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mernolan β Winged Humanoid: Part 3
Published: 2011-01-05 19:42:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 31466; Favourites: 829; Downloads: 603
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Part I |Part II |Part III|Part IVEDIT 2013: KEEPING THESE THINGS UPDATED IS QUITE A CHORE but I've long since done other studies since 2011
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OBVIOUS OBSERVATIONAL STATEMENTS ARE BEING OBVIOUS
This one I kinda did for myself, you know, to keep things neat upstairs :I
whole center of gravity and flying issue bothers me but WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO :'D
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okay..... hear me out............ Β
... spring stilt shoesΒ Β
Β Β
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Not sure how long ago this was BUT, would it be more of a relief for the creature in general if the wings took place of the arms? (with someee of the fingers still apparent like with an Archaeopteryx) Or would it be more of a burden on the center of gravity/posture/overall skeleton/ect?
And also, say that another creature had wings for arms as well as wings on their backs? Would it burden them more? Would it allow more dexterity? Wouldntheybhave significant advantages compared to other winged humanoids?? Would it make more sense for a second set of wings to start from the back and end at the heels? (Like some of the other bird-dinosaurs.... I think Microtyperyx??idk)
attempting to create some species of my own for future irl works, so i'd like to be unique without going entirely overboard (in the worst way possible)
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It's definitely easier design wise and for the creature to just replace the arms with wings. Arms have a whole range of motion that allows us to do different things whereas wings are really only built for a single purpose, to fly and don't need the same kind of flexibility arms/hands have. If you go with hands on wings the thing to think about is how flexible to keep the wrist. A more flexible wrist will allow for more use of the hand/fingers, a stiffer wrist would be better for flight (just compare the structure of a human hand to a bird wing) so when creating an original species it mostly depends on how much you'd want them to fly v. do anything with their "hands". I am not sure about doubling up wings (arms and back) being "better" or "worse", I imagine the closer the two sets of limbs are to each other the more they'd interfere with each other, or one set would become the primary set of limbs while the other diminished over time.
EITHER WAY its ~fantasy~ so I think whatever you do, so long as it looks like it would work you're in the clear
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These are some great tips. I don't know if anyone has already put this out there, but for steering we could use our arms, hands, legs, and feet, like we do in skydiving. Yes, no?
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I think a few people have mentioned that and I don't see why not!
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... One bird with really long legs are Secretary Birds. that may be helpful...Β
Some other kinds of birds also have long legs (for a variety of reasons) so i don't think long legs themselves are a problem when it comes to flight...
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I mean there is no right or wrong way to go about it really!
I would say that, leg length will have less of an affect on center of gravity than mass distribution through the leg.
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If there would be additional feathers on our calves, I think they would be able to lift the legs up and take care of the drag-problem, and since we have actually a partial control over our calf-muscles, we could use them to steer. The same goes if we had feathes on our forearms so that when we fly we have our arms by our sides and use the feathers to turn. It doesn't do much but I think it would make flying a little bit easier.
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I've definitely seen that theory floating around
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Also, somewhat bipedal legs would also help with the walking problem, wouldn't they? But we would look more like harpies, I guess.
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Okay, this is more about the theoreticals than actually how to draw winged humanoids, but do you think it would be too difficult to take off if a person had a debilitating leg injury in his calf (it happened a long time ago for the character, but it left enough scarring that he walks with a limp and sometimes a cane)?
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I think it would mostly depend on the injury and more so how and where they are taking off from. I can imagine trying to take off from the ground with that injury would be difficult but probably not if they jumped from a high place.
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it is very rare that he tries to take off from the ground, but the injury was rather severe when it happened. Its on the outside of his right calf running from a few inches below the knee all the way near his ankle. When it was cut; it was more a deep abrasion, jagged and serrated through his calf.
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You're ruining all my illusions of having wings! How dare you!
That aside, this is fascinating. I think some artistic license can be taken here for the drag of legs and the steering, in rule of HAVING WINGS IS JUST EXTREMELY COOL, MMKAY?
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HAVING WINGS WOULD BE AWESOME MY FRIEND take all the creative license you need ;D
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Some of the feathers in an avian's wing can move as apart of steering even though the tail feathers do the majority steering. How about for human avians the legs and angling of the entire body help steer, similar to a kite or a plane. This way you wont have to screw physics and still keep it logical. Here's more>> fav.me/d696fl4 maximwolf.deviantart.com/galleβ¦
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Out of curiosity how would human leg muscles look different if they were used to hang upside down?
