Thank you for the advice! The spikes on the weapon's head are also attached to the mesh, only the very top one isn't connected. Is leaving something like these spike disconnected rather than trying to keep the mesh all as one piece common practice? Edit: Here are some additional wireframe renders of the head:
Hello! I wanted to post this here in order to get some feedback on a project I'm working on: I created this weapon as an exercise to teach myself how to use Substance Painter. I modeled and unwrapped the weapon in Maya, textured it in Substance Painter, then rendered it all in Marmoset Toolbag 3. Here is a wireframe render…