Making of story: Free Animals Chess (Design Process)

Share it:

A quick tour of the design process for the Animals Kids Chess printable.

Thinking about the times at summer camp were we wanted to play chess with the kids but there were no chessboards available, the idea was conceptualised:

Concept idea sketching by Rodrigo Macias for a free printable chess for kids

The first thing made was the board, using textures and a grassy brush.

Close up Chessboard corner of Free printable boardgame: Animals Chess for Kids by Kids activities designer Rodrigo Macias

Then I got too excited and made a public statement on Facebook that I would learn to design on 3D to make this Chess.

A public Facebook statement wher eI commit to learn how to use a 3d software to make the pieces for the animals chess for kids
Click the screenshot to see the original Facebook post

Then I sketched the pieces’ front and side views. That’s when it started getting scary for me (I thought “Is this too complicated for a first 3D project? What have I done!”).

3D sketch for a Giraffe Queen chesspiece by Rodrigo Macias for a free printable chess for kids
Click the Giraffe to see it on Instagram

Then little by little from a mix of procrastination and Youtube tutorials the pieces started to take shape.

Gray animal rook chesspiece with an elephant design by Rodrigo Macias for a free printable chess for kids
Click the elephant to see it on Tumblr

Gray animal king chesspiece with a Lion design by Rodrigo Macias for a free printable chess for kids

Black animal bishop chesspiece with a snake design by Rodrigo Macias for a free printable chess for kids
Click the snake to see it on Instagram
Bronze animal pawn chesspiece with a monkey design by Rodrigo Macias for a free printable chess for kids
Click the monkey to see it on Instagram

Then paper dummies were made to figure out the simplest 3d-like solution that could be printed in any 2-d printer:

Dummy for free printable boardgame: Animals Chess for Kids by Kids activities designer Rodrigo Macias

Then at the border of “When is this project going to end! ?” the printables were put in place.

Free printable boardgame: Animals Chess for Kids by Kids activities designer Rodrigo Macias
Click above to go to the Download page

Then I made a video tutorial showing how to build a free chess set at home.

In total, from concept to publishing the project took about 8 weeks.

To download the printable chess, go here.

You may also like

Share it: