[DS2] Mace, MathewO

Mathew O

Update:

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SO I thought I would try and join in on this competition, I've never tried to make a weapon before so I thought this'd be the perfect opportunity.

Anyway here's the start of my concept:

gauravcg

Ooo yeah, awesome concept, waiting for the full version

Mathew O

Thanks man, I think it'll kind of be a working concept as I really struggle with concepting this kind of thing. Oh what I would do to be able to concept and render in photoshop like some of the guys on here :P

Mathew O

Just a lil update on the hands, I have no idea how I am going to connect the three skulls together and to the handle yet....

Lowpology

Wow I just had to stop and say that this...is really awesome dude. I love the skull and how it looks pretty much like Death's mask. I love the skull hand holding the skull, I had a similar idea for my axe so I thought that was a neat idea! You sculpting skills are pretty nice I like the difference with the smooth but yet hard surfaces.

Mathew O

Thanks man, that's really nice of you

Mathew O

This is what I'm thinking so far, The concept may have to turn into a hammer if the top section is too wide for the proxy but we'll see what BoBo says.



To do list:

Make vertebrate look like vertebrate
Create decent transition between skull and spine
Create unique damage for each skull

Crit welcome

njc6425

Mad design man, smashin it

MeintevdS

Interesting, I had a very similar design in mind but as a hammer and just 1 demonic skill.

Not sure if the fingers are meant to be bones as well (assuming they should be?) But they still look to chubby/soft at some spots, making the look flesh like rather than bone. I'd try to get the same sharp stylized look going that you're doing on the skull so far.

Fritzzz

Sculpt is looking badass! I'm running a similar design, and it looks like i've got some stiff competition .

The only big things I'd crit are already on your to-do list, but if you can get the fingers a bit further down the forehead, the grip on the skull might look stronger. Apart from that, keep it up!

JamesWarren

I think that looks really cool but you may want to consider changing the mouth area of the skulls. I'm not sure it makes much sense for Death to be using a weapon that resembles his face. I think it would look a lot cooler if the skulls had more character and looked more sinister, and maybe they had different expressions too, just my opinion though.

Mathew O

@njc6425 Thanks man, that's really nice of you

@MeintevdS Thanks man, I totally agree with the fingers but I hadn't actually noticed myself. I'll work on it

@Fritzzz Thanks dude I've just been playing with the length of the fingers and I agree, it looks far better.

@JamesWarren Thanks for the crit man, my girlfriend actually brought up the skull thing this morning and my thinking was that in the Death lives teaser it looks like the skull is a mask and not his face so I was thinking there'd be no reason why I couldn't use the same kind of skulls for my mace. What do you reckon?

Anyway I could totally come up with a couple of skull ideas and post them here for people to feedback on

TaylorMouse

That scull(pt) ROCKS man

T.

Gill Bates

Super badassery right there...WOW!

TypicalDan

This is sick! Can't wait for the finished version!

EvanG

cool sculpts for sure can't wait to see how it comes together into a full weapon

the skull looks a lot like death's mask not saying that a bad thing one way or the other just kinda similar

JamesWarren

I'm not really sure what is public so I'd prefer not to talk about Death's face too much, but I feel like just in terms of the weapon itself and how it looks it may be more interesting to have 3 different looking skulls on there that are more expressive.

naruSol

As it is currently, the spines don't really add anything to the form of the weapon. They just look like a waste of polys and texture space curving up into the hands like that. If you aren't going to do something more interesting with them I think you'd be better off just getting rid of them completely.

Mathew O

Hey guys, thanks for the great crit. Sorry I haven't been updating, I'm really busy at uni at the moment but I shall try and keep on top of this.

@James I totally agree about the skulls, I don't want it to look too symmetrical.

@naruSol I think I agree with you on the spines, I was going to make the vertebrate look more gnarly but I'm not really feeling it and I wouldn't mind gaining the texture space back.

pulyx

Oh man. i totally want that matcap hahah

Looking great dude.

AdamOstridge

pulyx wrote: »

Oh man. i totally want that matcap hahah

Looking great dude.

Haha seconded regards the matcap. Really nice work though, loving the design and the sculpting is equally awesome!

Mathew O

Thanks guys I'll post a link to the matcap when I'm back on my pc although I have fiddled with some of the cavity detection settings on it I think.

Mathew O

Hai guys, finally got around to some more Darksiders scull(pting) :P

I'm just blobbing out some ideas so I would love your feedback right now, let er rip!



Also, here's the a link to the matcap and an image for the settings I'm using.

RUSTED GREY METAL

Mathew O

So here's what I'm thinking so far, crit is more than welcome

TaylorMouse

I'm loving it !!!
T.

Mathew O

Hai guys, I've been doing some more blobbing out today. I'm really not looking forward to retopology... Any tips?

I'd love some crit if you have any

Habboi

Well first I wanna say it's a strong piece but it's probably helped by the fact it's rendered in high quality ;D

Anyway I'm wondering what made you choose to make the handle rock like while the rest of it has this fleshy, bone vibe. Is it because you're suggesting it used to be a normal weapon but it got taken over? Aka Demonic?

Anyway the only thing I can really think of is the handle again. It needs something sexy on it just to make it eye goggling. Whether it's the classic wrapping of cloth or something boney.

Have fun making the low poly

Mathew O

Thanks for the awesome feedback Habboi, here it is with a big bone for a handle. Maybe add some wraps or would that be too much?

