Here's an advice thing:Try to keep your MOCs KID-FRIENDLY, because there's a lot of younger builders on the pages!

I've seen this once, adn it took me a year to find it again. Love it!!!

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH IVE NEEDED THIS FOR A VERY LONG TIME !!!!!

Advice: Try not to build one theme only, branch out. If your a bio-moccist, have a system, technic, or nxt branch. Maybe all of the above! This will attract different people and gain some new followers. (I should probably take my own advice, I've been kinda stuck with just Bionicle lately.)

Yeah, my favorite advice would be Noah's. I try to do so all the time. I turned the Pohatu Nuva Claws into a halo! So, yeah.

nice

Oh, you rock. No wonder I wasn't getting many views, well, my stuff has been pretty original. Great pointers, hopefully I'll be a famous MOCer.

You do make some good points there :)

Nice pointers =)

Thanks!

Man its hard to be famous! No one told me this would be like school!

Use light to your advantage. Simple surfaces will seem to pop out if you use partial raising to cast shadows. Also remember to build like you would paint. Make sure your moc is interesting from far away, a few feet away, and right up close.

THIS SURE IS HELPFUL

These are really usefull. Thank you for the advise.

Thank for the advise! It helped because Im new here and I only posted four things!

Okay, thanks!

Chewy: posts with no images get deleted; posts with nothing but drawings get deleted. Stories with lego "illustrations" are fine, though. As for the r, TECHNICALLY yes, but in practice, nobody gives a stuff, least of all the site staff.

I'm just getting started here and I haven't posted any creations yet, but these are certainly excellent tips, and I'll keep them in mind (except the photo editing/lighting/non-blurriness one, I'll do the best I can, but I really can't do much in that department.). Could you please tell me what exactly counts as a "LEGO" creation? I ask this because I really like writing things, and I've developed my own huge back story for lots of LEGO stuff, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to just post my LEGO stories (stories with minifigs as characters, incorporating lots of my own ideas and various references and connections to different LEGO themes, particularly the LEGO universe online game) without accompanying creations, or if I am allowed to post characters and locations without building them, only sketching them in a LEGO-ish style, until I get around to making them out of bricks. I'm sorry to complicate things so muck when I'm just getting started here, but I would really appreciate it if someone could answer this question. Also, what exactly is the rule for putting the "r" symbol after the word "LEGO?" Was every usage of "LEGO" in that post supposed to have the symbol after it?

Thanks! That should help for me. And here's my idea for the empty idea: Build a MOC in a theme that is popular. There's alot of Star Wars,Bionicle and Lord of the rings fans that would rate or comment MOCs that goes along with their favorite themes.

And THATS how you make a popular MOC! 225 likes!

This is VERY helpful, but I still can't get my mocs noticed much.

Thanks! With the Cool, Check out my... it's sometimes ok. Well under the circumstances off you and another MOCer building the same creation (like 2 people building the same transformer or that sort of idea) Like: This is great! I like how you used _ technique right _ or on the _. I also built a version of this guy, could you check it out? I used this technique _ where you used a _ technique there. I like it :) Anything other than that is just being annoying. And I'll usually only do that when commenting on my buds stuff.

Cool!!!Thanks for the help!

Thanks Dylan!

*Snrk?* "Wait what? I zoned out." Just kidding. this was very helpful. Thank You. ~Steve

Thanks for the tips!!!!!

It helped me!

Very Helpful!

Dylan, I Enjoy How You Presented Such A Detailed "Class" And I Agree With You. Also, I Normally Try Not To Advertise My Group Using People's Pages, But I Feel That Since Those Who Would Look At This Page Could Benefit That I Should Let You Know. I Run A Group Call Hump-Free Rates!!! For Those Who Need Help With Various Aspects Building MOCs Or Presenting MOCs, I Look Over MOCs In Detail And Give, To The Best Of My Ability, Detailed Opinions On Whatever Issue Builders May Have. My Group Also Provides Other Services That May Help Builders As Well. To Those Who Wish To Check It Out, Here's The Link: http://www.mocpages.com/group.php/18247

Thanks a lot! It's really helpful!!!

it helps i looove it

Hmmm.... Well this was made about 2 years ago, but i'm thinking it still might work. I have learned the best thanks to you!

Cool tips!

...Or make an MOC that helps people, add it to MOCpages Help, and that'll get you 205 likes (this one does). :)

i truely believe that the only way to get yourself in that kind of fame is Practice and experimentation. like you should try one technique for the MOC your making, and if it doesn't work, then try to make a way for the design to fit. and in my opinion a popular moc doesn't need to start off that good either, as you find new ways of building, try to fit it to your Moc until you have the perfect MOC! i mean, i can't be as good at building at thirteen as ui will be at sixteen. although originallity is important, it's not going to garantee that you will get you to the explore page.

Many thanks for the advice, Buddy! I have to confess I was doing the: "could you come and check my..." error, when I started on Mocpages.

An excellent way to explain how to get a good builder!

