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Ander's Thread of Sword Designs.

As some of you may know, I'm obsessed with swords. So, as a hobby, I sometimes design swords for fun. And having just noticed this forum exists, I thought I would share some of them.

I should mention that all of these swords were drawn by hand in 1:1 scale and then scanned, meaning that these are the exact proportions they are supposed to have - I approach these designs more like blueprints than concept drawing. (The pictures themselves are also rather large, hence the use of thumbnails as this forum doesn't seem to resized large pictures.)

Here is one I made for a sword design contest. It's probably my most popular design, though it didn't win the contest:



We call these two-handed sabers "warders" which, yes, is a Wheel of Time reference. Though a fantasy sword, I tried to incorporate some features from similar historical swords in order to gain a broad appeal.

Here is another warder-style sword, more pure fantasy:



The idea here is that while the Hawkwing is a dedicated war sword, this is more of a ceremonial model - though still a perfectly servicable weapon. It's somewhat shorter and lighter, and the hilt curves away from the arm to allow it to be comfortably wielded single-handed.

Next:





The Rebellion concept is basically a Japanese-style odachi with a westernized/fantasy hilt. Japanese swords are interesting in that the hilts can be easily removed and replaced, so this type of design can theoretically be done to any random katana or similar sword. Frankly, I've surprised it isn't done more often.

The first version is one of my earliest designs. I'm much more satisfied with the second one.
 
Finally for now, two nods to Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter books:





In anticipation for the John Carter movie, I decided to have a go at A Princess of Mars. In retrospect I probably should have seen the movie first, but that's a matter for a different thread. Basically, I decided to draw my version of the Martian Longsword.

Before I listened through A Princess of Mars on audiobook, I had planned to give it a curved saber-like blade. However, while Burroughs didn't go into much detail about the swords at all, he did at one point describe the longswords as "needle-like." After that I kept imagining them as more akin to rapiers or Type XVs. Since there's a lot of riding going on I figured it might have started out as a cavalry sword, so the blade ended up like kind of an overgrown mutant version of a late cavalry saber, with a considerable back for added cutting power. Tars Tarkas uses his longsword in a cut-and-thrust manner at one point, and even though I'm willing to give Burroughs some artistic license on that, I wanted it to be something that could deliver a good blow when needed.

I made the hilt two-handed reasoning that it made sense given that the green martians have four arms and thus may have rather advanced ways of manipulating their weapons. Like the Royal Guard above, however, it can still have used comfortably with just one hand.

The shortsword wasn't actually planned; I was just having good flow at the time and basically drew it on a sudden whim.

A Princess of Mars offers no description of the shortsword, so I pretty much made this up by my own judgement. Going by the swashbuckler style of the book, I figured that if the longsword was the rapier of Barsoom, the shortsword would be the cutlass. I made them rather different on purpose because reasoned that if you would carry two swords at the same time (plus a knife) you would want either swords to excell at different things. The shortsword would hence be a back-up blade used in close quarters, while boarding ships, or for stuff like cutting ropes, etc.
 

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
Anders, I love your knowledge and passion for swords. When you create these concepts, are you going for real world application? Meaning, would these swords be used in the real world in the proper setting? Or are they purely for design and not practicality?

I've seen the hilt of the Royal Guard on Arabic swords. I even want to say I've the entire sword derives from Arabic swords except the hilt. Is that your inspiration?

Japanese swords are interesting in that the hilts can be easily removed and replaced

Why were they designed that way?

Also, you tend to favor a curved hilt instead of a straight hilt. Is there a reason?

And finally, I'm designed hand axes for my universe with the concept you employed in making the Martian Longsword hand guard.

I love your artwork! Thanks for sharing.
 
Anders, I love your knowledge and passion for swords. When you create these concepts, are you going for real world application? Meaning, would these swords be used in the real world in the proper setting? Or are they purely for design and not practicality?

They are more or less designed for real world application. I generally go for aesthetic appeal first and practicality seconds, but the idea is always that they should function as weapons in reality.

I've seen the hilt of the Royal Guard on Arabic swords. I even want to say I've the entire sword derives from Arabic swords except the hilt. Is that your inspiration?

Not at all, actually. I can kinda see why you would think so, but most of it came from playing around with an antique infantry saber I happen to own.

Why were they designed that way?

I'm assuming they need to disassemble easily due to the way Japanese swords are maintained and stored - they actually have one set of "fancy" fittings for when the sword is worn and one set of plain wood fittings for storage. Sometimes the fancy fittings would be put on display mounted on a wooden blade while the actual blade was stored, then if the samurai needed his sword he could just put it together again. So there are some advantages.

Personally speaking, though, I think the Japanese assembly method is a something of a design flaw, kept alive mostly by tradition. It's a very complex method compared to how other swords are made, but a lot if that complexity exists only to prevent the blade from becoming a lever and breaking the hilt, due to the tang not running all the way through the hilt. I think that with a more western style design, or possibly a hybrid of the two, they could be made more reliable and with more room for variety. But I digress.

Also, you tend to favor a curved hilt instead of a straight hilt. Is there a reason?

Hilt ergonomy is an important and often overlooked part of sword design. How the hilt is designed depends on how the sword is meant to be handled. As you may notice I have a certain preference for saber-type swords, in which case a recurved grip will help align the sword with the arm and bring the point down for more comfortable thrusts, whereas a grip that follows the curve of the blade enhances the slashing motion.

I love your artwork! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. Since it's a bit time consuming I don't do this very often, but I hope I'll get more designs up here in the future.
 
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Been obsessed with Harry Potter for a while now, so I designed my own version of the Sword of Gryffindor:



(I recommend full size for all details.)

Also, a very bare-bones infantry saber:



(The name is kind of an inside joke.)
 
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Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
That's a nice concept of the Sword of Gryffindor, Anders, a great-looking drawing even if the sword was never fully described in the Harry Potter books.

I always imagined it to be more like a Longsword, but since it was made by Goblins (who are of short height) and a twelve-years old Harry could swing it easily then maybe it was smaller...

In my HP fanfictions I always call it the Gryffindor Sword instead of the sword of Gryffindor =)
 
I think it's properly refered to as "the sword of Godric Gryffindor" in the books, though that's a bit long. "Gryffindor's sword" is probably the most correct term. It seems mainly attributed Godric specifically rather than Gryffindor House in general.
 

Asterisk

Troubadour
Love it, love it, love it. I adore swords (and like to say that I'm obsessed. But I don't know one forth of what you know! :D) Great work!
 

shwabadi

Minstrel
These are all really great! :D
I love the latest two and the rebellion from the first post, you have some talent!
 
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