Does anyone have any good tips for choreographing fight scenes?

[Mocha]

I'm having trouble with getting fight scenes drawn on paper. I can easily visualize them in my head, but getting them to make sense in panels is a bit difficult. I've tried looking at other scenes in comics and movies to get a better idea of how to do it but I'm still having some trouble.
So does anyone have any tips that help with doing action scenes? Simple or complicated is fine.

[LordZevon]

I have the same problem it's just difficult to transition them from thoughts to paper. I have an action comic calledThe Last Ranger that can show you examples of how I do it. I think the best option is to just draw and if you don't like it try it again at a different angle or closer or even farther away. It's hard to explain but trying things will always be better then nothing

[TrustyShamrock]

i done lots of action scenes and did some good stuff and some bad stuff. but heres tricks i try! lots of it tho hasta do with panels.
big panels are best for big dramatic actions and smaller ones for little things like head turns/grabbing things/gettin into the right pose. also big panels or zooming in could slow down whats happenin and small panels or zooming out could make it seem faster. another thing for speed is things moving from left to right will be faster and right to left will make it seem slower (for english readers at least).
its also fun messin around with panel shapes and stuff durin fight scenes
and movin the camera angle around a whole bunch keeps it pretty exciting
i dunno any other cheats i can give without knowin what kinda stuff ya have planned. so i hope this helps!

[AffectedMind]

I just draw them to look legit shhhh

Close-ups 4 life

And I just draw a lot of stream lines to hide anatomy

But I didn't say that

[Wumbl]

I have a few tips I guess...
Change the angle frequently. The "camera" should be closer if your two fighters are closer. Pull it out further if there is more distance.
The character making a move at any moment should be the focus. If person A is throwing a punch give that one frame, and another frame for person B to block or dodge it.
Also, make sure to use lines and blurring to make movements seem quicker.
My last tip would be to capture every single moment. Don't have one panel where your person is floored and the next shows them standing. Make sure to either explicitly show that they have lifted themself of the ground, or hint at it at least. Every single movement counts or the pacing gets shaken up.

[Shanny8]

Pose out your action scenes- then gesture scribble them. That way you get a general gist of what a particular pose should look like in the scene.

Remember- action should follow through. You cant punch someone while in a standing pose with your arm & fist out. Physics- the body should contort and follow through; the person getting punched- their face(and body) should be rolling with the momentum/force of the punch(unless they're being punched straight on- their body then would be rearing back from the impact of the blow). Even on a minor "schoolyard scrap" level- those physics still apply.

Same rules apply with kicks; if the person his being kicked in the head, rules follow the same as punching. If they're being kicked in the stomach, chances are their body would "fold in"- away from the impact of the kick.

[UzukiCheverie]

Fight scenes are my jam. Here are some personal tips that I've learned from other artists + studies + experience:

1. Action + Reaction. If your character punches the bad guy, how do they react? How do they counterattack? This is the most basic rule of choreography for anything, from simple dialogue interactions to dance to combat.

2. Use your environment. If you're fighting in a forest, then have the characters get their swords stuck in trees, caught up in vines. Have them trip over logs. Jump through the trees. Show the wildlife reacting to this fight by running away or hiding.

3. Show, don't tell. I can't tell you how much I hate how in anime, when they've done something cool, they then spend the next 10 minutes explaining it. Show this development through some dialogue, but don't make us feel like we're in some kind of physics class lecture.

4. Research. There are tons of TV shows and Youtube channels that cover all the different methods of fighting, from karate to jujitsu, with and without weapons. Watch how they fight, learn from them. It's a lot easier to come up with and draw fight scenes if you know how the fighting actually works.

5. Keep your lines moving. When it comes to action scenes, you really don't want to get caught up in the details, otherwise you'll miss the action that's actually happening. Unless your backgrounds are essential to the fight (see above point), keep the linework on them light - insinuate that the background is there but don't let it compete with the combat that's happening. Same goes for your characters - if you make every single line visible and perfect, it'll just constrict the illustration and cause a loss of flow. Like the fighting itself, keep the lines quick, fluid, and in motion. Gesture drawing from life can help a lot with this.

6. Let your characters get hurt. The only thing I hate more than monologues during fights is characters always stepping out of a fight scratch free. Let them get roughed up! Let them get punched, kicked, cut, stabbed, whatever! Let those wounds affect how they fight from then on! Give them scars! Give them stories to tell! Fight scenes are a lot more fun to do when you let your characters just be human like the rest of us and make mistakes and get hurt.

Hope that helps!

[Zetsubonii]

I have a few action scenes in Jim's Days however, the thing about it is that, you gotta find a good balance of time and story for it :U It's not a mindless start fight>Fight>end fight, it has to go from a to b. Why are they fighting? What will they gain? How will they get out? Who's stronger?

