#and the more monstrous the animal the worse the evil until they weren't using animals they were straight up building chimeras as punishment

[ranticore]

someone asked me ages ago for more anatomical drawings of harpies so i deliver. the feathers are laid out in tracts and can hide a lot of detail under the contours, and the fact that the body is usually smaller than people think (and much lighter). The neck usually blends in pretty well with the body, unless the feathers are raised or the crop is full.

they do not have hands whatsoever, all manipulation of objects is done by the feet and mouth. even with their lack of hands they do not at all suffer a lack of dexterity. in the kosa region the eagle harpy flock is famous primarily for its weaving culture - weaving is so integral to their society, in fact, that they view the world itself as nothing more than a large and complex tapestry, woven by some unknown artist. this is evident in how they orient themselves in the air, referring to a tailwind as 'warp', while a crosswind is 'weft'.

these aren't like actual muscle groups or anything it's more of a drawing guide to show which areas have mass & define the form

the thing that gets me a lot about drawing birds & birdlike guys is how high up the leg can articulate, in real birds it's like pretty much in their armpit. harpies have a more humanlike torso which means more space between the rib cage and the hips, and more articulation of the spine in this area as well (though i realise now that i didn't actually draw that in any of those poses). it also means they have a more defined belly area below the pectorals/ribcage.

a king is pictured here but there's no real difference under the feathers between a king and a regular harpy, aside from kings being generally more robust and more heavily built (by harpy standards).

harpies are the descendants of humans who were cursed to be birds thousands of years ago. those humans, who aided the apocalypse, were primarily messengers and chanters, assistants of the wizards who ended the world. their relatively unmonstrous cursed form reflects their general lack of importance to the crime - petty criminals, accessories, not perpetrators. their behaviour is strongly informed by the birds they were blended with to the point where there is very little about them that's even remotely human and their cultures and societies are almost wholly birdlike.