Halloween 2018: Corrupted Seed Maelvyrda















Greetings,
 
It's Halloween Day and time to reveal this year's project! As the recent lore posts would suggest, the subject of the project is Ardelrius' antithesis, the Corrupted Seed Maelvyrda! Check out the spotlight video here:




Like last year, I put up an album of the WIP phases of the project on Imgur. They're the same images from the spotlight video. This particular project was interesting since it was the first time I've focused on a body piece in addition just a mask and weapons. The Cloak of Roots is meant to be a series of tree-like tendrils protecting Maelvyrda's body. The glass eyes on the roots mimic its origins of the Tree of Souls. I also made the tattered cape as well. By cutting up an old sheet, I frayed the edges and drew the runic symbols by hand. The cape didn't need to have too many unique details since it's worn under the cloak.
 
Maelvyrda's two weapons are called "Sin" and "Punishment" with the red sickle being Sin and the blue one Punishment. I like the idea of them having elemental affinities and Sin would probably be fire while Punishment controlling ice. Originally I wanted to have the two sickles join at the ends to make a long double-ended scythe but they proved too heavy for the rare earth magnets. Instead, I attached them at the top to make a dual-sided hand sickle. The combined shapes could possibly pass as an axe too. The stone "eyes" on the blades helped add some color variation.
 
For Maelvyrda's mask, my initial concept art revolved around the idea of a plant monster. Since this creature is supposed to be a twisted version of the Tree's Will, I drew up some ideas with the upwards opening multiple "petal" jaws. This turned out to work well when building all of the opening parts outwards from the standard face-shaped shell. I added the white stones for contrast and glow-in-the-dark fangs along the jaws. It produces a neat effect in the dark after the teeth have absorbed light. Finally, I went with a blend of light and dark greens for the mask's colors. The greens were meant to contrast with the red color scheme of Ardelrius.
 
Overall, this was an interesting experiment. I learned a bit about crafting wearables on the body and would like to try my hand at armor next time. I teased another character a few entries ago and I hope to build on that idea soon. In the meantime, stay tuned for more project details and have a happy Halloween!
 
~Zan

Lore Post: The Banished Seed














Hello,

Here is the second lore post leading up to this year's Halloween project.

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The Banished Seed

In all the pieced together records of the Tree of Souls, only one stands out as a “failure” of the mysterious entity. Legends have suggested that the tenth vessel of the tree’s will fell to corruption. With the Seal of the Abyss starting to weaken, the shadowy influence of the beings sealed in the alternate dimension began to seep into the mortal realm. The tenth person to take up Ardelrius’ mantle was enticed by the Insanity Prophet Rengal, one of the most insidious of the Sealed Ones. By binding the essence of the Summoner before it could realize its power, the tempter ripped away the Tree’s control and instead twisted the Seed. A monstrous demon was born whose power rivaled many of the Sealed Ones themselves. The corrupted Seed decimated the realm with unholy power. While it did not have the ability to store and wield souls, this creature instead commanded powerful arcane energies that could distort and bend reality itself.

The bloodshed and terror of the corrupted Seed raged on for two years before it was finally cornered. An alliance of humans, dragons, and even the elusive Araknyos Weavers was able to overcome the Seed and subdue it. The power of this alliance could not completely shatter and destroy the Seed. Instead, they were able to seal the creature and put it into a dormant state. Heavy runic chains bound the Seed and it was buried in a stone tomb deep within a mountain on the northern continent. The surviving members of the alliance knew the seals would not hold the Seed forever. With the Demon Smith having gone into hiding, it would only be a matter of time before the corrupted Seed would break free and return. Perhaps the ethereal will of the Tree of Souls would give rise to a new Seed in time to destroy its corrupted brethren once and for all.
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The next post should go up on Halloween day.

Stay tuned!

~Zan

Lore Post: Cycle of Birth and Judgment














Greetings,

As part of the lead-up to this year's Halloween project, here's some background lore:

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The Cycle of Birth and Judgment

The Tree of Souls is one of the few artifacts that was not forged by the legendary Demon Smith. It’s suggested through the scattered mythology that its essence was formed from the wayward souls of those that had fallen to tragedy. Sometime around the second recorded age, travelers made note of a mysterious tree that grew from a tomb of solid rock somewhere on the Eastern Continent of the realm. The traveler records described a gnarled tree with dark crystalline branches and bone-like roots. Decorating both the body and branches of the tree were various colored jewel-like “eyes”. Would-be treasure hunters were unable to dislodge these jewels and those that tried supposedly met with terrible fates. This mysterious tree persisted through ages and was noted in several accounts as an unusual spectacle.

Later, during the second recorded age of the realm, many wars began to throw the lands into chaos. The rise of the demon armies and the reign of those that would eventually be sealed away in the Abyss threatened peace. During this period of strife, the Tree of Souls was said to bear a single fruit. This fruit would take the form of the Vessel Mask. While the early accounts and documentation of this object are inconsistent, sketches and other recovered pieces of writing describe a featureless flesh-like mask that hung from the branches of Tree.

Nobody knows the name or past of the first person that took the Vessel Mask from the tree. Perhaps desperation or a call to action drew this person to the Tree’s altar. Upon taking the mask and putting it on, the person was consumed by the power of the Tree of Souls and reborn as the Faceless Summoner, Ardelrius. After taking a single branch of the gnarled tree as a staff, this new being set forth into the chaotic war-torn realm in search of strong souls. The staff itself possessed the ability to channel consumed souls and use them as powerful weapons. Throughout the various times of chaos and turmoil, it’s said that Ardelrius rose again and again to drive back the destructive forces that threatened peace. Some witness accounts described the enigmatic being as a silent yet just warrior that fought the hordes of darkness while demanding no thanks and simply vanishing into the night once its work was done. Other accounts began to call the Faceless Summoner the Seed of Judgement, named after its merciless nature when striking down its foes.

