm for example. We had an ugly-looking collection of portals that floated in mid-air. But that wouldn't cut it for me. We decided to make an epic covering around it. The building has a great function and an amazing looking shell.
There's one more important thing to remember: you're only limited to your imagination!
References:
>> Town hall design using a variety of the methods mentioned above!
Creating Circles:
>> Circle Generator>> Plotz: Very Useful Shape Generator
Outstanding Minecraft Builders on YouTube:
>> FyreUK
>> Madnes64
>> BdoubleO
>> Jamziboy
minecraft game, thanks to this tool where I can easily make minecraft circle -MInecraft circle
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