This is really helpful, and a really good idea to put on mocpages. I'll have to check out some of your creations.

Inspirational! Thank you so much for making this, it really has helped me a lot! 5/5

I remember seeing this a while back and saw it again today while scanning through the mocpages is broken forms. Some really great advice here, something I think every new MOCer should see.

Great summary of how using MOCpages. If you don't have the money to spend for expensive software like Photoshop, try PhotoFiltre, it is free at least for older versions. By the way it only costs $25 and it covers all basic technics an average photo editor will use anyway. I use it for years now. http://www.photofiltre.com/

I say MOCpages is BETTER than Brickshelf!

That advice is very good! I agree with every bit. Another thing is to be active in your groups. If you join tons of groups, and you're not active, people won't think much of you.

I have another advice: Be helpful and nice, give advice to other builders, and be active. When you comment on someone's MOC and post a thoughtful review, he will go and look at your homepage out of curiosity, gratitude or just to know you better. It sounds pretty selfish, but when I started to post some reviews on MOCs that interested me, I saw the affect. Moreover, whenever someone comments on my creation I go to his homepage to see who is the person who commented. The most important part of that advice: say "in my opinion" and such phrases that show you don't intend to hurt or harm anyone- show them you do it to help them improve. To sum up: be helpful and nice (write constructive criticism), but make sure it doesn't clash with number 10 (Don't be the Big Mad Meanie).

Thanks Dylan, this is a great help to me.

Also, you should put this creation in the group, "MOCpages Advice" here: http://mocpages.com/group.php/8176

This is great man! All the tips are appreciated. =)

Two things: (1) Don't post too many pics. If your post is a giant build then it's fine to post extra pictures of the details and close-ups. But, you don't need a lot of pictures that look like the pic above it but blurrier. (2) Remember that when you reply to a comment on your MOC it will not send an e-mail to the person your replying to, (Not yet at least) You will have to either reply in a group that you both are in or on one of their creations. Great tips BTW Dylan. :)

This is something that could really help me out alot! I better get my stuff straight if I want my comic series to get a high rating. Thanks alot for the advise Dylan! :D

This is a fantastic article! I agree with everything you've said; if more people read this, I'm sure we could clean up the clutter on MOCpages!

Yes you may, I'm glad it has helped!

may I please copy this and give it to a friend? I will give you credit!

Thanks for the advise(sp?)Here's one. Having a good buddy icon helps a lot. Put something your interested in. If you like star wars put your favorite charater or sig fig in. You might put your new puppy in and people will say "aww how cute" or say that looks like dog and they will click your name. You could put a good shot or your best creation. Dont take other people pictures as your icon which people will hate you. joining groups can help you get popular

some very nice ideas and tips here! i agree this are the golden rules to MocPages! you have even followed them in this Moc too! humorous and unique! well done

I got one: ask perrmision before you use a creation as the base of your creation and technigues . like if I was to ask (Piere nomade) hope I spelled his name right. If I could use the design of a semi he built as inspiration for a creation i plan to build. i have done this my self and he okayed it. 2nd one: sometime asking where someone got a part helps you out allot espicialy if it is a new lego company part or breick link part.

Some very good advice here, I think time applies to me the most, I’ve had my account for a few months now and more people are starting to post then when I first made it. This is a great guide. I admit I have gone against some things one it once or twice, blurry photos and asking people to comment on my stuff. - I only do the second one occasionally and only after I give a good long comment on theirs first. Oh, and of corse bad spelling, but that's solved now, I just right every thing in Microsoft word, spell check, then copy/past. I will defiantly recommend this to some of my friends, it's a good guide.

The biggest problem that affects my unsung popularity here on MOC pages is #4. The quality of my camera is bad, but I plan on getting a new digital camera, good for close-ups.

Wow! I learned alot today thx for the class! I am greatful to have you for edvivce! Thankyou so so much! Great builder you rock!

thanks for the tips and another thing is sometimes people are lured to the most crazy thing like chris phipson's MI COOOL HaLO PGE is his most popular moc just because he, a great builder. just built a ton of stupid halo things with duplo and made fun of the halo kiddies. people see this terrible thing and see who created it and say "what the !@!#%$ has that guy been smoking."

What would you say about this style of photo? http://mocpages.com/moc.php/247516

@ Monkey, what I was saying was the title of this page makes people think the reason to be on MocPages is popularity. I don't like it when people leave because "I wasn't getting enough views" or something like that.

Very highly agreed there. The randomness of MOCD gives us a bunch of random you know what to look at. Yes, there are good creations on there but there is also plenty of not so great stuff to say the least.

The reason for the popularity is that fact that this MOC gives good advice; advice that many people need to hear.

Hey, thanks for the great advice. The only thing I don't like on MocPages are the "somewhat pitiful" (Not to be rude) MOCs that ends up being MOTD. It's annoying to see on the home page something that has been obviously spammed with the creator self-liking his own MOC.

No, I'm here to post my creations, to have good times. When I first joined, I joined to join. I have made friends here, they are what matters. The creations may have likes, but it doesn't matter to me. The friends do.

