#skeleton analysis

So let's look at the vrock again in its base design.

(The chapter on the vrock's awful wings starts over here and has a more detailed image description of the vrock itself: wings part 1)

(I'm making image descriptions slightly more integrated into the explanations, apologies if its confusing as I try to find the best way to convey all these visual details)

The vrock is a scrawny lanky creature, its arms are extremely long and its torso is way too thin even if it didn’t have wings to consider. It doesn’t appear to have space for many internal organs and it certainly doesn’t have the extra muscles that should be necessary for both wings and arms. It definitely does not have the huge keel bone most birds have to attach their flight muscles, and I'm skeptical about whether it even has room for a normal ribcage anyway. Here I've attempted to draw a skeleton over the top of the vrock to figure out exactly what's going on with this tiny torso while it's mostly hidden behind the skinny front arm:

(Same picture as above but faded. A blue skeleton is drawn over it and labeled: "I couldn't fit a functional skeleton under this body." And "no space for a keel bone". The skeleton outline is barely contained within the vrock's body, which is not great for any living creature as there’s usually more muscle, fat, and skin between the bones and the outside air.) 

I know the gangly form is visually creepy and therefore a common design choice for evil monsters like this freaky bird demon. But I think it's important to actually consider a creature's anatomy and how it should move when you're designing it. So I'm going to focus these next few posts on the skeleton and muscles of the vrock and give it some bulk in the torso.

Pre-think to avoid a re-think. I know some things going in that are going to matter.

See, a skull contains a great amount of information, if one knows what to look for. When designing a creature, it pays to keep certain things in mind.

Jaw Shape

A jaw is little different in action from shears or bolt cutters. The hinge pivots the two pieces so that they meet and force is applied.

Boltcutters in action:

"Bolt cutters animated". Licenced under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

What's significant about this? Look at the length from the cutting head to the grips. It's long. Force is magnified, but it requires a long lever action to do this.

Take a look at skulls from animals with extreme bite force.

Crocodiles usually top the list, and their skulls are very long and conical: 

Ancient meat-eaters, like Tyrannosaurus, also have quite long heads. Leverage.

Cheekbones

But as I want the bear people to be omnivorous, foraging, farming and herding people, it doesn't make sense to maintain giant clampy jaws.

There are other concerns, like the size of chewing muscles.

Animals with large chewing muscles often have a sagittal crest, a ridge that runs down the skull from front to back. The crest provides surface area to attach for the temporalis muscles. In humans, this muscle is small and thin, and we don't need a sagittal crest. Bears, like this Spectacled Bear, have one though:

The muscle attaches to the sagittal crest, passes beside the eye, behind the cheekbone, and attaches to the jawbone. See how large the arch of the cheekbone is to accommodate the muscle?

I already know that, in order to appeal to human sensibilities, the hominids will need to resemble humans. That means shortening the jaw and the face as a whole and doing away with the sagittal crest.