IT IS DONE
There's definitely more I wish I could've done, improved, and continued with, but despite that I'm really proud of how much I've managed to do in the time I've had and learn (No joke, the amount of things I've learned is worth about 10 level ups). I'm glad I've joined the contest! I hope you like what I came up with :D
The Terror Hunter of Arachnea
Idle animation
Turntable

For the weapon I tried to be inspired bu the shape of the 15th century spiked hammer. They weren't as large..or used crystals, but rocked a simmilair layout design sort of speak
Good opportunity to talk bit more about the workflow I've been doing for this project. I've learned this workflow from the streams of the amazing Marco Plouffe, and I'm totally loving the flow of it.

The idea is to sculpt in zbrush, combine everything once done, make two copies one for the high poly and one for the low poly version. The low poly shouldnt be above 1.5mln poligons, and hp above 25mln, so decimade as needed. The reason is so it's easier to work with down the line, and yes, 1,5mln is plenty low to work with! It's honestly not that bad (unless youre deforming and rigging then yeah lol) 
Uvs done with UDIMS using RizomUV, and all textures done in substance. Are the uvs pretty? No. Is it good enough for a badass render? yep! 
I seriously recommend it! Check out his frog streams to learn the workflow 

For comparison this is my unreal render. I am much more happy with this...also I have a feeling it'll handle better in terms of rendering out images and such. I like how the gold elements pop! 




the shield was a quick texture as I've utilised the smart materials I've made for the armour. I cannot recommend enough 'Trigon' tutorials on youtube on how to create your own smart materials that work in a very interactive and non destructive way. Spoiler: it's about utilising the HSL filters!

Renders are happening! This is a test in the new Marmoset 5. How convienient it came out with a UDIM support just when I needed it...however, Im having some issues with the metallic and smoothness, as I just plugged in the maps I've exported for Unreal. Marmoset looks cool, and it's easy to use as alway, but Im leaning more towards UE5

And here's an update on the knight! im so close to being done with the model. I am seriously very happy with how far it has come. Im planning on adding some sort of ..potions or perhaps belt of bullets for the shield gun. Also a mace of sorts, and a dagger. Yknow, bits of story!

Hello all! 
A bit of an update on the project
Today I finished working on the shield for the knight. I wanted to do something unique, yet faithful to the 15th century weaponry
There has been one veeryyy interesting piece of weaponry that no one ever speaks about...ready? A gun shield
Yuppp. How awesome is that? First developed by the Italy, then picked up by the British, it was never a success, as it was just not practical to use... but I think it looked amazing and fits my fantasy setting really well
I couldnt find the specific design of the gun, so I had to quickly come up with something of my own. I've tried to make the gun look somehow old, yet functional (even though it won't be visible in the end render). To work somehow like a revolver. Will tweak it a bit more!

My time management is non existent, but still going! Working on clean up still and polishing the design 

My time management is non existent, but still going! Working on clean up still and polishing the design 

Trying to find the time to work on the project, this is the direction im going! more spider elements, more refned and dark, with elements like engraving that will show status

First update!
So far just sketching, blocking out, concepting, still very rough. Trying to find the balance of being cool and practical armour design. I think the sci fi elements will come in through the secondary shapes/shape language. Similar to what Doom does