
Weapons Part II
By Rio
Point
of View
One of the most crucial part of drawing weapons is drawing
them in different points of view. When drawing anything,
point of view is always there whether it is obvious or not.
To the left shows a sword at different points of view. The
center is a sword as it would be viewed at eye level, or
from the top down. The others are how it would look in other
angles.
Notice that at angles, space changes from thin to wide affecting
how a weapon is drawn - thinner handle and wider blade tip.
For more info on perspective, check out these other tutorials:
One Point, Two
Point, Three Point
Perspective (tutorials being re-done. Will be linked when completed. ^_^).
Weapons
in Action
One of the most fun part of drawing weapons is when they
are in the thick of battle! The quickest way to draw a weapon
moving is to draw motion lines. Motion
lines are basically just several lines drawn from the object
moving to whatever direction it was moving from.
For instance, the drawing to the right has motion line coming
off the sword and to the left. This makes the sword look
as it is being swung from left to right. Note that the motion
lines have a bit of curve to it making the swing of the
sword at an arc. If the sword was moving horizontally, left
to right, the lines would also be moving from left to right,
horizontally.
The other way to show a weapon in action is to exaggerate
and "move" its physical shape by curving it, usually
in an arc, as well as the motion lines right after it.

Above are two examples on this method at two different angles.
Looking at the two, the motion lines may vary from just
the end of the weapon itself or to include surrounding areas
as in the case of the first picture.
There are some people who just use a "streak"
effect when drawing weapons in motion. The "streak"
is like those in popular pictures of cities and vehicles
in motion. All that remains are lighted lines. Another way
to think of it is an after image. When the item moves too
quickly for the eye and it leaves an image "imprint"
of where it was before. If this sounds like mindless babbling
- then forget I mentioned it. :D
And that is pretty much it to weapons! All
that remains is being able to draw different types of weapons
- axes, staffs, etc. - and all you really need is a ruler
and some imagination for that. :)
Go to Part I
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