#flawseer ref guide

[flawseer]

Flaw's Ears

A flawed guide to dragon ears

A while ago I made myself a little visual reference to help me draw dragons from different tribes with variable ear shapes. You can sort of see this in effect in my JMA project where I drew every student (and teacher) at the academy.

That reference is handy for me, but also not very pretty to look at. So I decided to make a cleaner, more put-together version I can post as a stand-alone thing.

Keep in mind this is not supposed to be a "definitive" guide. It's just how I decided to draw these for myself. I'm not a biologist, half of this probably doesn't even make sense.

Anyway, here it is; how I draw these dragons' ears:

I expect my interpretations for Rain- and Seawings to turn the most heads; the former for combining the cheek frills into their regular ears (they're separate in canon), and the latter for being generally a bit unconventional (prehensile sausage flaps? what?).

Also, if you feel like trying it out for a bit, you are welcome to follow this guide or selectively take pointers from it if you want. You don't need to ask permission.

[flawseer]

WoF Reference guide - #01: Turtle, Squid, Pike

Preamble

I'm rather fond of the way characters are rendered in the Wings of Fire graphic novel adaptation, so whenever I draw WoF stuff, I like to lean into that style.

A problem I often run into there though, is that while the dragons in the comic are very expressive, members of the same tribe are sometimes difficult to tell apart, especially in close-ups. Reading the second one in particular is a bit of an undertaking, with a lot of Seawings that look very similar.

So to help myself out with that, I've started doing a style guide for my own reference that attempts to diversify the designs a bit while hopefully still keeping the basic principles introduced in the comics. Just a collection of my own headcanons really.

I wasn't really intending to publish any of this, but then I showed some of my friends and they said "This is cool", so... I suppose here we are. I've done about 20 of these by now, but I'm going to have to polish them a bit first so I don't just throw my dirty sketches at people.

Okay, that's probably enough talking, let's show something for it.

Flawseer Headcanon Refs

Build is somewhat heavy-set/chubby; hates exercise and tends to get second helpings during meals.

Facial structure very soft, round, and smooth; big nose; upper lip ends in a slight point like a little beak.

Eyes are bright, warm, and friendly.

Forehead fins are round with no sharp angles, average distribution of gaps.

Horns are smooth and curved backwards, with a small upwards barb at the end.

Luminous patches in face are polygonal, orderly. Ventral patches are roughly square and relatively large. Patches on limbs, back, and tail are polygonal and tend to cluster together and interlock, like pattern on a turtle shell.

Neck plates angular, slightly reminiscent of turtle shell.

Very petite and underdeveloped frame; scrawny, light-weight build with barely any fat or defined muscle.

Small head; youthful face; somehow nose is always wet.

Eyes are large; expression usually either guilty-looking or close to bursting into tears.

Horns are nubby and curve upwards, dull ends.

No defined chin barbels whatsoever, but a few nubby points growing out the back of the jaw.

Luminous patches on face, limbs, and back are thick, swirly spirals with splotches dotted around, or small clusters of 2 to 3 splotches by themselves; ventral patches are ring-shaped and look similar to suction cups, tail thus looks like a squid's tentacle.

Ventral fringe is very small and wispy, dorsal fringe made up of small leaf-like shapes that are oddly spaced out.

Build is somewhat runty and small; lean with wiry muscle; overall reminiscent of a draconic chihuahua and about as noisy.

Pointy face with sloped forehead; furrows on nasal ridge from excessive scowling; jaw juts forward with a bit of an underbite.

Eyes somewhat angular but still open; expression serious and dutiful.

Forehead fins angular; frayed with lots of gaps and blemishes.

Horns are bendy and pointed; smooth but covered in numerous small scrapes and blemishes.

Chin barbels are pointy and sharp-looking, but soft to the touch.

Face and body show a few small nicks and scars everywhere; little cut across the side of the mouth; ears are nicked and frayed. All of these accumulated from training accidents and reckless behavior.