After determining the story aspect, let's talk movement and paneling. Lines, lines everywhere. Indicate action lines to speed movements up to get a better sense of how fast and strong they are. Adding dynamic to the static perse. Speaking of, study dynamic poses and how exaggerated they are in a fight scene, things might look better a bit bigger or a bit smaller, just see what works. Watch fighting scenes in movies, especially martial arts based ones if it's hand to hand and pause at opportune times where the action is clear and powerful. Draw that. As For paneling, regular boxes are boring? try to experiment with the shapes, making it more angular, short but long.

Lastly, timing. To transition into this, keep note that the smaller the panel, the quicker the time frame within it. If you want a fast paced comic, make sure that there are more smaller panels than big ones with the latter being used for the really dramatized action like a colliding punch or the epic finish. However, don't pull a Dragon Ball where a fight lasts 40 episodes. Make it short an sweet, enough to entice the reader without boring them. A couple of pages should do, but always remember the reader getting bored :U

[phen]

@Zetsubonii makes some excellent points about careful ways to approach fight sequences, yes! I definitely second watching movies that play a heavy emphasis on fight scenes.

Also, youtube has TONS of interviews with fight/stunt choreographers that I highly recommend giving a view. If there's a specific fighting style you intend to portray, try googling for interviews with the individual who's credited as fight/stunt choreographer. Hearing them talk about how they plan and sequence fight scenes can be an eye-opener for organising your own action sequences. I'm a humongous fan of Chinese and HK kung fu and swordplay films and the action directors for these movies are truly artists when it comes to giving a fight scene life.

[Zetsubonii]

That's true, but keep in mind that, with movies, they tend to be framed better for the action than a demonstration of technique The angle and positioning is right, but do make use of the youtube videos for a better understanding of the movement ^^

[rmdooley]

This might sound like it is coming out of left field, but taking some martial arts of self-defense classes can help with planning out the logistics and executing a fight scene. Understanding and going through the actual physical motions can help with figuring out how the body moves, points of focus, and flow

[ryoko]

For a visual example, Elgenar has a couple of different series on Tapasitc that have fights scenes in them that are well thought out.

There are also some tutorials on Clip studio paint website. It's more the 'how to' for adding special effects rather than how to choreograph, though.

[Vanesalisa]

watch assassins creed

[WakaXO]

I find what helps me write action scenes is writing all major actions/events within the scene in bullet points first, every bullet point gets an action, which transfers well to a comic where every panel gets an action.
Then I go back and flesh out the scene with dialogue/descriptions/etc. I also make special notes of the environment/setting of the fight and try to work in character interactions with elements therein. If you really plan out the fight before it hits the drawing board I find it helps make the transfer from your head to paper smoother, or at least that's how it works out for me.

Other tips

-Establish setting at the start of a scene/fight or before any important elements are used.
Show how characters react to their surroundings. Also make sure the characters positions are firmly established before the fight. Don't make people guess where the characters are in relation to each other or their surroundings.
-Think about the camera angles in 360 degrees, not all shots need to be at eye level.
-Don't drag out the fight longer than it has to be, if the fights too long people can loss interest.
-It helps to give your characters unique fighting styles, it gives you a better idea of what your character would do in a fight, a kickboxer wouldn't attack the same as a fencer.

[Djmuse1231]

I had a similar issue in blocking and choreographing a gunfight in my comic. One tip I can definitely give you that will save you a bit of headaches in the future is this: Draw some kind of sketched outline of the stage/setting this fight scene takes place in. While this may not help you draw out the poses wherein they're actually hitting each other (my recommendation is to look up reference photos from martial arts books or the like) but when you're drawing the panels in full, having that map of the scene will help you keep things visually consistent. Helps you avoid errors like drawing a table behind one character in one panel, and then showing the table at the far end of the room in the very next panel.

[kyupol]

action figures are your best bet. use em as guide for construction lines

Also other things to consider:
- duplicating layers
- blur effects
- speed lines

[hushicho]

One of my very favorite art-related books, and one of the best books I've ever seen to teach about a variety of elements of sequential art storytelling, is How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. Make sure you get the original one though; the newer title by a similar name is not quite as good. The original is by Stan Lee and John Buscema and was first published in 1978, with ISBN 978-0671530778.

Naturally, since this book comes from the superhero genre, there's quite a lot of attention given to dynamic fight choreography and instilling action and energy in your poses. I really can't say it better than the authors of the book said it, plus the book features legitimately fantastic tips and lessons on perspective, anatomy, making stylistic choices work for you...it's a real winner!

[shiftingverses]

Less is more. I don't often draw them myself (as my comic is more drama focused). But think about the beats and how they escalate. Save your big panels for big moments and use snap second glimpses of action to keep it moving. The more restraint you show with big action splashes the more impact they'll have.

[Shanny8]

@hushicho that book was a major foundation in my learning of drawing/understanding action scenes.

[Mocha]

Ahhhh thank you so much everyone! Hearing your different points of view and tips actually helped me understand it better quite a bit.
I'd answer each person individually but that would take a long time, so I'm just gonna say it here.

THANK YOU~ (ˊૢᵕˋૢ)