With Winter winding down, we're already headed into Spring. While I haven't had a ton of updates lately, I did want to confirm that I'm still creating content, mostly in the form of videos on Youtube and streaming art on Twitch.
Starting on March 17th, I will be taking a break from creating content for about 3 weeks. When I return, the regular content will resume and I plan on bringing back the somewhat frequent Papier Mache projects. I've got a couple interesting ideas lined up that I will be posting.
It's Halloween once again and like years past, I have prepared another papier mache project. This one is a new entry in the tale of the Faceless Summoner and continues the travels of Ardelrius with some more lore:
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The Faceless Summoner and I continued our travels across the realm to the far northern continent. We made a few stops along the way but something seemed to call my odd traveler friend onward. There were very little conversations and I could do nothing but follow, resigning myself to the journey as some sort of observer.
We arrived at the fringe territory of Taeruth outside the borders of some towns just shy of the northern tundras. Our target was apparently another temple built into the face of a sloping cliff side. We managed the treacherous path easily enough and the two of us found ourselves standing at the mouth of the temple. It was crafted from pure obsidian and extended into the mountain. Upon entering the seemingly vacant temple, Ardelrius made its way to a central altar at the heart of the structure. The spire-like piece was constructed out of bone and bore runic seals around its base on the floor of the temple.
“This seal binds the gate of the Void so that none shall escape.”
Those were the words written in an ancient tongue and scrawled around the seal. Invoking energies from the Tree of Souls once again, Ardelrius conjured an otherworldly force and the altar began to resonate with the same arcane light.
“Those that stand before the gate must pass the challenges of its guardians,” a hollow voice growled from the shadows.
“The Umbral Crested bird and the sorceress of the Scattered Tides protect this place.”
Two glittering jewels appeared at the base of the altar. One gold and one deep blue, they shined with magical power, seemingly waiting for our next move.
“What are we doing here?” I asked the Faceless Summoner.
“To combat the threat to this world, we must dive into the banished void in search of power,” my companion answered. “Defeating these guardians will grant us passage.
With that, Ardelrius knelt and reached towards the jewels. I knew a fight was approaching. This was the way things always happened and I knew my friend’s power would be tested once again.
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The two masks represent the guardians, Umbral Crest Valdamos and Scattered Tide Mierkharesha. A summary video of the entire process along with the final results is up on Youtube:
This year's project was an interesting return to form. I'd like to continue the Summoner's story and will be thinking about the next steps for future entries. There should be some new mache things coming in the next couple months.
Summer is nearly over and it's been quite some time since the last update on the main site here. I understand the content posts in general from me have been a bit more spread out and sparse lately. The Design videos are still continuing with one to two uploads a week and I consistently post new sprites over on DA every Wednesday.
On the Youtube side, I'm not sure what I want to do with my channel. It's become difficult to manage the recording, editing, and planning of Let's Plays due to a bunch of other competing priorities. While I can't promise that the LPs will return soon, I definitely want to finish what I've started.
Even if the content posts have been less, I am still working on some larger projects. I've been slowly working on the next Halloween project which will mark the return and continuation of the Summoner's lore. There should be more news on that front as we get into the Fall.
That's it for now. I just wanted to get a small news post up to let the world know that this site isn't dead. The primary sources for content will remain on YT and DA for now.
The year's project is a mache miniature sculpture representing the Sundered Idol. Check out the spotlight video here:
Unfortunately the construction and skin phase footage of for this project was lost. I had an archive with images from my old phone but I couldn't find them when I was putting this project together. As a result, the spotlight video includes some recently-taken still shots along with a video highlighting the piece.
I created this sculpture using the same mache techniques as my other pieces. The main body and frame was constructed using paper, masking tape and papier mache pieces. After getting the body and limbs attached, I added the round glass stones, clay spikes/horns, and eyes. The final part of the pre-paint process was the application of skin. I used torn up sheets soaked in white glue as usual but due to the smaller model size, I had to work with much smaller cloth bits. That was a bit of a challenge. Finally, after the skin was completely dry, I painted Ganthrios using latex paint and applied a blackwash layer once the first coat had dried.
Overall, this was a fun project to work on. The miniatures are definitely a different scale than some of my larger sculptures or wearables. I have a couple others that are in development and hope to post them in the future. For now, this entry is going to bridge the lore gap and lead into the next chapter of the Summoner's story. Once I have the next pieces done, I'll be posing some prologue lore articles that will kick the chapter off.
Halloween is upon us once again and it's time to look at a short piece of lore for this year's project! I'm trying out something different this year to break up the past few wearable pieces. This year's Halloween piece is going to be a miniature sculpture that connects to the Faceless Summoner's lore. In fact, this entry is going to tie into the next major chapter of the Summoner's travels. Here's the prologue to the piece which should get posted tomorrow.
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The Search For the Sundered Idol
My travels with the Faceless Summoner took is across the
realm to places I never dreamed of. The mysterious wanderer always moved with
purpose, seldom talking but always watchful. After acquiring the Soulsealer
Aegis and leaving it with some allies in one of the remote kingdoms, our travels
directed us south. Another vast mountain range bordered with desolate sandy
wastes was to be our target. I asked my companion of our goal in this bleak
place and was met with a single response:
“We seek the Sundered Idol.”
I remember hearing tales of this artifact whispered among
the elders of our village. Legends tell of a powerful creature that walked the
realm centuries ago. An ancient beast said to be born from the molten depths,
it knew no master and simply wandered about aimlessly. It was said that this
creature brought fiery wrath upon those that angered it but it was never
confirmed whether it was good or evil. Still, with such uncontrolled power
roaming the lands, a collective of mages managed to seal its spirit in a stone
idol. Records of the relic’s location were lost to time, the mages having died
out long ago. It must be the target of the Summoner. What sort of terrifying
power will we find? Will my companion be able to control it?
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That's it for the short intro lore piece. The rest will be posted tomorrow!
I know things have been a bit slow as far as updates here on the studio's main site but things have still been busy behind the scenes! Weekly design streams and frequently uploads on my Youtube channel have continued with little disruptions. I've been trying to keep up the recording sessions for the ongoing Hollow Knight LP. The latest section of footage is done and is being edited now. That series is going to continue until I reach the end of the main game. I'm considering switching to a different game after that just to mix things up before getting into Hollow Knight's DLC. The LP itself will be one of the longer ones on the channel.
Store updates will be coming soon as well. I'm working on a large update to the store content that's going to include a large section of the Draconic Council designs. I think the dragon face and full renders would adapt well to the product layouts on Redbubble but I want to do the update in one set of uploads. I'll probably post a Twitter update when that happens.
That should do it for the studio updates so far. I have begun some concept development on this year's Halloween project as well. I'm hoping to start work on it a bit earlier so I can devote more time to lore writing. Once things are underway, there will be updates here on the main page.
I know updates have been somewhat sparse here on the main site. Despite the lack of updates, I have been busy working on things in the background. One thing I started earlier this year is the series of Tier List videos. The latest series has been focusing on Monster Hunter monsters and you can find the first episode here:
I've also started working on a new Let's Play featuring the popular indie game, Hollow Knight! It's been an interesting look so far and you can find the first episode here:
That should do it for the Youtube-related content updates. I have been working on some papier mache-related things but I don't know when they're going to be done. It's a mix of smaller sculptures like the Christmas project in addition to some larger pieces and masks. There will be some lore written around those pieces and I'll be posting those here.
