Doing the arts: A Sword!!

Avanthera

Hey guys, Started on a sword and I think its about time for some critique!

Started out here:


Saw a demo from Bobo and had to add a skull:


and now I'm at the texturing stage:


Texturing critiques are what I'm really looking for tho any other critiques are welcome. I know the design isn't too strong, but thats what I get for making it up as I went along.

Avanthera

One last update for tonight.



I'll probably end up re-sculpting the pommel, its just not working atm.

NAIMA

Is very good , I love the hilt , overall the blade has a slight cartoonish look , not sure if was that intention , I mean for the proportions not the colouring , you where going for a toon look or a real look ? In wich case I think the blade shoudl be more proportioned and balanced compared to the hilt , so far looks more like a large dagger ...

what techinque workflow are you using to texture it?

Artist_in_a_box

you just picked my next project for me lol. That looks sweet, im loving the style. I think everything down to the hilt has some really great flow to it but the actual grip and the pommel dont seem to flow as smoothly IMO. And also as a sword buff the grip looks a bit thin where it meets the guard, though this may be because the binding goes all the way up to the guard. I would think about putting a metal or brass ring or something there to make it look more sturdy, nothing major just something to show the how it was held together. The pommel is not bad for this weapon by any means but it could be made more of a feature.

Also, how about some jeweled eyes in the hilt? That would be awesome lol


Take everything I say with a pinch of salt mind as I know I dont have much board cred but thats my two cents.

Jernej

nice sculpt. what brushes have you used?

gateian

I really like it. Got alot of character. The only thing i'd point out is that on the skull horns, the low polygon nature is noticeable compared to the rest of the model that looks very nice. I don't know if you can afford to a few more loops their, but might be worth it.

Good stuff.

Avanthera

Thanks guys,

NAIMA: The blade was inspired by Frodo's sword Sting from LOTR, kind of a shortsword in a leaf-shape, while the handle is pretty much inspired by all of the Darksiders 2 stuff I'm around. A bit of a mismatch of styles, but I'm having fun with trying to balance these out in the texture.
Texturing is just the cavity map + AO + Hand painted. It is intended to be cartoony to a point, with a bit of stylized realism as well.

Artist_in_a_box: Thanks for the comments, I'm actually liking the chunkyness of the handle more than the blade atm, they aren't matching very well, like you said, flow vs chunk, but I'm going to try and make it work for now.

Jernej: Mostly clay tubes, trim dynamic, and smooth

Gateian: Thanks, the sword is sitting at 1400 tris atm. I'm still trying to lower the polycount although I see what you mean. I'll see what I can do.

Edit:

A coworker pointed out that the blade was really not belonging, and maybe a color change could help.

Lunchtime update!!:

Avanthera

Sitting at 1434 tris, I'm starting to slow down on this.



Any critiques or suggestions on texturing would be welcome!

Darkmaster

Looks epic! Great work here!

LRoy

This is diffuse only?

Avanthera

No, its Norm, Diffuse, Spec, I'll try to post an update and my flats later tonight when I get the chance.

SsSandu_C

Cool looking! I would add more yellow on the skull and on the horns or lighten the current colors because is looking kinda dark overall. Other than that I like how it looks.

Avanthera

Thanks SsSandu_c! And thanks everybody else for helping out!

Here's the finals on my short sword:
1502 Tris and 512 Maps. There's also a glow, but it's boring :poly124:

johnnybrach

Very nice! The texture really complements the form. I really can't think of anything u can do to push it forward..

motenai

I allowed myself to create a couple of variations starting from your original texture.
First of all i really like the texture u did, the only thing that didn't convince me 100% was the color scheme u used, cause red and blue in my opinion don't fit together that much.
So i created these 2 versions keeping eachtime one of the elements u have done:
Variation A is the same handle you've done, and i turned the blade into red
Variation B is the same blade u have and i turned the handle into dark blue/violet.
In both cases i wanted to give more importance to the blade so that's always the part that pops out more compared to the handle.
Keep my words and image just as possible suggestions of course

Great job

LittleVagrant

Looking fantastic!

UltraLrod

Like the original. The color of them letters in Var A looks good. Have you mixed them together? Keep it up.

Sithis324

Loving the Original
Would like to see a red inscriptions on a blue blade variation tho

Avanthera

Thanks for the comments and especially for the paintover Motenai.

I'm not too big of a fan of the red blade, but I also like the runes.
Here's a version with a blue blade and red runes:

motenai

Much better in my opinion, the recurring red in the runes give more balance to the color scheme

Mooglesarelittle

Agreed! The colour balance of the latest version is really strong.

KartoonHead

I really fell in love with variation 'B', I think the blue really works (but that might just be Skyrim talking). Here's how the colours look in my head (cold blue blade with warm orange runes),

WARNING!: crappy paint-over

That look good to anyone else or have I had one too many?

Avanthera

Thanks people! Especially Motenai for all the help!

KartoonHead: your rune paintover looks cool, but I'm still not a fan of the cool blue skull and leather. Thanks for the suggestion tho.

TheWinterLord

I like the original version with brown skull and red handle but perhaps red runes instead of pink? Nice stuff.