Chess Board Progress (Delay Announcement)

I'm sorry I couldn't post this sooner-I've been experiencing a lot of annoying Internet connectivity problems recently. Because of said Internet problems, along with work and school, I'm delaying the concept art video until next Saturday. I'm really sorry, but in order to make something that looks good without driving myself insane, I have to do this. Thank you for you patience.

But here, in the meantime, is what I have on my Chess-related finals for 3D-modeling class!

Chess Board #1: An overhead view of the chess board! The armies are complete and ready for an abbreviated version of The Game of the Century.

Chess Board #2: We've learned to play around with depth of field on the cameras in Maya, and now I can take beautiful shots like this.

Chess Board #3: Here's a more sinister shot of the White royalty staring down the enemy.

Wildcard Wednesday #60

This week, we can expect: more Chess stuff (showing off a bit of my first Maya work) and some of my first life drawing sketches.

Chess-Pawn: Today marks a momentous occasion - I have only just been getting the basics of Maya for two days now, and I've already constructed a pawn with a matted color! Now that I can construct something like this, finals will definitely be Chess themed.

Chess #33: Going to be working on a lot of Chess art over the next two months, some of which I can't show 'til later or until the next concept art video comes out. One of the things I'm trying to get down to memory is the designs for all the different characters, especially the kings, now that they finally have their own distinct designs.

Life Drawing #1: Like I've said before, I'm finally taking a life drawing class this quarter. And I have to say, it is possibly one of the best classes I've ever taken so far. Drawing from real live models is incredible, and I feel like every night I attend, I keep growing in skill, excitement, and passion for what I'm going into. The model drawn in these sketches was a wonderful poser.

Chess - Concept Art Video #1

Chess - Concept Art Video #1: And here it is, the first Chess concept art video! I realized the ideas I had were too big for one video, so I've decided to make a whole series as I develop the concept. I'll probably do the same for other projects like Between God and the Devil and Tommelise.

Tools: Sketches (traditional) and Photoshop.

Chess - Eliza Character Sheet

Chess - Eliza Character Sheet: This week got a lot more full and interesting than I thought it would, but I managed to get another character sheet done for my Chess concept art video. This one I'm really proud of. It astounds me how much I've evolved some of these characters over the span of four years. Originally, this pawn was named Emily and honestly, there really wasn't a whole lot to her character or personality. Now, her name's Eliza, and she's a fierce little pawn who defies her peers and has moved on from a less reputable past in arms dealing to now being the Black Weapons Master.

Man, how she's grown...

Tools: Photoshop.

Chess-Isolated Pawn

Chess - Isolated Pawn: A new teaser for the Chess concept art video. Since I haven't focused on this aspect so much, I'm going to be drawing/animating more in-game scenes, like fights between pieces, dramatic shots, and other such stuff. I've got pretty much all of next week off, so I'm going to be putting in a lot of time into this.

Tools: Adobe Photoshop (plus thumbnail).

Chess-Eliza

Chess - Eliza: As I plan for character sheets and the Chess concept video (which will be coming out a little later next month, since things got busy), I've been thinking about my characters. And I've decided I'm actually going to cosplay as one of them for Nebraskon this year. I'll be going as Eliza, the Weapons Master on Black. I thought not only would this be fun, but it could also get some interest in my Chess concept. I'll be cosplaying her exactly how she looks - and that includes pale skin and the black and white/grayscale scheme. The red accent is not a part of her official character design, but only to add some contrast to the cosplay.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Artist's Loft colored pencils (trying out new brands), Prismacolor pens, and a Sharpie pen.

Wildcard Wednesday #52

This week, we can expect: developments in Chess! Yes, all current focus is now on this concept.

Chess #24: You are looking at the first scene of the first episode of Chess! For four years I've struggled with finding a compelling story to tell with these characters and the people who play them. Now I have one. This concept is going to be bigger than I ever dreamed it could be.

Chess #25: A blind date in the chess world usually means an interrogation. And when it comes to loyalty, none are harsher about it than the White side.

