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!

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 

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