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.

Little owl guy from my todays dream

You've gone to see the last family of gryphons. They sit there in a small glass habitat, families looking in at a creature that used to rule skies. If they flew in those skies again, they would be shot down by modern rifles, by hunters who know their beaks to be more precious than silver.

You look into their ancient eyes, seeing them still stand proud. Your ancestors would have seen them roam throughout the forests, and peach upon tall buildings in ancient capitals. Now they are such an oddity, they barely seem real.

You wonder if they know that they shouldn't be here? If something deep inside them wants to be in a flock of thousands of their kind, above an open sky? If they know that they should be flying. If they could, would they thank those who protected them with a cage, or would they hate them nonetheless, for being the reason that cage is needed?

playful

zeph play pouncing towards hatzel

Defending the Innocent

The villagers feared the once passive Golden Crested Gryffowl, thus the king sent his bravest knight to slay the mad beast. It was only when he arrived that the knight understood the difference between truth and myth

random griffon oc made on ms paint

My idea of a seraph from @kvalenagle's Gryphon Insurrection Series

Drew this a while ago, I think while I was reading Opinicus. Not entirely happy with it but I mainly just sketch anyway and never finish anything lol

If you like creature fantasy and gryphons, highly recommend GryphIns! One of my favorite series!

Cute little creatures 🥺

Baby’s first flight ✈️ I think this looks more like a gryphon maybe? It’s something with the torso and paws…

Chase the Gryph

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I finished this Gift last year and haven't uploaded it yet. It´s a birthday present for a Ares.

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Disclamer: Art is created by me, you can't use it, unless you bought it. Please respect that, thanks!

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#greif #griffin #gryph #hippogriff #Hippogryph #Hybrid #Fantasy #Fantasyart #art #artwork #digitalart #artoftheday #Comission #comissionopen

Baby gryphon and it has cub spots and tufty fur and downy feathers with its pink skin visible beneath and it wobbles when it walks and its roars come out as squeaks

Okay, I've been summoned to Tumblr by cute Satra and Lei fan art, so I should probably introduce myself and my books. Hello! I'm Vale, and I write creature fantasy as K. Vale Nagle. If you like interesting gryphons, you're in the right place: aquatic diving petrel/fishing cat gryphons, poisonous hooded pitohui/tiger gryphons, pretty gyrfalcon/snow leopard gryphons, intimidating Haast's eagle/saber-toothed tiger gryphons, soggy sandgrouse/sand cat gryphons, and a lot more. My series are epic fantasy using mostly real (though sometimes extinct) animals, free of humans but full of queer characters, intrigue, large battles, and ecological apocalypses. My cover art is by Jeff Brown, with interior graphite pieces by Brenda Lyons and gryphon chapter headers by Kittrel (whose chibi hearts you may have seen). I also have a short story collection (best read anytime after Starling, book three) with a beak-cute lesbian gryphon love story with terror birds, a Gryphon vs. Nature blizzard apocalypse tale, a Christmas-y story, and something pretty close to zombies. I've also written a full novel set in the world of Dire by John Bailey called Coldbright which can be found in the Tales of Feathers & Flames anthology. If you like GryphIns but you want something with more mystery, almost horror, as told through the eyes of a snarky little opinicus and his dire gryphon ex-boyfriend, it's a great read this time of year. I love and appreciate all the fan mail, fan fiction, fan letters, and people reaching out about this series. I'm a little slow replying, as I started writing the series right after getting diagnosed with a catastrophic autoimmune system. The treatments are pretty intense, and it's easiest for me to spend my time and energy writing. I used to have a few pen names across several genres, but for the most part, all of my energy goes into finishing up GryphIns. I'm married to dragon author Glenn Birmingham, so if you've seen us posting pictures of our cats and thought it's strange they share a name, they're the same cats. And that's about it. Just a queer author writing gryphony books when I'm not walking my cat. A few common answers to questions: Q: There are sometimes typos in social media, why is that? A: Catastrophic APS means I've had a stroke (and associated memory loss), so when a copy editor isn't coming up behind me, there'll be doubled words and typos from time-to-time. I used to worry about them, since they don't look good if you're an author! But I'd rather reply to fan letters and kind posts. I think if you've read my author notes at the back of my books, you know to expect a few doubled words here and there. Q: When you say a queer author, what do you mean? A: Since people ask about own voices and I have a lot of lgbtqia+ characters in my books, I'm pan, demi, trans, and genderfluid. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of queer friends and first readers who make sure I don't mess up any characters. Q: When's the next GryphIns novel coming out? A: Some years, I spend a lot of my time fighting health insurance battles, and it slows me down. Pridelord (#8) is currently in line edits. It's twice as long as Eyrie and three times as long as Coldbright, so it's a pretty big book! It shouldn't be too much longer. You'll know it's just about time because you'll hear James Scott Spaid talk about narrating the audiobook. Q: How many books will there be in GryphIns? A: I'm famous for underestimating how many books it takes to finish a series. My other pen names all wrote short stories and standalone novels, so my proposal for GryphIns originally had five books. Jeff Brown is wrapping up the cover for Saberbeak (#9) and Nighthaunt (#10). If I end up needing one more book to finish, though, don't be too surprised.

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

Damn. Reading my old fanfic and work, I clearly forgot that Aliyaa had a pet Griffin named ‘Feyroze’. It has a dark turquoise colour. 😃🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. Pic is not mine. I found it in pinterest.

Pat Coupons!

I am gonna add all of them in replies but for the intro I wanted the OG. The one I planned to make on a whim, and what started this pat YCH fire in my ko-fi messages.

The first one was of Zeph for @kvalenagle cuz I started reading (listening to) GryphIns books and have kinda been lowkey harassing them with random art here and there. Even before I started reading these tbh.

The background is supposed to hint towards the mountains and forests featured in the literature. uwu

Ages ago I had a bit of an obsession with drawing Pokémon hybrids, but...griffins. (I did quite a few of them, maybe I'll dig em up some time). And today I just had the spontaneous desire to draw this cutie. Hope you like it!

Chibi reference made by Nukababe