About sword fighting..

[Shindoutou]

Hi~

I want to make a manga, with some sword fighting in it. Problem is, I can't draw any good poses or movements or whatever related to sword fighting! I can draw swords, I can draw hands holding swords, but it's the poses that get me.

I haven't found any good tutorials on this, as most of them say something like: "Step 1: draw the pose. Step 2: the rest..", so those are not really helpful.

So: does anyone of you know some good tutorials about sword fighting (or fighting in general)?

Or, even better, does anyone know any good reference material? Since, imho, the best way to learn drawing is from real life, or from other great artists, but I can't find any good reference on teh interwebz..

Any help or pointers would be appreciated! :3

Good day~

[Sylux]

Use Samurai Champloo as a stylistic guide, and Shigurui as a realistic guide. Shigurui fortunately features Western swordplay so you can use that too. Idk about tutorials though

[ClockHand]

Well do you want to make it realistic or just flashy

If you want flashy any manga will work as a reference, but if you want it realistic you will have to read plenty of books about the mater, there are even physic books about sword fighting.

[apples13]

In terms of manga the absolute best source for samurai fighting is vagabond. hands down the very best.

[ClockHand]

I think its good, but mostly in the tactical thinking in sword fighting. But in poses, parry, and riposte... well I haven't seen any manga that handle those properly.

[Rio]

Your best reference would probably be this if you can get a hold of it: HTDM: Ninja & Samurai Portrayal. Otherwise, generally for poses during battle, these are not bad:
HTDA&G: Mastering Action and Battle Moves
HTDM: Illustrating Battles

[CypressDahlia]

How powerful are your characters? I know this seems irrelevant but just work with me. You could save yourself a lot of needless research.

[Shindoutou]

Wow, thanks for all the replies, I'll check them out!

@Clock: the story does not revolve around fighting, so I think the fights should rather be realistic than flashy.

@Cype: There are some different characters who use swords, one is fairly weak, another is quite strong, and some in between, but nobody is like super-humanly strong. All within the borders of some sort if realism :3

[CypressDahlia]

Ah, okay. I just had to ask cuz if they are like super human strong then I don't think their fighting would be confined to normal rules. It would be like Bleach where they'd just swing at each other once and the opponent goes flying off into some scenery piece.

[ClockHand]

I don't like to share these info because most people read them and then believe their are expert or stuffs like that, also because is about killing, but what ever.

Sword Stances
http://www.thehaca.com/essays/StancesIntro.htm

Some Physic
http://www.thearma.org/spotlight/GTA...nd_impacts.htm
http://www.thearma.org/spotlight/GTA...d_impacts2.htm
http://www.thearma.org/spotlight/GTA...d_impacts3.htm

German Techniques (Blocking).


German Technique (sparring).


Spanish Verdadera Destreza (a little explanation of the style - in Spanish)


There are more styles, from Italian, French, British, and so on; sword fighting in Europe have a long library from physic, philosophy and tactic. And not even mentioning China, Arabic, Mongol and Hindu sword fighting, you get crazy the amount of information is out there. You have The 5 Rings of Musashi which is one of the best tactic books ever made.

Also, to understand better the stances, try it yourself with a fake sword, you are going to notice that it doesn't feel or look nothing like in movies or comics.

Also, remember, weapons are not toys.




PD: for more information about all this. Ask.