[DS2] Hammer, Ghost0926

Ghost0926

Hello all,

I'm running late as usual, but this contest was just too awesome to pass up despite the short amount of time remaining. The bar is high and there are already some great designs out there.

Anyway, I think I'm leaning toward the Darksiders Core theme since it's probably the most flexible outside the Demonic. Going to use this contest as an opportunity to push myself to learn ZBrush. (fingers crossed)

Below are some initial hammer thumbnails. I think I'm going to move forward with #6. I really like the anvil shapes. Any advice or critiques are of course welcome.

Thanks!

-Ghost0926-

Ghost0926

Further refining of concept #6. Forgive the poor digital painting skills. Next, I think I need to "chunk up" the design to make it fit into the Darksiders universe better. Can probably push outside the dimensions of the proxy a bit more as well.

-Ghost0926-

Ghost0926

Another round on the hammer. Really not happy with the lack of Darksidery-ness that the skull has. Need to keep reworking this thing to bring out more chunky details and make it more interesting.

-Ghost0926-

Impala88

wow, how has no one thought about this idea before! Man that's gotta hurt. Are you planning on having the eye and runes glow? Either way, it's already looking great! good luck!

Ghost0926

Hey Impala88, glowy bits? Oh yeah. Glad you like the idea. I had it on paper for almost a week and was super paranoid that someone else was going to post something similar. Thanks for the feedback!

Ghost0926

Trying to come up with a more interesting skull. Getting closer I hope.

Ghost0926

Guhhh. I really need to start modeling, but I feel like the concept needs more work. Whatever concept artists make, it ain't enough.

Anyway, I tried to incorporate more sculptural elements into the design with this latest iteration. The details are probably too small, but I'm just trying to find an interesting material to run with. Hopefully all that will shake out when I start sculpting in ZBrush.

Modeling starts tomorrow. Any comments or critiques tonight would be most welcome.

Turret

That is a cool idea to have those anvil shapes, but something to think about is the anvil shape might look and feel better on a maker type hammer. When I see the anvil I think about forges and blacksmiths etc, very maker type things.

Ghost0926

I know right! I was kind of avoiding the Maker theme because I really wanted to sculpt a crazy skull, and there aren't any skulls on the example Maker weapons. However, I agree completely. Anvils scream Maker. Maybe I could do some kind of non-angelic stoic face instead of a skull. I'll try to rework this tomorrow. Thanks for the comments and inspiration!

R0gu3

Well, I think another person posted a picture of a Maker Construct that they were using for reference? and they have some pretty interesting faces, may want to check that out

Habboi

there aren't any skulls on the example Maker weapons

Not exactly true. There's a tiny skull on the square rock hammer however the stream last night made it sound like all maker weapons must have a grumpy old viking face.

Ghost0926

Ahh, right on. Thanks for the image R0gu3. I hadn't seen that one yet. I also haven't gotten a chance to check out the latest stream. I'll be sure to do that before doing any reworking. Thanks for the reminder Habbol.

Ghost0926

Hrm. About halfway through the livestream video of Avery from Vigil doing weapon concepts and he's working up a double anvil Maker hammer design. Wonder if that means that I should come up with something new? Argh.

Ghost0926

Alright, for better or worse I decided to abandon the double anvil hammer idea after watching the livestream of Avery concepting something similar.

Anyway, this is my new hammer idea. It may be hard to tell from this rough image, but it's a hammer that basically composed of a huge leather tome covered in spikes, metal, and then more spikes. I really like the idea of playing a game where one of your weapons is a giant book. Makes me chuckle. The handle/shaft is somewhat of a large spear stabbed straight through the middle of the book. I was thinking that the pommel at the bottom would be some kind of ancient-looking metal lantern with some fun emissivity. We'll see.

Please ignore the topology. This is not the final low-poly by any means.

Ghost0926

Update: Threw the low-poly blank into Zbrush and chopped it up into Subtools. Having some issues with subdividing the shaft. Will fix tomorrow.

Habboi

I would make the bottom section a little smaller.

Ghost0926

Latest WIP: