Handpainted Magnus's Knife

With this project, I wanted to explore some processes that I don’t usually work with or haven’t practiced much, aiming to improve my workflow and gradually create something more professional within my abilities. I started with a low-poly model and then converted it to high-poly to add the details. After that, I completed the retopology. Although this step, as well as the previous high-poly stage, wasn’t strictly necessary since I planned to hand-paint the model, the goal was to practice, and retopology was something I wanted to do.

Once the baking worked well in Substance, I moved on to texturing. This was my first time doing hand-painting, and I used 3DCoat for it; it was also my first time using the program. I had wanted to try this kind of texturing for a long time but never dared, and this is the result. Although it’s not perfect and contains some mistakes, I’m proud of the outcome in this first attempt. After many hours of trial and error, thinking it might be too complicated for me, it feels great to have achieved something decent. From now on, I plan to focus more on hand-painting to keep improving, as it’s something I really enjoy doing.

The concept art is by Becca Hallstedt. Many artists have used it as a reference for modeling practice, and well, I was one of them. :)