Daggers are a popular design for tattoos. They can be challenging because they require perfect symmetry and lots of long, straight lines. If they are off even a little bit, it’ll be noticeable in the tattoo.
That’s why, in this article, we’ll be breaking down how to draw a perfect dagger, including how to:
Dagger Tattoo Design Tutorial
Layer 1: Draw Basic Shapes with Procreate’s Symmetry Tool
Like every tattoo design, you’ll want to build it up in layers. We recommend using a red sketching brush on Procreate. You can also use a red colored pencil if you’re working on paper.
Procreate’s Symmetry Tool
If you know you’re going to be drawing a symmetrical design - like a dagger - on Procreate, we recommend using your canvas’ drawing guide to select the “symmetry” option.
This will add a middle line right down the middle of your canvas so that whatever you draw on one side will appear on the other. Being able to “mirror” your work like this will make sure your design is perfectly balanced.
Mapping Out the Basic Design
In this first layer, you’ll want to start drawing the general shapes that will later form your dagger. We recommend lightly sketching out circles and ovals to get the placement of everything. Then, you can go through with darker sketch lines as you have a more clear idea of what the design will look like.
This layer is not very detailed, and it’s the best time to erase and try different ideas before you spend a lot of time perfecting the design.
Layer 2: Edit Your Design and Decide on Final Placements
In your second layer (we recommend using blue), you can go through and make any changes to the design that you like. In the video, for example, Brandon made the blade of the dagger thicker.
Additionally, you can use Procreate to make sure the long lines in the blade are perfectly straight.
During this time, you’ll want to make final design choices so that in your third layer you just need to create a cleaner image.
Add Unique Design Elements to Your Dagger
In the video, Brandon shows a basic dagger design. If you are following along, you can add extra details and design elements to make your own unique design. For example, changing the pommel can give you a more decorative and intricate design.
Breaking Up Long Line Work
While Procreate will make it easy to make perfect long lines, it will be difficult to tattoo them. If you’re not confident in tattooing super long lines, you can break up the line work of the dagger by using something like a skin break. This adds more visual interest and makes the design easier to tattoo.
In other dagger designs, you might see artists use roses, snakes, etc.
Layer 3: Final Line Work
In this layer, you’ll go through with a black brush to make your stencil. Make sure you keep the symmetry tool on until you get to areas that you will need to turn it off (like erasing the area inside the skin break).
Layer 4: Shading and Color
If you’re working in Procreate, you can erase your sketching layers and merge down your final line work to make it all one solid piece. This will be your stencil.
Create a new layer in Procreate and use a black shader brush to go through and pick what you want to shade.
Color
You can now go through the whole design and add color to your design. You’ll use this as a reference when you’re tattooing to know where your shading goes, as well as which colors you want to use in each part of the design.
In Procreate, highlight the area of the design you want to add color to before coloring it in to keep everything as neat as possible.Become a Tattoo Artist With the Artist Accelerator Program
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