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So I'm trying to prepare myself for making videos, which I'm planning for being basically drawn caricatures of myself talking about various things and whatnot.

In preparation for this, I have to learn how to draw a bit better, since I'm not incredibly skilled at drawing.  I can draw a slightly okay caricature, but nothing really amazing.

This was something from about 8 years ago, actually about the last time I really actually drew anything:



I had seen caricature picture examples, and decided to try one in my likeness, and that was the result.

And like I said, that was probably the last serious thing I tried to draw.


Well, I decided to try drawing a Legend of Zelda inspired keyblade today, something which is a part of the caricature that I'm going to start learning to draw a bit better.  Basically, it'll be a more anime version of myself with Link's Hylian ears and hat (blue in color), and a tunic/outfit that is a mix of Legend of Zelda and Kingdom Hearts style with a Ravenclaw Raven on the back.  In one hand, I'd have the Legend of Zelda inspired keyblade resting behind me on my shoulders.  In the other, I'd have my hand out with a open book floating slightly above it with possibly a quill writing in it.

Basically, it's me with a mix of some of my most favorite things: Harry Potter (and I'm a Ravenclaw according to Pottermore), Legend of Zelda (the outfit and inspired keyblade), Kingdom Hearts( the outfit and keyblade itself), and writing.

But anyways, I'm drawing each part individually so I can get more a feel of how I want them to look, and so I can help better myself so I can refine them a bit more when I get the right tools to do so.

Today, as mentioned, was the Legend of Zelda inspired Keyblade, which as of yet as no name.

Basically, I started out with the design of the Master Sword from Twilight Princess, minus the usual design at the end of the base.



Since it's a keyblade, I had to include some kind of circular design at the end, hence changing the hilt a bit.

I knew right away that I wanted to use the Hylian shield as the keychain, so I used the later designs of it.



After that, I ended up being stumped on what I wanted. When I was looking across Google, I found a really cool tattoo that gave me a great design idea.



So that gave me an idea for something right at end of the base, near the beginning of the blade.

The blade itself came next, and at first I used the Twilight Princess design at the beginning of the blade (the triforce design), and had Navi from Ocarina of Time at the end, with her wings as the keyblade's...well, blades.

I didn't like the look of it, however, and I ended up erasing it.  So instead I just drew a normal blade and ended it.

Then, I had an idea of incorporating rupees (the currency of the games) into it since they're a driving force of the game, and decided to have one of each type in descending order encrusted into the blade (green being 1 rupee, gold being 200 rupees).

It still didn't feel finished to me, though.  But I ended up coming across the image of the boss key from Windwaker.



And that gave me the perfect idea for how to handle the blade.  Basically, using the eye at the end, and then incorporating both the horns as well as the blades that the key already had...adding a 3rd for good measure.

I still wanted to incorporate Navi somehow, and I was thinking about how each keyblade has different things that appear when they hit something.  I thought this would be perfect, and then I decided to not only have Navi...but to also have Tatyl and Tael from Majora's mask appear every time something was hit.



After that, after already incorporating things from different LoZ games, I wanted to add more.  The crystal on the hilt is normally yellow, but I decided to change it to a lighter blue color ala Fi's crystal from Skyward Sword.



Next, I wanted to incorporate the sages somehow.  At first I was going to have each of the feathers be a color of a sage...but there's only 7 sages and 8 feathers.  So instead, I put the medallions in between each feather.  I decided the colors of the feathers would match those of the Rito, as another Windwaker tribute.



Finally, I ended up getting the idea to remove the Twilight Princess triforce on the blade, and ended up replacing it with a normal triforce which would be the golden yellow in color.  But then I also had the idea to add Lorule's triforce to incorporate Link Between Worlds in it (but reversing its normal position with the hyrule triforce)

.

Aaaand, this was the result:



As of now, it has no color since this is a rough draft (and I have no coloring utensils).  Once I get a drawing tablet and get it more refined, I'll obviously be adding color to it and making it pop out more...which I promise it will look pretty awesome in its complete form.

Fun, but utterly useless as a weapon.

