Didn't think I'd have the time but got my entry for the refugium creature contest done! Down to the wire as usual. More info on the life cycle found below!

I wanted to do a fun Squilloid line, but as fun belly worms! The life cycle is the host eats the eggs which hatch inside the digestive tract, once there the young attack each other and any other parasites they find. They 'eat' through absorption through their tails so their mouth parts are only for clearing out their living space, as a result most hosts generally feel a lot better once they are infected. The fools!

Once the role of top worm has been decided, the individuals morphs into the feeding stage of their lifecycle. Their tail sprouts a multitude of fringes to aid in absorbing food and gas exchange, while the mouth parts remain for dealing with any would be room mates! This stage of their life is by far the longest, lasting decades.

The burrowing phase is where the fun begins, this sub adult form can be brought about by age, stress, or most commonly lack of space within the host. In this phase they begin swelling grotesquely and once they reach maximum size, turn their mouth upon their host. They chew their way out to the surface, sometimes resulting in death, sometimes not! But they only stop once they are able to smell open air and then settle in to begin their final metamorphosis.

The dispersal phase adults only live for a few days, climbing out of the wound created in their host to fly off and find suitable places to lay their eggs. If their host died during the last phase they will generally lay their eggs onto the body, but some are always out looking to lay a trap for the next poor unsuspecting creature.

Hope you enjoy! There are so many fun entries, def go check them out!

Whoops, I forgot to explain the quetzalin seasonal prefixes. These are the tropical bird folk, they have a courting season. During the courting season, all adults who participate in the public courtship displays take on a specific role. Dancer, watcher, or those who do both. The prefixes show which role applies to the person in question.

xel/xos, adult pronoun all year round.

a-xel/a-xos, dancer pronoun

i-xel/i-xos, multi-tasker pronoun

u-xel/u-xos, watcher pronoun.

Fantasy pronouns updated! i just keep running into Problems when I try to use the pronouns for a few paragraphs and then realize they actually sound awful. so i have been wrestling with them! it does not help that i made so many, and there's only so many ways to make decent pronouns before you run out of unique letter combos.

half the problem is just that I'm trying to make them all fit into english sentences, since that's the language my stories are written in. but i figured it would be so much cooler to write all my characters actually using the pronouns they'd be used to in their own languages, even if i don't get around to pulling a full Tolkein and writing every language out.

these pronouns will be especially useful in the side story I'm working on with a drow protagonist, since drow don't have gendered pronouns. and it adds so much more depth to my main story, when the bird dude protagonist, who was raised primarily by elves for Plot Reasons, embraces the bird people culture and changes pronouns to reflect this. if all of my characters were using regular human pronouns, and then suddenly the bird dude is using fantasy pronouns, it just feels awkward. but if everyone is already using fantasy pronouns, it's way more clear that this pronoun change is part of a bigger narrative of cultural identity.

anyway, as stated when i previously posted the fantasy pronouns chart, please feel free to use any of the pronouns here if you feel inspired to do so. i hope they function alright.

Fantasy pronouns updated! i just keep running into Problems when I try to use the pronouns for a few paragraphs and then realize they actually sound awful. so i have been wrestling with them! it does not help that i made so many, and there's only so many ways to make decent pronouns before you run out of unique letter combos.

half the problem is just that I'm trying to make them all fit into english sentences, since that's the language my stories are written in. but i figured it would be so much cooler to write all my characters actually using the pronouns they'd be used to in their own languages, even if i don't get around to pulling a full Tolkein and writing every language out.

these pronouns will be especially useful in the side story I'm working on with a drow protagonist, since drow don't have gendered pronouns. and it adds so much more depth to my main story, when the bird dude protagonist, who was raised primarily by elves for Plot Reasons, embraces the bird people culture and changes pronouns to reflect this. if all of my characters were using regular human pronouns, and then suddenly the bird dude is using fantasy pronouns, it just feels awkward. but if everyone is already using fantasy pronouns, it's way more clear that this pronoun change is part of a bigger narrative of cultural identity.

anyway, as stated when i previously posted the fantasy pronouns chart, please feel free to use any of the pronouns here if you feel inspired to do so. i hope they function alright.

I'm currently writing a book (mostly as a coping skill but also because I'm a creative writing major) and I was wondering if using your ideas would be okay and if so how I would properly credit you? (part of the senior year is publishing a book so just in case, ya know?)

You can use them as inspiration, yes! I don't really think it's possible to fully own any idea or concept.

There are a lot of ideas on this blog that I just offer up as advice, so they're free game. If it's something like the orc, drow, and goblin posts that I made to show the ideas I have for my own fantasy worldbuilding, I would ask that you don't copy them directly since I am using them to write stories I also hope to publish. But those posts are a bit outdated right now anyway haha, I've already altered or changed my mind on several details. So really, it's not that big a deal.

