So one of my old hobbies was DnD, loved it. I used to sketch out intricate weapon/armor designs for fun and that was a solid time killer. I recently got back into it and once again found myself sketching out weapon/armor design, so I figured fuck it, lets throw them into AI and skin them in PS, just for fun, mainly as an exercise to get better with AI.

I have never actually done this with anything before, so they might not look too good/realistic. I am mainly looking to see what I could do to make them look more realistic, down to minor details like adding in or removing certain aspects. Currently the only one I have done the full process for is a shield, mainly one that would also be used as a throwing shield so some flair to add in to that. Lighting is something I haven't quite nailed down either, as you can most likely tell. I'm not the best with making multiple objects stacked look like they are their own object while still appearing to have the same lighting/light source.



So, if anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them.

*You may now commence the flame and rage of the incredible nerdiness of this post*

I actually think they're done really well. I can't even tell which method you used to get that particular shine. It doesn't look like any kind of linear/radial gradient..did you use the mesh tool? I've always been terrible with the mesh tool.

My only suggestion to add more realism would be to incorporate some directional lighting with more shadows/glare. They look good as is with the uniform lighting as well.

Next step : bring it 3D !! Nice lightning effects.

I would of tried to make them more ''spheric'' as in more curved edges sorry my english is the worst I know...

like they are really good I can tell you that. But if they would have more of a 3D effect it would be even better,

Well, ty! Be alluded no more, I use that lighting technique a lot and no one expects it, Satin. White satin on overlay with mid range distance and size gives a great lighting feel. I still combine it with a basic metal texture overlay and gradients to make it appear more realistic. The edges are a simple stroke emboss to add some depth and more lighting.

And I'm not sure what you mean by meshes? maybe skin was the wrong word in the first post, stylize and add blending is more accurate lol. The main one that bothers me currently is the one on the right, I currently am using the metal circle with the '+' as just that shape instead of a full circle with the wood pieces on top, so lighting it with blending is difficult. Granted I could solve that problem entirely if I just made it a full circle but that's just to logical and simple of a fix lol.

How would you suggest I do that I guess? I don't do any 3D stuff so I wouldn't know where to start. Do you mean making a 3d model? or just turning them into3d via the PS/AI filters? currently they are AI Smart Objects sitting in PS so that's my bade point.

You can bring import your artwork into Cinema 4D (the paths of illustrator)

There you can play with it in 3 dimensions X Y Z axis

Also can apply nice textures ^^

hey, this is very neat.