[FINISHED!] Engra Deathsword, Warhammer fanart
tda
polycounter lvl 16
Latest ~
He's finally done. This was by far and away my most ambitious project I've ever attempted. I'm spent haha, time for a little break! Huge thanks to everyone who commented, all the critiques, and everyone who came to chill on twitch, it all helped a huge amount. I doubt i would have seen this through without the feedback I got.
I made a fun little vid using toolbag 3's new animation stuff, you can catch that here -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWTLEsCk1iA
And as always there's more pics on Artstation - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/z6yN6
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So this is a pretty huge project for me personally. Ever since i saw this piece by Adrian smith years ago i always wanted to make it but i knew i couldn't do it justice. Now i'm finally ready to bite the bullet and see if i can nail this.
Here's the concept, the single most badass piece of warhammer art there ever was
And here's where i'm at. Super early days yet but i want to get the thread rolling. Obviously the proportions of this guy are pretty insane but once the armor is on there it makes a lot more sense. I didn't spend too long on the anatomy as it's going to be mostly covered anyway, right now i'm trying to make sure everything fits and it all lines up with the concept. I'm just eyeballing it, i didn't bother to draw any orthos.
Feel free to crit it to death, even at this stage. I want this to be absolutely the best i can do
Anatomy crits on the arms are especially welcome as they will be partially uncovered in the final.
Thanks for looking!
He's finally done. This was by far and away my most ambitious project I've ever attempted. I'm spent haha, time for a little break! Huge thanks to everyone who commented, all the critiques, and everyone who came to chill on twitch, it all helped a huge amount. I doubt i would have seen this through without the feedback I got.
I made a fun little vid using toolbag 3's new animation stuff, you can catch that here -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWTLEsCk1iAAnd as always there's more pics on Artstation - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/z6yN6
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So this is a pretty huge project for me personally. Ever since i saw this piece by Adrian smith years ago i always wanted to make it but i knew i couldn't do it justice. Now i'm finally ready to bite the bullet and see if i can nail this.
Here's the concept, the single most badass piece of warhammer art there ever was
And here's where i'm at. Super early days yet but i want to get the thread rolling. Obviously the proportions of this guy are pretty insane but once the armor is on there it makes a lot more sense. I didn't spend too long on the anatomy as it's going to be mostly covered anyway, right now i'm trying to make sure everything fits and it all lines up with the concept. I'm just eyeballing it, i didn't bother to draw any orthos.
Feel free to crit it to death, even at this stage. I want this to be absolutely the best i can do
Anatomy crits on the arms are especially welcome as they will be partially uncovered in the final. Thanks for looking!
Replies
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Cranking on the highpoly tonight. Trying to model fast and smart and not worry about pinches here and there. I know i'm going to be bashing this up a ton in zbrush so the surfaces can be a little gross for now. Posting this pic i'm already noticing loads of errors, weird how they only jump out right as i'm about to hit post
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oh man, i love everything about this concept! cant wait to see what you come up with
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Thanks jose!
I've been pushing on with the basic highpoly over the past 2 nights made some headway, trying to stick to the concept as closely as i can. Almost time to start some sculpt action, i can practically taste it. I'm also planning to spend some time this weekend checking proportions, make sure i'm on track before getting too detailed.
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Fuck dude, this looks so badass! I love it!
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@gfelton thanks dude! still a long way to go. some updates from the past few days ~
still heavy wip on the arms. anat crits especially welcome, dark denotes the areas that can't be seen so i'm not worring about those
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looks great keep going mate
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Thanks @Eleszar1!
I've been hitting some of the adornments and weapons tonight, got a bunch of stuff ready for sculpting. I also dropped the cash on quadchamfer today and HOLY SHIT. I dunno how i ever did HP without it.
