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So someone at my work, is offering me a quite large sum of money to do a custom chess set for him. Although I would be using many GW models as base models to work off of. He wants a completely Gothic creepy look for the black, and a more holy and proud look to the white. Every model will be customized and the concept art I have come up with seems to please him.

Just want to know if anyone has any tips at all about going about this. I have many personal projects going on right now, but to get paid for a project seems a little more enticing

Make a plan and stick to it. From a buyers point of view there is nothing more frustrating than getting "It's soon complete" "Just a few more weeks". And when you make the plan make room for failures and mistakes.

About the project itself... cool, I've heard about the idea several times on various forums but never seen a complete set. Will you make a custom board as well or will you buy a standard chess board?

I would write down every paint step I do for the different colours. A 40k army might vary a little in saturation and hue but in a set of chess pieces it would real detract from the overall appearance.

Is it something in particular your looking for help with? Inspiration? How to achieve a special effect? etc.

Good luck with your project

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/287486.page

You may not have been thinking about specific races, but just in case, see the above.

I would suggest trying to figure certain things out, for example:

A knight is huge compared to infantry. How will you deal with this issue?

Are you painting them monochrome, or full colour with white/black bases?

Theme and coherency are pretty important. You probably should pick an army to base each side on (at least I suggest doing that). Maybe High Elves (or empire if you prefer) and Vampire Counts from the fantasy range? High elves are pretty white and pristine, while the vampire counts can fit the gothic theme described by the client. Alternatively, Empire can be the white side and Warriors of Chaos as the dark side, but there is freedom in choice, even outside of what I suggested. Skaven, even? O&G? Dwarves? Lizardmen? Probably should be up to the person who will have the set in the end.

Will you use round or square bases?

I'm sure theres a lot more in store, but those were a few things to think about.

I can relate to your task, my dad was big on Lord of the Rings as a book YEARS ago so when the miniatures came out I made a chess set of them for him (It all seemed perfect and he loves chess).

I found the smaller scale and selection was perfect for chess, it was easy to decide what each thing would be.

I looked at the models available first and tried to figure out what piece each one could be and then narrowed it down from there.

"Gothic and Creepy" pretty much defines the vampire counts so your black is most likely decided (unless you go the lord of the rings route).

Or maybe the contrast of High Elves vs Dark Elves, seems to fit the bill even better?

I hate to say it but proper coloring is the way to go, just mainly paint white for good and black for bad but only where reasonable.

Fun either way, so good luck.

So here it is as it stands, if i do it ofcourse, these are what the first ideas and concept drawings were...

black pawns,

demonettes converted to have scythes and half masked with old school mardi gra style masks.
or
Flesh tearing worms. busting out of humans chests.

Black bishop

a "puppet master" style bishop. Puppets dangling from his hand as well as his belt, wearing a hood and a long robe.

King and Queen are undecided.

Knight, a dragon, modelled in just the neck and head. Possibly some wings.

White Pawn,

Standard foot trooper, Empire swordsmen.

Bishop
Converted warrior priest varient, just with the tall cap and long gown.

Knight
an Empire knight with just the head of the horse and half of the rider, sculpted onto a base for moving.

i think you shouldnt use 40k you should use whfb like orcs vs dwarfs, empire vs chaos, bretonnia vs vampires, high elves vs dark elves, tomb kings vs ogre kingdom, lizardmen vs skaven etc.
chaos versus empire would be awesome though
CHAOS
-king:archaon the everchosen
-queen:demon prince
-bishops:chaos sorcerers
-knights:chaos knights
-rooksgres
-pawns:chaos warriors
EMPIRE
-king:valten chosen of sigmar
-queen:empire general
-bishops:empire warrior priests
-knights:empire outriders
-rooks:empire steam tank
-pawns:empire state troops

then you can get gamesworkshop gothic ruins from well... gamesworkshop

I dont want a truly GW feel, I want to base some of the Minis on GW, but not have to choose a race or anything.

use empire miniatures and chaos miniatures but convert the back of the armour for just armour so no hood then put two handed wpns on thm and make them more of the very slow moving terminator types so like more body plates more muscular dudes a little taller
and then put the empire miniatures more body plates heavier weapons and steadier troops like the mordian iron guard feeling (if you know what i mean) then make the empire outriders with rifles and heavy armour (and convert all of the models into your style and voila)

Have you looked at the warmachine minis - they come be perfect for a chess set (see Cryx for evil & Menoth for good) -
http://privateerpress.com/