Zbrush Final Renders

Zbrush Mood Board

A collection of props made in Zbrush, I will be using this when creating my Battle Axe within Zbrush so i can gain more ideas on adding detail to the Axe with different engraving and where the props are soldered and hinged together.

Axe Prop Task Complete

Creation Process of Battle Axe

Final Prop Concept art - Battle Axe

So after going through tons of different ideas on what to do for my final design of my prop task I settled on creating a battleaxe. I started going down the route of weapons and found the battle axe to be the most deadliest looking weapon. After looking at a large stock of battleaxe images I could see the potential in designing my own adding different hilts and side blades to it. Above is my final design, I wanted something that looked quite heavy and had an aura of darkness about it. I decided to add a claw and small skulls around the upper handle of the axe as well as a small blade to the hilt.

I also thought about the mechanics on how this weapon would be used as it's a battle axe it would be held with two hands, I made the handle very long so that the user could put one hand towards the lower end of the handle and the other at the upper end in order to use both sides of the blade, using the lower end of the axe meant for quicker attacks as that side would be lighter whereas the upper end would be used for large lunging attacks.

I felt a battleaxe would make for a great end prop in Zbrush as we had already had a tutorial on axes wit Leavon so with this previous experience it would help me in recreating my own type of axe although I have added a lot more blades and detail to this, so hopefully my previous experience will help me with my new concept.

Weapon Concept Halberd

Some Halberd designs for my prop task, after all the research that I have done I think I will stick to creating a type of weapon in particular a long handled weapon such as a Halberd, Glaive. I think these are amazing props and can contain so much detail and really can explain so much about a certain culture just by the simple engravings. Also the weapons were all made in such a way to be used in so many different ways such as the halberd above could be used from both the base and the top. I have positioned the handles at the bottom and the top so it can be held like an axe meaning you could sweep with both the bottom and the top, and also using the base as a foot impale.

Battle Axe

I am now currently working on a battle Axe which I did the concept art for. I was particularly happy with the conceprt work on the Axe so I decided to take it into Zbrush and see how it would turn out. So far I am very happy with how it is looking at this basic stage. 

Katana Hilt Zbrush

After the previous sword hilt I decided to go in the direction of creating a katana. I had quite a bit of fun doing this one and thought it was going really well. I had rounded the edges at the bottom of the blade and made it look like the iron wraps were going into the base of the hilt and the rounded edges at the top for the blade to be inserted. Although from doing this I found the final outcome to not look as great as what I wanted to produce and felt that I could create something that is a lot more detailed. So i decided to move on from this and look into doing something slightly different.

Sword Hilt Zbrush

I began creating a sword hilt within Zbrush for my final prop task. The overall design was going quite well and I learnt and understood more of the different brushes to get to this point. I also engraved a type of elvish writing near the top of the hilt which i was inspired from Lord of the rings. Once I reach this point of the hilt I felt that it wasnt what I wanted and decided to move onto a different idea and look into some of the previous research I had done and some of the other Zbrush weapon designs. 

Weapon Refrence and research

After going into different designs and creating a basic blockout of my axe in Zbrush I decided to revert back to all the reference I had taken from Leeds armoury and really take a look at the amazing designs and details of the swords. Looking back at the dragon head I drew for my Viking ship I think that the work scale required to do that within the time limit would be too much so have now decided to create a sword.

Taking this into account with all the research I did on shields if I have enough time left over I would also like to create the shield to go alongside the sword.

In the below mood-board I have put some images which I think would look good for the details such as the tin with the horseman would make a very fine detail to go around the hilt of the sword. Also I love the detail on the Excalibur sword and love the handle in the Ivanhoe sword which is very patriotic.

I was also looking at the mummy statue which I saw in the derby museum and also thought that implementing something like that as the hilt of the sword would look really cool as it has a square bottom and a rounded top and if you look at the way it is shaped it really looks like something you could use to hold a weapon with.

Gauntlet Refrence

During the time at Leeds armoury I was looking for prop ideas and decided to ask one of the staff if I could hold a gauntlet and take images of it for reference. I decided not to continue with the gauntlet but I think this would be great reference for future use.

Prop Design Task

I have decided to gather a massive range of different Viking shields as I will be placing them around the skirting of my Viking ship. from the reference images I have gathered of the Viking ships nearly all of them only have the circular shields on the side of the boat, so I wanted to incorporate some of these shields into my drawing.

Viking Boat

From my previous research and mood board of looking into what type of prop I want to create I decided to continue looking at the Viking ship, I noticed that a lot of the Vikings would place there shields over the edge and attach the ropes to the inside. So it also crossed my mind to design a Viking shield. I also love the front of the Viking ship in which they carved out a dragon to put fear in the eyes of there enemies. I also think that focusing purely on designing my own dragons head for the front of the ship. I shall continue doing some research on different designs of ships and dragon heads as well as other items found around the ship.

Prop Design Task

Prop Design Task


Ok so for this week’s lesson we have been asked to draw a prop of our choice, which could be absolutely anything! From the Viking and Jailor coming in Tuesday I have had a lot of influence to do something based around Vikings.


I also decided to look at multiple different takes on prop concept art scouring the net for different props and going through some of my old history books to see what type of objects the artist had painted into the background so that I could pull that from the artwork and recreate my own style on that prop.


I also looked at human modifications such as gauntlets with claws added onto them and lot's of different weapons and items scattered around paintings. I then decided to start looking into more decorational props which you would find around the house, and then take these and develop some different concepts from these items.


After much deliberation I started to go into more depth into Vikings and look at there mode of transport.






Viking Research

Law that every man had a Helmet and Spear at there ready. The ancient Vikings navigated by depending on the instincts of birds. They took on board several ravens, releasing them one at a time as they sailed westward. If the raven flew back along the course from which it had come, the Viking ships continued due west. But when a raven flew a different way, the ships would change course, following its flight path in search of new lands. In a single raid on Britain around the year 1000, the Vikings used a fleet of eighty "dragon ships", each carrying 100 soldiers.

From this research I then started looking into how Vikings travelled across the sea's and came across there dragon ships. I instantly fell in love with the designs of the ship and continued to gather some more reference image and thought out how I could make this work as my prop.

Zbrush Refrence Images