I was watching my friend play Assassins Creed IV Black Flag and became inspired to make the first sword he purchased in game - The British Cutlass. I found a rough side image online and used that to start modeling. Since my friend was playing the game, I also had him pause it from time to time and pull up the sword in the menus just to get some more visual reference. After I finished blocking out the model and had the base mesh complete I moved into sculpting the detail on the guard. I took everything into Substance Painter and added edge wear, scratches, and imperfections into the textures for additional story detail. I really wanted it to feel like it had been used and tried to think through how the owner had fought with it and where others had struck, like the deeper scratches on the guard portion covering the hilt. I then lit and rendered the scene and put some final polish on the piece in Photoshop.