Friday Creative - Let's Pixel Art Another Sword

I decided to pixel art up another sword today. I got a little inspiration from Cloud's sword from Final Fantasy 7. Sort of a square, chunky looking sword. Anyway, it was fun. Check out the progression below!

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Step 1

With a blank canvas you just have to get started. I decided to start with a very square looking hilt (handle).

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Step 2

Next came the basic blade shape. I'm just doing outlines at this point and trying to get a general look that I like. As usual things change the farther along I get.

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Step 3

With the outlines pretty much done, I'm just doing a little work on the details of the blade.

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Step 4

I thought a diamond knotted look for the handle would be cool, like a katana. Apparently it's called Tsumami Maki, it's the traditional wrapping style of the tsuka or katana sword handle.

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Step 5

Next I did a bit of detail on the guard. The little symbol on there is called Uruz which is a Norse rune meaning Aurochs which was a giant bull. Basically, it translates as strength.

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Step 6

Time for color. I originally started coloring this sword with grays and then blues but I wasn't happy with it. I decided to do something a bit different and went with something more like copper or old brass.

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Step 7

Removing outlines and just a bit of cleanup here and there. I'm happy with how it's looking but it's just not unique enough. I'll fix that next.

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Step 8

I really could have split this last step into a few more. I just kept refining, trying to get a better look. I added lighting and highlights, a serrated edge to the back of the blade, as well as a bit of an overhaul of the hilt. All things considered, I'm happy with how it turned out.

Here's an animated gif of all the steps as well as a larger final version.

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