Just can't get good at building?

"lsnishi;c-17506040" wrote:
I agree with pretty much all the advice here. Here's a couple additional bits that might be helpful. Build from the outside FIRST. I used to do each room, then put them together as a house when I first started building. But the outside was a mishmash of weirdly placed windows and bad proportions. So build the outside shell FIRST since people will download based on the "curb appeal" of the exterior. Do the windows and exterior wall coverings etc first to make sure you have a pleasing and interesting shell. THEN cut up the interior into rooms. You may have to make a few adjustments to the exterior to get rooms that are large enough or shaped decently but hopefully those are minor adjustments. And you may have windows in a room that aren't placed symmetrically in a wall, but you'll have to live with that since you want the exterior to be as proportional and harmonious and interesting as your can get it.

Second, and this applies mostly to modern builds and some other styles, asymmetry is your friend. If you make everything symmetrical and matching, the result will be somewhat boring. Change the depth of the front by having some places stick out or recede so it doesn't look like a box with windows. Do not use the same windows throughout, change the shape and size of the windows on different parts to add visual interest, although you might want to carry through with the same window colors (black, brown, white etc) to give some coherence. You need to add visual interest or a focus point to make the eye stop and go "whoa, that's interesting." Use roof lines, columns and windows to draw the eye up or across the build so there's a sense of movement in the design. Think about where the focus point is on the build and make sure that area shines. As a caveat, there are some building styles like Colonial or Ancient Greek/Roman classical styles which (to me) depend heavily on symmetry. So the use of heavy symmetry might be important in some building styles but avoided in other styles (esp. modern).

Lastly, yes, DL builds you like to see how the creator made that the effects you like. You can always learn a lot from other builders and we have so many GREAT builders on the gallery. I still DL tons of builds that take my breath away.

Make sure you enjoy yourself...building and creating should be FUN!

Thank you for going into so much detail! Recently I had been trying building from inside out- mainly to get used to sizing; I put down core furniture and then build around it and do the shell and then go back and decorate properly, otherwise I always seem to make rooms or houses way too big- but maybe I should get out of that before it becomes too much of a habit!! I'll try what you've said.

Would you mind giving me a small list of some key building styles (e.g. colonial and Greek like you already said) so that I could have a look at Google to get inspiration? I never know names of building styles and I'm not very comfortable with many building styles so it would be really useful if you could perhaps write a list of building styles to spend some time looking at to understand what is central to them. Thanks @lsnishi :)

But you're definitely right- building has been so much fun from what I've tried so far!! And yes, I'm always so shocked by how incredible the builds on the gallery are!!