After reshaping the spade to a more pleasant profile, it took me a while to decide how I was going to make the blood effect, but I’ve come up with a really nice way to do it.

It looks even nicer with some normal mapping to give the blood a little bit of thickness.

BUT… This is too much. I mean it’s a metal riding crop, not a spear!

I think I’ll make the blood overlay a lot shorter, focus on the spade and maybe 1/3rd of the stem.

A bit more “tasteful” wouldn’t you agree?