If that was the reason for people to come here, many people, including yourself, must be eagerly desperate for popularity.

Agreed. Plagiarism is one of the things in which I have the least tolerance for on this site.

shame it isn't mandatory to read this, in the last week I've seen every one of the suggestions broken or ignored. my personal bugbear is people asking for Instructions. Even those MOCs I've created which are inspired directly by other people's creations were made by "guessing" how the original was made - half the fun is working these things out for yourself. The only reason anyone asks for instructions is to recreate it EXACTLY, which is ok if they credit you - but I've already encountered some people who haven't.

I think the proper grammer and spelling thing requires it's own MOC...

Hmm, interesting... Though, I would have called it something like "How to make your MOCs better" or something of that nature. Your current title just makes it seem like popularity is the reason to be here.

Well welcome and I'm glad that my random blabber could be of some help to you. :)

BEST LEGO creation EVER! :P Thanks for the advice; Im new to MOCpages.

This is very well written and helpful. I'll be referring to this frequently. Thanks for the helpful information.

wow thats very helpful

Very good post! I can't tell you how pleased I am :) Again Thanks I will never forget anything here!!!!! Ali

Some very good words...

Some wise advice here, Dylan. Creativity is a huge part of MocPages. Humor is also big. Combine the two, and, there ya go. Big Contests are a good way to strut your stuff. So many people enter, and many more follow it through. Hundreds of people can see your entries, and think, "Wow, this guy's good, I wonder what some of his/her other mocs look like". I've found that people have commented or rated one of my MocOlympics entries, and shortly after rated or commented on another one of my mocs. And yes, creative, humorous contest entries work well too. :P

Thanks!

Wow this was really useful. I find that posting your MOCs to groups will get some comments.

Hey here is another idea. If you post your MOC to alot of popular groups, chances are, someone is going to comment.

I NEED HELP! CAN YOU MAKE A HOW TO MAKE A CUSTOM BIONICLE BODY FOR ME IT WOULD BE MUCH APRESHIADED THANKS!!!!!

Great Tips! I've thought of another one that gets comments fast: Buildinga mysterion or two (no skill involved).

I have some things to add here, for instance: if all mocs u build centre around a certain story or two, or making your own theology (if u can do that you will some day 100% become god in eyes of others, like J.R.R. Tolkien) and centreing around one style (i.e. minifigs, buildings, vehichles...) and perfecting it. But hey, thats just the opinion of one person!

thanks for the advice. I see my self as getting better over time, and eventually getting there to really popular

I know how to make a popular creation! Make a "How to make a Popular MOC" creation! XD Thanks for the advice, I think the guy who said to use hard-to-use parts to make things had the best advice.

Also make something original! My Halo: Comics are getting me alot of attention on the BAF! Wolf96

: )

Stay in the real world and keep building. Spending time in virtual Lego online communities is nice, but makes you feel depressed when it dominates over actually creating MOCs. // Also, keep contact to the outside world: do some sports or meet some friends when you donīt make progress on your WIP, see the sunlight, etc. // Itīs not a shame to not finish a WIP (unless you never finish one). Sometimes, starting something "fresh and new" helps to get more creative again. // No matter what others say: if you like something you have built, be happy. Donīt let others tear you down. Beauty is as subjective as taste: everyone has his own definition of it.

Don't make anything violent or disgusting. This does not help. Blood and heavy violence will repel younger MOCers and disgusting MOCs repel older ones.

THANK YOU!

I'm truly glad at least some understand. : )

Great advice. I have been on mocpages nearly 3 years and yes at first it's like wow gotta get me some comments. An nearly 3years on I have just over 100 comments, yes it does take a long time to get noticed but I find I get more comments on things I like to build, than following the masses. Just enjoy what you make and the comments will come later, in the end their are no prizes for the most comments.

Don't steal/copy other's MOCS. Its uncreative, and only causes trouble.

Don't steal/copy other's MOCS. Its uncreative, and only causes trouble.

Thanks for the positive thoughts. I'm not going to consider that advice but more of an experiment. I usually prefer SNOT while I've seen many others amaze me with their stud-full creations. The reason I'm not going to add it to the advice list here is because it's more experimental. I'm not trying to state that one is necessarily better than the other. That is up to the builder to decide which they would like to primary work with. Had I decide to sum it up in a single piece of small advice from me, I'd say " find a sensuous medium between the two and work from there."

Brilliant Mate. Took notes and everything. Maybe some advice here: Don't necisarrily use SNOT everywhere on your MOC, the studs add texture to your creation. Hope it helps!

good advice. i really am going to use this.

Cool, but if you care so much about grammar and spelling, please fix our good friend, John Moffatt's name, by adding the second "T". And thanks.

Thanks! Very helpful!

thank you so much for posting this! it really helped! (especially the "how to get popular" part ;) ) im trying to make my name known to the world :D anyhow, great job and keep up the EPIC stuff :)

Thank you so much for this advice. It's a good thing that you included the comment article about 'sweet! Could you check this out? (link). The reason being that a guy called E.K.O. Builder was spamming annoying comments on one of my creations saying something like this: "i'm sorry but i cant rate this because i sold my Wii and ds so you must comment on all of my creations!!!" That was extremely annoying...

Very interesting, I'm here for a while now and at the beginning it was all about getting as much comments as possible. I follow Shannon, have fun in building, our hobby is building with lego, try to imagine mocpages didn't excist, if you wouldn't make any creations anymore you're making bad progress, a real mocer doesn't spend its time gathering comments, it makes its creations gathering comments

try get your name spread around by commenting and if you really want comments comment on creations that have very few comments or none at all that way people realize that you've commented and think yay i got a comment and decide to check your work out

When trying to be funny remember creative is funnier than crude.

Thank you Dylan! It is about time somebody got some stuff straight. And this earns every single one of those smileys. I particularly liked the excuses about quantity of bricks. I'm not a Nathan Sawaya but I do have a pretty good size collection but I do run out of Bricks. I think it is fun to work with a limited pallet. Set alternatives and contests using limited pieces are very innovative and encourage using new designs. Another thing that I really liked about your lecture. DO NOT STEAL OTHER PEOPLES DESIGNS. I do have some original designs and I have taken ideas from others but I do always give the "glory" back where it belongs. Such as in my latest creation "Hobbiton" I got the yellow tree idea from Anthony Sava and I mentioned his name for the idea of the tree. ~blake~

same hat rite. can you chekout this:http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/174296

can you give me your opinion on this? merry christmocs! http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/173119

One thing that bugs me about some MOCs is when they have waaaaayyy too many pictures posted of them. It's good to have a variety of pictures, but having thirty-some pictures of one small/medium creation seems to be going too far.

Sweet tips.

I don't know if this has been said, but don't be afraid to borrow a little (or a lot) from other builders. Nothing's copyrighted on here, so feel free to use a similar fighter shape, or cannon design. Especially if it looks cool on your MOC.

wow this will be really helpfull, there are a lot of good tips in it, thanks for making it :D

this is very helpful. like robo man said with the afol thing, ibefore i looked at this i asked and afol for some advice on how to make a nice mini battle and so he gave me a little advice, and well i'm getting pretty good at them.

I believe that it's random. Although I'm not for sure, so I might recommend asking Sean on that one. -Dylan

How do you earn MOTD? And how is it picked!

You could spread rumors around Mocpages then wait a little while. When you post the Moc, everyone would come and see what it is.

Has this ever gotten a MOC of the day before? It should, because it's brilliant advice for newcomers here on the 'pages.

Excellent advice! it had never occurred to me to join a contest to get myself noticed more. I think you've done a real service here for all builders, and for that, i personaly thank you. If i get noticed a bit more by using your advice, i'll be sure to tell you. Again, thank you very much.

Nice advices you have given. I have been doing just Bionicles for around a year and I guess I'm already quite very good or so what others in the bionicle sectors think. I would like to give additional tips: 1. Good color coordination and combination is important in building great creations. A great build can be disrupted with uncoordinated colors in the build. 2. The color of the background is just as important as having a clean background. While white neutral background is a good choice, it is not the only choice. A good contrast colored background hI think works even better. For example, if your creation is mostly white, a black background works better. 3. After taking multiple pictures, choose the BEST PICTURE for your main page. The BEST PICTURE should be the one that will most attract others to visit your page. More visit equal more chance of better ratings. 4. Good introductions should also not be ignored. Catchy introductions e.g. the largest blah blah... works as long as it is true.

This is really helpful any way whats spamming? CAn you check out my pages to tell me what im doing wrong or like if the pics are bad or somthing.

Yes, Yuri. I know. I don't think that you realize that Oct. 11 was two weeks ago. Hopefully you meant Nov. 11? I'll be there, don't worry. -Dylan

You signed up to be a judge in the Spinning Top Contest. Remember that the contest ends Oct 11, in that day the judging criteria will be posted (it's going o be easy).

From Dave Shaddix: "or pretending to be a 14-year-old japanese chick or something." Oh boy, do I remember that pandemic. Geez, that plunged the entire middle-class MOCers into chaos. :P Anyway, this is a very nice guide, and I'm sure it has helped a lot of people out. This was also very nicely presented. Well done! *applaudes*

A TFOL is a Teen Fan of Lego and an AFOL is an Adult Fan of Lego. Hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to see what you can do in the future! :) -Dylan

Hmmm, maybe I should talk about some new advice. Spell and use grammar correctly or else no one will know what your trying to say.

woooow(i think u bored some people here D: )i will egmight i copy some times buy i do give credit(some people just cant read)but mocpages needs a better way to get more attention like haveing 3 MOC's of the day r something.

That's a lot of good advice there. I remember having to learn some of those lessons on my own. Hopefully this will help with that issue.

Adult Fans of Lego.

thanks for the help. and who are the AFOL?