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NOT SURE ABOUT THIS BUT I think it would affect the feet the most - they would have to be strong enough to grip whatever it is they are hanging from and support all that weight (if we are talking about keeping human proportions). Β Look at what works in nature, bats have backwards feet, something like that might work better than trying to keep the human foot/leg
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Yey! This was really helpful, as some of the comments...!
It helped clear some ideas and thoughts (and create more questions, but that's a good thing!)...so, for that I thank you!!
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I see no harm in giving winged humanoids bird-like tails to help with lift and steering. Just a thought.
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For steering, why not just add a tail? My own winged humanoids have a rather large, vaguely archaeopteryx-like tail to help with steering and lift. (It also helps with the problem of clothing--if you're using a membrane, which I am, and have a tail, you can attach the membrane there, leaving the legs free to add pants. Or overalls, or a tunic, or whatever you so desire.)
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I did things the hard way ;D but I would say that's up to the artist how they want their creature to look
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Fair enough P: I'm just fond of the archaeopteryx look, don't mind me.
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Thank you for this! Winged humanoids have puzzled me for a long time, and you bring up several of the problems that have been giving me trouble.
So far, I've mostly dealt with the wing-arms problem by ignoring it; saying that the species in question has only wings, and giving them some form of compensation (the best-developed of mine are batlike, and have long, prehensile tails to make up for the missing manipulative appendage).
Actually, I have a few species with both--mostly draconic, reptilian sorts of things--but the wings are generally small and useless.
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on a more creepy note I was looking through you're gallery and ... I WAS AT CTCON 2011 AND I'M GOING THIS SUMMER TOO o3o
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o: So am I, actually! Going with a friend... we're cosplaying as PM and WV from Homestuck.
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Awesome! My bf and I are doing scout's mom and red spy from TF2 and/or possibly Glen and Maggie from the Walking Dead
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Gravity - our greatest downfall ... literally. Thanks for pointing out these key facts.
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Just putting it out there:
If you want to have a completely-human looking creature with bird wings ONLY, you're going to have to screw around with the physique (as our good friend here shows us) but in my opinion, what would be much more 'ideal' for me would be a greater cross between the human and avian, ie; a lighter/weaker bone structure, different proportions of the bones, different positioning of the limbs to make it more plausible...but that's just what I do. Anyway, thanks for putting this up, really helped me.
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thank you! I was considering drawing out a progression between mostly human and mostly bird like to add onto all of this. Maybe during the holidays
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Wouldn't steering capabilities come with a tail? I'd say a tail is pretty essential to any flying creature. Hell, even sugar gliders use their tail in flight (glide). It might also be a good idea to point out the whole lift/wing type thing. For example, albatross wings wouldn't work too well, because they don't provide much lift (don't need to), and songbird wings have to be flapped far too fast for such large muscles to keep up with. Corivd or raptor wings would probably be capable, though.
Very nice guide. I'm glad someone actually knows this stuff. It drives me NUTS to see it done wrong on anything (humans, dragons, you name it)
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Well yes a tail would be kind of essential lol but I figured I'd point it out to those who want tailless flying humanoids. I know about the lift thing and wing types (it probably slipped my mind har har) and I agree with you that raptor wings would probably be the best option for their high lift
I wish more people explored it before I did, and that more will explore it after me. I don't like seeing it done wrong, but especially this winged human thing, the anatomy is impossible. The person would literally be a bird with arms if anybody wanted to do it really right.
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Aw, but tails are so much fun! And they're pretty~ imo tailless winged humanoids look fine while they're on the ground, but they get a bit more awkward once they're in the air.
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i see you put a lot of thought and effort into your work, turned out great btw. but one thing that strikes me odd, you add wings but why not a tail? i love it anyways
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i was focusing more on the mechanics and coexistence of the wings and arms, and maybe providing some insight on how things might work without a tail - figured things would be more fun that way haha the purpose of a tail during flight is pretty straight forward
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i agree, besides most people donΒ΄t add a tail anyways so your version is the most helpful ^_^
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Aren't the bones in wings hollow? Wouldn't that take off at least a little bit of weight?
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yes, I was focusing more on the mechanics but hollow bones is more or less obvious
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This is very useful and I think anatomy is really fascinating ^^ But one question...how would they wear clothes? Or would they have to be nudists?
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Halter tops or shirtless haha 
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haha halter tops for the girls, shirtless for the guys 
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