andyisyoda - July 1st 2018

Welcome to my first official newsletter after my mid 2018 Patreon re-launch.  First of all thanks very much indeed for your support! Without you guys I would not be able to dedicate so much time to gathering your ideas and building new projects in Minecraft.  I aim to keep inspiring and with your continued support I will manage that.

In this news letter I will be featuring an inspiring build of the month, details of what I have been up to in real life, what is coming up on my channel and a selection of inspiring pictures to keep us all inspired and keen to place those blocks!

Feature Build

My first feature build is by ohNoraa with the help of JustSimplicity and Pog on the Builders Refuge server (IP: mc.buildersrefuge.com). The build started with a small house made of sandstone with a terracotta and jungle slabs roof.  The builders then decided to add a large palace!

What they came up with is amazing! This fantasy build has a lot of clever features and details and includes 2 ships, multiple towers, lots of nooks & crannies and a fine archer statue. 

OhNoraa has been building in Minecraft for 18 months and on Builders' Refuge for only a few months.  He has talent I think you will agree and was kind enough to let me in on a few of his secrets.  For this project he decided to have a central main block of sandstone (with some birch and double slab sandstone mixed in).  Then, around the sandstone he was able to build the smaller houses at the bottom area complete with terracotta and jungle for a blend of similar tones.  Then to contrast he and his team used Prismarine for the palace roof meaning that there were two main colours for roofs. They also used vertical trapdoors in the windows for a cute detail, underlined by some slabs underneath.

When I asked ohNoraa for his top building tips he said:

Use concept art on places like deviantart for inspiration

Use the same style throughout

Use simple but good detail - do not over do it

Choose a good palette with complementing colours (for example in this build the birch, sandstone and terracotta)

Choose a couple of contrasting colours to bring life to the build (for example in this build the prismarine and terracotta roofs)

You can follow ohNoraa on twitter here: https://twitter.com/ohNoraa_ 

and check out his Planet Minecraft here: https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/zikhulu-4118935/ 

What I am up to in Real Life

Last month I was in Vidcon USA in Los Angeles.  It was an amazing trip.  The long 11 hour flights were totally worth it as we were greeted with large blue skies and wonderful palm trees.  After checking into our hotel (I was with two gamer friends) we headed to the Annaheim Convention centre for registration then took an Uber to Venice beach.  

You can watch my vlog of the trip here https://youtu.be/LEY0_8SLtWo 

One of the highlights of Vidcon was getting to see Casey Neistat and meet some really cool youtubers and live streamers.  The panels and workshops were very useful with lots of tips and tricks for Youtubers.  Now I am back to being fully recovered from the jetlag and ready to make as many youtube videos as I can.  I am also continuing to run the office for the Survival School company I work for and a few times a month I teach survival courses.

What is coming up on my channel this month:

I hope to be making some more lego builds converted to minecraft, livestreams on youtube and on twitch on Tuesdays.  I want to have more tutorials getting inspiration from Builders Refuge and the complicated builds on there.  I will be doing a few showcases from my server (UTB) and including some showcases just for the $3 Patrons.

Some more inspiring minecraft builds:

This amazing build is by Upixel (https://twitter.com/Upixel_MC) and the render is by https://twitter.com/Lor3nzL1ke 

This is by http://twitter.com/DanielWohlk and you can see more of this build here https://imgur.com/a/miTolL3 

Some very cool organic work here by https://twitter.com/mutekimeh

This really cool circular house is by Zachary_B_369 from my server play.usetheblocks.net you can see the house at /warp elliamarr and do /tppos 168 65 -2824

Thanks for reading my first official newsletter. Please message me any video ideas and some feedback for this first newsletter!  

may the blocks be with you!

andy.