My thoughts on drawing wings (an unofficial tutorial)
Do you want to get better at drawing your favorite winged character? Do you have winged OCs? Just want to learn something new? I can't promise this post will help, but maybe it'll give you some helpful tips.
I know, I knowww, wing tutorials have been done to death. I don't care. This was initially inspired by a conversation on twitter, but actually I've wanted to write down my notes on the topic for a long time lol. Basically wings are one of my special interests so it's very important, for me, to draw them both nicely and also realistically.
On that note, let me first show you my resume *distant sound of floodgates opening*
Like what you see? Read on!
(Oh, and I will only be covering feathered/avian wings bc those are the type I know best.)
Now, I'm not here to give you a step-by-step guide on wing anatomy and aerodynamics, because there are plenty of other resources that cover this already, and I'll list my faves at the end of the post. Right now, I'm going to give you some easy guidelines and tricks that I wish more artists knew.
1: Wings do, in fact, have bones (crazy, I know) and are actually very rigid because they have to support the weight of a living creature. There are some positions you cannot physically force a wing into irl.
2: Flight feathers are not placed willy-nilly on the wing, because then they wouldn't catch the air properly. Again, like the bones, they are rigid and strong, so don't draw them like fur or ribbons. All wings have the same pattern of feather placement, with slight variation depending on species. If you learn the feather sections, it will automatically improve your drawings a lot.
2.5: Feathers overlap each other like a handful of playing cards, and this looks different depending on which side of the wing you're drawing. They always do this unless they're extremely untidy.
3: The size of the wingspan is important if you're going for a more realistic design. There is no "scientifically accurate" measurement when it comes to fictional creatures, but my general rule is when in doubt, you probably need to make them bigger. Personally, for my original winged human species, I give them wings that can be up to 12 feet long each (the artistic sacrifice is that it's really hard to fit the wings on the dang page lmao, so make your own call).
4: Get used to drawing folded wings. Most of the time, birds keep their wings folded because it prevents them from getting damaged and it conserves energy. The trick is to get good at visualizing how the joints bend and overlap (look at plenty of photos!) In general, they can fold much tighter than you think.
5: Wings and feathers take a lot of patience to draw, but the results are worth it. I've seen so so many incredibly beautiful and skillful artworks that are---well, maybe not ruined, but still negatively affected by a pair of wings that look like an afterthought, or not even like wings at all. You have no idea how much a little extra time and practice will add to your work until you see for yourself.
Finally, some notes on "stylized" wings: Of course it's perfectly ok to draw more simplified/cartoony wings if that's your preference!! BUT there is a difference between a stylistic choice and a lack of effort/poor understanding of the subject matter. Even cartoonists have to learn the fundamentals of realism so they know how to make their designs logical and appealing. Here are some examples of more stylized wings that I feel retain the core principles of anatomy/aesthetics:
And last but not least: A list of helpful links I use personally for reference and inspiration!
I made this pinterest board for general artsy inspo, and this board to curate my very favorite tutorials/refs/information, focusing on the scientific aspect of wings and flight in general. Feel free to use both! (I also suggest pinterest in general for pose refs and such, but try to only practice using photos at first and not other drawings.)
I highly recommend this blog and this blog if you want examples of artists who draw more realism-based winged creatures!! They are both huge inspirations for me and I think you should totally follow them even if you don't plan to draw wings lol <3
If you're REALLY serious about it, my favorite ref books are: Winged Fantasy, a lovely drawing book by Brenda Lyons; Proctor & Lynch's Manual of Ornithology; and Angelus vincens by R. Spano, which is essentially an artbook by someone who (I believe) designed biologically plausible "angels" for their senior thesis.
Ok, idk how to end this lol but I hope it helped! I know it's not my normal kind of post but I'm super busy with college stuff rn and this was all I had time for. If you guys have any questions or feedback, please let me know!!!
How do you break down the anatomy of your drawings?? Everything seems so fluid, I love it! Any tips on drawing anatomy?
Thanks!
