Been having a lot of trouble with personal stuff lately, so my posting is going to become even more sporadic until probably summer. Will attempt to put up what it is I do end up scribbling when I do it.
Anyways. I realized a while ago that a lot of my roark heads were very generically the same, with very little variation between the different species and subspecies that appear in very different places. The head I seem to favor belongs to the central jungle species, but there are a lot of shapes that I think I need to really scrape at when approaching the rest of them. I had fun with these though, and its been a while since I've really felt inspired when it comes to any of my creatures.
First up, we have a double toothed black foot. Black foots are a desert species that lives in very harsh rocky desert areas. While most of them have very smooth faces, the double tooth (and especially sex type :3: ) will have two large upper teeth and a shoe shaped dipped chin. Older, larger or otherwise more grizzled individuals may have rougher features, larger teeth and bigger chins. While softer individuals may not exhibit the shoe shaped chin or elongated teeth at all.
Second down is the pharaoh highland. I'd been struggling with the beards on type :1: sexes for a while on the pharaohs, who sometimes have awkwardly long or curved chins which sometimes form a hard, scaly (horn like) skin over the bone. The alternative was side beards that extend from the ruff along the jaw line. In the highland orekroark this beard has a slight dip then extends out sharply on either side. All Pharaoh orekroarks have inherited this side-beard.
Third down is the pharaoh bellower. A long time ago I touched upon the bellowers having expandable pouches in their noses and throats. But to house a more specialized nasal cavity for the active calls they are known for, they sport a larger nose developed for the display of sound. The pockets are still expandable and likely very colorful.
Fourth down is a newer concept for an orekroark I'd been struggling with since it first appeared. The crested short wing is a semi desert dwelling 'toxic' species that developed from a population of volcanic inhabitants with a common genetic mutation that caused the scales and horns to grow over the entire head rather than from one part of the crown. This helmet effect became a fine, smooth crest that grew from the nose tip towards the back of the head, splitting into horn nubs towards the back. The entire crest is bony and ridged and the same color as the skin. Older individuals may still grow 'horns' either as proper extensions of the nubs at the back of the head, or as sporadic tines jutting out from in between the scale layers.
orekroarks and all that is Hup (c) Morgan Banks
