Black Army Bishops - The Shaman Part 1

The Shaman floated around the study come laboratory, deep in conversation with itself.
“I know black is great for evening wear but really, for everything? Even weddings?”
“I don’t see the problem, last week you said it was great because it looked slimming”
“You just like it because it makes you look mean and ruthless”
“I am mean and ruthless, how do think we have held the field for so long?”
contiue the story here......

The story continues: The White King's Knight

The General Knight looked at his ribs again and flicked the third one down with his bony finger.
It made a high “pingy” noise.
“Oh how I wish I could tune these things, it could make a fine musical instrument”
he thought out loud to himself .
“Oh, who am I kidding – I am so bored”
The General Knight was sitting on his trusty steed Watebuscuit watching his charges practice their battle formations. Which they did each and everyday over and over and over again.
The Men under his command were just like him, a Risen Hero, an army of soldiers and leaders reanimated by the University of the Gears to help in the leadership of the White King’s army.
They were a very controversial bunch to start with and would have been sent back to the mausoleums and Necropolis that held them if it hadn’t been for the Queen and the King coming to an accord and making a strict set of protocols.
No reanimated member of the Risen Army could have memories other than that of the battlefield. No personal recollections of their lives prior to military service, of loved ones or their histories, not even their own deaths. These skeletons with armour and fighting styles from several centuries only lived for battle, and that was all they did.
Over and over again ad infinitum.
The General wished he’d had that privilege.
He was different, he remembered everything.
He remembered falling off his horse in the middle of a battle and before he could right himself, looking up at a massive barbarian holding a somewhat bigger axe, next thing he knew he was standing in front of the Queen and her Bishop in ceremonial armour and with see through hands.
He was a skeleton.
The Bishop did something that took away the shock and utter disbelief and briefed him on what his new role would be.
But then they started asking questions.
“Did he remember the King and where he came from?”
and stuff about his past.
continue reading here.......

GoK artist interview - thickblackoutline

Could you start by telling us a little about yourself? Do you have a “day” job?

I’m a graphic designer by day, graphic designer by night. Apparently I actually have real human sleep! I have a day job for a Japanese company, which I adore. I am the only Aussie there, and have been working there for about a year and a half now. There’s an office dog, a big black great dane, who is a very loud doorbell! He’s just a puppy, 9 ft tall on his hind legs!

Then thickblackoutline is a another part of my day job – anytimeoftheday job really. I freelance, and I also extract designs directly from my brain, in some sort of ritual, and post them here on “The Bub”: http://www.redbubble.com/people/thickblackoutline… they must be free!!!!

Which artists influence or inspire you?

There are so many, it’s hard to put into perspective sometimes. From Alphonse Mucha, to Yoshu Chikanobu from Gustav Klimt to Patrick Woodroffe ~ something different inspires me in all of them, which I guess makes up what my style is.

More recently I am very inspired by fashion. Fashion Illustrations, I love a bit of the Project Runway, and although I don’t sew, lately I’m so influenced by all the details of fashion, which I try to put in my work. I have been much inspired by Leigh Buchanan’s work from PR Australia from last year – he placed 2nd, the commander of the corset!! Just heavenly! There’s so many artistic elements I see in his work, he is a true craftsman, a sculptor, magician …and yes there is a few stitches in there too!

I’m also heavily inspired, and under the influence of, a nice cup of Tea ….

Continue reading here...................

WAVE TWO RELEASE

Available week starting 20 July 2009



1. The White King's Bishop by Quigonjim
2. The Black King's Knight by Simon Sherry
3. The White Queen's Bishop's Pawn by Rubyred
4. Black King's Bishop's Pawn by Simon Sherry

The King and his Bullrock

The King of the Nation of the Black Spear was never alone, even when he was physically by himself, he still had the collective memory of countless generations of his peers in his head. Usually he called on them for advice or some long lost knowledge, otherwise they said nothing. Since the army of the Black Spear had held the celestial battlefield for decades now and had been victorious in three challenges the old men in his head wouldn’t shut up.
Every one of them had a view or an opinion that had to be expressed, or worse a brag about who was responsible for the winning moves in any of the victories.
Respecting your Elders was one thing, but this was getting out of hand.
He often wondered if it would be any use sticking a dagger up his nose and doing some cranial clean out.
At least he knew of one way to get rid of them without taking one of the Shaman’s toxic smelling mind blockers.
The King was heading towards a large heavily fortified gate cut into a huge rock face.
As he approached the gate slowly swung open and as if synchronized, was completely open by the time the King arrived as not to keep him waiting.
Inside the rock wall, which on entry revealed itself to be a large animal pen was a seat made of the same material as the wall. On this seat, in the centre of the enclosure sat a creature. . The creature was humanlike in body – though of giant proportions but on its shoulders was the head of a Mammoth.

continue story here.....

What is the Game of Kings?

The Game of Kings is a collaboration bringing together Red Bubble artists from Australia and the UK. Initially starting out as a series of character-based t-shirts, GoK has expanded to include an accompanying narrative and will be spinning out into other media.

