CHoW#262 :: Chess

[David Keen]

Some great stuff showing up so far!

@PxelSlayer I'm really liking your re-design, the sketch on the left is especially appealing to me.

@oouah Your third is my favorite, kind of a druidish, swampy looking character. Very cool!

@Revidescent I really admire the way your sketch out all your ideas, I'm always way too excited to get into the main piece and don't do enough pre-lim stuff. Your eleventh silhouette is probably my favourite, very creepy wraith feel to the design.

This is what I've got done so far, I wanted to do the king because I thought it would be interesting to explore a weaker character. Doing lighting from my imagination is especially challenging for me so any crits and help with that or anything else would be awesome!

[jagder]

Got a whole set here.

[fdisk]

Howie: I really like the first one; but I can see how the third one fits more with the backstory you are going with.

Geb: That looks awesome! Nice take on the black bishop.

PxlSlayer: What can I say? Rocking as always! Really digging the whole vibe and differences between the two queens. I'm rooting for you to be able to finish both.

[oouah]

@Ebersol: Thanks! I might go for it. I'm still not sure. Your king is nice too. I like the expression of his face. You might want to show more of his body though? Would be a petty to see it disqualified.

@Howie: I like your third. Looks like a roboty medieval city on two legs.

@Revidescent: I think I like nr 6 best. But they are all a quite alike. Maybe go even crazier and see where it takes you?

@ninjamupp: I really like this king. What's the blade boomerang thingy attached to his arm for? I’m just curious.

@Drygrass: hmm.. I'd go for nr 1. But I like nr 2 also. Maybe if you give him a really mean expression to match all those skulls?

Here are some more bishop thumbs. Jeeez.. Seems I have some problems deciding my design. Right now I'm leaning towars 3 or 13.

[Gadbury]

Update on the illustration - Anyone have any ideas on how I can make it look more chess related?

[GEB]

Make the background chequered? Like in some of the Alice concepts

[fdisk]

Gadbury: Definitely add a checkered pattern somewhere.

Oouah: no. 1 and particularly no. 2 are the only ones reading as bishops to me.

[Fallenangel]

Make the background chequered? Like in some of the Alice concepts

yeah i agree or make at least the ground chequered.

[GEB]

Bit more, play to play with the hook crook a bit more

[ninjamupp]

oouah: keep the hat from 1 and 2, then go bonkers with the body design depending on which side he's on. The shape should tell if he's evil or good I think.

I'm not sure about the boomerang claw, perhaps I redesign that into a normal claw as that makes more sense. To be able to pick up apples from the ground without using a ladder.

Need lots of work with the henches though, the king looks more like a chieftain now.

[PxelSlayer]

@jagder - *____*...The colors....my God, the colors...
@Gadbury - *____*....Jesus, people, those colors again. How do you do it? They`re muted, but clear, it`s like...subtle, but bold, I just, I mean, I don`t even...@____@. The checkered ground would work, and maybe you could draw silhouettes of pawns in the background, and maybe put some sort of a crest on the flag? Anyways, it`s looking wicked
@GEB - HOnestly, if I had to design a bishop for my queen, this one would be just perfect! You and I, man, we`d make one wicked chess set together, I tell you...

[zenarion]

This topic looks like a lot of fun. Would actually be cooler if we'd split this up into more weeks. One chess piece a week. But hey.

[Gadbury]

Cheers for the helpful comments guys. I'm messing around with putting a sort of chequered tabbard on the horses, and a fleur de lys symbol on the queens chest. Tried a chequered flag on the knights flag, but it just looked like she'd turned up for a race, lol

[NicoleWG]

zenarion: That would be interesting. The next round could be to design for any piece except the one that wins until there was a whole set. That would probably be really lengthy though.


Also, I narrowed it down to 1 queen design.

[Pixie Trick]

gadbury: I don't like the idea of a checkered ground (too distracting I think) but maybe the flags? Awesome work btw.

[Dranyer]

here are my roughs, i'l post crits in a bit.

[fdisk]

I like the idea of pawn silhouettes in the background.

[nAniA]

Is a female bishop allowed? If it is, then here is my take on a white female bishop.

[Dayle]

Here is my Rook, just a starting point, glad its only Tuesday!

[Gadbury]

Updates - trying to add some reference to chess with the symbol on her chest and chequers on the horses. Started painting over the original sketch too - don't know how the designs going to turn out though

[~baxter]

Some quick thumbs, although I feel I may be scrapping my previous ideas and starting over. Went for urban crime boss inspiration route, sorta reads Queen, but doesn't feel like it is based of the chess piece at all.

Back to the drawing board!

Edit: Some thumbs of the white and black king.

[NickyBeats]

great topic. btw for those like me who have no clue what chess pieces actually look like, here :

[ryansumo]

Nania I don't know if female bishops are allowed, but I like it!

I don't rallyhave useful crits for anyone so just a bug thumbs up for all the work done so far.

Here's how mine is progressing. I finalized his armor and weapon details, made the lance a little slimmer, incorporated a long knife into the design of his shield for when the lance splinters on impact. Not sure if the pose I'm going for will work well. It's very dynamic and fast but very imbalanced, which will be difficult since I'm not rally planning on making an illustration out of this, just a character design.

[Fallenangel]

Still doodling...

[hueonpao]

okay, my first participation in a competition.
pawns got it tough! they can't turn back, get mowed down quickly, and have to act as cannon fodder for every other piece. their only hope is to keep reaching for that end of the board!
here's a quick sketch. i'm not sure if i completely dig the pose, and maybe i could go for a slightly... pawnier helmet, but i think i'm onto something.

[ninjamupp]

Fallenangel: can't wait to see the finished version.

Nania: the brief said only the king and queen have "fixed" genders.

Anyhow. Proper claw to pick up apples with and details details details. Next up is more details and some bigger bits.

[NickyBeats]

zbrush doodle.

[toastergargletop]

Scrapped my cyber-centaur-knight thing. To me it was the same old crap I've always been churning out.

I would really appreciate any help you can give with this.

This is my new direction:

[fdisk]

Started rendering; I hope I can finish it by Sunday. I know I'm over-rendering, it's something I can't help myself doing and I really need to work on.

[mysticmelon]

It always amazes me to see the quality work that these challenges turn out. @Ninjamupp - I absolutely love the idea of the king being carried around by his henchmen. Very novel, and really expresses the character of the piece.

I decided to take the plunge and try with an entry of my own this time. I'm doing the bishop. I read there is a culture in which the bishop piece is interpreted as a "shooter" character, so I'm doing him as an archer.

I like the look of him so far, but I'm a little worried that it won't read as a bishop because it's non-conventional. Any critique or suggestions would be helpful.