Nice work my friend, this should help a lot of people. ~T

I have a lot of pictures, so I don't think I'll fix them, put thanks for your help anyway. I'll try it in a different MOC.

these are really goo tips! thnx for the help!

I heard that, Herber.

I like this, these are great tips, but you commented on Joe P's thing, and it was basically the same as this. No no.. THE same. Just with a different subject. Hypocrite.. Lol.

Hey!!! it's so ironic that this is Dylan's most popular moc. I guess the kid really knows what he's talkink about lol!

well this good if you only want to get populare but I build things that I want to build not what other people want me to build but I do like getting reviews still, you should probly ad that in and also could I get your opion on this http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/154857

Kool! cud ya chec out mi stuffz! lol hahaha :D, anyways great job on putting this together Dylan. it's sure to help alot of builders, Including myself.

So there's no way I can try to get my MOCs noticed besides being looked down appon and waiting years? Man.... So how do you tell somebody to look at one of your moc's without being aphored? ( hmm I think I spelled apored wrong..oh well I'm 12)

Sick burn, Dylan! hahaha

No wonder why you get so much attention around here, Luke.

lol thats my little bro hes 1 1/2

Hey, Dylan. I've got a point you missed off: Be female, that's a sure fire way of getting attention on the pages.

great! i wish high school was like this...(not really) thx for the class Dylan

Look at a piece that's really hard to use, and think, "What is the most creative way I can use it?" Don't just use pieces as they were intended! Make people go, "Wow, that's really neat!"

By the looks of your picture, you shouldn't even be in school yet...

thnks so much well i guess this counts as staying afters school oh hey teacher are we aloud to text?

If you do say so yourself (lol)

As far as affecting your MOC, probably not. BUT I'd guess that it would intrigue people to come to your page. Use something cool like a frightened minifig head...

Great tips! As someone new to MOCpages this is something that should be very helpful! That is, assuming you know what you're talking about... jk!

Thanks! Hey, does having a good profile picture affect anything? Im working on a better picture, 'cause I dont believe a helmet is very... intriguing.

I got a tip: Never make pictures with a flah, use lights you place at your creation! why? bricks reflect the flashlight and you get a waste of photos, most of them also flashes the background wich makes your creation fading away in the background, Greetins, Fut

You might want to consider that yourself, Kriss. AND please only hit the submit comment button once. Thanks - Dylan

Kool, a great, and thorough, help page! Oh, but by the way: "...PLEASE, please try and use correct grammar and spelling. This might be hard for some but they're sights..." When speaking of the internet it's spelled "Sites", seamed a little ironic to me, but what ever. Great MOC! =)

Kool, a great, and thorough, help page! Oh, but by the way: "...PLEASE, please try and use correct grammar and spelling. This might be hard for some but they're sights..." When speaking of the internet it's spelled "Sites", seamed a little ironic to me, but what ever. Great MOC! =)

Kool, a great, and thorough, help page! Oh, but by the way: "...PLEASE, please try and use correct grammar and spelling. This might be hard for some but they're sights..." When speaking of the internet it's spelled "Sites", seamed a little ironic to me, but what ever. Great MOC! =)

Kool, a great, and thorough, help page! Oh, but by the way: "...PLEASE, please try and use correct grammar and spelling. This might be hard for some but they're sights..." When speaking of the internet it's spelled "Sites", seamed a little ironic to me, but what ever. Great MOC! =)

Good advice! Number 9 is my favorite.

Giving Kelso advice on how to become a popular and good builder? hehe Anyway I'm glad you took the time to do this and I think we all can learn a lesson from this. Good Work Dylan

I am here for my own benefit, because what I do has my own reasons driving it. But I am far from selfish. I will bring others along with me to the promised land; cliche, I know, but if I can help others, as others have helped me, then I will. Popularity has never been my bag, but I have the energy to do a lot and to share a lot. I am also, unfortunately, a prolific writer. So, you will often find a few thousand words in my back stories, comments left on peoples' MOCs, etc. Am I tooting my own horn? No, just saying how I roll here on MOCpages. Maybe others will get ideas...

Nice, helpful for everyone. Another tip, don't write a 10,000 word essay for a clone-on-a-plate MOC. Just a simple few sentences is enough. Actually, never write a 10,000 word essay for a LEGO creation, because no-one will read it any way. Also, it has been said before, but don't ask people to 'check out ur stuph'. Most people look at you stuff if you comment any way. Just thanks for this info Dylan! Also could you check out my Mustang? ;)

haha, this is kind of ironic, a post on how to get popular mocs is on the most popular list. good advice you have here, this will be helpful to lots of people.

Most likely not, based upon what I've seen. The fact with LDD is that it allows unlimited parts. My advice would be build it and have fun with it. If you would like to use LDD, I'd recommend using it to design your creation and then either buy it or build it out of the pieces you already have. -Dylan

Thia gave me A LOT of hints so thanks! And by the way, would LDD creations get alot of attention?

Sir! Mark and Phipson gave me a Texas wedgie! Heh heh heh... more popular now... Keith? Shannons? What are you doing with that baseball bat?

