Knight of the Voidwood

I'd like to preface this with saying the environment is not mine I just used for somewhere to render my character.

I originally planned to create a science fiction character for this competition but going into this semester, I realised that my group projects where going to have a focus on a fantasy setting. This did not begrudge me at all because I also really enjoy working in a fantasy style, but this also meant I reevaluated what work I was going to do leading up to it. Therefore I began exploring what fantasy character I would like to make for this competition. 

I decided early on that I wanted to try and put a twist on the typical knight. I wanted his armour to have the battered emblem of a once great house, that has now worn away. Bits of the armour would be seriously damaged or replaced entirely, the idea being that the place this knight does most of his fighting is incredibly dangerous and requires more unorthodox tactics and equipment to survive in. I explored ideas in my sketchbook, with research from the internet and also digital artwork before arriving at the final design I would create.

That design was the Voidwood Knight, a knight who takes long voyages into evil woods in order to gather vital relics and treasures both for the benefit of mankind and for his own greed. His armour shows the marks of many close calls but yet he stands tall in the face of danger, his will to seek riches and adventure never crushed. 

After all of that I created the result you see here. I am pretty happy with the result but as I find with all my projects I wish I had more time, but hopefully by keeping on making characters I will get faster at it. I would also like to learn to make better hair. On the bright side I think my textures came out really nicely and I feel my Zbrush and substance painter skills have greatly improved throughout this project. Next time this competition comes around, I will be ready…