#adelbert steiner

Excalibur II

Russell Dongjun Lu: Instagram / ArtStation / Website

Adelbert Steiner from Final Fantasy IX

"Steiner is both meant to be a comedic character while also having a really compelling character arc. It's not the direction I expect for a paladin sort of guy, and it works so effectively."

Oh I understand completely, his stupid hat is annoying to pin down so I'll happily provide what tips I can offer. (I don't usually write about step-by-step art progress so I hope this is comprehensible lolll)

For starters; I do a bit of cheating since I own his bring arts figure. But it genuinely makes understanding his hat at different angles so much less of a headache. Here are some refs I compiled to help give a more detailed look at how it works!

Also after poking around a bit, I think his hat is based on a Morion? It's also worth having a look at those for visual references.

I had a lot of trouble figuring out the exact shape at first, but he essentially has three 'segments' of the hat with two stripes of ribbing before coming up to this awkward tip.

(Though the tip of the hat doesn't really have that point like in my sketch, I tend to include it because I personally like the sillhouette it gives him. Also sort of maintains that weird dent it has.)

Jumping to the brim, it is usually the first part of the hat I start drawing, it helps out the direction and angle of the rest of the structure. I do a curved stroke just above his eyes and figure out a crease around the front of his helm.

I always make sure to keep an eye's length of open space from his head. (I don't quite known how to phrase that properly? I'm still talking about the shape of the brim.) It slops down quite far around his head shape, so I always try to make sure that it feels less like an awkward hat sitting atop of his head and moreso covering around his head.

I think the next best thing I can suggest is just to try doing studies of his hat at different angles. Use these photos as a reference if you want to practice!

There are definitely ways I can also improve on drawing his stupid hat myself as well, and building up that structure freehand is a good step towards understanding it. If anyone has anything they'd like to add, I'd be interested to hear.

(edit: i didn't talk about the feather- do whatever you want with that thing?? i like to give it more volume than it should probably have)