Critique for my first portfolio piece

Melk0r

Hello,

This is my first post on polycount

I am currently in my last year in uni and I have decided to start working on my portfolio so for my first piece I decided to create a Rohirrim Shield.
So I would love to get some critique and feedback before uplaoding it.

Thank you for your time.

The horse drawing on the shield was drawn by my friend

http://imgur.com/a/JEmbB

Doxturtle

What are the loops on the top and bottom planks used for?

It might be good to add some AO or paint some grunge around the area where the metal guard at the front meets the painted wood, at the moment it looks kind of floaty. 

Melk0r

The loops are to give the planks the round shape do you think it could have been achieved in a better way?

3dReaper

Looks good overall.

Suggestions for improvements:

Add more geo on the outer metal band, a bit too low poly. I/we can see the actual geometry and where each new edge loop begins. Just smooth it out and make it more rounded.

The center band metal material and the outer band metal material to me looks like they should be identical.

The back side of the shield looks very plain. Think about adding another piece for the user's arm, an arm strap plus the already existing grip. Perhaps also add a leather cushion for padding.

The horse paint does not really stand out much. Perhaps consider using alternate shades, or more vibrance.

Consider adding scratches and gouges on the wood.

The one thing that stands out the most would be the nails/bolts on the outer band. There are some nails that are on the seam in between each board. The nails should be on the actual boards.

Add some varying roughness as well. Indicate where grease may build up or where an area is clean.

As Doxturtle stated, add some additional AO. In between the boards, where each piece of geo meets.

3dReaper

Also, post images here on PolyCount rather than providing an alternate site's link. Attach JPEGs.

redcap

Just my 2 cents. The shield looks good; but a single shield feels a little lackluster too me. If you could maybe try to put it with a few other thematic assets it would go a very long way of showing skill as an adaptive versatile artist. Maybe make 4-8 different combat assets and put them together, try to make them all thematic of one another. If you are going to put a single piece like this in your portfolio, it better be one of the most amazing shields I have ever seen for me to think it worthy of an individual portfolio piece. 

As far as the model itself goes, I agree with all the other comments and would encourage you to follow that advice given by the others. 

Good work though, I thinking you are headed in the right direction.