For Builders Consideration
All MOCs posted in the LEGO Pirates MOC Sub Forum and Brethren of the Brick Seas Forum by the registered members are candidates for Classic-Pirates.com only if the uploaded MOCs meet some or all of the requirements. In other words, if you hope to be published then you’ll need to ensure that your MOC meets below criteria.
Is it Well Built?
Classic-Pirates wants only to post the best of the best! That doesn’t mean only post the biggest and most impressive MOCs, but it does mean the MOCs have to be skilfully constructed. They can’t look like something a drunken monkey has slapped together. So ask yourself, does this build look professionally built?
Look at the Classic-Pirates.com homepage, that will give you an indication of the caliber of MOCs we welcome.
Is the MOC Finished?
Sometimes builders share their Works In Progress [WIP] and gradually add new photos of the MOC over the time. Don’t expect us to cover your work-in-progress.
We look forward only to finished and well polished creations. Mind you, they do not need to be real physical builds, we encourage and write about digital designs, but even then in ‘only’ digital form we expect the model to be considered finished by the builder.
Is it Well Presented?
One of the most painful experiences we encounter is when we discover MOC which is well built but poorly photographed.
If there is not at least one well presented photo to use as a Featured Image, WE DO NOT blog it!
Sometimes, if the MOC is that good, we make an effort to contact the builder and tell them they’re stupid for wasting such potential on bad photography, ask them if higher quality photos are available? If not, we move on to another interesting MOC.
Avoid sharing photos which are…
- Small!
What are the dimensions of the image? (Height and width) The minimum dimensions for a blog image is 1080 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high. We recommend you to go higher than that. - Low Quality
Are the images high quality? Or is there some kind of interference which is distorting them like; blurriness, graininess, lines, too dark, too bright, the colours are off balance, etc? - Have distractions which are not relevant to the MOC.
Can we see the builder’s bedroom in the background? We don’t want that! Photos should ideally have plain coloured backgrounds, backgrounds professional composited with software (the editing must look professional) or photographed against a diorama or natural background which suits the MOC. - Poorly Framed
Is the MOC well positioned within the frame? Or are vital parts of it outside the shot? Does the angle look awkward? Has the camera been zoomed too far in? Has the camera been zoomed too far out?
Examples of Photos to Avoid
Here are a selection of MOCs which should not be blogged due to insufficient photo quality. If you see your own MOCs here, yes we are picking on you. This is your harsh reminder to improve your presentation skills!
Bad Angle. Terrible Lighting.
Too blurry!
Too grainy. Slightly out of focus.
Zoomed too far out for a Featured Image. Colours need correcting.
Could be salvaged if you have photo editing skills.
Here you get a good look at the builder’s house – we don’t want to see this!
ARRRG! More builder’s house in the background and the photo looks awkwardly cropped.
Photo quality too low. Could be salvaged with colour adjustment and background removal.
This image is far too small and the colours need balancing to reduce the yellow tinge.
Is it Well Described?
Once you have several high quality photos of your (finished) MOC under belt, its time for that extra step which separates the men from the boys, or Pirates from Bluecoats, which means writing decent description of your creation in forum topic post. This is not a requirement to be blogged about but it helps immensely in quality of future blog post.
Introduction
The best way to start topic is with short introduction about how you came up with idea for creation. And then you do just that. Write two or more sentences what was on your mind or what got you going to build this piece of art. What got you inspired. Why did you decided to spent several weeks, or months, perfecting this MOC when you could be doing something else. Give us a small window to your inner passion.
Sometimes builders write a bit of fiction to explain the circumstances surrounding the creation, this is also excellent way to open topic.
About MOC (all the juicy details…)
- Time of digital design (approx hours/weeks spent in Studio or LDraw)
- Time on real build (approx hours/weeks spent or real build)
- Parts: (how many parts)
- Dimensions: W:__ L:__ H:__
- Use of unique or custom parts: (nothing, some, many)
About you
Add your Instagram, Flickr, Facebook… or Rebrickable account if you have one worth visiting. This is your chance to gain more friends and followers of your work. Now is not the time to be shy!
Additionally, try your best to tell us something interesting and memorable about you in one sentence. Avoid generic and vague sentence like Hi, I’m Dick, 32years AFOL and I love Pirate sets and hope you like my creation (fingers crossed).
Come on, how lazy is that? Compare Dick with Jeff.
It’s not my real name, but everybody calls me The Dude. I live in the handmade wood cabin by the seaside, and when I don’t surf or chase my girlfriend in wench costume, I build some wicked pirate creations. Follow me on Instagram here.
Reading this I get overwhelming desire to quit my job and be Jeff, I mean The Dude. I don’t wanna Dick no more.
Putting it All Together
Visit and study for a moment a fine example of debut builder MOC topic HERE. Yes, it does not have best written description like suggested above, but it just screams to be blogged about. All pictures are well framed, they have meaningful descriptions, and the MOC is masterfully built. If that’s not enough just go on and read the reactions of other forum members, they only confirm that there is something there worth closer inspection.
You can do this. Build great MOC which you are passionate about, tell us your story, shows us some good pictures and be ready to answer all of our questions during the mandatory Q&A torture session. Now GO and create!