As for credit, the name I use for most important things is Miss M Winks, which is also my main tumblr blog. I've been considering a pseudonym for some of my book ideas (lord help me if my grandma decides to buy my books and finds the more sexual romance ones, no thanks) but Miss M Winks is what I use for like, Artstation and LinkedIn and whatever else. So it works for citaton, I hope.

But if you're looking to specifically cited this blog, I suppose you'd just use whatever the standard format is for citing a webpage. Good luck in your writing!!

sorry i spaced out for like 40 minutes browsing and mass-liking your blog and i just wanted to say i love all the work and thought you put into everything you design please never stop creating ok bye much love from another fantasy anatomy appreciator!!!!

Thank you!! It always amuses me when I check tumblr and find someone flooding my notifications as they go through this blog. I'm so happy people like you appreciate the work I do here! Never feel bad about spamming my notifications with likes and reblogs! I love to see it

I'm fairly sure the influence the Spiderwick Chromicles had on me is easy enough to see on this blog lol. If anyone needs another reference for great fantasy worldbuilding, just go check this one out.

This is random but I think it came to mind because of your use of water colour paints.

I was just wondering if you've ever heard of or seen Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Personally, it was a formative experience for me in developing my interest and taste in art and eventually spec bio.

If you've never seen it before I recommend it as an interesting and immersive read.

This butterfly handler especially reminded me of the birg child, showing off it's pets you did a portrait for.

So yeah, this was really random.

I was FASCINATED by this book as a kid. I didn’t own a copy but i remember flipping through it with wonder at my cousin’s house. Absolutely a formative work for me.

i was gone for a little over a week to see my baby niece (she is adorable) and now i'm recovering from being Sick. and also i have been neglecting my illustration job, but i have a whole kids book to finish by the end of this month. so my planned posts and inbox answers are all on a delay! sorry about that.

Please help me!! I have a character who has a scar inflicted by dark magic, and it’s similar to a burn scar, but I don’t know what color the scar should be.

scar color is highly dependent on skin tone. here are a few tumblr posts about scars.

this one is very simple and includes photos of real scars.

the original of this one might have been deleted, but it's a very good look at both cut and burn scars on different skin tones. no real photos.

this one is part of a series of drawings showing how different types of magic might leave scars. so go check out the full series of those! they don't show as much of a range on skin tones though. (as in, each scar only has one example image, so you'll have to extrapolate from there what it would look like on other skin tones compared to the examples)

tags from @crinkler :

#i cant speak for the originap tweet's claim#but i read a bunch abt naked mole rats a few weeks ago and dispersers are a thing#we also arent sure how their sexual strategy works#most groups only have one queen and one breeding male#but some have been observed w up to three breeding males#and one had two queens for like 2 years iirc#plus theres the deserters which presumably increase the genetic diversitu of a colony

image descriptions of the above screenshots:

first image: a tweet by @honkifurhoary replying to their own post which says "what's your favorite weird animal fact?" the reply says "my favorite is that in every colony of naked mole rats there are a couple individuals whose job is just to grow as large and fat as possible. During the rainy season, they will plug the tunnel entrances with their fat little behinds and save the colony from drowning." below this text, there is a photo of a naked mole rat, which is a wrinkly bald rodent with very large teeth, standing in a dirt tunnel.

second image: a screenshot from the wikipedia page for naked mole rats. it says...

"Dispersers

Inbreeding is common among naked mole-rats within a colony. Prolonged inbreeding is usually associated with lower fitness.[65] However, the discovery of a disperser role has revealed an outbreeding mechanism in addition to inbreeding avoidance.[66] Dispersers are morphologically, physiologically and behaviorally distinct from colony members and actively seek to leave their burrow when an escape opportunity presents itself.[66] These individuals are equipped with generous fat reserves for their journey.[66] Though they possess high levels of luteinizing hormone, dispersers are only interested in mating with individuals from foreign colonies rather than their own colony's queen.[66] They also show little interest in working cooperatively with colony members in their natal burrow.[66] Hence, the disperser morph is well-prepared to promote the exchange of individuals as well as genetic material between two otherwise separate colonies.[66]"

end descriptions.

naked mole rats always deserve more attention. fun fact: while my drow are not directly evolved from naked mole rats, since my elves and related species are all primates, i do heavily rely on naked mole rats as a reference for making my drow eusocial! this is why my female drow all have the potential to bear children but remain in a state of infertility unless specific environmental or medical factors cause them to have a hormonal shift and become Matriarchs, with only one Matriarch per colony in most cases. it's also why my drow have two different types of males, with some becoming Chamberlains who are carefully sent out to other colonies to maintain allegiances and bond with Matriarchs to father all her children; and others leaving the caverns altogether to become wanderers, also known as minstrels.

the bonus third sex of drow who have weirdly modified mammary glands capable of producing thick protein strands akin to silk are not based on naked mole rat biology at all though, that one's all my own original concept lol.

