[DS2] Axe, jmt

jmt · Mar 2012

Latest Update:

People have done some great work already.

Here are some silhouettes I drew tonight:

MiAlx · Mar 2012

Hey cool silhouettes!

I like 7, 8 and 12. They look very interesting. Anyways, good luck!

Do you have any personal preference? Demonic, Angelic or whatever?

jmt · Mar 2012

Thanks. I'm currently leaning towards 8 or 10. As for the theme, I'd be more comfortable doing something like Angelic, Core or Maker, as the other styles are a little more intimidating. Maybe it would be better to go outside of my comfort zone, though.

Rilem · Mar 2012

These are nice silhouettes, I like number 10 the most. It's simple, but the shape of the axe blade has a certain badass factor to it.
Also a fan of number 3.

Isaiah Sherman · Mar 2012

8. Too many of them are a tad too clean unless you wanted 2/3 of them to be Angelic. If you were going Angelic I would go for 3. A-symmetry is always cool

jmt · Mar 2012

@Haiasi: Yeah, most of them are too clean. These are just roughs to try to find cool shapes.

I tried some more variations on the style of 8, but I don't think I like them as much as 15 and 16.

15 and 16 are in Darksiders Core style. The bottom is supposed to be a skull with spikes coming out of it. The handle will be a femur with leather lashed around it. I might make a skull between the axe blades.

Here they are with the character scale comparison:

Which looks better - 1 blade or 2? I'm going to start detailing the concepts.

SouthpawSid · Mar 2012

oh shit. good idea with that screengrab from the game. I'm going to copy you now

I love the final image you have with the asymmetrical axe. Fantastic job at developing your silhouettes!

jmt · Mar 2012

Here's some more work on the concept. I'll rework some areas that I'm not happy with tomorrow and I'll also try some other ideas.

Is it obvious that the asymmetrical version is shattered? For some reason, I can't get the shards to look very good.

SgtNasty · Mar 2012

Looking good. I think it could use a little something extra in the blade area though. The pommel, handle, and the skull on the head all look great to me. Maybe some fleshy stuff growing between the skull and the blade?
Also wouldn't mind seeing some other silhouettes worked up like this one was.

jmt · Mar 2012

@SgtNasty: Thanks. I haven't added details to the inner part of the blades yet, but I will son. I'm going to experiment with more handle and skull styles as well.

Di$array · Mar 2012

The 2 head axe design is a beast when displayed next to Death.

jmt · Mar 2012

I've continued to work on the concept. Some parts are still pretty rough, such as the ornaments around the skull and the runes. I've been struggling with the shattered blade. Which version is cooler? Maybe the axe blades are too jagged, particularly in the double headed one.

Frump · Mar 2012

It's getting better, I like all of the spikey bone detail and the breaks on the edge of the blade. However, I still don't get a good sense for what kind of material the blade is made out of. It also looks like there is a lot of detail in there and it might be getting too busy.

As for which one is better, I like the double bladed. It looks a lot cooler when compared to Death in the images above.

akacg · Mar 2012

Very cool work yo i like the spikes at the bottom

AimBiZ · Mar 2012

I like how rough everything is. Think I like the single bladed more, at least it makes more practical sense shere this dual one looks like it would easily injure death on wielding.
One thing you might wanna try out is rotating the skull to face the right side direction, where the secondary blade is right now. Many designs have put their main ornament on the front view ( which is for good reason ) so maybe it'll be worth to try something a bit different.

It's going great though. Will the blue runes be carved in and glowing?

Maph · Mar 2012

That pommel is badass! The blades however need much more love. The runes you've done are a bit too distracting.
I also like how absolutely badass the dual blade variant looks with death, but I would definitely advocate some more asymmetry in them to be honest. Break up those shapes!

Good job none the less man!

jmt · Mar 2012

@Frump It's supposed to be really beaten up, jagged metal. Most of the DS2 reference images show the type of material I'm trying to go for, but I haven't done any shading yet. It might be getting too noisy. It's tough to find a balance.

@akacg Thanks.

@AimBiZ If I go with the double-bladed version, I'll have to scale the blades down a bit. I plan on trying some other placements for the skull. I was planning on having the blue runes carved in and glowing in the darksiders style.

@Maph Thanks. I'm not loving the runes either. Maybe I should just remove them. What kind of asymmetry do you mean, like a largish chunk out of one side?

SgtNasty · Mar 2012

I still like asymmetrical, I think it has more story to it. Also, it will help with UV space to have one side be broken and much smaller.

jmt · Mar 2012

I think I'm probably going to just stick with the double axe. I attempted to make thumbnail #2 from the first post into an angelic axe, but it didn't turn out very well.

Here are the ideas that I will experiment with tonight after work:
1. Kingdom of the dead style - Bone blades and crown
2. Faintly glowing fault lines
3. Big chip on one blade
4. Remove runes from blades and maybe skull
5. Have bony spikes from the handle extend over the metal, under the skull. Possibly clutching the skull and radiating out onto the blades.
6. Putting the skull in another spot (this will require an additional asymmetrical version)

jmt · Mar 2012

I decided to switch from Darksiders Core to Kingdom of the Dead to really push the concept. I added glow, radiating bone branch things and claws clutching the skull. The design is mostly done. I'm trying out different color palettes right now.

