Hand Painted Epic Sword

[JFletcher]

Hey!

This could've just gone in the WAYWO thread I guess, but what the hell, I'll create a thread for a change.

I made this low poly sword, heavily inspired by the artwork in WoW, and to the same style.

http://a.imageshack.us/img832/9356/infernus.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img10/6585/wirediffuse.jpg

The concept i had sketched ages ago, i finally decided to turn it into a model

http://a.imageshack.us/img844/9205/concepti.jpg

And an up right shot for good measure:

http://a.imageshack.us/img815/7619/uprightshot.jpg

Let me know what you think, I had a lot of fun making this, heh. :D

I was also recording a video of me texturing it but I forgot to unpause it at one point and went way ahead, making the whole thing pretty pointless... It was coming along nicely too... Oh well.

[Simmo]

Wow, that looks sick! I love it, great job man, can we see a view from closer to the side? :) Also what's the polycount, out of curiosity?

This is awesome

[gibson543]

you fucking hacker

[JFletcher]

What?

[gibson543]

hahaha you dont get it?

[sampson]

what does it look like more side-on??

nice texturing as always dude. wish that texturing video existed.

[danshewan]

Gorgeous texturing, man. Some beautifully subtle gradations of color, really like the overall palette. Seriously impressive.

The one thing that kinda bothers me is that you've got some really nice complimentary curves happening throughout the entirety of the blade, then the handle is so straight in comparison. Even some very subtle curvature could really help the design flow a little better from blade to hilt.

Other than that, simply beautiful work.

[dansher]

i could see myself killing some alliance with that lol,
been so long since i played WOW :(

awesome sword, i love the effect of the glowing bit (cross guard?)

[Klumpmeister]

wow pretty epic. you made that in low polys? thats insane!

[D4V1DC]

Love It!

[JimeeB]

Your hand painted textures are amazing, I saved the tutorial that you made and have been using it quite often. The only thing about the sword that's offputting is the inner tips of the blades. They're not as detailed as the rest of the blade. I don't know if it's shading of the texture but it just looks a bit strange.

[HandSandwich]

Fletch, you're a fucking G.

I love the paint stroke gradations you have going down the blade. Really ace. Got a question. Do you paint at actual res or do you downscale from a higher res?

[Ryan Smith]

Fletcher i wish i had your talent man, everything i have seen you do is so good. your style is so win.

[divi]

jesus christ...
most beautiful thing ive seen in a long time. make more threads so your stuff doesnt get lost in the waywo thread!

[Swizzle]

Epic indeed.

[g0th]

crazy good work

[Mark Dygert]

Love it, amazing work as always! I suppose you did it with a mouse too =P

[Raider]

as good as some WoW weapons are i kinda wished they all that that textures of that quality, daymmm

[Jedah]

Looks very nice. I need to get myself a good tablet and start trying some hand painted only textures.

[BTolputt]

Really good stuff... but I doubt you need us to tell you that.

Enjoy your work Fletcher, have for a while :)

[eric.]

Epic! Ive always liked your style man. You got some serious talent :)

[FreshDumbledore]

great work here!

I cant find your tutorials, can you post a link? thx

[Ryan Hawkins]

Naw Fletcher used a Nintendo DS to paint this im sure all the pros are doing it and rockin no pants. You should try it out.


Looks good Fletcher if I had one nitpick its to me it feels to saturated maybe, could possibly be the background or something. Its almost like the viewport is foggy or something and im not getting the full clarity as I should of the model and texture.

Like if you look at the swords from Ulduar and I know your a big wow raider so Im sure you have they still have a little generic spec to them not like a real spec map more like a gloss map to add some "shine".


http://images.mmosite.com/photo/2009/02/27/wowa250Ex24uS2372.jpg


Overall man great work as usual Very inspiring to watch you paint these textures. Did you ever do a tutorial or video on your process? If not you should :).

[Autocon]

As always Fletcher your work is simply stunning. Your attention to detail is phenomenal and execution from concept to model is just wonderful.

