Survival’s Edge – Stylized Firefighter’s Axe | Fan Art

Hand-Painted PBR | Fortnite-Inspired Asset | Fan Art

Excited to share my latest stylized 3D prop – “Survival’s Edge”, a firefighter’s axe designed in a bold, Fortnite-style aesthetic. This piece was created entirely from scratch, following a full pipeline workflow with a strong focus on clean modeling, stylized sculpting, and vibrant hand-painted textures.

-Workflow Breakdown:
Concept & Design:
Inspired by survival gear and battle-ready tools, I aimed to give the axe a strong silhouette, playful proportions, and a heroic feel suitable for a stylized battle royale universe.

-Modeling:
Lowpoly: Created and optimized in Maya (1000 tris), keeping the silhouette clean and game-ready.
Highpoly: Sculpted in ZBrush to exaggerate stylized details like the dents, wood feel, and smooth edges that give character to the prop.

-UVs & Baking:
UV unwrapped with efficient texel density to support a hand-painted workflow. Baking was done in Substance Painter to transfer all sculpted details into a clean normal and AO map.

-Texturing:
Fully hand-painted PBR textures from scratch – no smart materials or generators.
Focused on bold color separation, stylized edge highlights, and readable forms under Fortnite-style lighting.
Added wear & tear, subtle grime, and hand-painted metal shine for visual storytelling.

-Style Goals:
Aimed for Fortnite's playful but impactful visual style, exaggerated, clean, and colorful with purposeful material contrast between painted metal and worn wood.

-Tech Specs:
Polycount: 1000 Tris
Texture: 2K Hand-Painted PBR

Software: Maya | ZBrush | Substance Painter

Thanks for checking out “Survival’s Edge”! Feedback is always welcome — and feel free to leave a like or comment if this stylized piece hits the mark.