And Frostmourne style:

Skyerzz · Mar 2012

My only wish is that you vary the direction of the wraps. With it all on the same angle it gets a little boring/ neat for such a mean looking weapon.

jmt · Mar 2012

Thanks for the suggestion, Skylerzz. You're right, they're looking too uniform in some places. The wrapped area is also a bit too wide at the bottom.

SgtNasty · Mar 2012

Nice update, I think it looks pretty good. From a design standpoint looks done. For colour try using the example weapons as a starting point, and don't be afraid to go crazy with it.

jmt · Mar 2012

Here's an alternate color scheme:

jmt · Mar 2012

Over the weekend, I created the base mesh and started sculpting.

Here's a little more refinement on the latest color concept:

Tomahawk · Mar 2012

that last color concept looks awesome!! and like what you did with the demon horns great job

Maph · Mar 2012

Great stuff man. Loving that pommel, but it looks like it would actually deal more damage then the blade.

I would also do something about the transition from metal to flesh, it's a bit too abrupt as it stands right now imho.

jmt · Mar 2012

Thanks, Maph and Tomohawk.

I'm planning on giving the blades fewer, bigger spikes. Hopefully that will make it more intimidating. I'm not sure what I could do about the transition between the bone radiating from the skull and the metal blades, though I agree that it's a bit too abrupt.

jmt · Mar 2012

I've changed the top of the axe/horns and added jagged, rusty spikes. I'm trying to work in some more "knuckle shapes".

Here's another WIP shot of the sculpt:

And an updated concept:

jmt · Mar 2012

I've made some more progress on the high poly. Critiques are appreciated.

TaylorMouse · Mar 2012

Critiques ?? NONE

Love it!

T.

Sukotto · Mar 2012

I'm not a big fan of the horn shape really. They're too curvy, remember everything in DS is 'knuckly' so try to work some jagged edges into the horns

daphz · Mar 2012

I agree with sukotto about making the horns more knuckly, I think you should elongate the nose cavity too, other than that, lookin good!

POFFINGTON · Mar 2012

I might beef up the wraps just a bit, and have them come off the mesh some, so when they bake the normal map will come out a bit stronger. This design is looking killer though, can't wait to see that texture!

BlvdNights · Mar 2012

This might be nitpicking but I agree with Poffington that you should make less wrappings and make them thicker, It'll read better in the end.

BluPanda · Mar 2012

I like your design and sculpt! one thing that sticks out to me as an interesting choice however is not to mirror the blade across (z), I would think you'd want all the resolution you can get for the skull side, having unique sides seems like it'd be pushing the 512. OR, im offbase and it'll look rad anyway

hannes d · Mar 2012

looking sweet
imo a little bit to much spikes on the blade

jmt · Mar 2012

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. It was very helpful. I widened the handle wraps, made the horns more knuckley, elongated the nasal cavity and added some more dings and scratches.

@BluPanda - I considered 3 options for the skull:
1) Skull face on the front and back of the skull on the other side.
2) A squashed skull on each side.
3) One skull with a face on both the back and front.
I decided on method #1. It seems to add some depth and realism, as well as having the other side look different, but I'll have to sacrifice some texture res. We'll see how it turns out. I may regret it. #2 would have given me problems with the horns and spike.

@hannes d - The blade spikes were probably the part that gave me the most trouble. I'm past the point where I can majorly change them now. I'm not super pleased with them, but it's time to move on.

I guess it's time to do the low poly and bake, unless anyone can see anything else I could improve with the sculpt.

zelldweller · Mar 2012

Great work dude, if you could add some strings to it It would be like the BEST FUCKING ELECTRIC GUITAR EVER

jeebs · Mar 2012

I like this one very much

great work!

Kraken · Mar 2012

nice sculpt! want to see it in colors.

jmt · Mar 2012

Zelldwelller, that's really funny. I hadn't considered it as a guitar shape.

Thanks, jeebs and Kraken.

zelldweller · Mar 2012

I was listening Manowar's "Die for Metal"
That kind of stimulated my imagination in that direction, hahaha
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_UGFLT0VMY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_UGFLT0VMY[/ame]

Stinkhorse · Mar 2012

It's taken a while but that crazy skull is growing on me. Nice use of the angles on the horns and the spikes on the axe look nice and mean.

XRevan23 · Mar 2012

Great sculpt, anxiously waiting to see how good it looks on the low and textured.

jmt · Mar 2012

@Zelldweller: I was mostly listening to Joe Satriani while building this.

@Stinkhorse: I hated the skull for quite a while as I was working on it, then at some point it eventually started to look cool.

@XRevan23: Thanks

I created the low poly mesh tonight (1799 triangles). I've still got to figure out a couple of things with it. I'm a little intimidated by the thought of having to bake out the normals for all of these spikes and weird angles.

jmt · Mar 2012

Here's the low poly with the normal map applied. More detail transferred to the 512x512 map than I expected. It's texturing and presentation time tomorrow. Lighting is temporary. The final presentation will be done in Marmoset.

afisher · Mar 2012

Bake looks good. Now get some colour on that thing!

SgtNasty · Mar 2012

Bake looks good. If you are going to use marmo, make sure you check how the bake looks there before moving on. I had some areas of my normal map look fine in maya but terrible in marmoset.

jmt · Mar 2012

Finally done!

jmt · Mar 2012

Here's my axe on the reference image:

And an Easter Egg:

[DS2] Axe, jmt

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