Customer Reviews

Draw Fight Scenes Like a Pro

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There are a lot of "How To" books in the comic world. There are guides on everything from Super Heroes to Monsters. From Splash Pages to Alien Worlds. On the surface Mr. Johnson's book seems to follow the standard formula, with plenty of exercises to challenge even the most experienced artist. However, this book goes much deeper than simple lesson plans with careful illustrations. Behind the exercises Mr. Johnson has created a new way for fans and artists to break down comic book's most eduring cliche, the fight scene. He sees it not as an excuse for violence but as the most revealing examination of character and relationship. Fight Scenes, according to him, are the essential conflicts of the story made physical.
This is not to say that "Draw Fight Scenes Like a Pro" isn't a practical guide to improving your work. It is. There are dozens of exercises which any aspiring artist or even seasoned pro would benefit from, but there are deeper lessons here. It is well worth the time for every Comic Book creator and fan.

Draw Fight Scenes Like a Pro is more than a book on fight scenes. It gives you basics on figure drawing, like sweep and action line, basic perspective and storytelling and a way of thinking.

His introduction spells out his ideas on what the fight is all about - the actual conflict and resolution between the characters encapsulated in the fight.

Chapters break down like this:
1) Basics - covering figure drawing.
2) Comparative Martial Arts - how characters are defined by their art.
3) Drawing figures in combat - Movement, action lines and secrets of basic figure drawing, including drapery!
4) Drawing Super Powers - how line work can define powers, energy, the iconic depiction of the powers, and how a figure's stance is a part of their depiction.
5) Creating Environments - the essential importance of backgrounds, including basic perspective.
6) Defining your Characters - physical lexicon of movements, arts, morals (or lack thereof). How and why they fight and what they fight with - defining the characters.
7) Stages of a Fight scene - the basics of camera and storytelling - the establishing shot, long, medium and close up shot and the all important reestablishing shot.
8) Putting it all togther.
9) Other Porfessionals - friends like Avengers, Thor and Flash artist Scott Kolins. Andy Smith, student of Bart Sears. Dan Panosian. Storyboard artist and animator Joaquim Dos Santos and more!
A handy Index too.

This is a book by a comics professional who has worked for Marvel and in comics for over a decade. A master.

KA POW! Go and get this informative book!

I just finished reading this book and I still need to read it again to really grasp the many different things being taught. This book touches on a lot of different subjects from drawing anatomy to how other professional artist approach the fight scene. It is obvious that Johnson(no immediate relation) clearly knows about the fight scene since he is trained in martial arts, it shows in his in depth analysis of this essential element in comic book illustration. Each chapter has some sort of exercise that tests you over the material covered in that chapter. Some of the other topics covered are: different fighting techniques, character development, super powers, environments. In my opinion his use of arrows to show different action elements of a scene is very valuable to understand. This use of arrows trains you to think a certain way when you are laying out your scene. The only drawbacks I think were their is no answer key for the exercises! And it would have been nice to have some sort of further suggested reading list. It is still a valuable book to have both as a learning tool and a reference for future use.

I was pretty excited to get this book, since it's one of the only books on this subject out there. I will mention that I'm rating this based on being a 39 year old (amateur) artist who has read comics his whole life. I love a good slug-fest in a comic fight scene, but let's face it, sometimes things can get pretty stale and repetitive. It usually comes down to just punching and kicking. One of the reasons I picked this book up is because of the author's experience in Aikido. I was hoping for some good "how to's" on things which usually get very little attention in comic fights: locks, throws, and grapples.

Now, I will say that I know drawing any kind of comic book scene is time consuming and difficult. Simple fight scenes wouldn't be too much harder, but when you start adding in complex moves, understandably it could take a lot more time, and I'm sure many artists just don't want to mess with it.

There are various things I liked about the book: he shows a number of angles of faces being punched, and what that would look like. He shows some pretty useful stuff on drawing clothing, and some good stuff on how to draw a few different kicks. I also liked the fact that he mentioned using photos as references, since there will be many things you won't know how to draw off the top of your head. He even shows some examples of his own.

Now, for what I felt made the book fall short. He gives a brief intro to various martial arts and fighting styles, such as karate, boxing, Aikido, etc. But beyond giving us some basic info on that style, he doesn't really give us anything with can use visually, such as example moves from that style. Boxing, for instance, wouldn't require any examples, but Aikido or Jujitsu, on the other hand, are styles that most people won't be familiar with, at least enough to draw. I would love to have seen a few pages of various arm/wrist locks or breaks, grapples, etc. related to those styles. Kung Fu is another style that has many stances and moves that most people don't know about or can't draw.

Most of the info in the book you could probably get just by reading some comics and studying the fight scenes, but as I said there is some good info in this, so if you are new to drawing fight/action scenes you may want to pick it up.

love this book. i used it to reference fighting styles and moves and foreshortening and perspectives alot. great buy!

this is really one of the best books on the market. i really dont want to make this a long review, so ill go straigh to the gut on this one.
the art is great, its really easy for you to understand, and its very helpful for any kind of drawing style you are into.
im very happy to have ought this book.

It's ok, but why can't they show you how to draw women that aren't trashy?
I would like to see a "how to" book that shows how to draw real fighting woman and what they would look like not an over-inflated,weak, want to be Barbie. That couldn't get out of her own way.