Luminous patches on face and ventral side are small, flecky, like shards of broken glass; patches on limbs and back are large and pointy, shaped like spades or arrowheads.

Ventral and dorsal fringe pointy with small nicks and tears.

And that is it for now. Next batch is probably going to be... I don't know. Webs, Nautilus, and Riptide maybe.

[flawseer]

WoF Reference guide - #02: Nautilus, Webs, Riptide

Another one of these headcanon visual references I've made for myself. I guess this one is the "Talons of Peace Seawings edition".

With this one and the last entry taken together, there are now two father-son pairs between them. One of my sub-goals with this was to examine and identify traits that would plausibly be passed down from parents to their children. We'll see how that goes.

Build is average, neither particularly fat nor muscular. Size is average too, but he has a tendency to stand very straight and rigid to make himself look taller than he is.

Proportionally large head; small, exceptionally dry nose; high cheek bones; pronounced Adam's apple; stubbly barbs growing out the back of the jaw.

Eyes and general resting expression have an air of self-importance and aloofness to them.

Horns curve upwards and are somewhat smooth, but not perfectly so.

Luminous areas on face and body form an intricate pattern of interlocking and crisscrossing black spirals that turn a bright neon green when lighting up.

Dorsal fringe made of leaf-like sections shaped like curly waves, with large gaps in between sections; ventral fringe is small and wispy.

Build is slender, bordering on gangly; tends to slouch, bad overall posture, makes him look small despite his size being slightly above average.

Head is somewhat elongated with bottle-shaped nose, similar to sea horse or dolphin; cheeks are sunken in.

Sad, tired-looking eyes, heavy eyelids; not particularly emotive. Slightly near-sighted.

Forehead fins are orderly and uniform in size and thickness, but with many splits and blemishes.

Horns extend straight backwards, smooth, little hooks at the end.

Luminous patches on face, limbs, and back are blotty and uneven with no clearly defined shape or size; ventral patches are narrow and slitted, shaped like rice grains.

Ventral and dorsal fringes wavy and all in one piece, reminiscent of sea foam.

Has a small luminous birthmark between two claws of his left front talon.

Frame is rather tall and well-built, muscular, fit.

Head shape angular with bottle-shaped nasal ridge, pronounced jaw and chin.

Eyes are open and friendly, but unnaturally dark for a Seawing. Tends to look serious and dutiful.

Forehead fins sweep forward, shaped in a way reminiscent of a wave about to crash onto the beach; texture is very rough with many splits and blemishes.

Horns curve backwards, texture smooth but shape somewhat twisty and gnarled.

Luminous patches on face, limbs, and back are blotty and uneven, fragmented in small clusters like freckles; ventral patches small, shaped like pomegranate seeds.

Ventral and dorsal fringes upright and protruding evenly, all in one piece.

Not quite sure who to do next yet. Maybe Gill, Coral, and Tempest.

[nightdragonvigil]

funny ears

Flaw's Ears

A fool's guide to dragon ears

A while ago I made myself a little visual reference to help me draw dragons from different tribes with variable ear shapes. You can sort of see this in effect in my JMA project where I drew every student (and teacher) at the academy.

That reference is handy for me, but also not very pretty to look at. So I decided to make a cleaner, more put-together version I can post as a stand-alone thing.

Keep in mind this is not supposed to be a "definitive" guide. It's just how I decided to draw these for myself. I'm not a biologist, half of this probably doesn't even make sense.

Anyway, here it is; how I draw these dragons' ears:

I expect my interpretations for Rain- and Seawings to turn the most heads; the former for combining the cheek frills into their regular ears (they're separate in canon), and the latter for being generally a bit unconventional (prehensile sausage flaps? what?).

Also, if you feel like trying it out for a bit, you are welcome to follow this guide or selectively take pointers from it if you want. You don't need to ask permission.