Custom set with fairy pieces.

I've designed a custom set for play, and I'm struggling with designing the fairy pieces. I don't really care if they resemble chess.com pieces, only that they have a consistent and clear visual language. Here's the set so far:

These labels are part of the visual language. For example, all major pieces should have a ridge near the base, and all minor pieces, including pawns, should not. The sphere on top of the both queen and bishop represents bishop moves, so any piece that can move as a bishop should have this sphere as well. The collars around the king, queen, and bishop are labeled "inner circle" because this (unofficial) term refers to a piece that is typically in the center of the back rank at the start. The crowns of the king and queen are labeled "crowned" because this (also unofficial) term refers to a piece that can move as a king. The indent right below the second "bulb" on each piece is labeled "royal" on the king because it being higher than the rest shows its royalty, and it is labeled "pawn" on the pawn because it being lower than the rest shows it's a pawn. The ridge below the head of the pawn is labeled "pawn" because this ridge shows it's a pawn. The cross on the king of course shows it is royal, however it will be present of a piece like the general, just smaller. The indents around the head of the rook are shared with the queen because they can both move as a rook, however, they are pointed in the queen because of the slice present in the bishop.

I want to use these markings, and any others that could work, to create fairy pieces specifically so their movement pattern is easily recognizable. So far I have 3 pieces designed: The Berolina (reverse pawn), the Sergeant (pawn+berolina), and the Amazon (queen+knight).

(The Berolina's head would be a tube) What are some added guidelines that could help in the designing of more fairy pieces? What do you think about the pieces designed so far? Do you have any designs of your own that could be helpful? Feel free to post any physical sets with fairy pieces if you think they're relevant. I might also design STLs (3D printing files) for these pieces if anyone wants them.

Very nice set, i specially like the knight. Are you going to build it?

If you need some inspiration take a look here, there are a lot of custom made sets that can help a little:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/post-pictures-of-your-chess-pieces-boards-that-you-made-yourself

@jacmater I am currently working on carving them. Thanks for the link, I think it'll really help with the fairy piece designing!

Okay, I just hit a major roadblock. I like the look of the amazon, and I thought it would be a good idea to design pieces like the general (king+knight) in a similar fashion. however, even with a much smaller cross on the crown and a smaller crown in general, I can't seem to make the general fit; it always ends up bigger than it should be. Any ideas? For now, I'll be taking a break by making easier pieces like fairy pawns.

I think your designs are good so far, although I think the Sergeant would be a little tough to distinguish from a regular pawn at a glance when playing OTB.

In Seirwan Chess (which is available to play on this website in the variant section), Yasser Seirwan introduced the Hawk and the Elephant. The Hawk is a combined knight/bishop (more commonly called the Archbishop or Princess) and the Elephant is a combined knight/rook (more commonly called the Chancellor or Empress). The link has example designs for the novel Seirawan Chess pieces. They are easily recognizable, but their powers are not obvious just by looking at them (unlike your Amazon design).

You might also consider the Duck (from Duck Chess in the variant section) and the Grasshopper. Both are fun pieces and could be made to be distinct from any other existing chess piece.

so good i am a bad artist

You might also find inspiration from the other Musketeer Chess pieces (which include the Seirawan Chess pieces)

Did you mean the berolina, the one with the tube? I think the sergeant is very easy to distinguish, and the berolina may undergo some design changes.

I am currently working on the archbishop and chancellor, and they, along with the amazon and general, have shown me that I may have to rethink the way I'm combining pieces with knights.

Those would be quite fun, I might work on them next!

Don't feel bad, I'm only able to design these pieces bc they're on graph paper. Also, you can still help by giving ideas, artistic skill isn't the only way you can help! I'd be happy to hear design ideas from you, or anyone!

I just designed the camel (knight but 3,1 instead of 2,1), wildebeest (camel+knight), stone general (pawn that moves and captures diagonally), and soldier (pawn that moves and captures forwards).

Thoughts?

No, I think the Berolina is good. I think the hole will be easy to distinguish (at least, from the right angle). I think the Sergeant and the Soldier could be difficult to distinguish visually from the Pawn for the Black pieces when playing an actual game. I.e., there would be moments where the person would have to shift their position and say "Is that a Pawn or a Sergeant/Soldier?".

But it would depend on the color of the stain/paint that you use and how easy it is to make out the subtle details under the anticipated lighting conditions.

I think you might have a similar issue with the knight and camel. The solution there might be to make the camel taller.

The black pieces won't be painted that dark, so no problem there. They'll be either painted a bit darker or stained. The camel will be thinner over all, the head is tilted down instead of up, and the "beards" on the front and back will help distinguish it even more. The reason I kept it about the same height as the knight, in fact slightly shorter, as well as significantly thinner is because the camel is worth less than the knight because it is colorbound and cannot attack close by squares without at least 2 moves, although not worth that much less because of its increased range.

Hey man!! I found your work and I thought it was impressive, I was also trying to think of designs for some pieces I created, I was just having more difficulty with the proportion and height of them, to keep something consistent, what would be the scale that you made them? would each square of the grid be 7mm? or 1/4 inch?