Wrong Shannon. Sorry but, although you do make a fantastic point, it was not my intent to do as you've listed below. Take a look at the comments below you dude, do you really think that like Mark Kelso,Sean, Heather, Chris, the Daves', or JD really build to do this. This post is meant to help others who are just getting back into lego or have a hard time with building. You speak of a creative process below, to help each other in a friendly community. Here is what I'm doing here, sharing my ideas for others to see and interoperate in their own ways so we can all generate new ideas from others. Sorry if you are taking it in the wrong way, but if you possibly still think that I posted this just to help those clonies, you are wrong my friend. Once again thanks for the interoperation, but this is just for help, and that's IT. -Dylan

And I should mention, Young and LEGOgirl, no kissing in the classroom!

Excellent contribution Dylan. It is clear that you spent a lot of time thinking about this and organizing your thoughts into a logical and helpful document. Great work! I can assure you that this will be useful to a large number of people both here on MOCPages and in the LEGO Community at large.

I can never be anyone's girlfriend because of my unrequited love of that crusty curmudgeon Shannon Young. Some day I will chip away his big meany exterior and get to the soft, chewy center. *sigh* ;)

I shall come to you in the BrickCon moonlight, my sweet, with love in my eyes, music in my heart, and a box of chocolates in my hands.

Because popularity, countless comments and stratospheric smiley-face ratings are the most important things, the reason we're all here, right? To be blunt, this mindset makes me sick. I know everyone wants to feel popular and well-liked, but all this clawing and grasping after ratings strikes me as shallow and sad. If getting those ratings is your goal as a MOCer, then I guess this may all be good advice. But whatever happened to simply taking joy in the creative process? Here's my advice: Just build. Have fun doing it. Everything else will take care of itself.

I gave similar advice in this convo :) http://www.mocpages.com/group_conversation.php?id=3089&topicid=29235

*stands up... applauds. Nicely done Dylan. You've given some VERY good advice to the new comers (and some of the others that just aren't gettin it) here. Hats off to ya on this one! And yes... you may toss Phipson smack anytime you want. Just be sure it's funny or I shall unleash my hoards upon you muhahahaha! ~ Chris.

Thanks for the lesson! ;-)

Although this is not a Moc, it deserves 5/5 for the awesome tips it gives! Nice :)

Thanks for the great input Michael! I have to argue that WIP's do not always kill the impact of a MOC. For example, Your making a story and post the first couple pictures of the story in a WIP post. People really like your post so far. Once they see the full story, they might say "Oh, Michael's story was was very good and well done in the WIP post, I defiantly want to see what the full story looks like." I've posted on the discussion board a somewhat different post, but still using your ideas. I hope you don't mind. -Dylan

Absolutely no comment...

Awesome, no problem Sean.

Wow, you gave us a very nice lecture on that!

Wow. Looks lke I need to get started on something. QUICK! Great toutorial. B]

Dylan B has a girl friend.....Just Maybe.....It Could Be.....Heather Lego Girl.....Just Maybe.....

Dylan, this is nicely written and I think will be very useful to the many people that have these questions. I hope you don't mind, I've added this creation to the MOCpages Help group http://www.mocpages.com/group.php/2600

But he's already been crying in the corner for so long, have some sympathy and give him a day of peace, then unleash heII, Heather. -Dylan

No more Phipson jokes?! Well there goes MY next MOC. ;) You've done a great service here to the MPFOL's, thanks for putting it out there and writing it so well. But can't we just have a FEW teeny tiny Phipson jokes once in a while? :) Keep It Studly Sir

Wow, nicely done Dylan. I must confess, I thought this would be sarcastic and funny talk about posting sharpie-modified clones, or pretending to be a 14-year-old japanese chick or something. But this is actually thoughtful, useful and constructive. Thank you for the wonderful contribution. Very well done indeed! ~dave

That's ok Dave, when I was going to make this, that is actually what I thought it would turn out like too!

Very good post! We all need to focus on the process from time to time. Energy spent "making important friends" is energy wasted. Your efforts are best spent on your MOC. Talent and effort = hits. Anything beyond that is politics (read as base, vulgar, low, creepy). Also, never ever, apologize for your work. If you think the pics are weak, take the time to re-shoot. If you think the write up is weak, take the time to re-write. Take the time to do your best, then post it, and ask for feedback. As for WIPs, they kill your impact. Start the MOC, finish the MOC, and THEN post the MOC. Attack!

this made it onto the "explore" page, OH THE IRONY!!!!!

@ Weston. Are you sure you're really qualified to make that comment? 'Cause I think..... Thanks for the tips Dylan.

Heres something Kelso and I both do: If you're making a story/comic, try adding music to help create the mood. A lot of people are stunned by the music I am currently using in my newest series, and it's starting to gain popularity.

good job dan...oh my god that keslo smack joke angerd keslo EVRYBODY RUN!!!."SCREAMS OF INICENT PEOPLE ECHO THROUGHT OUT THE CITY AS THEY RUN FOR COVER AS MARK KESLO TRAMPLES THROUGH, OH THE HUMANITY!!!"just kidin

Some great tips there, a very clever idea to post this. Another good tip is to use a reference pic that lures people into clicking your moc, like a giant question mark for example.

