Chess Set

3D Printed Chess Set: Preliminary Models

I've never known a whole lot about chess, so when tasked with designing my own chess pieces I felt rather outside of my comfort zone. After brainstorming as many ideas as I could, the theme that stood out to me was using the first letter of every piece to form the body of the piece itself.

After an in-class critique, I received several helpful comments. I was advised to design a similar section that was consistent throughout the pieces to help them look like they belong together. Also to make sure the K for the "King" was significantly different and larger than the K for the "Knight" to avoid confusion. I was also given a new idea to try and make each letter look like something else when seen from a specific angle.

To incorporate this feedback, so far I have created a base that stays the same in every piece to help unify the set.

The progress I have made so far is a very rough idea of how the pieces will look but I still have a ways to go. I hope to add lots more detail, but I'm also trying to keep in mind that these pieces will be 3D printed. I have never 3D printed anything before and I'm pretty unsure how small is too small, so I'm trying to be cautious. 

Moving forward I hope to make the pieces appear less obviously like their letter. I don't want them to read as decorated block letters. But rather a bunch of details and shapes that make up the letter.