Artwork: Swordsman Toa

Drawn By: WrittenDusk

I finished this in late January, but because I was really late with starting the Chinese New Year drawing I decided to hold on to this post until after Chinese New Year.

For this drawing my main objective was to include more perspective in my drawings. I didn't want start with anything too fancy yet, just something simple and effective. My other objective was to continue with more character design. I'm quite happy about the colours and the details on the clothing, but I would want to change the design of the collar next time; it just doesn't feel as cohesive as I wanted it to be.

As I finished the drawing I found my composition lacking impact, so I decided to change up my framing a bit. The one I prefer is the top one, while the bottom one is the original composition. I felt shifting the emphasis more on to the sword made more sense for the drawing and adds more impact.

What do you think?

I had fun detailing the clothing this time, especially with it turning out much more effective than I had imagined. This is important because the main design elements for this character is in the patterning details. The reason I did this was because I started to realize how different clothing can look simply due to textiles, patterns, and prints after referencing so many clothes up until now. This was my first step into incorporating this design method into my skill set.

On the other hand, my results in the perspective category aren't as exciting. 

I think I did a decent job, if not good one, with the perspective this time, but it also made me realize how much I'm actually lacking. While working on the perspective of the hands I still felt confident and comfortable. It wasn't something I haven't done before and I could see my improvements, up till now, making a difference. I move on to the sword and it wasn't too bad either. But then I started drawing the sword guard, and I was overwhelmed.

This isn't my first time drawing this angle either, so it caught me extra off guard. What I realized was that this was my first time taking such a dedicated approach to perspective on my own. With my current level of skill and awareness, what I thought was correct and acceptable is no longer correct, or acceptable. So I started to correct my perspective. But the more I corrected it, the more out of my depth I felt. Even now I don't feel all that confident in the perspective of the guard, but at least I feel comfortable enough with it at the moment. 

It's going to take much, much more practice to improve my perspective skills; much more than I initially thought. This is yet again another reminder that I'm not as good as I think I am right now.

Phew... I really need to step it up. But I'm looking forward to when I can feel more confident about my skills.

Hope your enjoyed the drawings!