I was drawing a character holding a wooden blade, while using the one I have as reference. And then I tried to balance the blade on my shoulder, and got the idea of a new sword pose: you balance the blade on your right side, with the hilt sticking out in front of you. When it's time to engage in battle, you simply grab the blade off your shoulder, and you're set to fight. You can maintain the blade's balance in various ways: cross-armed, squatting down. I think this way of holding a blade is a mean to show-off, and make the opponent upset.

I only used a wooden blade to test this, so using an actual or replica of blades is a no go.

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Lol, its cool, I think...
You're cool, I guess..

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Tournament Round 1
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I don't see it so I can't judge.....but whatever you are comfortable with....try doing it practically with a wooden stick....if you are planning to draw a real sword....it should be easy to unsheathe from that particular angle.....the rest depends on the viewers imagination .....have fun drawing

I can'y really imagine it either. Won't the blade be sticking out from the back? It seems it would restrict your movement, especially when moving through narrow places. It might work if it's a dagger or something.

I can't picture it working either. Even with the best balance in the world, your movements would be highly restricted and you'd end up knocking into everything. I would really be intimidated by an opponent balancing a sword on their shoulder, just confused.

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The pen is mightier than the sword...and considerably easier to write with.

Ahh, yeah, and when your opponent gets to you before you can even hold your blade,
Insta Kill, a head will fly ^^

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Tournament Round 1
Round 2

From what I gathered, this may sound like a bad idea. But this pose is meant for taunting an opponent, and shouldn't be used seriously in an actual battle. but for those who couldn't picture it, I drew a pic describing the pose:
http://jasonpark1987.deviantart.com/art/Arika-Sword-Balance-A ct-copy-456778610

I'm gonna keep practicing for a bit, so I know whether its useless or not in my story.



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as long as the "blade" isn't a cylinder that would be pretty stupid though because "unsheathing" it would require extremely long arms (unless it is a dagger) or cutting yourself or tilting the hilt downwards, thus going against the maximum amount or air resistance and adding a dumb momentum.

the only practical use would be using a side-swing by placing it on the reversed shoulder, provided you have to the sides slightly decreasing shoulders so that you don't cut yourself.

I agree that it really is a bad idea...

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You would have to keep your shoulders in a weird position to keep the sword up, and you might get a cramp if you do so for extend periods of time >.>

Other than that, the sword would fall off very easily. Keeping the sword strapped to the back would be really traditional, but a way better idea ^^"

I really didn't get any grip on the case by the text description alone.

Based on the picture... that seems both horribly impractical and very limiting, as stated above my post a few times. Plus there are better ways of taunting your opponent when it comes to holding or handling a sword.

If you feel like creating a character who does this, go ahead, but it will not be cool via this feature.

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The whole picture of a person holding a blade on his shoulder shows a certain degree of over confidence, ready to fight and some what provoking. The person is giving off a message that he's confident in using the sword with an unorthodox battle pose and he's relaxed enough in front of his adversaries. The naked sword (if metal) will also show a certain degree of readiness and provoking.

This is not a poise that is truly relaxing as you can not keep this up for a long time. This is more or less a type of battle pose with a certain degree of deception rather than a 'ready' battle pose.

Personally, I think using a spear, staff or polearm in this pose is a much better battle pose. Sword blades are generally not something you want to keep in contact with your body too much unless you are armored. On the other hand, a spear will gain a large amount of power, reach, swing, percision and speed when you warp it around your body.

make it a gigant hilt and u will have some guy from horizon in the nowhere.

Only works with daggers, as said before, you can't take the sword out of the scabbard fast enough in combat. Highly impractical.