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For real though Engra is one of my favorite chaos warriors cover art of all time. Can't wait to see this done. -
I've been meaning to do this as well after reading perna's novels he has about it. How...life changing was the experience of switching to QC? lol, I'm not so sure how to word that but does it really live up to its reputation?tda said:I also dropped the cash on quadchamfer today and HOLY SHIT. I dunno how i ever did HP without it.
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lol gir, yeah dude adrian smith is a god amongst men. glad to have your eyes on the thread dude!
@gfelton It's just a great tool man. I think it's the flexibility it offers that i like more than any specific result that you can get from it. Like any tool it comes down to your own skill in the end. I'm no master of highpoly like pedro, perna, lesperance, tor (the list goes on) so I still get pinches and shit all over the place that i sometimes struggle to fix, need to up my hard surface game.
progress was frustratingly slow today. fixed a bunch of scale issues and some other boring junk. i don't wanna post without art tho so here's the sculpt base for that brutal ax.
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niiice! one of my favorite warhammer illustrations ever. you better do it justice, looking good so far though
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thanks @lotet, I'm gonna try my best!!
Loose sculpt of the weapons is done, these guys need more details but i'll get to that later. I'll re-evaluate how much i like the blade of the sword and the face on the axe at that time, not a huge fan of either right now. Need to tweak some volumes i think. Happy with the pommel on the axe tho, came out just how i wanted. May need an extra tooth
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Though it's not done yet, your work feels very canon, I'm absolutely loving all of the adornment on each weapon. Hope you add some etchings to the flatter portion of the axe blade as just leaving it naked would miss a great opportunity to add some really badass chaos details. Can't wait to see it done!
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Thanks @gfelton, im glad you think so. I was going to make that dark flat area of the axe kinda just look like a raw slab of iron but i'll experiment with adding some details in there
latest WIP- just working on more accessories atm, not had a lot of time lately
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Some updates from the past few nights, getting a lot more of the sculpted details in there now, starting to come together. Still TONS to do but i'm having loads of fun. Gonna hit those feet with another pass soon i think.
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Nice progress Really like the details in the weapons!
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wow, those weapons turned out great, esp the sword! are you free-handing the legs or looking at some other references for them?
the warhammer online guys made a pretty good model of him that I think you should check out (also you can see the legs there)! -
thanks guys. @lotet yeah i'm freestyling the legs. I remember fanboying over the WAR online model back when i used to play, it's still up on a fanserver from what i hear?! I had to restrain myself from getting hooked again. But yeah i intentionally avoided looking at that as ref for this 'cause i wanted to do my own take, but I totally rushed and made shitty feet. I plan to go back to max or a dynamesh blob tomorrow and make something else, something like this WAR online concept maybe. I still need to build out the full knee guard too so the skulls aren't floating and i want to get some leather and maille under some of the exposed sections as a hint of some more cladding. Plenty to work on!
anyway, today's efforts. only had a few hours to spare, but we got some rough handz on the go
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This is looking really awesome man, can't wait to see it finished!
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@tda - haha, yeah, that game really was awesome. cool to know there are still fan servers.
The concept art form WAR was amazing, probably the best information for cannon designs out there. If you want some more fancy feet designs this one is pretty cool too. anyway, the hands look great, I know your far from done but maybe some more skinfolds on the finger joints could help ad some detail to the hands. -
This guy is huge! Must be taking a lot of work. I'll fav this and just keep an eye since I don't have anything to add (as usual).
Great work so far. -
Thank you so much for the encouragment guys. Seriously though, any and all crits are super super super welcome. Rip into it, I listen to everything.
@BucketOfNuggets Thanks dude! Appreciate it
@lotet I've been getting the withdrawl chills looking at all the WAR online models and concepts for reference haha. And yeah man I will be hitting up more details on the hands for sure, thanks!
@Mateus Dude, yeah, it's taking a while. Even so it feels slightly faster than my last piece because the design is already done. Faffing with design is the real time sink. Like these feet actually, come to think of it.
