Asia Man INK and COLOUR TEST

Here is the evolution of the Asia Man Character Profile drawing. This pencil took me 2 days, and some more for just the hands. I found this the easiest character to draw, due to drawing him so much already. i knew what i wanted him to be like, friendly, but strong, and on a journey. this drawing shows Asia Man in his training gi (underneath) and a larger heavier and warmer gi on top. In his hand is the Sword Of The Shrine, the legendary sword of his home. Over his eyes (hidden under his gigantic eyebrows, is a hand, shadowing the face from the sun, as he looks out. To make Asia Man appear strong I have him a wide stance, and a large upper body, with a smaller head. He is actually very tall, but there is no other character to compare with. His sword is 7ft long, too large for the ordinary man to wield.

At his time i was thinking about a colour pallete for him. Not only did i need to make him contrast with the rest of the cast (Shooter for brown, orange, silver) (Sammy for blue, red, yellow) I also had to show off his character.

 Here is an Inked version, sadly i could not rub all of the pencil out. It looks much better. During this time I was making adjustments. First i went over in a single ink outline, but the character did not retain this powerful outline from before, so i went over a second time, making sure to be thick, and make him larger. The ink added lots of detail. my favorite part of the picture is the eyebrows, they seem so wild. and they were the most fun to draw. I really like how they look bouncy, which is another thing that makes me wish I had the time, and skills to animate this character. 

Here I used GIMP 2, a poorman's photoshop, to add colour just to see what it would look like.

I wanted to show off Asia Man's gentile and quiet character, and so I gave him a green gi. I think green works, but I may have to change the shade a little. i had to make sure the green came off as a friendly green and not a sickly green, or evil green. I think I did okay. I made his training clothes an off-yellow, to make them look white, but old and worked in. I found it hard to not make his clothes look gross and sweat stained. I just realised i forgot to colour his bottle.

 

For his sword i wanted something that looked old, but exotic and dangerous. I made the sword's sheath and guard made of wood, and painted red. I then added gold rings to add an exotic flavour to it. The use of red and gold is inspired by Chinese weaponry and architecture. I like how it contrasts with Asia Man, looking dangerous, while he looks more calm. it mirrors how Asia Man acts in battle, turning into a destructive beast, at least when he has the intent to kill and unsheathes his blade. Noticed how the guard is square- most swords would of had circle guard but this does not. This style is inspired by the Ninjato, the rumored legendary sword used by the Ninja, although there is no historical evidence. 

For the sword i did a lot of research about Japanese and Chinese swords. I went with a Japanese style sword called a Odachi, which means (Large/Great sword). These were large sword that some samurai used. They were so large a new technique had to be developed to hold them out of battle. One way was to tie the sword onto one's back, however many believed this was stupid because drawing the large blade was difficult and slow from the back. Some just held the sword in one hand like Asia Man is now. Another way was to bring with you a second, another person, who would help you unsheathe the blade. These swords used to be very large, one said to have a 6ft blade, but after a takeover of the Dynasty, it was illegal to have a blade so long, and many were cut down to legal size. After a while the sword fell out of fashion, mostly being used ceremonially after that. Some places apparently kept their Odachi long by making them a treasure linked to a legend of some kind. This made it so the swords should be left alone, and no one was to clip it down to legal size (citation needed)

I am happy with the product so far, but the colour and blackness of the ink needs some work. i may have to use Photoshop, rather then by hand, because I do not want to ruin this drawing so far in. This also gives me more tools to use, since I do not have many inks, and i am not very good with them at all.