Revised concept for a spider-person bounty hunter. This arachnid like figure hunts down hard to find targets, namely those who have escaped justice by hopping dimensions. She's cold and cunning, and highly venomous. She suffers from severe resting bitch face.

Alright, one more reblog for April Fools lol hope u all enjoyed the camel boobs

Here it is folks: the one exception to my pet peeve against centaurs with humanoid boobs!

(Image description: a sketchbook page showing two camel centaurs with round nipple-less boobs as well as a standard camel hump on their backs. Next to them are the notes; "acceptable reason for centaur tits: bonus camel humps", and "they're gender neutral!" Though it's not immediately clear by looking at them, the camel centaur on the left is female while the one on the right is male. End description.)

I mean, boobs are already primarily made of fat, so why not add a little extra hump to your cameltaurs by giving them a nice pair of tits?

Here it is folks: the one exception to my pet peeve against centaurs with humanoid boobs!

(Image description: a sketchbook page showing two camel centaurs with round nipple-less boobs as well as a standard camel hump on their backs. Next to them are the notes; "acceptable reason for centaur tits: bonus camel humps", and "they're gender neutral!" Though it's not immediately clear by looking at them, the camel centaur on the left is female while the one on the right is male. End description.)

I mean, boobs are already primarily made of fat, so why not add a little extra hump to your cameltaurs by giving them a nice pair of tits?

Here it is folks: the one exception to my pet peeve against centaurs with humanoid boobs!

(Image description: a sketchbook page showing two camel centaurs with round nipple-less boobs as well as a standard camel hump on their backs. Next to them are the notes; "acceptable reason for centaur tits: bonus camel humps", and "they're gender neutral!" Though it's not immediately clear by looking at them, the camel centaur on the left is female while the one on the right is male. End description.)

I mean, boobs are already primarily made of fat, so why not add a little extra hump to your cameltaurs by giving them a nice pair of tits?

Dungeon Meshi - Orcs

thanks @butcherb1rd for reminding me about @jayrockin 's avian aliens! it's not the exact design i was thinking of, but it is the same body plan, generally speaking. here they are!

it must have been ages ago i saw that one design of a bird or bat person using their wings to walk on... i think it was like, a grandma looking character? or something? not an alien, very much just a bird or bat, but in Person form. it was really neat, i wish i could remember more specific details and find it again. pretty sure they had a basket on their back?

do you have any notes on wings with no arms on a humanoid? like the shoulder of a wing {bat or bird} being The shoulder with no human arms?

i haven't made a specific post on it before, but it's not too hard to do.

wings are basically already arms anyway. bat wings in particular are pretty obviously arms with entire hands, and bird wings also still have fused hand bones. i highly recommend this article on dromaeosaurs to see examples of feathered arms with functional hands even though they're not humanoid.

I also did a redesign of the Rito from Zelda Breath of The Wild, where I gave them better feathering and visible fingers that actually make sense.

basically, as long as you make sure there are a couple fingers free, wings can have functional hands attached to them.

some pterodactyls/pterosaurs also had a few free fingers at the front of their wings, so you could work with that design too. (this link is my source for the following image:)

(image description: a visual comparison of the skeletal structures of bird, pterosaur, and bat wings. they're all similar but with different proportions for the arm and hand parts. end description.)

and I am having so much trouble finding it, but i know i have seen other people design bird or bat people who walk on their wings and use their feet as hands. something like this:

(image description: a sketch showing a bat-person walking on the knuckles of their wings while they hold their feet up off the ground and curled towards their torso. end description.)

that's a fun option if you want to switch things up! they'd need really sturdy wing muscles and thick wrists with a chunky hand to help bear the weight, but you can make it work.

do you have any notes on wings with no arms on a humanoid? like the shoulder of a wing {bat or bird} being The shoulder with no human arms?

i haven't made a specific post on it before, but it's not too hard to do.

wings are basically already arms anyway. bat wings in particular are pretty obviously arms with entire hands, and bird wings also still have fused hand bones. i highly recommend this article on dromaeosaurs to see examples of feathered arms with functional hands even though they're not humanoid.

I also did a redesign of the Rito from Zelda Breath of The Wild, where I gave them better feathering and visible fingers that actually make sense.

basically, as long as you make sure there are a couple fingers free, wings can have functional hands attached to them.

some pterodactyls/pterosaurs also had a few free fingers at the front of their wings, so you could work with that design too. (this link is my source for the following image:)

(image description: a visual comparison of the skeletal structures of bird, pterosaur, and bat wings. they're all similar but with different proportions for the arm and hand parts. end description.)

and I am having so much trouble finding it, but i know i have seen other people design bird or bat people who walk on their wings and use their feet as hands. something like this:

(image description: a sketch showing a bat-person walking on the knuckles of their wings while they hold their feet up off the ground and curled towards their torso. end description.)

that's a fun option if you want to switch things up! they'd need really sturdy wing muscles and thick wrists with a chunky hand to help bear the weight, but you can make it work.