There is one thing that I did. After Commander Fed left other people became popular. I stopped visiting mocpages and practiced building. And when I came back I was really good and people liked my stuff because I practiced. I also have a great comic and people want to know what happens next so they tune in and find out. Also try to make friends with famous people it helps a little.

this info is so valuable!, thanks sincerely for share it with all of us! -----best regards---- Henry.

No, I am not trying to slam your ideas into the dust. You are a good builder, we all know that. I just find it.... what is the word? Irritating to see something like this. I am not saying your a bad builder, I just don't like this "MOC". Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

interesting....

What, I failed?!?!?!?! You kidding me!?!?! Don't I get some points for my barbed wire technique!?!?!?! Well, theres always next time . . . Some great and helpful advices you got here, Dylan. I bet more MOCs would improve becasue of this. ~ Ghostman :)

B++ i got in this, (lol) i'll do my homework sir.

So taking a few lessons from Professor Eggplant in Professoring eh? Anyway, I've gotta say the one bit of advice that I have is to try to give long well thought out comments instead of just "cool". People will respect you more when you do that, and sometimes it fosters the creative mind looking for the right thing to say. =)

Excellent speech! *clap clap clap*

Great stuff there! I have another tip, If you are going to build Star Wars, and trying to get a popular MOC that more people than the usual Clonies will view, you have to build something original or something not widely used. There must be at least 10 Salucami dioramas, all popping up in the same week. Try something that is a more unknown creation, or one that has not been built. If you are going for diorama, keep it clean and well done, but make it original. Don't build overused planets such as Mygeeto or Kashyyyk. (Unless your's is way better than the rest)

OO! I got one! Try to get your moc a headstart. Do this by cheating and getting it on the mainpage for as long as you can. Log off, and give it five smileys. Then if you have another computer, do that again. And if you can... do it one more time... Cheating is fun! Also, make friends, who will become your favorite builders, and will be notified about your creation. If their a good friend, they'll rate. I think that's one of ghostman's genius techniques.

Nice! I want to be well known and be FAMOUS! Woo!

haha, yes I've just discovered that one!

There are two reasons I'd consider this a smart aleck comment. First, am I qualified to make this? Would you like to see my resume or my transcripts Weston? No one here needs qualification to help one another out. This is what this MOC is about, helping and generating other ideas for other builders to speculate on. I'd agree with your argument that someone who was been on MOCpages a longer time than me would probably have better advice. No ones advice would be considered wrong, we can all build from this. The second point that I would like to make is generating off your statement "you're becoming full of yourself a little too much." Until you kids grow-up enough to realize that MOCpages isn't all about comments and smilies, your statement remains absurd. When someone is trying to hand you advice for free use it, don't try and argue with it. Once you learn that you can use any type of advice to generate your ideas, then come talk to me, but as of now I'd wouldn't want to be the one saying I'm too full of myself. I hope you'll take this into consideration. -Dylan

I kind of new all this but.. I would like to make a few comments on it.. 7. Absouloutely right I mean look at me no LEGO at all but I get some good MOC's

Thanks for the great advice Stuart! This piece of advice doesn't really coincide with the points I'm trying to make. Thanks very much for the input and I'm sure many people will be reading the comments and taking note on your thoughts.

I am not trying to be mean, but are you sure you're qualified for making something like this? I would expect someone like Kelso to do something like this, but you? I think you're becoming full of yourself a little too much. Nice idea though!

Wow, thanks Dylan! This is really great and it helped me a lot! Now could you check out my super coolz mega creeatiunz? Hahaha just kidding. Anyway this is really great and I will use your tips!

Superb article. I will be taking your advice on my next MOC's

Great advice all around! I do agree with the AFOL comment, I , um, happen to be one and as almost anyone can tell, I am certainly not a MOC God. We are all here to have a bit of fun and enjoy other creations. The camera tips were great, I have been having trouble with that.

Great tips, Dylan. You covered a lot. Here's another one: Don't make your MOC too busy, with colors everywhere, or too much going on. Keep it CLEAN. Give it a focal point. And simplify your color schemes. This will go a long way when people are scanning the thumbnails.

Just another quick one to consider. Be wary of including clone brands, too many custom/ third party items (e.g. Brickarms, Brickforge, etc.). While I personally really like a few of these some people, including a hardcore of AFOLs, are purists and will shy away from commenting on MOCs which heavily feature non-TLC parts. Some people will just be downright rude about them too.

Well done Dylan, a very useful lesson indeed. I would agree with some of the comments below especially - Don't go fishing for comments/ being needy. I was going to say don't jump on a theme bandwagon, but I suppose it's a double edged sword. How many clone commanders and Halo kiddies for example have got buckets of comments because of their subject matter/ group affiliations and not because of the build? Look what happened with EOS. I guess it depends on what YOU the builder want out of MOCing - 100's of comments by guys with nearly identical buddy icons and badly spelt names or genuine, thoughtful comments by people who have actually looked at the photos and read your 'scrip, which you can then use to improve.

