Halloween Lore Post 1: The Blinding Plague

Hello,

Halloween is getting closer. Just like I've done in the past, I've prepared several pieces of lore that will explain some of the background behind this year's project. The first one is included below.

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Entry 1: The Blinding Plague

Legends found in the realm’s archives tell of a terrible scourge that plagued the lands for quite some time. A demon that called itself the Eye Collector roamed the different territories of the realm with the simple goal of tearing the eyes from its victim and adding them to an ever-growing collection. Using an arcane ritual, the monster would preserve its treasures and it’s said that each stolen eye contained the insight of its owner. The hapless victims would be left blinded but alive. Perhaps the goal of the Eye Collector was to gain ultimate knowledge of the world. Humans, demons, and even the Ogres were prey to its unending hunger.

For five cursed years, the Eye Collector traveled throughout the realm. Sightings and tales of its wrath would crop up randomly among all manner of folk. Several leaders attempted to rally together groups to hunt down the Collector. A detachment of knights from the small kingdom of Tirald famously tracked a string of victims through the northern frozen wastes. Scattered accounts from the hunting party tell of an ambush as the knights camped in the darkness of the icy cliffs. The Eye Collector struck swiftly under the cover of shadow, subduing each of the knights as they slept and claiming a bounty of treasure. The blinded party was left stranded in the mountains to wander to their deaths in the frigid dark.

Not long after the Tiral knights failed to stop the Eye Collector, a pack of Ogres led by one of the highly decorated chieftains, Gnar took it upon themselves to end the terror. Using  some enchanted charms from their shamans, the Ogres followed the trail of several grisly attacks for one month with the intention of discovering the lair of the Eye Collector and killing it. These hunters were successful in following their target to a secluded cave west of Agrist on the northern continent. However, it seems their prey had led them to their doom as the Ogres found themselves entangled in a powerful illusion while searching the network of caves. As it had done before, the Eye Collector stalked them and slowly picked off the warriors until only Gnar and one of his captains remained. Standing his ground against the Collector, Gnar fought fiercely but was ultimately defeated. His captain watched in horror as the enemy ripped out his leader’s eyes before removing his head in a bloody display. The Ogre captain fled the caves and managed to elude his pursuer. The only survivor of the Collector returned to the Ogre territories in a state of near-madness. He told his leaders of their failure and of the caves. Urging the others to stay away, he told them that none could hope to stop the unholy beast.

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That's it for this entry. There will be one more posted in the next couple days before the project's reveal on Halloween.

Stay tuned!

~Zan

Late Summer Update

Hello,

Summer is wrapping up soon and updates to the main page have been a bit sparse. For my project updates, normal designs and sprites posts have been continuing as normal. In Youtube news, have you seen my currently ongoing Let's Play of PS2 cult classic, God Hand? It's a brutally difficult janky game with tons of wacky humor and action. It's one of my all-time favorites.

I've also been mixing up the weekly Pixel Sprite posts with entries from the new Eternys Core Mecha series. These designs are a bit more complex than some of the other entries and draw upon many mecha influences from popular media. I've also started putting the designs up on our Redbubble store using the following layout:

Sample template of the Brigandine model

Finally, with the end of August approaching, I will be attending PAX West again as a regular attendee. If I see anything noteworthy, you can probably find me talking about it over on Twitter.

That should be all for now. With some anticipated downtime around PAX, I'm hoping to get some new Sprite Challenge videos recorded along with some progress on this year's Halloween project.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Zan

New Video Series Starts: Drawing Challenges!

Greetings,

We're headed into Spring now and I realize this main page has been pretty bare since Halloween. It slipped my mind to update this page at the New Year and I didn't get to link 2018's Design Retrospective. If you're interested, check out part 1 here.

I'll be drafting a up a more detailed studio update as we get into Spring. For now, I wanted to spotlight the debut of a new video series on my Youtube channel: Drawing Challenges! Because there haven't been any drawing videos for the Pixel Sprite designs, I've started recording some "challenge" videos to switch up the commentary formula. You can check out the first one here:

I will be working on some more videos in this style. They'll rotate into the upload schedule along with the other videos.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Zan

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