"Lenia and Kinroll" by Marlène Blanc

According to my Museum Replicas Limited catalog (where I get my swords and stuff), medieval swords typically weighed between 2.5 and 4 pounds (1 to 2 kg). A big two-hander from c. 1500 might be close to 3 kg. They say they strive for historical accuracy and base their swords on actual historical models, so I would guess they are pretty accurate in the sizes and weights they claim. (They have a website: www.museumreplicas.com). That being said, I have had a couple of young women who modeled for some of my pictures pose with some real medieval-type swords, and they had quite a bit of trouble handling them because of size and weight -- so your picture is not far off from showing how hard it would be for kids to handle such weapons.

By the way, I like the pic, especially the way you took the time to make a little shadow under each of them.

Marlène Blanc replies: "Thank you!!I'd read when I was a child that medieval knight couldn't ride a horse without anyone's help!Knight's armour is really heavy too and most of the time(often we could say) He couldn't really see his opponent because of his helmet.It was a strange period neverthless! I've just visited your web site and it is really great!!I used to visit this one before: www.medieval-store.com/index.htmI don't know if you know it? It is great too but in my opinion it is less detailled than yours! I'm really passionate with all medieval stuff so I thank you once again for giving me this web site adress!!"

I abslutely *LOVE* it when somebody does a *believable* drawing of a war-maid! Is the gentleman her armsmaster?

Marlène Blanc replies: "Thank you!!! Actually that's two teenagers who are in fight training ,and both characters are friends but it's a sword training here.In that scene,Lenia the girl is going to put Kinroll,too much self-confident,and this one is falling on his back because of his sword's weight.I hope you understand my complicate explanation lolThanks again for your comment!"

Your old knight could move quite easily in armour, not very fast though, but they were able to move and even roll about. Imagine not being able to move very much, not really good armour if it makes you immobile! And that nonsense about being winched onto horses is just... well nonsense! But yes a sword would be unmealdy to a child, and woden swords were used as practice
love the pose of the two protagonists here, almost as if they are very nearly tired out!

Marlène Blanc replies: "Oops...sorry if my comments irrated you about the knight's armour description. But I make a lot a searchings about the medieval time in a lot of countries as England,France,germany,Spain,Italia... (Not only on the web,I mean,In museums, in very serious books and encyclopaedias about this period : I want to be the nearest from this epoch's reality for my story!), and some books teach me some really ,I mean REALLY amazing stuff you know! There's one movie which is realist about the "armour's effect" on the knights : Excalibur! I'm not telling that all knights were unable to jump on their horse or that they were unable to fight with their armour,in this case the medieval period would be non-existent!!! .I'm just telling that SOME knights,during the tournaments for example,encountered some real difficulty to ride their horses or even move with it...Thank you very much for your nice comment about my drawing,that's really cool!! Thank you!!!"

actually, the medieval sword wasn't hard to lift because of the weight, if it was hard to lift, it was bwcause the balence is off. the balence point should be at the cross guard, or quillions. (I would know. I fight with metal swords on occasion.) but, you are right about the armor.
great pic! the shading is as always, extremely good. the sword designs are cool too. btw. I have updated my gallery, if you want to see it.

Marlène Blanc replies: "Yeah, I know what you mean about the balance.That's what I tried to explain to my mum recently about the cross gard! I learnt too that the sort of the "long crack" on the sword's blade plays an important role in this balance (Equilibrium). I really thank you for your compliment about my drawing!!!!"

the "long crack", about which you speak, is actually called a fuller, and in addition to helping to balance the blade, also helped a good swordsman line up his strike. if you swing a sharpened sword with a fuller, and hear 3 different tones of a whistle at once, your strike is lined up perfectly.