(I'll be using the DBZ manga as visual reference as it has some of the finest drawn fighting scenes ever)

The way I go about laying out my fight scenes is I think to myself "Okay we got a fight...based on personality, weapons, environment, etc. what would happen? who would make the first move?" then from there, an attack is made and the second character responds. Maybe a punch is thrown and it's blocked. Then how does that character respond? Another punch? Or maybe that character would kick? Maybe not a physical attack at all, maybe a spit in the face or even a taunt? Maybe they'd sweep the legs? Or reach behind for an object as an impromptu weapon? BUT is that in line with their personality? I don't want a fight that's just punches back and fourth (maybe if it's something like a boxing match I guess) so I picture every possible move before committing to drawing them, things need to be interesting. The worst thing is for a reader to get bored and skip past a fight especially in an action focused work.

So when you have your moves and stuff planned out, now you need to figure out how to make it readable. Readability is king in any action scene, be it games, movies, comics, etc. Be careful of violating the 180 rule when going from panel to panel. If you have character A on the left throwing a punch at character B on the right in panel 1, its generally a bad idea to flip them around 180 degrees in panel 2, that confuses people even if their designs are super unique. This is a rule I'm always trying to keep in mind and sometimes mess up myself. Second, to keep things interesting it's always good to vary up the camera angles and the panel layout in the scene depending on what's happening, BUT don't do it just to be fancy, make sure there's reason behind it, see below:



Here, Vegeta uses a ki attack to explode Cui, killing him. (One of my personal favorite moments.) The first panel showing Vegeta is totally vertical, because the ACTION he makes is UPWARD towards Cui, who is above Vegeta in the sky, his hand being the major focal point of the panel, because his hand is performing the major action in that panel. The shape of the panel emphasizes the ACTION Vegeta made and also guides the reader's eye to the next panel of Cui exploding. The third panel shows the moment after Cui's demise. The use of speed lines on Vegeta's arm and behind him and Cui also convey the power of the attack.



I've highlighted the path your eye takes through this page. Akira Toriyama exceled at guiding the reader through his fluid action scenes, from each major focal point of his character's poses and actions to the next all in chronological order, you can picture the sequence of events in your head:
1.Vegeta grunts and prepares his attack (Human eyes always naturally shoot to faces first)
2.Vegeta raises his hand and performs his attack
3.Cui screams and explodes
4.Cui's smoldering remains rain from the sky
5.Vegeta admires his work
I've re-read and studied DBZ endlessly as inspiration because of this.

This whole sequence right here is one of the best in the entire manga IMO:





Now that was crazy!!! Vegeta flew all around and beat the hell out of Reccoome, threw him over the horizon and then nuked him! But you never got lost, it was clear as day. Once again the shape of the panels, horizontal for horizontal actions, vertical for vertical ones, (the panel where Vegeta punches Reccoome is horizontal because that can just be shot from straight on, with them both side to side, but the panel where Vegeta flies in from above and DUNKS Reccoome into the ground is Vertical.) Another cool thing is the use of Vegeta's power aura being used to guide the reader's eye around the page.

ANOTHER thing you'll notice is these panels are BIG and BEEFY, THICC BOYS. There's only like 3 per page! When I first started to draw action in my comics I made a big mistake of trying to cram WAY TOO MANY panels in my pages. If you want cool shit to happen in your fights you gotta give your characters room to move, room to breathe, room to beat the shit out of each other. Which leads me to...

REALLY BIG HITS


(can you tell who my favorite character is?)

If you REALLY wanna sell the impact of a REALLY POWERFUL attack don't be afraid to dedicate a gigantic panel or even a whole PAGE to that mofo. Make your readers go DAAAMMMNNNN! And really soak it in.

These are all just my personal thoughts... I don't really have professional training (bet you couldn't tell!) I'm just a dude who LOVES action, seriously, every bit of media I consume, movies, games, comics, all revolves around kick ass fights. Without seeing your pages I cant say much more.

I'd recommend as an exercise, maybe watch some action movies (John wick is a favorite of mine, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies, too.) and take a fight sequence that piques your interest and try to story board it out. Identify the key moments in the scene, what makes it work, what makes it ACTION. If you have trouble making it readable just copy what you see on screen, and ask yourself, "why did they shoot it from this angle? Why was this moment chosen to be in this shot?" I've done that exact thing before to help myself understand. Physical acting to me is just as fascinating as spoken and greatly underappreciated.