Stinkhorse

This is pretty good, it's definitively hitting the art style with the skulls, but I'm wondering if there's a way you could make it look more solid or feel more brutal. As it stands right now it feels like it could take a few hits but then those wrist bones would snap under the pressure. This might just be me, I have weak wrists so I see those hands, think about taking the shock of a swing and just wince.

What if you had some iron plates come up from the haft, ride the bridge of the outer skulls' noses and then terminate on the foreheads. You could have some big chunky rivets holding them in place and even have a fat/blunt spike or two as the iron rode higher.

Mathew O

Yeah I know what you mean, the connections look a little weak. I like the sound of what you're suggesting but I can't visualise it at all.... Also what is the haft?

Anyways I shall try and dynamesh some metal plates and stuff tomorrow to toughen it up and see how it looks

Stinkhorse

The haft is the pole the person hangs onto as they swing the weapon.

And here this should help with what I was talking about:


Honestly the spikes up top should be more like the fat rivet down below. Oh well you get the idea.

Mathew O

Hey man, thanks for the awesome paint over. I'm not sure that metal sort of brace fits the aesthetic I'm going for but i totally agree with its practicality. I still want the actual skulls on top to be the area that you hit people with so I was thinking of maybe thickening it up between the skulls with the sort of demonic living root.

Stinkhorse

Ok I see what you're getting at. Maybe a ring of roots exiting out of the cranium of one skull, where it loops around to enter into the next one in line. Basically put a ring that links all the top skulls together to provide strength and stability.

Mathew O

Ooh yeah, that sounds cool. What if I was to bring the roots up from underneath the skulls and have the grasping like the one at the pommel, I could also have offshoots breaking into the cranium and running in through eyes. Almost like the body parts of fallen enemies have been pulled together by this living root?

Mathew O

Ok, So I have been blobbing out the sort of demonic roots that will re-enforce/hold everything together.

Kraken

Wow! I like it! Skulls are absolutely fantastic!

Kralzar

Awesome work so far man.. Also, thanks a ton for sharing that material.

Stinkhorse

Yeah that's starting to feel much more solid!

Mathew O

@Kraken Thanks man, your gallery work is outstanding!

@Kralzar Thanks dude, no problem with the material. I'm still blown away that you're making a spherical mace look so bad ass! Good luck

@Stinkhorse Thanks for all the good crit, I was thinking of bringing more smaller roots out across the skulls themselves just to make it a little more obvious and still thickening up the main roots a little. Also I'm not that sure about the spikey 'Branches'.

Stinkhorse

I think the branches worming their way through the skulls work. They're clutching tightly to the mass and help support the impression that this is a tightly bound structure. I would definitely say thicken everything up a bit. Nothing Darksiders related ever lost anything due to a bit more chunkiness.

As for the free floating branches, they feel a bit weak and aren't supporting the idea of the solid structure as much. I'd say toss em.

jackrabbit82

Wow that's amazing! Keep up the good work !

Mathew O

Ok, so I have removed the branches and turned them into thick integrated demonic roots and have thickened up the roots in general in order to try and make it look nice and solid.

Feedback would be loverly!

Maneak

I think making some kind of support for the jaw parts of the outer skulls might be good. Right now it looks like they might snap off under a heavy impact. Maybe some branch-like spinal columns?

Vonklaus

What if you tried stretching some kind of rotten flesh from the jaws/lower face of the skulls into the handle? Or maybe from the eyes?

Stinkhorse

I think Maneak has the right idea there. A good solid root extending out to brace the jaw area of the upper skulls.

Coridium

nice work mate, have to say I am not sure about that Zbrush mtl that you are using preferred the first one that you showed but that's just a personal opinion. The other thing was I am not sure if the skulls are going to be stone or bone but some of the trim dynamic strokes are quite visible, obviously if this is a style choice then fair enough but it might benefit from a bit more smoothing work if its going to end up as bone. Anyways cool to see, look forward to seeing more.

Mathew O

Hey guys, thanks for the awesome feedback. Uni is so on top of me for work at the moment that I haven't had any time for this so I'm going to attempt to get it finished by the end of tomorrow. I'm going to sure up the lower jaws with some more roots and then I'll have to crack on with texturing and retopo in order to get it done. I'm thinking of using decimation master in the interest of speed so my uv probably won't be as nice as I'd like but hey ho.


@Coridium, the HPolish areas were more of a style choice but I shall tone them down as now I think they look more accidental.

Thanks guys, wish me luck :P

Dimfist

I'm a fan of this one. Its not like the others. If you can get those materials to pop and to show exactly what each piece is made of this might be one of my favorites.

Habboi

I hate to say it but yeah this will blow the judges eyes out if you can transfer that quality to the low mesh. If you need a reference for the crystal, they released this pic recently that shows how they do crystals.

http://upload.habboi.co.uk/original.jpg

Mathew O

Ah Habboi you absolute star, I'll beat the crystals up and try to get them to look more like the reference.

@Dimfist, thanks alot man, I just hope I can get this finished. I'm Terrified of texturing it, I'm not great at texturing.

Here's what I've done to re-enforce the skulls at the top, I've also gone back to the preferred matcap.



Edit: I'm also unsure as to whether to make the boney areas out of bone or to make them look carved from stone. Any input would be great

Mathew O

Ok so this is roughly the colour scheme I'm thinking of, I'm about to go to bed and then I'll spend all day Saturday retop'ing, UV'ing and texturing. (Once I get back from my part time job) :P



Gunight guys, feedback is more than welcome.