The basic theme of the project is the game of chess. The initial brief was that the project’s creator, Simon Sherry, would illustrate the black side of the board, while a team of eight other artists would tackle the white. As the project gathered momentum and the members of the group shared ideas and artwork, a story began to evolve around the pieces in this celestial battleground. With the addition of Danny to the group as ‘biographer’ of this strange cast of characters, this story took on a life of its own, and everyone involved knew that the scope of the Game had grown beyond the cotton canvas.

Due to the clever skills and imagination of those involved and the epic scope of the theme, the GoK group are creating a wonderful series of artworks, stories and multimedia to hopefully fire the imagination in others. The first ‘phase’ of this project are the character tees making up the board itself. Every two weeks four pieces of the board will be revealed along with a section of the story, adding another piece of the jigsaw to build a final picture. Accompanying the artwork and writing will be interviews with the people involved, adding further insight into the project, their role in it, and the thought behind their creations. Every other week, previews for the next ‘wave’ of characters will be released, along with other behind-the-scenes material to whet appetites for what’s in store. A blog, facebook page and twitter account is also online, providing fans with updates and additional extras that may not appear in the main Red Bubble profile.

The Game of Kings Group on Red Bubble will open its doors in the future to accept members who want to contribute ideas, stories and art as well as compete in competitions that will stretch the boundaries of fun and excitement with prizes worth the effort.

The Game of Kings is more than Tee Shirts. It’s wall art and animated story lines, vignettes and artist clashing styles against each other. It’s books and games. It’s audience participation and contribution. It’s something that we hope you can watch grow and enjoy as a whole new world opens up before your eyes in the next few months and beyond.

We hope you enjoy the ride!

- The GoK Team

The GoK team is:

Simon Sherry
Scott Robinson
thickblackoutline
rubyredsjem
quigonjim
Jordan Clarke
Nofrillsart
LilyM
Danny

Free Wall paper for your monitor

Click on the image for free and exclusive wallpaper of the
First wave Black Army and
GoK logo for your monitor.

The White Kings story

The King made a beeline for his personal chambers; at least there he couldn’t be disturbed.
Following in his wake were a dozen advisors, chefs, university representatives and embassy staff all battling each other for his attention, none game enough to actually touch him or stand before him.
Behind them, scuttled an assortment of pale misshapen dwarfish creatures.
They were the King’s personal guard.
Each was similar to the next, with such a slight difference that took a bit of study to recognize. Though they all appeared hunchbacked it was more due to small knobs each had on its back, which looked more like large shoulder blades. The real reason they were hunched was due to the large implements they had attached below their wrists. Some had large maces, others what appeared to be boulders or even cannon balls.
The guard scurried a short distance behind the advisors.
One word from the King and the guard would annihilate the advisors without question.
Actually with one word the guard would turn on itself if the King ordered it, so strong was their fierce loyalty to him.
Both these thoughts were going through the King’s mind as he reached the door to his chambers.
He turned to the throng trailing him who stopped immediately in their tracks, all questions ceased.

“I am now going through this door to have some privacy and also to stop a Rex inspired genocide. So please go away and wait for me in a place that is at least one hundred metres from this door. I will call when I am ready”

“Yes your Majesty” said the advisors in unison and in one quick action turned and left.

The guard stood still staring at the King.

“You go to sleep” the King said realizing threats against the guard were useless.
The guard dropped where they were in a clattering pile. Unconscious.

continue the story here........

WAVE ONE RELEASE -Let the games begin

Today is the first stage roll out of the Game of Kings T-Shirt releases.


1.The White King by Scott Robinson
2.The White queen's Pawn by thickblackoutline
3.The Black Queen's Knight's Pawn
4.Black King's Rook (The Bullrock)
both by Simon Sherry
Click on the indivdual shirt to see the artwork, for character descriptions, to learn more about the artist and to buy these stunning pieces of clothing.

Wall art and posters coming soon.
As the art continues to roll out follow the stories of these characters and how they will eventually gather on the field of battle to determine their destiny.

Not long now...

Prelude to the setting of the board

In a universe where the laws of evolution,

majik and science do not apply there are

armies whose need to prove themselves

in battle transcends dimensions.
In this universe warrior worlds can fight

incredible rivals in fantastic battles in locations

that we can only perceive to be real.
Unknown to all combatants is the fact that

their armies are all equal in power and ability.
These battles are more than power and accrual

of wealth, they are about strategy,

bravery and assessment.
The battle is never over until the ultimate ruler

of either side is met and defeated.
There is no good or evil
There is no right or wrong
There is no ultimate power of strength
There is only black and white and the will to win.

But with this desire for the ultimate prize

comes ultimate conditions,
hidden in the contracts.
The ultimate prize is to hold the field until

you lose.
There can be no ultimate winner.
Two ancient army have been chosen to face

each other on the celestial battlefield.
The longevity of each race's existence depends

on the outcome.
Defeat means the extinction of the species.
Winning means another suicidal run at glory.
One, a kingdom where lies and deception have

been built on top of each other for so long that the

thought of loss is becoming equal to the glory of
winning.
The other, a race living in a dystrophic society

where war is the very essence of life and survival;

where dedication to battle is a way of life.
In the end it's one will against another

A Game of Kings.