hi this is my first sword i’ve made and i’m having trouble. it looked really easy but i can’t get it to not look like a playschool toy. what do i do? i’ve provied pics of both with subsurf on and off.
I know one thing that’s wrong with this sword… it’s image ishosted by imageshack… which has been very unreliable today… and I can’t see it! UGH! 
Sorry… I don’t know where I can help you since I can’t see the image…
Hmmm… you might want to try using ray-mirrors…
This might help a little bit…
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Get good reference images for starters:
http://www.casiberia.com/casiberia/cas/product_details.asp?id=SH2106. -
The hand guard doesn’t need to be THAT big. It can’t protect it’s owner if they can’t lift it (since the hilt is so heavy).
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You need better lighting (the details of the sword can’t be seen).
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“Set Smooth” and “Subsurf” the model (at least the hilt).
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If you decide to subsurf the actual blade, use the “Crease Subsurf Edges” (Shift+E with desired edges selected) to make it look right.
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In addition to lighting, you can have the model reflect an angular map to fill in some more detail (swords ARE shiny).
Hope that helps,
–lir
good start. this might help you later on down the road 
http://www.free-webspace.biz/sonix/images/3dtotal/swordsanddaggersoverview.html