Great summery!

Very helpful! Though your missing the sure way to get views. Make a creation about how to make a Popular Moc =)

Great Advice, I must say!

I don't think it was covered that you shouldn't ask people to check out your MOCs repeatedly (if at all). It makes one look like a n()()b (censoring, grr!) who doesn't have good enough MOCs to get veiws on one's own. Let the veiwers come to you.

Thanks you. You forgot to say "don't go along telling everyone to 'check out my mocs!' cause' it's wierd. not cool dude, not cool." Btw, could you check out my MOCs please? seriously though, please do.

14. Self promotion is not cool. 15. Self promotion is not cool. 16. Self promotion is not cool.

It's not just link confusion, it's the eye-strain. My eyes had a hard time seeing the titles to begin with. Just use the <font> tag to override the css style setting. Dylan's code says: <font color=blue> which leads me to believe he can change it to something more legible such as <font color=silver>.

In some themes, this can't be changed, but, yes, that should always be avoided, because blue text will be interpreted as a link.

You need to save the image as a .png, and then use an image editing program to remove the background. Transparent backgrounds appear as a white and gray checker pattern. Check out the KAM Forums for more.

I absolutely agree with the parts about presentation and grammar. A couple more thing I've picked up are: 1) Join other LEGO groups in addition to MOCpages. The quicker you get yourself known, the more successful you can be. The LEGO pool on Flickr is one of the best ways to get blogged on The Brother's Brick. Getting blogged, in turn, pretty much guarantees you a few more comments. Of course, some of you might still be trying to get your parents to let you join AFOL sites. Like, say, me. 2) Make friends in high places. Lots of people add top guys to their lists. When a top guy comments on your creations, it shows up on all the activity lists for those who have favorited the top guy. Then they'll say, "Wow, Top Dude commented on this, it must be good." 3) Identify and develop good relations with your competitors. MOCpages is supposed to be a friendly discussion area, not an arena. Many builders are willing to share tips, and two builders always develop great techiques twice as fast as one builder can.

I want it to be transparent, such that it will be white on a white background, black on a black background, green on a green background, etc. Technically all it should do is show the background color of the current page around the circle that is my icon.

Also, maybe try to minimize the use of acronyms and to expand them whenever used. Saying your creation uses the SNoT technique is not helpful to those not familiar with the acronym, so they won't even know what to look for. However, saying: SNoT (Studs Not on Top), tells the reader something more clearly than just: SNoT. The same goes for AFoL (Adult Fan of Lego) and even WiP (Work in Progress).

PyBrick: You need to add the background on the picture before you make it as a buddy icon. It makes the pixels bigger when you shrink it for the buddy icon, causing the jagged edge like you said.

* Please don't comment on MOCs asking the builders to look at your creations. It comes off as needy and it's quite annoying.

My word of advise is pretty simple. Don't try too hard to grab the attention of the AFOLs. Your time will come. Everyone started of as a beginner and moved there way up, some slow and some faster than others. Just keep creating Mocs and you'll find a way

I think your subject is about making one MOC in particular popular. My idea is about preventing that MOC from losing popularity based on previous MOCs. It's a different approach to making a particular MOC popular and it will help accomplish the same thing as your advice will. I think that every major factor we can think of should not be ignored, left out, or otherwise abandoned. Those are just some of my thoughts.

It would also be nice if I could create a high-quality buddy icon with transparency so the headstamp (my icon) won't always have a white background on, say, a black page. I know I've tried it at some point and the edge was always jagged. Help?

Thanks for the opinion but I really don't think that that subject applies to what I'm talking about here. Thanks anyway PyBrick!

Too many WIP: It seems to me that the more incomplete versions of a build that I post, (e.g. updates to show the progress of the build), the less attention each successive post gets. Try to keep the number of WIP sets down so viewers won't get bored or frustrated with a creation that remains incomplete for a long time. It may be better to make the wait for it.

Nice comments guys, your finally using some critical thinking! Great work.

*Don't spam! This is NOT a good way to get attention, it just gets you a bad reputation and a bunch of nasty comments.

I don't know if it has an effect on popularity, but I'd say blue text on a black background should be avoided to prevent eye-strain. Please change the color of your section titles.

*Don't make Phipson jokes. They are way overdone. Try something different, like Kelso-smack. One builder was even so bold as to unleash some Goldman-smack.

You have taught well Sensai Dylan. I had recently improved some of my pics and they look alot better before I saw Keith's helpful advice.

Good advice. Hope people will take it too heart. see ya. garth

Very nice "Professer Dylan" Im a Professer too i found this Doctor Diploma and this Sharpie and well you get the point. Now its on my Wall displying To other people`s faces. Im a true Professer/Doctor/Walmart Super Cente Err I mean great Presentation! ~Aaron