- How to draw Wings and Winged Creatures/People-
Generally a wing is the "arm" of a bird, it has the same joints and bones a human arm has. So what we need is a shoulder, a elbow and a wrist to build a wing. You can build every wing type with these groundsteps, but every wing has its own shape, a falcon wing has another shape than a pheasant wing, so if you want to create a special wingtype you should also try to get a good reference pic of the birdtype.
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1.1 Wing-Poses
The best reference
for a wing-pose? It's your arm, a wing can do any movement your arm
can do, you just have to imagine the feathers and the form of the wing
around the bones. Here are 4 basic and commom movments which are quite
helpful.
A. Bending the wing forward
B. Bending the wing to the side
C. Stretching the wing
D. Bending the wing down
I made a full Wing-Movement sheet in the same style, you can look at
a printable version HERE
2.
Dragon Wings
Dragon wings have also the same bonestructure a arm has, with the difference
to feather wings, that also the fingerbones are visible and useable. But
you can build the dragon wing in the same way you build a feather wing,
also concerning its poses.
If you place the wing on a creature be sure that it is placed on the shoulderblade, this gives the whole construction a muscle base and a balanced look. If a dragon folds his wings to rest the wing-skin will get folds, be sure to add some, that is a nice detail and makes the wing more realistic.
Generally important is the placement of your wings, naturally as said is a wing a arm and the arm base is the shoulder, so it is obvious to place a wing there. You can also place multiple wings around the shoulderblade to give the whole figure a balanced look, of course if your creature is a own creation with for example 10 wings you will not place them all on one shoulder, it is still up to you were to place the wings!
Drawing/Coloring and Text by Lizkay 2004-2008