Chess #26: Some gesture drawings of fencing knights. I know, I know, they're knights! Wouldn't it make more sense to have them joust? But why use a horse and a lance when a fencing foil is so much quicker?

Wildcard Wednesday #46

This week, we can expect: trading card art of various delights! (I'm afraid I've got an unpleasant announcement concerning my Patreon page, but I'll save that for tomorrow-enjoy what there is now!)

Card Art #1: An overlaying view of all the card art I've made so far! I'm definitely going to make more over the next couple of days.

Card Art #2: Card art featuring various Chess characters.

Card Art #3: Card art with various fantasy landscapes (similar to the one I made for Concept Development)

Card Art #4: Fun little doodles displaying bounce and walk cycles.

Card Art #5: Going back to the roots in this blog with some Between God and the Devil art.

Card Art #6: The last bits of card art, also themed from Between God and the Devil.

Chess - The Note

Chess - The Note: Due to the enforcement of Deformation #98, relations between Rank II (pawns) and Rank I (bishops, knights, etc.) pieces are prohibited. But while Eliza has guarded her feelings all this time, will this keep her from expressing her feelings to the bishop Lorenzo?

Inspiration: So this is my final for animation! This scene is a little longer and more nuanced in my perfectionist mind, but for what it is and the amount of time I had to work on it, I'm pleased with the final result. You'll be pleased to know that this is a spoiler-y look into a subplot for what the finished story for my Chess concept is.

Tools: Photoshop (animation) and After Effects (rendering and compiling).

Wildcard Wednesday #45

This week, we can expect: nothing but Chess! You're going to be so sick of it by the time these finals are out.

Chess #18: A WIP view of the second print (the first one's done, but I'm saving that for next week!) Looks like the queen's in quite a pickle there.

Chess #19: A quick Illustrator sketch for the opening title and end credits of my animation finals. It's coming along nicely, and I'm going to put in some serious work over the weekend to finish it!

Chess-The Note (Teaser)

Chess-The Note (Teaser): And here it is, folks, the teaser for my animation finals! As can be seen in all my previous animations from the class, I've been a bit bare bones when it comes to detail and whatnot. But despite the fact that time is ticking, this time I really want to try making a good-looking short animation to go out with a bang.

Tools: Photoshop.

Wildcard Wednesday #43

This week, we can expect: me (animated), and previews for upcoming Chess finals!

Lip Sync - Bad Fanfic Reading: My latest piece from animation class, a lip sync exercise! (Sorry, for some reason Blogger doesn't think the animation exists on YouTube yet) This features me reading bad fan fiction. I upload readings on my personal account - to see this reading in particular, click here, if you dare!

Chess #15: Here's a sneak peek for my electronic illustration finals! Comprised of two prints and one sequence video, we see a shortened version of one of the main showdowns between Queen Florence, and the White bishop Basilio.

Chess #16: Lastly, a taste for my animation finals. I'm titling this "Chess - Love in a Nutshell". As the title suggest, this shows one of the subplots in the overall story and establishes the relationship between Lorenzo and Eliza. The required time length for the animation is fifteen seconds, but I'm putting in extra time to make a longer and high quality animation to put up at the end of the quarter.

Chess - Turmoil in the Tunnels 2.0

Chess - Turmoil in the Tunnels 2.0: This is my midterms print again, but this time I did a little something fun with it. Because people all week in class haven't been ready to finally put midterms behind us, I had a lot of free time for doodling on my hands. One of my favorite things to do on my black and white art is to put it through image trace in Illustrator and see how it looks. So I did the same with my print. And I have to say I love it even more than the original!

Tools: Corel Painter (original print) and Illustrator (image tracing).

Wildcard Wednesday #39

This week, we can expect: a Stranger Things (ish) animation and new Chess artwork!

Funko Eleven: This week, I had to do a rotation exercise in animation. So I brought in my Funko Pop figure of Eleven from Stranger Things as my subject. It's not quite right, but I did start getting the hang of it about halfway through the animation.

