Resized to 50% of original (view original)
Artist's commentary
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL sketch, circa 2001
Today's blast from the past: An old (2001) sketch of Manji and Rin from Hiroaki Samura's fantastic manga Blade of the Immortal. Manji's face is plagued by fairly severe symmetry issues (plus, one of his hands looks okay, while the other doesn't), but regardless, I like the overall composition of the piece.
Alas, the photocopy I scanned this from nipped the edges off the sketch, hence the disappearing blade at left. (Speaking of blades, my shading choices on Rin's "Golden Wasp" knives makes it seem as if she's holding a whole bunch of open lipstick tubes, but maybe that's just me.)