It’s said that once peace was restored and the dark chaotic forces quelled, the Seed would return to the tree and seal itself away until its power was once again needed. No record of the original person remains and it's said their spirit was infused back into the tree as one of the noble souls that sacrificed their existence to wield its power.
Many generations after the last recorded glimpses of the Seed, it seems a new vessel now walks the lands to gather souls for the next great conflict.
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Stay tuned for more updates as Halloween gets closer!

~Zan

Late Summer Update














Hello,

This is just a short updated to mention some things as Summer winds down. With the end of August upon us, PAX is less than a week away. I will be there as a regular attendee with some friends for the entire weekend. Unlike previous years, I didn't have a chance to prepare some free things to hand out. The main reason for this was my recent move which impacted my ability to make things. I wanted to do something in conjunction with the release of Monster Hunter Generations: Ultimate but the timing just didn't work out.

For site and channel news, uploads will continue per the normal schedule. I recently started up a Let's Play of Mega Man 2 on the NES. It's one of the most praised games in the series but I wanted to play through something from my past as a way to get back into the old-school playthroughs. I am working on editing some new Steam LPs and hope to be starting up a series on Monster Hunter World since the PC version has been out. Other than that, now that the move is done, I'm hoping to get my work shop space set up so I can start working on this year's Halloween project. I've got some things in mind that should be underway soon.

Thanks for visiting!

~Zan

Drawing Commentary Returns!














Greetings,

Summer is in full swing and things remain busy at the studio. This just a short update to mark the return of my Drawing Commentary series. It seems like ages since I did full episode of the drawing process from start to finish. The subject of the latest episode is the iconic Ridley from the Metroid video game series. Check it out here:



Normal posts and events will continue per the normal as will streams. Announcements will be posted over on Twitter!

~Zan

New Design Series: The Pixel Sprite Collab







Greetings,


I put up a post on DA earlier explaining the launch of a design series I've been working on for a while. In fact, I've been working on entries for the series occasionally on my Design Streams on Twitch. These designs are pixel-based pieces inspired by old video game graphics.

For the collab portion, I'm working with Meltpixel on DA who specializes in perler bead sprites. He's going to be working on perlers for my original sprites and posting them on his main page. We'll be trying to coordinate the posts and linking them accordingly.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Zan

Spring Update














Hello,

We're already into Spring now and while things have been quiet on the update front, a lot has been going on behind the scenes. My regular content on Deviant Art and Youtube has been staying consistent. The current Let's Play going on is Milon's Secret Castle and will be wrapping up soon. I'm going to be experimenting with a new format for Quick Looks after this so expect that to kick off after the LP is finished.

I've also continued to host (mostly) weekly streams over on Twitch. They've primarily been Design Streams and you can find out when the next one will by following me over on Twitter. Occasionally when I feel like embarrassing myself live, I'll switch formats to one of my Gaming Streams where I attempt to beat NES games with often catastrophic results. We played through the original Ninja Gaiden last time and it was painful.

Let's talk about some upcoming projects. Those that have been tuning into the Design Streams may have seen some hints about the next big project I'm hoping to launch in May. It's going to be a cross-media ongoing collaboration project which will be a significant deviation from the design and papier mache work I've done. I've also mentioned the debut of a new ongoing Design series that will run parallel to the other series. The mache work has been on hold for a bit lately but I do plan on posting another entry in the Mache Miniatures series at some point soon. I'm also in the process of sketching out some drafts for a new wearable piece. That one is going to be a bit more complicated and will probably end up stretching into October. Hopefully that will coincide nicely with Halloween.

That's about it for now. I plan to schedule these update posts a bit more frequently so the information isn't as sparse. As other things come from the rest of the studio, you can expect to see posts here as well.

Thanks for visiting!

~Zan

New Papier Mache Series Launches - Venomous Reptile Dokudra















Greetings,

We're off into the new year and it's time to finally wrap up a project I announced in March of 2013. Yes, I know that's a really long time. This project was shelved due to some of the other more pressing things I was working on but recently I decided to not only finish it, but to turn into an ongoing series. The Mache Miniatures unlike my masks, full-size monsters or dragon trophies are a much smaller sculpture series constructed using the same methods. These are meant to be more like desktop pieces and not "miniatures" like figurines. As a way to wrap up a loose end while starting a bunch of new ones, here's Venomous Reptile Dokudra:


I tried some new filming and photographing techniques with this one. Both my digital camera and video camera are many years old and seem to be rendered obsolete by my more recent smartphone. I recorded and photographed all of the parts of this project with it. Here are the final shots of Dokudra. You can find the WIP phases of its construction here.

Full Shot

Face Close-up


Back Shot
For Dokudra. I went with the "standard" monster model for its body using the opportunity to see how the structure would hold up in a smaller piece. Thanks to the cloth skin and it being overall very light, the pieces stands up fine on its own. For future pieces, I'll experiment with more dynamic poses. It's also worth nothing that all of the spikes, teeth, eyes, and claws on Dokudra glow in the dark. More than the glowing effect, I've found that the polymer clay color works really well for teeth or horns.

That just about does it for this post. I'll be doing more with the Mache Miniatures going forward in between other projects.

Stay tuned!

~Zan