Khanjar Dagger

Halberd of the Guard of the Electors of Saxony

Dated: circa 1620

Geography: Saxony

Culture: Saxon

Medium: steel, wood, gold, textile, metallic thread

Dimensions: L. 8 ft. 8 ½ in. (265.4 cm); L. of head 50 ½ in. (128.3 cm); W. 11 ½ in. (29.2 cm); Wt. 7 lbs. 2.2 oz. (3237.5 g)

Source: Copyright © 2015 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

(If you haven't answered this before) how do you do shading?

i havent !! and. i cant say this is gonna be any help but heres some of the things i try to keep in mind when im shading stuff

so youve got your flats on your initial drawing, the thing thats getting the business

then youve got find out where the light is coming from ! your light source is gonna determine where all the highlights and shadows are cast, and while it doesnt have to be EXACT, its generally a good rule to keep it pretty consistent through the drawing - sometimes youll probably have to deal with multiple sources, and each ones gonna be casting its own light and shadow ( and color by extension )

the intensity and sharpness of your shadows generally also reflects the brightness or closeness of the light ! basically if you wanna make something look BRIGHT, you gotta make sure the shadows are dark enough to get the idea across

so the actual shading part - the way i shade is by getting a brush on a very low opacity, picking the color i want for shadows and then layering the strokes over and over until i get about the darkness i want ( because im LAZY and i dont actually work with complex backgrounds a bunch, i can usually get away with drawing the shadows directly on the locked flat colors layer so theres nothing to clean up after )

afterwards i clean it up a little if i need to, add highlights while keeping in mind where the light is coming from, and start on the Detail Work ( it also might be helpful to keep in mind that highlights dont always go on the EDGE of things, but rather where the curve of something is - where the light would catch. this can help add a little depth and make flat things look rounded out ! )

and THEN its basically me zooming into the drawing at least 200%, putting another layer over the top of everything, and going over the outlines with a tiny brush so the harsh black is mostly gone ! there shouldnt be anything along the edge thats darker than the darkest part of the shadow ( with exceptions like the eyes and nostrils )

and thats mostly it ! i picked red for the shadow color, but picking your shading ( and flats ! ) based on the colors in your background can go a LONG way into making it seem like your character is actually in the environment

reflective light is also an important thing to keep in mind when choosing shadows and highlights - light and color doesnt always just hit an object and stay there, and even in the shade there could be light bouncing back from stuff like water or grass creating smaller, subtle highlights along the edges of things close by

not everything reflects the same way either ! something like a piece of wood is going to react differently than say, a metal ball

so you get your light source, basic highlights and shadows, not bad ! but then theres ALSO the light reflecting from the rest of the environment along the edge of the ball, and then finally the color from both the dragon and the ball reflecting a bit on each other

 honestly though these arent RULES of drawing and more just guidelines i work with sometimes, and maybe your style of shading and highlighting looks completely different than this and thats ok !! - im still figuring a bunch of stuff out about light and reflections myself, and the great thing about art is that you can do whatever the hell you want with it

Turn-arounds for Cephias…or anyone who needs them.

Sketches that came with the Magi DVD vol.7 that depict the main three going on a journey. Here’s Ohtaka’s comment:

“These are sketches that I did before the serialization. I drew them while looking at pictures of the Mogao Caves in China. At first, Magi was going to be a manga that revolves more around conquering dungeons, and so I did a lot of sketches like these.”

Alexander Wang rtw sp’17

All of the 16 personality type descriptions together. You can find the complete images and descriptions for each type on my blog here X 

France City View | Source | WAV

Small Dagger

Dated: 19th century

Culture: Russian

Measurements: overall lenght 30cm

The dagger features a straight, double-edged blade with a central groove and golden decorations. The steel hilt is decorated en suite, the white horn grip having oblique, golden staves. The steel scabbard is also decorated en suite.

Source: Copyright © 2016 Czerny’s International Auction House S.R.L.

Costume designed by Sandy Powell for Tom Cruise in Interview with a Vampire (1994)

From the collection of Larry McQueen on Pinterest

More How To Draw Manga - Vol. 4: Mastering Bishoujo Characters