I for one hope next time your recording goes a little better because I would love to see you texturing something :)

[chadabees]

Damn man!! Do you ever produce anything that isn't awesome topped with OMG sauce? Seriously, your hand painting is always getting better by the minute.

[Nick Carver]

looks great, Fletcher! The whole thing has a kind of insecty vibe. The curved spikes and the ends of the blade look like ant mandibles and there are a couple of little round details either side of the glowing orb that look like insect eyes! Very cool.

[BradMyers82]

Great Work as always. :)

[Kevin Johnstone]

nice

[Ferg]

lurv it

[Ravenslayer]

It looks awesome, great silhouette and details
the only thing i "dislike" is that you really can't make up what material this sword would be made of. I also don't see much volume in the handle because of the lack of any specularity painted into the texture but that could be an artistic choice .

that being said , awesome job on this one (and all your portfolio pieces :))

[paulsvoboda]

Great job. I love how you can still see the brush strokes around the center of the sword where the gradient is. Really amazing work.

[Taylor Hood]

Those textures are so incredibly detailed and awesome! =]
Also, I'm a big fan of that name. 'Infernus' So kick-ass.

[Jesse Moody]

Yep as always you post awesome stuff. Man you're work has such a great style to it and I'm a fan.

[haikai]

Neat design and great execution. It looks like it's probably a little too dense in detail for WoW, but I'm sure players would love something like this. :)

[Hazardous]

STRAIGHT to inspiration folder. Thats plain badass man.

[Orb]

as always, awsome texturing

[SHEPEIRO]

excellent...only thing id say is use that space in the T-PAGE to duplicate some polys into to add some obvious a-symetry with extra crackage or damage

[catstyle]

great job man, i'd love to see you do a full character in this style

[bbob]

Fantastic work!

Love it, amazing work as always! I suppose you did it with a mouse too =P

Some says that he just opens photoshop, and shakes his harddrive..

[reiro]

Sick stuff. Great crisp textures. Keep them coming.

[jmiles]

Always a pleasure J. Fletcher. :)

[Lazerus Reborn]

Your probably the one person who has motivated me in 3d for what 1-2 years lol

Always amazing to see your work.

[snow]

literally devastated about no tutorial- i hope you can make one again. your work is amazing!

[Baddcog]

It doesn't look like a model, it looks like a concept art painting ;)

[BlvdNights]

Wow. I thought that first image was the concept.....well done sir!

[JFletcher]

Forgot to reply, hah.

@ sampson, Thanks, here's a spin around, hopefully that shows whatever angle good enough:

http://a.imageshack.us/img835/7861/capture1l.gif

@ danshewan, Yeah looking at it now I agree, I will squeeze in the middle of the hilt so it is curved. Thanks. :)

@ JimeeB, Thanks, yeah the inner bits aren't very detailed, but the gap is quite thin and I wasn't really sure what to do down the middle. I will probably make some glowing decal.

@ HandSandwich, Thanks, i always draw at full scale, I find down scaling just blurs out details, for a lot of this I was zoomed in with like a 1-3px brush

@ Vig, Thanks, haha, I shook off the habit of using a mouse shortly after getting my tablet. I tried a while back but I just can't use my mouse anymore. :)

@ FreshDumbledore, Contrary to what some have said I don't think I've made any half decent tutorials. I made a short step by step pic for a painted brick but looking back I think it turned out pretty bad, haha (You can find it by searching for my posts on this forum). Tutorials for this kind of stuff is definitely something I want to do, because I love the style in general and creating these types of textures.

@ Aftermath, Yeah I see what you mean, I might adjust some highlights and shadows for a better contrast, thank you! Also yeah I want to create a video and i almost did it this time if it weren't for me forgetting to unpause the recording. (lol)

@ Nick Carver, Heh, yeah i can see how you'd imagine that, the concept was very 'thorny' and insect like, although I chose in a bit of a different direction with the model. Thanks. :)

@ Ravenslayer, I see, thanks for the crit, I like the overall matte look, although your point is valid, i should try to add more specular shine to the metals. :)

@ Taylor Hood, Hah, thanks, yeah I found making up a cool name can be a nice little inspirational drive, saves me from thinking I am creating 2H_Sword_012_A :)

@ SHEPEIRO, I see what you mean, I will remember this for future symmetrical pieces, thanks. :)

@ catstyle, Thanks, yeah its something I will probably do in the near future. :)

@ Lazerus Reborn, Thank you, I'm glad that I have motivated another human being in some way, hehe. :)

TLDR:

Thanks everyone for your comments, I'm glad you like it and I really appreciate the crit! :)

[luke]

thats awesome man, wish i could paint like that :( so do u just create the low poly and jump into textureing?

