Shape Shepherds Vol. 1-3 (2018)
A downloadable collection
back in 2018, as a final class for college, i participated in an independent study with the intention of working towards zine-making and indie-printed media. what came out of it was "Shape Shepherds", a universe crafted around the central theme of extra-dimensional monsters invading our world and stealing the shapes of objects and people around us.
after these volumes were released, I had intended to expand the universe, develop characters and a plot, and slowly start to do something more grandiose with the concept. however, i wasn't very proud of how it was turning out after 2018, and the intended cosmic horror with a goofy spin fizzled out and rested in the back of the creative fridge as i moved on to other grandiose ideas.
looking back on the project today, it's unseen concepts still inspire me to some degree, and it feels worth archiving as one of my only "larger projects" that I did by myself.
included with the 2025 version of this collection is:
- the 3 original Volumes of Shape Shepherds
- Vol. 1 - Shape Shepherds; a visual guide
- (inspired by video game manuals and introductory pamphlets)
- Vol. 2 - Shape Shepherds "Lost & Found"
- (a collection of 3D renders representing the shepherds creating hoards out of shapes.)
- Vol. 3 - "The Unofficial Shape Shepherds Guide to Survival"
- an empathetic view on how to defend one's self from the extra-dimensional invaders, written by an awkward teenager from Ohio calling themselves "the expert". scanned pamphlet found at a local library.
- Vol. 1 - Shape Shepherds; a visual guide
- High Quality png renders seen in Vol. 1
- High Quality jpegs of pages in Vol. 2
- a folder of Bonus Materials! (2025 itch release exclusive wow!!)
- Includes:
- promotional collage renders i made for instagram around the time
- sketches of the Volume 1 & 2 renders
- cover thumbnails
- early character sketches
- ...and more!
- Includes:
you'll get a .ZIP with everything in it on download, with a bunch of txt files in a few of the folders providing commentary.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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I know this is an older concept you said you likely won't revisit, but for what it's worth, I really liked looking through these and reading all the bios! Your use of shapes and geometry in character design has always been really cool to see, and it shines through here, too! I can't stop thinking about the Bleeder... the idea of seeing such a little thing and knowing if you get too close, it'll attract these huge, much more dangerous monsters to you... it's so scary and awesome... it makes the Bleeder itself look terrifying, even though its design is so similar to the Pest. I also love how silly the Hoarders are, and then the Hexes and Fades are so distorted and off-putting in comparison. Everything's all just so abstract and cool
Also, idk if it's just an issue on my end, but none of the pngs in the "extended concept art" folder seem to open for me
Overall a very cool collection of art and ideas!
thank you so much!! it means a lot to hear that this concept still resonates well. the concept this has turned into in my head is a little more Shape-Shepherd involved now, and i'd like to get started on it soon.
also, i'm sorry to hear about the technical difficulties here... do they show up as corrupted files or do they just not open in anything at all? on my end they seem to at least open in photo browser/internet browsers by dragging and dropping the files. feel free to DM me though if there's anything specifically weird going on.
They show up as normal pngs, but they refuse to be extracted from the zip. I should mention everything else extracts and opens just fine, it's just the extended concept art folder that's being stubborn
i just updated the folder to convert those to jpegs to see if that helps! lemme know if there's still trouble tho :)
Yep, they open correctly now! I like the contrast between the two human characters. The Expert is cool :)
Sorry for the trouble!