These fuckin feet. I had planned to sculpt up some of the severed head trophies he has tonight, but I spent so long trying to make a design for the feet that I liked... Finding something that fit with the existing concept and shape anguage, didn't look goofy/clown foot-ish AND also fit with the warhammer chaos vibe, without explicitly copying another design? After like 4 hours at it i only have this super basic thing because i kept trashing them, so I just stopped and turned in for the night. I'm still not sure about them but I prefer these to what I had before at least. Sleeeeeep
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nice. looking forward to this.
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@tda - haha, I know right, you shouldn't have mentioned servers stil existing, now Im almost thinking of getting into it again haha.
anyways, I am way to engaged into these feet designs. they are looking way better now, but I made a quick PO to maybe give you a suggestions.
I think they look a bit thin/flat, maybe adding a sort of "sole" could help thickening them up maybe? I like the front spike a lot, also couldn't resist adding some chaos markings on it xD
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I like the sole thing!
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I think @lotet 's idea works really well with the feet, you should try it!
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@lotet Great ideas man! I like the decorations and yeah it really needed some kind of sole. I did some quick experimenting based on your suggestions, i tried out a sole all around but i wasn't feeling it too much so i mixed some things around. I think i just want to have some gnarly metal at the front and a sort of heel at the back, but without the notched sole i drew into my own sketch. I felt like they had too much of a cowboy boot vibe going on in general so i thickened up all the shapes, made them come a bit closer to a biker style of boot. Kinda happy with it now.
Other than the feet i've only had time to work on some of the fetishes, I've just been so busy lately. Here's some snaps of them as they are right now. Looking at the concept i can't tell if the 2nd one is what i made or actually a goblet of some kind. I went with a head but I may go back and change this later if i fall out with it. Experimented a little with fibermesh as well.
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I like what you did to the feet, very good IMHO.
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Wow @tda, that sculpt is awesome! Love those Warhammer illustrations a lot too. Gonna sub so I can keep track of the progress on this guy. What are your plans for texturing?
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@Mateus @Bolovorix thanks dudes! Substance painter for the textures, for sure. Im hoping all the damage details i plan to add will pick up super well in the curvature maps and make for a tasty result
Some small progress. First pass of the bear pelt + cape combo, not totally satisfied yet. I've also spent a while putting lots of final level detail in to the shoulders and head that you totally can't see in this screenshot! I'm tempted to exaggerate the damage a little more but it might be too much when i bake. I think i just need to learn how to BPR better. I also figured out a chainmail micromesh for the backs of his knees which you totally can't see either! But i'll be using it elsewhere real soon
Things still to do :
lots.
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amazing works, can't wait to see it textured
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niice!
Ive always had trouble getting fiber mesh looking any good, but that is looking pretty sweet!
as for the details, its better/easier to exaggerate stuff and tone it down later, then the other way around. -
Thanks @skycity02, @lotet. You're probably right about exaggerating now rather than later tbh. I'll probably wait until I have all the pieces detailed before I decide. Worked a bunch on the arms and hands tonight, shame that the "uncovered" flesh is almost completely obscured by the shoulder armour anyway
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oohhh yeahhh , i really like how the metal feels on the gauntlet !! mind to share your process? im also doing a warhammer character :proud:
amazing , cant wait to see MORE! -
@tierzilla thanks dude! I'll do a little breakdown for the next piece i detail out
Put in some more work on the arms tonight. I finished off the detail on the fleshy bits and added a strap which is maybe in the concept, maybe not.. but it helps that piece feel, well, strapped on I also detailed out the other unique vambrace, a load of stuff in the shoulders and made lots of things unique as opposed to a perfect mirror. Did some resizing here and there, slowly working my way down the subtools. 
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That surface detail is really pulling everything together. Love the skin!
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got no crits, keep going! this is turning out badass!
