#legendguard

I'm doing it! I'm finally doing it! I'm uploading to Tumblr like I said I would fifty-bazillion times but never did! I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it!!

I'm a long time user of DeviantArt, trying to escape its bullshittery and find a new home for my art. If you've ever seen that "Arceus Gospel Form" or "Eowenah Enraged Form", "Shadogaire Omega Form", or "Yinyanro Pondora form", that was me. I'll probably be re-uploading my gallery here, or at least plan on it, along with gradually switching away from DeviantArt for good. For a while at least, I will probably submit to both until I wean myself off.

I do have a lot to learn, though... It's going to be hard because I've been using Deviantart almost exclusively since I first joined back in 2009, so learning an entirely new format is really daunting. Probably why I've been avoiding the switch for so long. But my despise for DeviantArt and its shitty Eclipse update is far greater than my fear of trying something new, so here we are.

Fair warning for all future posts; I am a terrible writer. Be prepared for text that looks like it was written by a middle schooler who just discovered a thesaurus and wants to sound smarter than they actually are

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This is the latest iteration of the head and corresponding skull of my long-time sona/Pokesona Eowenah, and the character for which I derive my username (She is the "Legendguard" Pokémon, or Legendary Guardian). Since I'm new here and y'all haven't been exposed to my shenanigans for the last sixteen years, I remake her. A lot. I'm not even sure what "version" this redesign is at this point. I will probably do it again. No I'm not sorry. I will say I am quite happy with this version, at least for now, so maybe it will be a few years before that happens. You can see the previous version here: https://www.deviantart.com/legendguard/art/Anatomy-The-Head-of-Eowenah-2022-905702058

Eowenah is a light/psychic* type legendary Fakemon and the mascot of my fake Pokémon version, Pokémon Celestine. She is a chimeric clone of many, many different Pokémon, created by Mewtwo very early on as a test of how to mix various Pokémon genes more efficiently, who then became "possessed" and enhanced by the legendary Fakemon Haliapio to transform her into the Legendguard to take on the Evil legendary Fakemon Shadogaire. If that sounds like a bunch a' cringe... it is... but goddammit it's my cringe.

*Flying/Psychic if the Light type is repressed by certain attacks

Being a chimera, Eowenah possesses traits from many different Pokémon families, especially from avian, felid, and pterosaurian lines. This can easily be seen in her skull, which looks a bit like a mammal skull with avian parts glued on. But there is a method to the madness. Being arguably one of the most powerful Pokemon ever, and having the best attributes picked out by Mewtwo during her initial creation, all of these parts meld together into a surprisingly cohesive structure, even if it looks a bit odd.

And now for the colored version! Well, base colors at least, I'm going to have to look at a *lot* of tutorials to get the full coloring on this done. Eowenah is very, very iridescent. Dazzlingly so! Even her bones are iridescent due to the microstructures within them, like an abalone shell! So yeah, it'll be a while before it's fully done. I've never been good at painting, so this'll be interesting.

Waited until I finished the [true] teeth before uploading. Behold! The parts of Eowenah's skull! Because she isn't complicated and overly designed enough... There is *one* missing element in this (aside from the hyoids/tongue bones), a tiny bone called the pterygoid. In mammals, this is mostly reduced and sits behind the palatine. In birds, however (And Eowenah) this bone is part of a bony system that allows the upper mandible to flex, something a mammal is completely incapable of. That bone I need to wait to do until I can get the other angles of the skull done, so I can know where exactly to put it. Until then, it is excluded.

Note that most of the elements, such as the upper mandible and neurocranium, are made up of multiple different bones, but have become completely fused together - to the point that none are visible at all. So there are no visible sutures anywhere on the skull. When it comes to her skull, if it ain't mobile, it's fused. The bones that are mobile are all deeply socketed, to the point that - if the skull were somehow separated from the body - the bones would all stay connected to each other. So dislocating these joints would take a hell of a lot of force, which is important to keep the skull's strength intact. This does also mean though that there is very little flexibility around these joints, so certain movements, like moving the mandible from side to side, are pretty much impossible. Fun fact, Eowenah chews like a rodent! She moves her molars forwards and backwards instead of from side to side like we often do while chewing.

I plan on making another give showcasing the mobility/movements the skull can make... but first I have to figure out how to do that. If anyone has any advice or tutorials, feel free to shoot them my way!

You can see the DA link here: https://www.deviantart.com/legendguard/art/Anatomy-The-Parts-of-Eowenah-s-Skull-GIF-2025-1164972935