[dtschultz]

Lovely! This would work nicely in the Darksiders world.

[Illusive]

this is great, that texture is insane dude i'd love to know your step process to get results like that

[moose]

PRETTY! love the hilt and overall meatiness. that tablet has been payin off :)

[maze]

man I am really hoping you'll start a hand painted environment some time... and yeah really like your attention to detail in form and colour in this piece! awesome work.

[Andrew Mackie]

Your work inspires me instantly. You really show off the top possibilities of low poly and painted textures. This sword, as low and simple as it is with a 512 map, shows amazing skill.
*inspiration folder!*

[P442]

that is epic

[snow]

tutorial pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase XD

[Saman]

So do only characters go into the polycount showcase? I think this deserves a place among all the other great work.
By the way, I love it!

Edit: Forgot the environments! But I still think props like this should be added as well!

[Hugh]

tutorial pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase XD

+5:poly142:

[Ryan Smith]

Fletcher, you are my favorite artist on polycount. <3

[MephistonX]

that is utterly faptastic

[jouste]

So do only characters go into the polycount showcase? I think this deserves a place among all the other great work.
By the way, I love it!

showcase! showcase! showcase!

this looks awesome. some very sweet looking lewts. it's got that ancient evil thing going for it and looks like it would be right at home with any epic raiders gear. awesome stuff.

[MattQ86]

If you made a tutorial DVD I would buy 12.

[Andrew Mackie]

I agree with MattQ86.
I NEED a tutorial of your workflow!
<3

[zakhar2]

This is indeed epic but why are we resurrecting 2 month old threads?

[Tyler]

necro-thread. But still some awesome artwork :D

[Purplepaint]

tutorial pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase XD



^This.

P.s big fan of your art :)

[Bigjohn]

Awesome man, I love it. I'd ask for a tutorial, but I see people are already on top of it :)

[snake85027]

beautiful work

[jimmypopali]

He has done an image tut on how he paints AND a short video on his painting for his wood barrel guy character. I think this sword is mainly painting style, which he has kept pretty consistent through all his work.

[Bigjohn]

I saw that image, but can't find a video anywhere. Would love to watch it.

[Disco Stu]

Youre overestimating wow´s art, it doesnt look as good as this :)

[Elith2]

dude....a tiny bit of me died inside when i seen that....its stunning.

I love the concept you had down for it, it's come out really well.

[xXm0RpH3usXx]

i'd second everyone who's yelling for a tutorial :)

and Disco Stu is right, wow sucks in comparison to this!

[Peter H]

Have to agree, would love to see a tutorial :D

Loving the work!! inspirational!!

[Cremuss]

tutorial ! NOW ! :poly142:

I'm speechless. Awesome ! :thumbup:

[OrganizedChaos]

Beautiful work dude! I love it :)

[Perfectblue]

How long do I need to raid in molten core to get this?

[snow]

We'll have to ask OrganizedChaos, but he's too busy casting resurrect on old threads. =]

[gilesruscoe]

Jfletcher, how long ago did you sell your soul to the devil?... and how much did he pay? XD

[crazyfingers]

We'll have to ask OrganizedChaos, but he's too busy casting resurrect on old threads. =]

Great art is timeless!

[holyknight]

You did really a great job and it's exactly the render I wanted to.

Could you send me your sword tutorial in full size so I can read the text ;)

[Pavel Petrenko]

Great sword! Texture looks fantastic!
Just one thing. You have a lot of free space on mapping to do an unique handle.
Anyway it looks Great!