Stylized Bow - Game Art Prop
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Concept
The Stylized Bow project was created as part of my Game Art pipeline exercises at DAE.
The goal was to design and model a game-ready prop that could fit into a stylized fantasy environment.
I wanted to capture both craftsmanship and personality through the bow’s silhouette, proportions, and painted details.
This piece focuses on shape rhythm, readability, and texture storytelling - making every curve and brushstroke contribute to the object’s history and style.
Process
The model was created entirely in Autodesk Maya, and all texturing was hand-painted in Adobe Photoshop.
The workflow followed a simplified, game-ready production pipeline with a focus on control and craftsmanship.
Workflow:
- Concept & Planning: gathered fantasy weapon references, focusing on curved wooden shapes and ornate design patterns
- Modeling: created a clean low-poly mesh optimized for real-time rendering and smooth silhouettes
- UV Unwrapping: manually unwrapped UVs to achieve consistent texel density and organized texture space
- Texturing: hand-painted diffuse textures in Photoshop - blending wood grains, metallic ornaments, and rope details with painted lighting cues
- Presentation: rendered inside Maya with a basic lighting setup to highlight color depth and painted surface variation
The entire process emphasized understanding how to simulate lighting and material properties purely through painting - without relying on normal or roughness maps.
Outcome
The final prop successfully combines stylization with functional design.
It feels handcrafted, with subtle imperfections that make it believable within a fantasy setting.
The hand-painted texture work gives it warmth and personality, making the bow stand out as both a usable asset and a storytelling element.
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Reflection
This project strengthened my confidence in hand-painted texturing and prop presentation.
It taught me how much visual storytelling can live in a single asset - from edge wear to material transitions.
I also learned to balance clean topology with expressive shapes,
and how thoughtful lighting can elevate a simple model into a portfolio-ready piece.
Most importantly, it deepened my appreciation for stylized art direction - where color, texture, and form work together to build believable worlds.