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thanks @Bolovorix @lotet . I didn't have a chance to work on this much over the weekend really, had a busy one. I did get some extra surface detail and stuff down on the helmet though, and it just occured to me i haven't shown his face yet so here's where that's at. Not sure if i want to go any further with it because honestly i dont know if i'm ever going to let it be uncovered (he looks totally wrong proportionally without his helmet) but it was fun to play with shapes.
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oh man, look at all those details
can't wait to see this textured
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this keeps getting better and better , amazing!
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Hey man, looking awesome! If you don't mind, I'd like to know if you model the armor pieces just in the position as they are right now, or do you model them separately and then place where they must be later? Hope my question makes sense.
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This is such an incredible sculpt, wow
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@amirabd2130 , @tierzilla , @Mateus , @samwoodart - Thanks for the encouragment dudes!
Mateus - I think I get what you mean and it depends on the program and the object, generally though I tend to work on pieces in their final position. If a piece is very symmetrical and I'm working in max I'll often build it off to one side, make an instance copy, position it then continue from there.
So, long time since the last update! I've been busy on a bunch of things (*cough* No Mans Sky) but since the last post I've almost completely finished off the legs, upperbody, most of the accessories and lots of other little bits and bobs. It's taking a long time to go in and a-symmetrically detail the whole thing, way longer than i thought it would. I could do it all in the textures but I want to do it in the sculpt mainly because I'd like to do a nice set of posed highpoly renders before I move on to the lowpoly. I also have a little pipe dream of sending this guy to ownage to get him printed, so I want there to be a ton of unique detail in there should that ever happen. But yeah, unique detail all over takes time. Lots and lots of it.
Anyway, enjoy this stupidly large BPR. If anyone has any recommendations about sweet matcaps for rendering with BPR I would love to hear, getting a nice result that shows off all the detail is kinda difficult.
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God damn, he's gorgeous. I absolutely love the fact you added the trophies like the heads and medallions and what not, It gives him so much character. Haha shit, I remember when I played Age of Reckoning on a private server and my character was covered in those heads. Really cool that you added them
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I would use the standard materials instead of the matcaps, because those will actually respond to the scene lighting properly. Setting up an extra light behind the character to create a rim light on the shadow side will help with popping out detail. I recommend saving out your light scene so you can use it again and again on WIP images.tda said:Anyway, enjoy this stupidly large BPR. If anyone has any recommendations about sweet matcaps for rendering with BPR I would love to hear, getting a nice result that shows off all the detail is kinda difficult.
Then, I would render the image with a few different materials, because different materials will bring out different features. After that, you can mix them in Photoshop to create a look you like. To finish off, you could throw on a gradient map to subtly colorize it.
Anyway, I'm really liking all the ornate details you're putting into this. Looking forward to see it finished!
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@tda
How are you doing the gilding on the armor, like the arrows and rims of the shoulder pads and shin guards? Do you subD model to place and make them, or is it all in Zbrush still with extractions or something? -
I'm so gonna follow this thread! I wanted to do this character too at some point, but it is a monster project! Keep pushing
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super cool stuff!
the siluette of the leg bothers me a lot though. way to streamlined and clean.
needs some edges between the armorplates
blue is old and red my suggestion.
good work otherwise!
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NIce work, all the detail is looking dope, I honestly wouldnt worry that much about symmetry. did you know that even the transformers and the ironman suit is mirrored from the legs down? so if its good enough for them, I think your gonna be fine.
as for some crits. the head hanging from his left shoulder pad is looking a tad weird I think. either the skin should be looser, or tighter, but right now your in some strange in between.
the next thing would be the goblet, thats not a goblet >,< I really think you should fix it. This model is probably the most accurate portrail of Engra out there, escept for the goblet. and I think its important that you display him "correctly" if you know what I mean.
here is an amazing piece of art I did to show what I mean :P
anyways!
Other then that its looking awesome, keep it up!
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Since it's not too clear in that concept of yours what the legs are like it might be a good idea to look at some real armors, hips down look a bit odd to me.
