#gryfons

[artisticgryfess]

Avid as a gryfon feat. i couldnt figure out how to draw a sash on a gryfon so its a ribbon necklace thing instead,

[chaoskirin]

Review of Song of the Summer King (The Summer King Chronicles #1) by Jess E. Owen.

Really loved this book. It's an interesting take on someone caught between two worlds, and even though the main character, Shard, has grown up to respect the king, Sverin, he's also different from most of the other gryfons in the pride.

When he was a kit, his home was invaded by the father of the king, and he was the only kit spared. This means he's much different than the others his age in both appearance and ability, and much of the story focuses on this nature.

He WANTS to be part of this kingdom. He WANTS to be useful to the king. But there's always an underlying discomfort in the way he's written, and I love that. The book is also not predictable on the surface; Shard fears exile and I was so sure he'd be exiled immediately, and the whole book would be about him finding himself and becoming independent and returning triumphant, but time and time again, I was pleasantly surprised by the direction this book takes.

Shard doesn't want to make anyone angry. He wants the whole world to get along, and his decisions often reflect this. He refuses to believe that he can't please everyone, and finds himself working both sides in order to stay in everyone's good graces. And it's just so well-written. In fact, I couldn't put it down… I read it in two days!

The characters are beautifully written, each with a unique voice and purpose. I especially love Catori, the wolf, who felt so soft-spoken in her dialogue but had an inner strength I really loved. Also, I really loved Ragna and hope to see more of her in future books.

I had a few issues with the book, but the story shines through them, so I can't even take off a star. First, the very beginning did almost make me put it down. I'm talking within the first few pages. The main character's name is just written over and over, and it gets soooo repetitive. There's also a few typos. I was also grated by a switch that flipped in Shard's head that made him seem jealous of his wingbrother, Kjorn. We never really saw their relationship, but it seemed pretty solid from the snippets at the beginning, and Kjorn was always loyal to him. So the resentment behind anyone calling them "wingbrothers" was confusing, and was the only predictable portent in the book: I knew they'd end up at odds.

Anyway, loved it. Can't wait to read the next!

[summerkingchroniclespropaganda]

There used to be a tradition among all gryfons of giving titles not just for feats in flight (the stormwing, the nightwing) or for being close friends with a species regarded as difficult to get close to (the raven), but also for feats of combat (these would have the suffix “claw”, such as “the lionclaw”) or hunting (the suffix “talon”, such as “the swordtalon”). The titles gryfons receive for close friendships have changed over time, dropping the suffix; Hrafn’s title of “the raven” would have been “the ravenheart”. It is passed down between the healers of the Vanhar that the gryfon who discovered many of the cures known and used today was titled “the greatheart”, for they would heal any and all manner of creatures, with no demand for recompense.

These types of titles are largely forgotten by canon; the Vanir, of course, will still use -wing based titles, and the Vanhar still tell tales of those who have earned the other titles--but time, and the Vanhar’s pacifist and isolationist tendencies, as well as their fish-based diet, have caused their usage to die out. Occasionally, a Vanhar will get the -talon suffix; but it’s rare.

[artisticgryfess]

[artisticgryfess]

[artisticgryfess]

flyboi

[artisticgryfess]

It’s the Lawful member of the Leader Trio, Gen!

If you want to know why it’s night I made the background dark so I could look for things slipping out of the lineart (the base gryfon under the dark purple is very light-colored) and i thought it looked great so I kept it and made it night

Anyway he’s a light blue-gray, with a white dorsal stripe, white leading edges to his wings and first 5 primaries, and has a white terminal stripe on his main tail. He’s got a green terminal stripe on his flight feathers (except the first five primaries), a green stripe on his tail coverts, and you can’t see it in this picture but he also has green leggings. He also has some darker blue-gray barring, because it looks nice. His wings are meant to resemble Loftwing wings in their shape, basically lengthened hawk wings. He also has the fluffy Loftwing tailtip! It doesn’t really fade into it, but it goes from white to a darker gray-blue.

The background is really pretty so I posted it separately here.

[artisticgryfess]

I did another birdcat :)

It’s Lux! He hasn’t even shown up yet but I drew the pose before I decided who it was gonna be and his design works well with the pose, so.

Anyway the green is for his shirt (obviously) (theres gonna be a lot of green on these gryfons) and the silver is for his armor. He’s got “pauldrons” in the form of silver feathers on both his wing and leg shoulders, and a “helmet” on his head in the form of a crown stripe. His fur is silver because I thought it looked neat. The blue flight feathers and barring are for his scarf!