Dragon Breath (Sword)

Thall · Feb 2014

Working a stylized sword, I'm pretty happy with the sculpt, just have lots of planning to do for textures and presentation. I would really love some honest feedback, I'm really hoping to really take my work to the next level.

Joost · Feb 2014

I love it! Great sculpt. Looking forward to seeing the textured version!

billymcguffin · Feb 2014

Looks awesome. The bottom teeth look a bit too uniform to me though. Also the way that the snout curves upwards just looks a bit weird to me. How are the extra fire bits attached?

oxblood · Feb 2014

loving this so far

VanLogan · Feb 2014

I really like where this is going. The only critique that I have is on the overall flow of the piece. The flow from the handle stops when it hits the dragon head hilt. I think it could be improved if you found a way to correct that flow. Maybe there could be a little more to the back of the dragons head,maybe a medium hard surface detail from the large head to small handle, maybe the handle could have a slight curve to lead into the blade. Just thoughts.

I look forward to seeing where this goes.

specsowl · Feb 2014

I have to agree with VanLogan. Without repeating him though, I do think that the blade and hilt where they meet looks a bit unstable. For example, the sword's blade looks like it would snap at the hilt. Perhaps widening out the fire to make more of blade stabilizer would help. I hope what I said made any sense.

Thall · Feb 2014

Thanks guys! Really helpful advice, it's much appreciated! I agree with almost all of it, I'll try to post a new iteration soon.

Thall · Mar 2014

Ok so I made some modifications to the top of the grip (added a larger piece which braces the head at the back), modified the snout shape, gave some bends to the teeth and expanded the fire to hopefully give a more stable look. I took what advice made sense and tried to get the balance right, thoughts?

SaboR1996 · Mar 2014

Can't wait to see the textures and bakes for this, this looks sweet, and hey you shouldn't worry about the stability, its a fantasy sword, since when have they ever made sense, great job nonetheless!

Thall · Mar 2014

Spent a few days organising and planning out the bake. it was done in 3 parts to avoid any bad artifacts, I'm still learning how to do proper bakes, but I'm pretty please with the results, just a few minors artifacts to fix. Here's the finished bake so far. 9002 tris.

fullchaos13 · Mar 2014

Sword looks pretty awesome and the bake is also pretty good. I was wondering can you give a quick rundown on how you went about doing the bandage/grip thing because it looks pretty nice.

Thall · Mar 2014

Thanks, fullchaos13.

For the leather straps, I had a solid cylinder base mesh. I built up the general shapes with the 'clay buildup'. Then when it was t the level of shape I was after, I went over the edges and cavity's between the straps with 'dam standard' brush, same brush for the details of the leather as well.

Also a good idea to have many references handy, I've been using google images mostly, but you find some pretty good results on pintrist now too. Hope I answered your question.

JordanLeigh · Mar 2014

Looks stunning! And nice bake! Thought it was the HP at first!

Thall · Mar 2014

TEXTURING: Round 1.

It took ages to fix some uvs for better texturing. Glad that week is over, but as usual I learnt so much, which is really rewarding. I'm actually really happy with the base colors I'm getting at them moment, but I'll still try experimenting and thinking about more polish and detail.

Diffuse/Spec/Emissive

tristanCarter · Mar 2014

Before you continue texturing, I think you should go back to your sculpt and make just a couple slight changes. First the blade is ridiculously clean. You've stylized the dragon head and handle so much, yet the blade seems to have no love. Get in there with Trim Dynamic, Clay Tubes, and if you have it Orb's crack brush or dam standard and give that sword some more character in regards to some nicks, scratches, and damage. Second I'd wrap the metal piece on the bottom of the hilt around the crystal you have there. Without that, I'd expect the crystal to simply fall out. Other than that, I think it's looking great.

wolfonthehorizon · Mar 2014

the first question i would ask for the texturing phase is what is it made from ? and what exists in the fancy realm that this sword would? so is that actual fire running up the blade ? and is it an actual dragon head or just steel or some kind of metal forged in the shape of a dragon. try and justify the reasons for your colour scheme.

on a side not , i do really like the design, and yeah maybe the blade needs roughing up a but but keep going looking real nice

Thall · Mar 2014

Ok to answer your questions: Because this is a fantasy sword I felt I could bend some of the rules without actually breaking them to get the result I was after. I wanted to combine a stylised/semi realism feel to it, I understand that doesn't sound practical but its something I wanted to try to achieve because of my personal love for both styles.

The functionality, again, its fantasy, but I wanted it to be imbued with fire elements, so the fire is actually a solid gem carved into shape. For the blade I thought of it having rare metals that hold in those elements to give it real strength, hence why the wear and tear is so scarce from the blade, some wear and tear is on the final texture, but very subtle for those reasons mentioned. The dragon head itself is basically real horns, skin and teeth layered over a metal frame. But overall I wanted the blade to be near pristine except for the leather, which of course will naturally wear.

As for the color scheme, I mean the only thing really out there is the purple of the dragons skin, which I found really set it apart, I went through other colors and it simply didn't work for me.

Overall I just wanted to make a sword that was totally bad-ass, practicality didn't really factor, I'm personally really happy with what I've done, I've done some final polishing, but now it's time to move on to new projects.

Here are some final renders.

Dragon Breath (Sword)

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