Finished this just before my last year in college ended.

After working on it for more than a year, I’ve finally finished a project I started at the beginning of quarantine. It definitely took me longer than it should have as I was still learning some technical skills along the way. I started this project as a way to practice SubD modeling and make complex hard surface shapes. In the past, I would get frustrated when I wanted to create a specific form for a design but didn't know how to model it. As a result, my projects became very limited and constrained by my technical knowledge. I really tried to push myself to use unique forms in all areas of the armor and avoid generic "boxy" shapes you see in some Sci-Fi design. Happy to say that I'm now confident I can model almost any shape and quickly too. I’ve gained so much knowledge from the process and am pleased with the results.

One of the mistakes I made that significantly slowed my progress was treating each body part as its own project. I put way too much detail and care into components no one would see. As you scroll down you will see some renders showing some of those close-ups. On the upside, all that extra detail gave me lots of practice modeling faster so it wasn’t all bad.

Completing this was challenging and I thought about quitting many times. Because this was a personal project, I had to balance time spent here with full-time internships, college, and occasional art tests. Between technical issues, other pressures on my time, and the allure of starting new projects, I was tempted to abandon the project several times. I’m pleased I stuck with it and hope people like the result as much as I do. Now, I’m on to the next project.

All assets modeled, textured, and lit by me.