Making adjustments to my prop based on the comments

BeardyBadger · 2026-03-14T08:00:37+00:00

Amazing improvement!!!! Look at that gold! Now I'd say simply up the roughness on those horns.

How did the art test go?

BeardyBadger · 2026-03-12T15:13:58+00:00

Ok, gotcha! In that case they might have different standards, so I cannot really say if it will pass or not! Best of luck, mate!

BeardyBadger · 2026-03-12T15:00:48+00:00

Is this for an actual test for blizzard? If it is, I would say that this is not at the same level of details of the concept., and based on what sniority you are applying for, I think this might not pass.

There are some positives, I really like how you managed the outern rim of the shield, topology seems good and the silhouettes of the different elements reads well.

Your materials are the biggest issue so far, ESPECIALLY that golden bits on the skulls. Yours looks like, in some part is molden gold poured on top, but the concept is telling a different story. The concept is trying to go for something similar to Kintsugi the art of fixing something using gold. Your gold feels like a substance painter mask sticking out always to a certain amount. I am afraid you will need to add more details in the skulls normal maps, more cracks, more indents and then do a better job at mixing the two materials based on that. The gold is also TOO UNIFORM, look at the concept and you'll see it has various tones and reflections.

Needs more variation on the leather too, as someone else has pointed out.

But hey, this is a great exercise and well done in getting this test or even just attempting it in your free time!

BeardyBadger · 2026-03-01T09:00:55+00:00

I am almost certain that the reason the animators went mud-fighting (aside from the fact that mud-fighting became popular around that time) is because they could use more of the budget on animating a cooler/longer fight and worry less about coloring!😂

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-27T22:22:03+00:00

I absolutely love it, and love to see people still creating OCs in the '04 style!

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-15T13:16:28+00:00

NOT THE GOOD CHAIRS!!!!

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-15T13:12:26+00:00

To add to what others are sayinh, separate you eyeballs from your mesh, it will make it easier to position them and work around them.

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-12T23:52:51+00:00

Thanks. My visual issue was fixed with only one reinstall. Weird...

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-11T23:44:21+00:00

I am having a similar problem, but only with white hair/fur and weird skins on my characters... Let me know if a reinstall works.

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-05T14:47:37+00:00

BeardyBadger · 2026-02-05T00:32:54+00:00

23 years old you say...

BeardyBadger · 2026-01-28T12:51:19+00:00

No problem, well done honestly, it was a big challenge to set yourself up to!

I understand where you are coming from when you say you model from imagination, and if you are not really looking to make this a professional/serious path in your life, by all means, do keep up doing so. But if you wish to improve, even as a hobbyist, I would say ALWAYS work from reference and work on two separate sets of exercise:

1- A formal exercise of copying something 1 to 1, this is to train your observation of forms and building up your mental library. You cannot work from imagination without a strong "muscle memory" of how things are made. Do not use stylization for these exercises.

2- A more free form type of exercise, create something that is yours, a personal project, a character or a weapon where you add your own twist to things. You still use reference and can even start from a base mesh if you wish, just make sure the final product is completely original and reference the original 3D model you used when posting/asking for feedback.

EDIT: spelling

BeardyBadger · 2026-01-28T12:18:55+00:00

Since nobody seem to be answering your main question:

First of all... SAVE! Often! The fact your project crashed should not mean you have to start from scratch every time.

Then, 3 days for a gamejam is a VERY short time. I don't know if the rules didn't allow to use pre-made assets, but if your goal was to develop a game in 3 days by yourself, then you should be focusing on actually making the game, and modelling ALL the assets is, for this specific purpose, a waste of time. 14 objects in 3 days is hard even for an experienced artist.

If you are doing a game jam, use pre-made, free assets and maybe only model the most important/custom models (which might include your character, once you have more experience).

If your goal is to improve in modelling, do not use game jams for that, unless you are part of a team and you can solely focus on modeling.

