防
Symbols Protection
defense
ㄈㄤˊ fáng
Two versions of the same picture, and both are free with no account and no watermark. The first has no background at all, which is the one to send your artist — but a phone or computer photo viewer set to dark will show black strokes on dark grey and it can look like nothing downloaded. If that happens, use the second one: identical characters on a plain white background. Either way you get the characters on their own — the square and the faint guide lines you see above are not in the file. Each character is 1000px, so a two-character download is 2000×1000, and the script and layout are the ones you picked.
Script
Characters
Same in both
Layout
Rubbing mode: white on black, as a stone rubbing. The download is unaffected.
Holding off what is coming at you. The main Chinese character is about precaution and guarding against, not about a heroic stand.
Before you commit
Choose with care防 is precautionary. It means guard against, and it appears in fire safety, disease control and flood management far more often than in anything martial.
Pairs well with防衛 for defence proper, 守 for holding a line. 防 alone leaves a reader waiting to hear what you are guarding against.
At small sizesSeven strokes, mound radical left and a light right half. Very safe small, though it can look sparse standing alone at size.
Meaning
To guard against, to prevent, to defend.
Defence as forethought - 預防 prevent, 防火 fireproof, 國防 national defence.
Other characters for “defense”
What to do next
Pick the script and layout you want above, download the PNG, and send that file to your artist. Ask them to work from the file rather than redrawing the character freehand — that is where strokes go missing.
Related concepts