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by-nc-nd
#hare #ptarmigan #rabbit #skvader #originalcharacter
Published: 2015-06-01 17:58:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 1667; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 2
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Description
It's been a while since I made up a character, but I had some fun with this so I thought I'd share!Skvader are fictional swedish creatures made up of a mix between a European hare and a female wood grouse, and I've been pretty fond of them since discovering them... Last Friday I ended up designing my own, but instead of a female wood grouse used a male willow ptarmigan because I couldn't resist the color-changing properties, and with a scientific name like Lagopus lagopus it was just begging to be crossed with a lagomorph, haha.
So these are all the same individual, with the right side being with wings removed so you can see the extent of the feather-line a little more easily, and then summer vs winter coats. The spotting on the feathers is irregular so the positions shown don't have to be followed, as long as there is always some mottling in some way.
I haven't got a name for them yet, but they only speak swedish, are genderless (using they/them in english and hen/henom in swedish) and... I'm still figuring out their personality, haha.
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Comments: 11
Oooh nice work!
Looking at the original Skvader (the one in Wikipedia etc) I wonder if it truly is an European hare they used as the text states, because it looks more similar to a Mountain hare (Lepus timidus) to me (shorter ears and a more rounded face - though at least the second could just be the taxidermy work lol). The European hare is actually not native to Sweden, it was planted here in the second half of the 1800s. The Mountain hare is our indigenous species of hare and a fun detail with them is that they do change colour during the winter, just like a ptarmigan. So if you waaaanted you could make a winter form that's all nice and white with black eartips, to match the bird parts...
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Oh cool, I had no idea you were Swedish!
I can definitely see your argument--it's hard to discern details in old taxidermy work. The mountain hare is certainly a lot cuter than the lankier european hare, and the added color changing is certainly a plus. I've definitely sketched a few different regional variations since doing this one (pygmy rabbit + ruffed grouse is very small, very round, and very angry) so there's certainly nothing stopping me from doing another version here that gets to be all white! Much better camouflage, after all.
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Glad I could offer an idea for another spinoff lol! It's a lot of fun to make up your own "variations" of cryptids and folklore animals and such
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Nice! I always preferred the Skvader over the Wolpertinger. Less is more, right?
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Thanks! I agree--while researching the skvader I saw mentions of the wolpertinger and looked it up, but it just never seemed to have the same charm and almost...feasibility? as the skvader did. In a world where hexapodal body plans existed and some animals evolved wings, skvader come together and make more sense even better than the ever popular griffon, being just the right size for having wings and being able to benefit from them as a prey animal.... They just have so much charm with such a simple combination of animals, haha!
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Yeah, Skvaders do have a very unified look. Wolpertingers just look like Skvaders on steroids.
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Hej, lilla skvader-vän, så trevligt att träffa dig!
Aaah, it's so cute! I love the little smile. Skvaders really are the best of creatures. If/when you end up writing or drawing more with them I'd love to see all about it!
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Hej hej, trevligt att träffas!
Thank you so much! I've fallen head over heels for them. I have a few little sketches I did last week where I experimented with a few different designs for funsies... I think my favorite is this one i.imgur.com/31Q0voM.png which is a pygmy rabbit / ruffed grouse cross that was too adorable to pass up haha. I'll definitely have to do more sketches and sheets for them!
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