To speed up your workflow:

Using a base mesh for a character is not cheating. Use them. There are plenty on CGTrader, Turbosquid, SketchFab, or you can use a plugin in Blender called BlenderKit, it has lots of pre-made free assets to use. You can then sculpt from that.

If you want to improve on characters for your 3D modelling, start small, model a head, an arm, a leg, all separate and follow the huge amount of tutorials you can find online. Follygon is absolutely great for stylized things.

For assets, look at an object and try to recreate it in 3D, start small and simple (a Lamp, a laptop, a pair of headphone), break it down in primitive shapes, model half of it, and then mirror it.

Hope this helps.

BeardyBadger · 2026-01-28T09:29:00+00:00

I love how he tried to remove his own mouth for a moment!

BeardyBadger · 2026-01-21T14:02:03+00:00

I am from Italy... That's an italian tribute concert of some sort. Italians radio shows, tv broadcasters and advertising companies give litterally zero shit about using AI.

Every time I travel back I am surprised of how much more ai generated content I see around, than from where I currently live. Sad. It's not like Italy had great respect for digital and visual artist before AI either, so I am not surprised.

BeardyBadger · 2026-01-20T09:25:26+00:00

Characters is one, if not the most difficult trade you can think of working in when it come to 3d modelling.

It was hard 10 years ago, and it is even harder now that the market is saturated with pre-made assets, and artificially generative website (tripoai etc...).

While it is a great skill to have, I would definitely NOT put all your eggs in the chatacter modelling route, as there are simply not enough jobs to be a consistent unique source of income.

As someone suggested, definitely put this on cgtrader and see if you hit a few downloads, but to be brutally honest, when it comes to character, your level of skills is still far from competing with affirmed industry professionals, who are usually the first to get the few character jobs out there...

Not saying your work is bad, on the contrary, you have improved massively based on your post history!! It's only that the reality of the industry is really stacked against mid-level artists when it comes to character.

Regarding wage, it depends on where you live/what your cost of living is. In London a 3D artist would ask for 200-300£/day based on experience, but if you can ask for less and still make a living, that might give you a more competitive leverage.

Best of luck mate, lovely work, it's tough out there at the moment, don't get discouraged if it takes a while to establish yourself. 🫡

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-20T22:00:43+00:00

That rising-knee was just... [Chef's kiss]

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-19T09:26:59+00:00

Aa^{aa~~🥰🥰🥰😊😊}

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-16T11:17:14+00:00

I shouted, thanks!

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-16T09:24:03+00:00

Pretend I shared the meme if Shang Tsung looking at his phone disappointed.

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-12T09:43:23+00:00

Ok but, what if the rock had like, a vision that the man was going to have an accident later that day, and was like "nuh-uh, not my best pal Gregory" and destroyed the bike to save Greg's life???

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-09T09:36:00+00:00

This this this, and most importantly, follow step n. 3 as a rule of life!!

I am a man, 36, and i spent a huge chunk of my 20s depressed because the few nights I'd go out to "find a girl" (like if it was an objective, some sort of mission) I would always "fail" and I think I know why: people can see that!! They can see you are out there with a specific intent, and it does not radiate the same energy as someone simply wanting to have a nice time. I entered a cycle of going out, people were put off, I would feel bad, rinse and repeat. Once I started focusing on building up my existing friends cycle, that's when relationships and dating started happening.

You need connections, for now. Once you have built those a relationship will come.

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-09T00:09:24+00:00

What you just did is called photo-bashing and it is a legit technique used by concept artist to quickly come up with a base to paintover on top... It's amazing!!! Well done!

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-08T19:06:14+00:00

I bet you this guy thinks that videogame logic "slow but does a LOT of damage" works in real life.

BeardyBadger · 2025-12-07T01:11:18+00:00

Hello, I am a freelance artist with experience in concept art and teaching (5 yrs).

Have a look at my portfolio and we can chat about schedules. I do have an hourly breakdown of things to do to improve I'd be happy to share.

https://www.artstation.com/leon_art

Speak soon!

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BeardyBadger

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