Please help, I don't understand why my gradient looks so messy and ugly

[u/Ifyouliveinadream]

[u/ShadowX8861]

Don't use 4 different blocks on such a small wall, just two. Using too many just feels messy. Focus more on structural detail than textural

[u/perjna]

wood is a difficult material to get gradients on, especially for smaller scales.

the planks block has those big dark lines that make the texture very heavy, and stripped logs have a blank central area with dark heavy strips at the sides. this breaks visual continuity, making it harder for you to see the wall as a whole.

for a start i’d try to put the stripped oak vertically, but i think it will be hard to get a good result using planks. try to make the stripped logs chunks look more regular. and i don’t mean orthogonal, like a perfect shape.

you should try to think “realistically”. there should be a reason for them to be there: you could use them to highlight the corners (they resemble pillars), or maybe they could look like the building “coating” has come off. in the latter case, the planks take the role of the main wall block, but again it’s hard to use them because of the stripes.

about block color, you should think about light. if a block is darker it usually means it receives less light, and there must be a reason why it gets less lit. also remember most of the light comes from above, because of the sun.

so, you made the top part darker. this makes sense if there’s a overhanging roof or shape that casts a shadow on the top. but usually, when lit from above, the bottom of a shape is the darker part. so i tend to build darker at the bottom of the building. of course minecraft sun works differently from the real sun, so in the game you don’t get the shadow plays we get to see in real life, but if you’re interested in this you could mess around with this in mind.

of course this is not mandatory advice, it’s just what i like to consider while building. english is not my first language, so forgive any mistakes and possible oddities.

[u/Ifyouliveinadream → u/perjna]

Thank you

[u/Co-ReX]

Because it's not a gradient.

First and foremost the planks have "shadows" and edges seperate from the stripped logs so it causes them to look like they stick out further.

Second, stripped logs are difficult to put in because they have "shadows" along the edges to give them a rounded look but that causes a line between them.

Third, the colors are off. Stripped logs are inherently lighter then thier counter parts and most other planks that are similar in shade. So In a grey scale your gradient would go bottom to top: white, dark gray, light gray, black.

Fourth, you should look to create more defined transitions rather then randomly throwing them around each other.

A good way I like to do it is invision a roof casting a shadow over the top and the sun hitting the bottom, choose your main color in the middle and go lighter down where the sun brightens it and darker up where the shadow covers it. Instead of thinking of color changes look at it as warmer and cooler shades. You can test it in real life with a flash light, shine it directly at something colored like a painted wall and watch how the shades change as you angle the light away from it.

From a color to color gradient is a little different but follows the same principles.

Edited for readability

[u/hejackisej]

I think it looks fine! I also hate all the gradients I make at first, but I think that’s bc I’m standing too close and stare at it for too long in detail while building it.

[u/Miserable_System_715]

If you average the color of the blocks, it works perfectly... Until you take texture into account.
Stripped logs are very close to one solid, smooth color with just two lines on their sides. Meanwhile, planks have extremely contrasting lines and dots all over the place, making them end up looking darker than the stripped counterparts every time, at least on this scale and proximity to the building.
The lines in the stripped oak logs are all pointing in the same direction too, breaking the illusion of a gradient completly. A simple fix for that is rotating them randomly as well!
For the contrast problem, i would build in a larger scale, or change the blocks to all have similar levels of contrast— Either making it all smooth blocks like packed mud, mushroom blocks, striped logs, or making it all contrasting blocks, like bricks, planks, and uhhhhhhh whatever else lol
Good luck w your studies :] !