WEAPON COMMISIONS OPEN

WEAPON COMMISIONS OPEN

Weapon design commissions by a martial artist and engineer! I make blueprints and weapon designs to arm you and your OCs respectively. Ever wanted to hold a sword of your own? If you live in the Philippines, I can also help you connect with local blacksmiths who can help bring your ideas to life. If you live elsewhere, you can commision me for a blueprint that you can bring to a forge near you. From the deepest reaches of untouched seas,

To the searing light of burning skies,

To the muted glow of stars beyond,

And- perhaps-

To the palm of your hand?

Your next legendary weapon awaits.

Contact me for samples and terms of service at kathang.tawen@gmail.com

Peace of Mind

The Sorrow-Song Swordsman fought as he wept, wept as he sang, sang as he fought.

The tears would leak from sleepless eyes and fall into shadow and fire, dissolving in the chords of throats-cut-screaming by a blade that is a nail strumming strings.

Burning blood makes iron, and it takes more than iron to forge cutting-steel.

But a spoken word cuts deeper still.

When your words are blades, and your blade can sing, and your songs stain all your words with blood- can you find solace in your mind?

Where does a slayer find peace?

-- Slowly reposting art from my Twitter account and taking full advantage of the more relaxed text limits. This one was for a Kadungganan whose singing words could cut, from an old Gubat Banwa TTRPG campaign- esteemed warrior-braves battling across the isles inspired by classical/early colonial Southeast Asia, perpetuating a river of blood and violence, asking themselves why they fight.

-- Blade design is based on a particularly long Lumad kris, which I've been told are made from the deconstructed blades of their defeated enemies, repurposed for their own use.

I've been told it's aight to post GB stuff here so gonna warm it all up with some old campaign art :] there will be more bc i have like 2 year's worth,,,

Working on concept art for a very large weapon design project for monster hunter. I’ll be posting them semi-regularly. This first one is a pretty simple Jagras Greatsword, with a more elaborate alternative on the side meant to act like a pocket knife.

Tawen

The metal fell from the space between stars, cold as the peaks on which it landed, black as the night on which it arrived.

Our finest craftsmen accepted it the same night the skies gave it birth, and labored in their cold forges in the dark under the watch of a thousand blinking eyes.

And from it, they carved out a blade, one that would serve as well in hand as it would at the tip of a spear. That could hunt to feed, that could carve to shelter, that could hack to warm, that could bleed to protect. Black and cold and smooth and glassy as a shard of frozen night.

The strangeness began when it met the light of day.

At first it was reflection- a warrior's eyes in gleaming steel.

Then refraction- the sunlight playing a finger's depth beneath the surface of a lake.

Then a glow- lights devoid of fire who dance where other secrets dwell.

The sun was slow to rise in the mist between the pines, chill and friendly winds through the terraces, clouds exploding silently above where fading stars yet twinkled. And the new creation watched, and marveled.

And forevermore, that shard of night glowed the color of a morning sky.

okay here's how you design a fantasy weapon pls like and subscribe follow me for more tips-

Kidding- but this was sent to me by Dyl just a while ago and I just had to.

I do actually love seeing these wild designs, there's more imagination in them than you can beat out of a roomful of AI "artists".

Art by Peter Andrew Jones if I'm not mistaken.

I do wish there were more of them around, just over-the-top bullshit that doesn't take itself too seriously.

This one's from The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982). It's a sword with THREE blades. Two of them shoot out of the hilt as projectiles- I love it. I would never use it.

I set out posting my art online initially to design "practical fantasy weapons", and while I haven't abandoned the "practical" part myself, going nuts on weapon designs is still just really fun to do.

Saradomin Godsword from OldSchool Runescape and the newfangled RS3 version.

Doesn't have to be "practical". Depending on the context, the looks can be more important than the functionality.

Sanderson depicts shardblades in The Stormlight Archive as being ultralight to justify their size. Fun middleground, but not always necessary.

Art by Alex Allen.

There are weapons that will forever be iconic BECAUSE they went nuts with 'em.

Of course they also went nuts with the people using them, so there's internal consistency, but the point stands.

Guts' Dragonslayer, Berserk (1989-2021) by Kentaro Miura.

Cloud Strife's Buster Sword, Final Fantasy 7 (1997) by Square Enix, image from the 2020 Remake

Moonlight Greatsword, in one of its many iterations, this time as Ludwig's Holy Blade from Bloodborne (2015) in The Old Hunters DLC by From Software

Kratos' Blades of Chaos, God of War (2005), image from their iteration in God of War (2018) by Sony's Santa Monica Studio.

Just- don't pretend you could ever use them in the real world, yourself.

Actual martial artists can already hurt themselves using tried-and-tested weapons from history (i.e. there is someone to learn how they use them from), let alone the average untrained gamer with something out of fantasy.

Doesn't stop people from trying. Baltimore Knife and Sword are among the many blacksmiths who routinely produce real world versions of fictional weaponry (look up Man at Arms: Reforged on YouTube) and recently Digitally Twisted Outlaws (also on YouTube) started training with one such giant replica Dragonslayer, and dubbed their weapon-style the "Colossus Sword Form".

Bottom line, just have fun with it. Don't get too bogged down by what's consistent with real world usage, especially when the context is fictional.