#fursona development

Asano;

Incomplete reference sheet for Mirako Dunerunner. Three-quarter views of the front and back. some Detail has been added to the wheelchair but Mirako herself has only been roughly outlined.

with encourangement from @lethargyspecialist i am thinking about how to design myself a bird fursona

but the crucial thingis: i want a bird fursona who looks like they could plausibly physically fly.

the problem i’m having is that the continuum between human and bird is also a continuum between 'adapted for flight' and 'not adapted for flight', so when i was trying to imagine a birbsona, i kept thinking like "well i want the wings to actually be wide enough for flight, but then that would be really awkward for a human body plan, so let's change those and oh shit she's literally just a bird now"

i am now leaning towards dropping the mammalian bauplan and having separate arms and wings. but there are further issues.

traditionally i believe fursonas are expected to be able to stand up straight, like humans. but a flying person needs ideally to be streamlined in flight. so usually birds have short legs and stand up with legs perpendicular to their spine, then fly with legs parallel to spine tucked away among their feathers, i think? which allows birds to have tail feathers. the exception is certain flightless birds like penguins.

now sure quadrupedal mammals also have their legs perpendicular to their spine most of the time, and this is changed when making a furry character. but then i feel like it’s easier to move a thin mammal tail out of the way to have a character to stand like a human than it is to do the same with a bird tail feathers.

so the consequence is that it would seem like my bird furry is leaning forwards all the time, or at the very least has to lean forward when she takes off.

looking at pictures of birds, though, certain herons and cranes appear to sometimes stand in a way that’s a lot more upright - so maybe a crane would be the place to begin. they look rather graceful standing up, as well.

if we add a pair of small arms, we need to anchor them in a way that makes sense with the other muscles and everything. like arms are attached to lots of muscles at the shoulder extend over the torso. this is where my very limited anatomy knowledge falls rather short in terms of how you’d hang an extra pair of arms in there.

further thoughts: gay smooches are important. it’s hard to kiss someone with a beak. so do we want a human-ish face? that would look kind of weird and creepy (or at the very least just remind everyone of Howl), but then i think i kind of like the idea of having a weird, inhuman-looking fursona.