I don't have a super straightforward answer tbh, depending on the drawing I do more or less anatomy breakdown (sometimes I jump straight to the final "form", sometimes I start with motion lines or skeleton, etc). It's easier to just paste here what I did for my Coloso class, more or less:
where I sort of break the body down into "solid" bits (head, thorax, hips, hands and feet) and a "rig" (bones and joints), and then fill the in-betweens with fleshy bits and muscles. In general I just use a lot of construction lines to help me place everything correctly and make sure things "slot" together, for any part of the body
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it turns out i really enjoy making educational posts about the comics making process and ways of thinking. here's another one featuring characters from my graphic novel in a very anachronistic art museum.
today's comic advice posting from the big boy published graphic novelist: stop thoughtlessly shading your comics. stop it. i see you reaching for the multiply layer, i see you selecting that slightly purple, slightly blue color to add shadows to the edges of your characters. oh my god get your hand away from the airbrush.
comics is a storytelling medium, which means that it's also a medium for conveying information. you are conveying information about the scene to me.
what information is your shading conveying, and what does that contribute to the scene? i mean, ideally you're telling me where the light is coming from, but...do i actually have to care about that? if the lighting isn't key to the mood of the scene...does it need to be there?
we're outside. things would have shadows, because there's a light source (The Sun) but don't you understand that just from the fact the characters are clearly drawn outside? does putting soft shadows under their arms and at the bottoms of their shirts convey that better? or is it already clear without that?
we're inside. there's probably some light coming in from the window, or maybe from a bulb in the ceiling. is there a mood you want to convey with the scene? is the light source contributing to the mood? is the light only coming in from the window, to remind us the room is dark? is there a spotlight on someone? is the lighting significant? if it's not, what is the shading telling me that i couldn't otherwise guess?
and in the same realm of that previous comic example i just used, and this one i will be explicitly prescriptivist about--if you MUST include shading, please don't put it on the panels where the characters are doing the big cartoonish expressions. it doesn't look good. it Just doesn't look good. you're turning a 2 dimensional shape into a 3 dimensional object for no reason other than 'well i did it to the rest of the comic' and it looks bad. it draws attention to itself, it makes everything stiff and constructed, you lose the animation inherent to the gesture. you are doing disney vhs cover shit to me.
but this all isn't to say that you should never ever involve shading in your comics. but it's more that you need to use it intelligently, not just because you think it 'would' be there. there 'would' be one million more wrinkles in everybody's shirts than we ever want to draw and nobody's advising you to do that in comics. but if there should be one million wrinkles in a shirt, to draw attention to the fact that it's wrinkled, that's a different story.
and comics are about telling a story.
if you found this advice useful, or liked the look of the examples i was using, you should read my comic.
I've made a sheet of quick info and tips on drawing medieval european plate armour. You can view it on a screen or print it as a leaflet to keep in your sketchbook ✌
This is most of my humanoid ocs, at least everyone with some semblence of lore or backstory. More info under the break!
Una! My beloved.
AKA Queen Una Aurora Valencia of the House of Raven…but just Una is fine.
RPG oc for our Witcher campaign, replacing Queen Meve from Thronebreaker.
Bold, witty, proactive. She led our group from jailbreak to building an army. A joy to rp, and still rotates constantly in my mind.
Ozzimor! The whump boy.
A tiefling made for a CoS campaign.
A brooding rogue…or so he'd have you believe. He's actually just painfully shy and loves poetry.
Born a tiefling due to a deal his mother made before he was born -she meant to keep them safe, but the price was her ability to feel love.
Zephyr! The Bard™️ Plays a set of (human?) bone pan pipes or a fiddle. Nomadic, plays music to pay for his keep. Maybe makes a little on the side using less honest means...who knows? Has a found-family sibling (belongs to @venfaaniik) and a golden pygmy marmoset named Judy. Don't steal his hat!
Niccolo ~ Totally Normal Tiefling.
JK he's actually a god of a moon. His true name: Nyphestus, and he's upset the balance of nature by stealing another moon?
Now he hides as a mortal until the heat dies down.
To while away the years, he's taken to dabbling in politics. Mortal antics amuse him greatly.
Artemis- the pirate!
A vain and gregarious tiefling, Artemis is fond of luxury.
He's incredibly proud of his appearance- long elegant horns resembling obsidian, verdigris coating his skin (except the face, of course).
He adorns himself with jewelry and fine silks, all obtained respectably, I'm sure.
Sorrel, AKA Pip- the birdfolk.
From a species known as lofĂomorph. Flying is important to them, and Pip, essentially a pigeonkin (bleeding heart dove), is not perhaps the most elegant. However, that doesn't dissuade them!
After being called "pipsqueak" they embraced it, and now go by Pip.
Tybalt, the assassin.
Afflicted by The Rot after coming into contact with The Bile, he had to make a very quick decision. Fortunately, he's good at those.
One hand down, he replaced it with a prosthetic.
However, the Rot isn't so easily defeated..A hand became an arm. He hasn't much more he can lose.
Last, but not least: Mako Kai!
Another pirate, but: dead.
An RPG character for a oneshot: Once every 15 years or so, their sunken ship surfaced for a single night.
Mako got designated captain due to his nice hat, threw his pet octopus, Nixie, like a pokeball, and got a new trident.
10/10 no notes.
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