Keyblades in general make zero sense as a weapon.  But they're the main type of weapon in one of my favorite game series, Kingdom Hearts.

Very creative. You're off to a good start with your project.

Thanks! The hat is probably the easiest part, the hardest will most likely be the tunic-jacket and different expressions/poses with it.

But my artist friend Amanda said she'd teach me some tips and tricks.

So I put together a temporary graphic until I can make something on my own a bit better.

The image I'd like to go for as my actual channel art would by my caricature person stirring a cup of coffee with a keyblade, and then for the big channel art be a sort of comic involving him.

Until then, this will have to do as a sort of channel icon. 



If you haven't guessed, the name of the channel is Keyblades and Coffee.

Keyblades, because again it goes  back to one of my absolute favorite series, Kingdom Hearts.

Coffee, no not because I actually like it.  If anything, I actually don't care too much for coffee.  It's actually a little sort of play on a nickname I was given by a friend of mine, which the nickname was...you guessed it, coffee.

Originally, the channel was going to be called Crayons and Coffee, a sort of double play on two of my nicknames I was given by various friends (don't ask why I got object nicknames! Another one called me Telephone.    ).

But I decided Keyblades and Coffee sounded a bit better, so I decided to go for that instead.  Plus it gives me an excuse to have an image of two keyblades in coffee, which makes me actually want little keyblade coffee spoons.

So I ended up buying a new sketchbook today, and I've been really utilizing it.

The first page, I started designing my title so I can eventually replace the temporary one.  It's not quite finished yet (I have to finish drawing the actual keyblade part), but here's it so far:



I also decided to draw another keyblade.  I decided that my character is actually going to dual-wield keyblades, both of them sheathed behind his back.  The first is the earlier posted one, Courageous Heart.  As I mentioned, that one represents one of my great gaming loves, Legend of Zelda.

This new keyblade represents another favorite of mine, Ni No Kuni.  Though this one is definitely using more elements to tie it to Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, there are still some elements in it that tie to Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.  While this wasn't completely intentional, it actually makes an interesting statement, since I actually greatly prefer the original Ni No Kuni as opposed to the second.

Another thing is that this Keyblade is definitely a bit more impractical looking, given where the handle is at and how large the base goes.

Again, this was actually unintentional at first, but at the same time I had an image in my mind when I made it, and the finished result still serves a reasoning.

this keyblade is based off of an item called Mornstar.  In Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, it was a staff that the main character obtained in the game that, by the end, was the most powerful staff that helped him defeat the main antagonist.  In Ni No Kuni: Revenant Kingdom, once again this was the heroic weapon that helped the main character take on the antagonist.  However, this time the weapon was a sword.

So since the weapon has had dual-types between the games, I wanted to go for a sort of dual-look as well.  In use, the keyblade would serve two purposes: the obvious blade side for hitting enemies, and the staff side which the user could channel strong magic.

Anyways, I've talked about it enough, here's the rough sketch:



The keychain in this one is the locket that Oliver from Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch uses to collect pieces of heart so he can restore people who had a piece of their own taken by the Dark Djinn.  For the keyblade, I thought it was fitting and actually helped with the name.

Likewise, the heart at the end with the line across it is actually the way to cast a spell known as "Take Heart" in that game.  Given the purpose of a keyblade is to basically take hearts, again I thought it was fitting.

So I made some exceptional progress today with my drawing that I've been working on for a few days, and I finally finished it today.  While there is definitely better out there, this is by far the best I've ever done with a drawing, so I'm actually really proud of myself.



It's basically an animal-esqu caricature of myself with representations of my favorite things:

*A golden rupee and Link's hat to represent my love of Legend of Zelda
*A keyblade inspired by the Mornstar Wand and Sword from the Ni No Kuni series to represent my love of Kingdom Hearts and Ni No Kuni (the colored in version of the previously posted keyblade)
*A T-shirt with the Blue Lantern Corps. symbol, because Green Lantern is my favorite superhero, and the Blue Lantern Corp. is the one that I'd best identify with.
*Naturally, penguins are one of my favorite animals (tigers are my absolute favorite), and my name on here is Pengu.

Congrats on finishing it! I think you did a good job.