With Saberbeak being written, I wanted to touch on more Brenda Lyons interior art, and this time we have Hatzel, a smilodon (saber-toothed tiger) plus Haast's eagle gryphon. @toadalled was very useful here in helping me to imagine how the sabers on the beaks would look. When it comes to saber cats, the sabers are an iconic feature that I never saw translated into gryphons. We tend to associate gryphons more with birds, and I wanted to really bring the cat out. Kieran was amazing with that. We looked at colors, too, even though they wouldn't be in the interior art. (You know, juuuust in case Hatzel ever ended up on a cover some day.) That brought in the influences of the black-billed magpies and Cooper's hawks that the character was closely associated with. Sister prides, if you will. I love Hatzel, and many of you have, too. There's a stereotype in gryphonic literature where there's a massive gryphon who is very full of themselves, just a brawler and a love whose arrogance and vanity are unmatched. Hatzel subverts that trope by being extremely level-headed. Whereas characters like Xavi, the denfather, are protective of the gryphlets, Hatzel protects everyone under her care. Of course, when she gets to let loose, there's no more ferocious gryphon in Belamuria. Though she gets PoV time in Eyrie and Ashen Weald, part of having such a stable character is that you're not presented with many opportunities to spotlight her, as she doesn't need to change and grow the way other characters do. It took the entire world changing around her before she earned her time back in the spotlight. With a character like this, the last of her kind (and based on extinct cats and birds), in a pride that's made up of several smaller prides, you're left wondering how she got that way. How her values were shaped by the loss of the saberbeak pride. Or, as the last ruler of Poisonmaw might say... "Family isn't who looks like you. It isn't even a feeling in your heart. It's in your beak and claws, and who you're willing to bloody them to protect."

I'm about 17k words into Saberbeak now, Hatzel's book, and I think we know who her family are.

Just finished Song of the Summer King, first novel in a fantasy series where the characters are gryfons. Sooo good, definitely gonna be one of my favorite series!

This is Stigr, before he lost his eye in the Conquering. Was he still a gruff badass before then? I guess...yes.

And Shard being all, "But I don't *wanna* be the chosen one!"

My second sona has a gryphon form now!

Artfight revenge for @Skiysilver of their dromaeus Rowan!

Rowan! Kinda ended up making him look extra goaty but shh I was trying to make the background look 'split' between mountains and plains but couldn't get it right so it's kinda Shoreline now ig jrhbfr

Im also just now realising i forgot his whisker doodads but Too Late (and they're be mostly offscreen anyway so just pretend that's what happened here, yup)

You can see Skiy's excellent attack on Noki Here!

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:icongirfugol:

Leun weapon asker anon here, I’m really curious now: How does Gryphon’s harpoon work?

It's the single most powerful weapon in the Mezian empire but it comes with a lot of conditions. It can swivel to fire in a wide arc but is most stable firing at about a 45 degree angle. For this one I've had to just be like "yeah it's magic" because well what can ya do. But essentially there's an inlet hose that connects to the fuel tank in the pelvis. Normally the fuel goes into the belly furnace, so for this there has to be a backflow from the furnace, through the fuel tank, and out to the cannon. Normally this backwards flow is lethal because it causes the entire tank to flash over, since the fuel is ignited in the furnace and not in the tank, and introducing a backflow of already-ignited fuel into the tank would be bad. But in this case it's desirable because the explosion is directed out through the cannon. It launches a barbed 100ft harpoon (as long as Gryfon is tall) at the target with extreme force, so much so that Gryfon requires a full repair cycle after every shot. And because the shot itself is a venting of all fuel on-board, he only gets one shot per hunt and once it's out there, he does not move, potentially for weeks.

Because of this it has to be planned carefully. The purpose of this shot is to tether a dragon in place so that it does not escape. It's like tying a thousand ton weight to a hot air balloon. The chain is actually winched in by hand - by the ground crews, usually, a couple of days after the initial shot. This is to give the ground crews and other beasts the requisite time to prepare a battle stage. The ground crews then pull the chain using horse teams. The dragon will have deflated slightly due to the spear (it contains air holes so that it doesn't plug the wound), but the effects of inertia and wind resistance can play havoc on the crews and often another beast has to grab the chain to get it going.

Missing the shot would consume weeks of valuable time, repair hours, and fuel, but it is rare to miss. Dragons are just so big. What takes actual care is not hitting one of the ichor wells inside the dragon, which would cause ichor fuel to start raining down on the battle stage. Part of the reason the harpoon is so long is so that the blunt end, which is heated red-hot by the explosive launch, doesn't penetrate the dragon and cause a mid-air flash over of the ichor within the dragon. We really don't want that to happen.

Most hunts are structured around delivering Gryfon to the scene and then guarding him for the duration of the battle. On the rare occasion he has to hit a target straight ahead of him he can do it, but the closer the object the more likely he is to miss. Lucky for Pantera.