Chess #12: Midterms are coming up, and part of the assignment for my Electronic Illustration class is to make a print with at least three full-body subjects. So I thought, "I'm getting creative justice using my Chess people in finals - why not do it with midterms as well?" So I sketched out some ideas until I narrow down on the one that will be better developed. My classmates responded very well to my characters, which definitely made me happy.

Chess #13: Another sketched out concept. If I go with this, I might shake up the angling and perspective a little bit to make it more interesting.

Chess #14: The last of my preferred sketches. With a little shaping up on angling, this will probably be the one I go with for the final print. There's opportunity for facial expressions, which I'm always down for.

Wildcard Wednesday #37

This week, we can expect: a sneak peek to another animation, and some more Chess art!
(also, I've been going through more tendonitis issues, might have to take a health break)

Anim. #1: Here's one of the extremes from my latest animation-this one is fifteen drawings. I'll put it up this Saturday when I finally retrieve it from the server!

Chess #11: A free-style Chess drawing I did in Painter during my spare time in Electronic Media. Proportions aren't quite right and everything, but I still liked the mod of the drawing.

(Belated) Wildcard Wednesday #19

Today we can expect: an old chess concept from two years ago in the process of being brought back from the dead.
(I'm so sorry I'm a day late two days in a row-yesterday was extremely busy. Well, this whole week has been busy, but things should be settling down now. Anyway, on with the art!)

Chess Is King #2: I think I've drawn something from my chess concepts before on this blog, but now there's going to be a steadier stream of these things. Here is just a basic graphic cover concept (from left to right: Black King, Ernest, and the White King, Carlos).

Chess Is King #3: A little melancholy scene between black pawn Emily and black bishop Lorenzo. More details on their relationship to come.

Chess Is King #4; Early concept sketch on the Black King, Ernest. I've been working on his design for years-I've struggled to make an appealing yet non-generic design for him, but I think I'm getting somewhere. He's a smart, mischievous strategist, albeit a bit of a risk taker, but he's devoted to his people and to his queen, Florence.

Chess Is King #5: Concept drawing of the Black Queen, Florence. A lady of grace and intelligence, she bears a warm heart. She can be diplomatic and peaceful, but when she's in battle mode, she's one of the fiercest and most aggressive on the Black side of the board.

Wildcard Wednesday #1

On today's Wildcard Wednesday, we can expect: Miraculous Erlking playing chess while offering a bouquet in Wellington Wells.

Erlking Sketch #1: This is another original concept I'm working on inspired by one of the most surreal dreams I've ever had. The basic plot is that Mallory Kean (left, the grumpy one) discovers that her sister Belle (middle) has been kidnapped by the Erlking (right) to become his bride. Mallory makes a deal to switch places with Belle so her sister can go back to the mortal realm. But how will Mallory escape? (Characters are still in early development)

Erlking Sketch #2: A less than pleasant interaction between Mallory and the Erlking.

Chess Sketch #1: This is another original concept I came up with. A few years ago, I was thinking about the fashion in the movie My Fair Lady and chess. So I came up with a bunch of original designs for human personifications of the chess pieces. And slowly but surely I've been working on a story for these characters. More will be revealed in further Chess sketches. From left to right are Lorenzo (black bishop), Emily (black pawn), and Arthur (black knight), comrades who often do intelligence work for the Black King, Ernest.

Miraculous Ladybug Sketch #1: I absolutely love Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir! (French dub, to be specific) And the only way to survive waiting for season two is to draw fan art. There'll be plenty of these going around, along with some finished pieces.

We Happy Few WIP #1: While waiting for the game We Happy Few, I've been drawing and revisiting a lot of gameplays and live streams. But I've never been able to see what happens when you offer a Wellie a bouquet. And the developers have said absolutely nothing about Miss Thigh High's character. With those two thoughts in mind, I'm making my way through a bouquet interaction between Arthur Hastings and Miss Thigh Highs.