[DS2] Axe, Ohnomelon

ohnomelon

I've decided to make an axe weapon for the Darksiders II contest! I'm worried that my conceptual skills aren't up to par, so I'm going to try and really push myself to create some sketches with solid forms, details, color, etc. I may spend a little more time than necessary at this stage, whatever it takes to get something strong.

I am going to need a little more time to study the DS styles, but I sketched an axe concept just to get the feel for the proportions and stuff.



to-do list:
- study DS styles more
- browse irl references for unique shapes
- silhouettes
- additional sketches
- refine best sketch(es)
- create full concept
- color/shape variations
- MARCH 12 finalize concept and create modeling ref set (side + top)
- create sculpt base
- sculpt
- polypaint(?)
- create low
- MARCH 16 baking
- texturing
- MARCH 23 finish presentation materials
- MARCH 26 submit

Emil Mujanovic

Glad to see you're entering this, dude. Not much to comment on what you have at the moment as I can't exactly give you pro tips on the Darksiders style. There are tonnes of ref images of concept art for the first game all over the web, or maybe even pick up the Art of Darksiders book. It would be real handy for this contest.

I'll be following
Good luck.

ohnomelon

Hey thanks man! I think it's going to take me at least the first week just to figure my direction out. Excellent point about the art book. Get on gchat some time m8!

ohnomelon

new sketch with more DS core influence this time;


The structure looks really weak, so I will probably move on to different ideas. I'm happy enough with the blade shape. Not sure how I feel about the coccyx pommel, haha.

Saman

Cool paintings. You should add more stuff on them in my opinion. More of those ropes near the blades, add more red ones and so on. It looks good now but for darksiders it needs to be more exaggerated imo!

Isaiah Sherman

Just a suggestion... maybe you should try exploring silhouettes more at this stage. Taking the time to paint so much detail onto the blade at this point could be a waste of your time if you end up not even going that direction.

Explore broad shapes and have fun!

ohnomelon

Thanks for the feedback guys, I think I will do some silhouettes. Also I agree that these are a little too simple for DS, I've always had trouble pushing content.

ohnomelon

Just one last colored sketch. I know I should do more silhouettes but I had a few ideas already in my head that I wanted to try out first. This one is intended to show influence from the Maker style. The central pieces might be a little too similar to one of the example weapons, and the blades attachment is sloppy, so this one would require reworking. I like the way the two main blades are oriented, and I'm fond of the grips.


There are a lot of really good concepts that are packed with DS style details already, it is clear that I'm going to have to do more if I want to impress anyone!