for feathers great and small

a (mostly) visual reference blog for wings and winged creatures

[scribbly-blue-hearts]

Repeatedly sings I Dont Wanna Do the Work Today as I bother @pendrawlum and @isharton for colours so I can rough up wing design concepts before work. They both said purple and gold so PURPLE AND GOLD IT BE

Also minor tail feather compendium tease with this as I continue to try and research stuff  

[mockingmolly]

I have become the devil To realize that I’m divine I have been living with demons Last night I left them by the fire In my quest I seek forgiveness In my love, I will forgive I have lied to see what truth is The burns heal, the smoke clears away - “forgiveness” elephant revival

Thinking abt the imagery of her feathers growing over obann’s mark

Timelapse under the cut!!

Keep reading

[scribbly-blue-hearts]

Repeatedly sings I Dont Wanna Do the Work Today as I bother @pendrawlum and @isharton for colours so I can rough up wing design concepts before work. They both said purple and gold so PURPLE AND GOLD IT BE

Also minor tail feather compendium tease with this as I continue to try and research stuff  

[sticksandsharks]

grey wagtail

character from The Wildercourt, the graphic novel I'm very slowly but very persistently working on

[skycowboys]

Catching the Intake Winds

Realized I didn't have a proper buckskin tribute. Back to GHT pages tomorrow!!

~ Larn

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Discord | Artbook | Web Comic | Patreon

[herpsandbirds]

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus), family Strigidae, order Strigiformes, western-central plains of the United States

photograph by Rebecca DePorte

[maureen2musings]

Eurasian Jays, Kuusamo, Finland

jsalophotography

[skycowboys]

Hi! I love your pegasi and have been subscribed to your blogs for several years now.

Do you think pegasi, gryphons and etc will land on their hind legs or forelegs after flying?

It seems to me that artists often draw creature's landing on their hind legs, like birds, but wouldn't it be more logical to repeat the landing of a four-legged animal after jumping? Even if it will be smooth like landing an airplane. They can land on their hind legs in place, but it requires a lot of wing work.

Hi there! And thanks for being here for so long :)

Great question, this was a fun one to work out lore for!

I think 4-legged flying creatures should land on their hind legs.

A horse jumping over a jump fence must land on its front legs and propel the momentum forward. That's generally harmless with standard jump heights, but is still stressful on the front legs, shoulders, neck, and spine. There's no way to slow the physics down and the front half of the body must absorb the full impact of the landing.

The reason airplanes flare (tip the nose up) while landing is to present the greatest wing surface possible forward to reduce the speed, and thus the reducing the force of the landing. This will minimize stress on the airframe and generate a much slower landing speed, which reduces stress on the brakes.

Here's some basic sketches on how that manifests in pegasi (and other four-legged flying creatures).

Essentially, landing without flaring is controlled crashing. So even if it may require a little more work from the wings, the benefits of a slower landing would make an animal prefer flaring to reduce the stress on their frame and avoid serious injuries.

~ Larn

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Discord | Patreon | Art Prints | Web Comic

[skycowboys]

I’ve loved your Pegasi designs for years now, and I have to ask:

Have you ever considered a Razorbill themed Longwing. Just like. The solid black heads with the thin white striping. They’re my favorite seabird and this has been itching my skull for ages now.

Anyways hope you have a good evening/ day/ night!!

Hello! So glad you've stuck around :)

I have now!!!!!!! Auks are just cool in general honestly.

~ Larn

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Discord | Patreon | Art Prints | Web Comic

[skycowboys]

it's only recently that i've gotten to see how the soaring wings + tail feathers combo can make such great landing gear!

thanks for illustrating with your pegasus designs :) i think they're awesome!! 💖

Hi!

You're super welcome :) Flight mechanics are fascinating for real.

~ Larn

[herpsandbirds]

Anhinga aka "Water Turkey“ aka American Darter (Anhinga anhinga), female drying in the sun, family Anhingidae, order Suliformes, Brazil

photograph by Luís Roberto da Silva

[etheringtonbrothers]

PEGASUS and FLYING HORSES! To get the FREE MONTHLY How to THINK When You Draw digital MAGAZINE (including NEW tutorials, a YEAR before they appear online!) just GO HERE!

PLUS! How to THINK When You Draw BOOKS coming to KICKSTARTER in MARCH 2026!

Lorenzo!

[plusultrayokai]

@skycowboys what do you think about this?

[skycowboys]

I think it's generally good art advice! Don't love the smallish, overly flexible wing anatomy, but that's a style thing. But I do like that they recommended "soaring" wings in general for pegasi. The movement guide very much reminds me of the pegasi from Fantasia, which weren't all too bad. I like how they take the weight of the horse into account with posing and such, as well. Overall would recommend.

[illustromic]

This drawing is old and in fact I've posted it before, but recently Dar got a(nother) major redesign, and I liked this picture so much I decided to update and recolor it. So here it is! My son <3 (For now I will keep the old version up in the archive for record-keeping purposes i guess)

[illustromic]

OC ref day! Vinyan's turn finally! His wings aren't visible in the fullbody drawing for non-angsty reasons (lying) (more details here )

The white spots on his wings were a last minute decision but I like it, for the last 10 years or so he had completely gold wings which. are cool! But I want them to be more unique even if he doesn't have them anymore haha

His hair does whatever tf it wants and that's the main reason this took so long to finish. Scruffy cowboy man. His feathers are in fact metallic like the feathers on a hummingbird throat. They burnish over time with wear and tear until he moults and replaces them:

Realistically such a heavy amount of iridescence would probably not work on the flight feathers bc it changes their structure and makes them less useful, more like peacock tail feathers, but oh well lol I do what I want and Vinyan's a special golden boy. His life is terrible so the least I could do was make him stupidly pretty

He is Rhia's big brother! The duo ever agh I love them

[illustromic]

Another OC, Rhia. Constantly acts like she's about to fall asleep because she's never sure where her next meal's coming from and needs to conserve her energy for flying. Supremely laid-back but also loves talking shit to people she doesn't like. Looking for a long-lost brother who wandered off when she was ten and is *not* dead, she's sure of it. Is the only winged character in the story who honestly never gave a shit about who her parents are or where she came from. She's just here for a good time lmao

[illustromic]

Doodles of a thing, a creature even

[illustromic]

Quick Leif sketch :) Used a reference (with adjustments to the tail) from the Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository (awesome site, go check it out!)