Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Inktober Day #25 - John Styers' Targets

10/25/2017 11:00:00 AM  , , ,  No comments



Day 25 of Inktober... day 25 of drawing a picture a day in the month of October. Staying with John Styers from the past 2 days, today's focus is on his targeting.

In case you missed my previous pictures on Targeting as well as my previous Styers' and related posts:


Below are my notes and comments. HTH!


From John Styers' "Cold Steel" (1952)
Page 67


TARGETS

After the fight you'll probably want to wipe off your blade. But if you don't hit anything you won't have to clean it; as a matter of fact, if you don't hit anything, your opponent probably will and what he hits will be PART OF YOU.

LOOK for targets on HIM, and let them feel your steel. IN A KNIFE DUEL, ANY TARGET IS A GOOD ONE TO BEGIN. THE KILL, HOWEVER, IS THE ULTIMATE.

Here are your targets:

  1. The hand that holds his blade.
  2. The heart which pumps his blood.
  3. The throat which contains his windpipe and blood supply to and from his head.
  4. His chest area which contains his lungs, heart, diaphragm and various other things he'd rather not have punctured.
  5. His back, below the shoulder blades. Thrust the knife INBOARD, toward the center of his body. Work your knife handle back and forth; this will do far more damage than a single thrust. In any portion of the back, chest, stomach or throat area PUMP THE HANDLE OF YOUR KNIFE.

Comments

Sometimes in Life one has a specific goal in mind, a target if you will. And if the target is obstructed, and won't be easy to achieve/access, then what does one do? Keep going for for the target? If you have your mind set on putting the square peg in the square hole, but you keep finding a circular hole, do you keep trying to force the square peg in?

Do not fixate on a target. Learn to flow. Look for the opening to your target but if obstructed, flow, take the target given to you! As Styers says above, "In a knife duel, any target is a good one..." Earlier this month, I attended a Terry Trahan knifefighting seminar. On targeting, he taught something to the effect of  go for the large targets.

Recall the Kelly McCann quote (writing as Jim Glover, in Guns & Ammo, May 1995):

"Any time sharpened steel meets flesh, flesh loses. Once the fury of flashing steel begins, it is almost impossible to stop without sustaining injury. That is the reality of a knife attack. That is what makes a knife so dangerous to fight against."


My drawings for Inktober 2017 - drawing at least 1 pic each day in October:


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