Stela Gryfon from GROKEN Graphic Novel 1 and 2

Review of Song of the Summer King (The Summer King Chronicles #1) by Jess E. Owen.

Really loved this book. It's an interesting take on someone caught between two worlds, and even though the main character, Shard, has grown up to respect the king, Sverin, he's also different from most of the other gryfons in the pride.

When he was a kit, his home was invaded by the father of the king, and he was the only kit spared. This means he's much different than the others his age in both appearance and ability, and much of the story focuses on this nature.

He WANTS to be part of this kingdom. He WANTS to be useful to the king. But there's always an underlying discomfort in the way he's written, and I love that. The book is also not predictable on the surface; Shard fears exile and I was so sure he'd be exiled immediately, and the whole book would be about him finding himself and becoming independent and returning triumphant, but time and time again, I was pleasantly surprised by the direction this book takes.

Shard doesn't want to make anyone angry. He wants the whole world to get along, and his decisions often reflect this. He refuses to believe that he can't please everyone, and finds himself working both sides in order to stay in everyone's good graces. And it's just so well-written. In fact, I couldn't put it down… I read it in two days!

The characters are beautifully written, each with a unique voice and purpose. I especially love Catori, the wolf, who felt so soft-spoken in her dialogue but had an inner strength I really loved. Also, I really loved Ragna and hope to see more of her in future books.

I had a few issues with the book, but the story shines through them, so I can't even take off a star. First, the very beginning did almost make me put it down. I'm talking within the first few pages. The main character's name is just written over and over, and it gets soooo repetitive. There's also a few typos. I was also grated by a switch that flipped in Shard's head that made him seem jealous of his wingbrother, Kjorn. We never really saw their relationship, but it seemed pretty solid from the snippets at the beginning, and Kjorn was always loyal to him. So the resentment behind anyone calling them "wingbrothers" was confusing, and was the only predictable portent in the book: I knew they'd end up at odds.

Anyway, loved it. Can't wait to read the next!

My bewks at Texas Furry Fiesta earlier this year ^_^

Psst, new game trailer: Immortals of Aveum : there is a big buff tall lady in it!!!! XD

Oooooo this got me interested until they show first person view gameplay 😭 Thank you for letting me know!

There used to be a tradition among all gryfons of giving titles not just for feats in flight (the stormwing, the nightwing) or for being close friends with a species regarded as difficult to get close to (the raven), but also for feats of combat (these would have the suffix “claw”, such as “the lionclaw”) or hunting (the suffix “talon”, such as “the swordtalon”). The titles gryfons receive for close friendships have changed over time, dropping the suffix; Hrafn’s title of “the raven” would have been “the ravenheart”. It is passed down between the healers of the Vanhar that the gryfon who discovered many of the cures known and used today was titled “the greatheart”, for they would heal any and all manner of creatures, with no demand for recompense.

These types of titles are largely forgotten by canon; the Vanir, of course, will still use -wing based titles, and the Vanhar still tell tales of those who have earned the other titles--but time, and the Vanhar’s pacifist and isolationist tendencies, as well as their fish-based diet, have caused their usage to die out. Occasionally, a Vanhar will get the -talon suffix; but it’s rare.

Don't tell Kjorn or Zeph.

Not many people know this, but Shard and Younce hang out together on weekends and watch movies.

GAH! THE WRETCHED BEAST HAS STOLEN MY COPY OF SOTSK AND IS ATTEMPTING TO DEVOUR IT WHOLE! GET ‘EM, SHARD!

ah thank you, love. hey, that’s one of my favorite chapters too! what’re the odds

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happy 10th anniversary to THIS mf of a book here! it would be a handful more years until i discovered it and could snag first the paperbacks of the first three books, then participate in the BTSW kickstarter and get that fancy-smancy hardback with a shard plushie of my own, but well was it worth it! brought a lotta joy in my life and im v excited for shadow sun’s release later this year >:3c

@authorjessowen​

artist who has never drawn a griffin in their life learns how to draw griffins. (griffin studies!)

AHA! I GOT IT DONE! I really like Rinkhal and co so far, family of stinky snake birds, love that for them Also anseriform avus for the win uvu

Artfight revenge for T0sknir of their hippus Rinkhal! You can see Tosknir's excellent attack on Blackwater Here!

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I wanna make my own "zoids"/complex mecha likd animal automata but i dont want to step on your toes while doing it. I know i want to visually explore away from what you do so yeah but i just wanna ask what you think would be uncomfortable similarities or riffs when it comes to lore and visuals.

eh i mean. basic aesthetics or design elements are not really something u or i can (or should) copyright. the stuff i care more about is the story, human characters, plot beats, etc. but just the visual of a mechanical creature with a medieval bestiary type design? go nuts. if you wanted to have yours be visually distinct, i guess you could give yours eyes, moving jaws, different weapons, actual tails, different coloured painted designs, that kind of thing. there's so many ways you could take the concept, just do whatever is most fun or interesting for you and ur good