Chess: Back to the Drawing Board

As I mentioned in my last post, I hit a major creative block with "Chess." No matter what I tried, nothing was really coming to me. But, with some feedback from Stephen and some friends, I was able to push through and develop some ideas. I was up very late one night, just sketching. I chose a font, Coffee Black (the only time I'll ever use coffee in my life) and traced it over and over; tracing paper has since become one of my necessities in life and best friends. ;)

When I took my ideas into Stephen, we found a winner (the one in the upper left-hand corner)and things are progressing nicely from there. After I polished it up a little (I got rid of the part that separates the "C" from the "H"), I scanned it into the computer and using the pen tool (my new best friend) I started to outline it.

While there is still come work to be done around the edges (especially with the "S"s), I'm making progress. Ultimately, this will be flipped on a 45-degree (ish) angle to go diagonally across the page and I'll give a shadow or 3-D type of effect to help it look more like an actual pawn piece. It's hard to see the pawn shapre from this angle, but it was easier to trace if I made it horizontal. As a side note, I'll try to be better about posting during the process and not just at the beginning of the process and the end of it. As for "Chess," it's getting there. More details to come with this one.