when ur being mean to me this is who ur being mean to btw
something that I see many winged folks experience, including myself, is wing related dysphoria. more specifically, dysphoria relating to not being able to fly or not having wings physically. all my life this is a struggle I've dealt with, and I understand how painful it is. there are ways to relieve it though! here's some things that I've come up with and suggest to those who are struggling:
create mood boards, wallpapers, stim boards, and pinterest boards relating to the sky, your wings, theriotype, shifted form, etc
dive into media that has winged people/creatures (maximum ride, the maleficent movies, the croaking, just to name a few)
play games that let you fly, either with or without wings. bonus points if you're able to do it in VR (roblox, minecraft, feralheart, aer memories of old, superflight, fugl, etc)
practice lucid dreaming or astral projection
blankets!! especially weighted blankets, this can mimic the feeling of having wings
create or buy cosplay wings that look like your own (either typical cosplay wings worn with a harness/straps, or a backpack with wings, or a shawl in the shape of wings)
wear the colors of your wings, theriotype or shifted form
surround yourself with wing related themes or themes related to your theriotype or shifted form (buttons, pins, stickers, doodles, plushies, etc)
wear wing related accessories (rings, necklaces, hair pins, wings you can put on the laces of your shoes, etc)
if you're able to, get wings tattooed on your back or get a tattoo related to your theriotype or shifted form
if you're able to, participate in sky/air related sports or activities (skydiving, wingsuit flying, paragliding, hang gliding, etc)
draw/doodle your wings, theriotype or shifted form!!
meditate and visualize your wings. feel their weight, see their colors and textures, etc.
connect and talk to others who have wings if you need support and are looking for folks who have had similar experiences
carry around a backpack and make sure to give it some weight! having a backpack of a similar weight to my phantom wings tends to make my phantom wings go away, if you're looking to stop your phantom wings from existing for a bit for any reason
collect feathers that look like yours if you have feathered wings
connect with nature! this helps ground me and feel more connected to my natural self. I suggest going outside on a windy day or climbing trees.
stick your head/arms out of the car when you're going somewhere! this is one of my favorite things to do and it mimics what I imagine flying to feel like (pro tip, don't do this if you're driving)
make your room feel like the environment you belong in (using nature or wind ambient sounds, fans to get air flowing, that sort of thing)
watch flying POV videos
I'm sure there are more things that I could add, but I think that this is all my brain can think of at the moment. feel free to add onto the list if there's anything else that any of you want to add if I missed anything!
Salish Sea - British Columbia - Canada - Wakeuptoadventure
made this for oomf but you can have it too. a little breakdown of my process with bird wings if anyone finds it useful
Since it has been asked, I made a little breakdown on how to draw wings.
So, first thing to understand is wing anatomy. I used a swan wing as reference for my artwork. Divide the wing into blocks of feathers. There's sort of three layers to the feathers outlined in the second picture, and these divided along the top joint of the wing where it folds. See the second image. Make sure you bring in these nice, flowy shapes here!
Now that you have these big shapes, you can cut into them and make the individual shapes of the primary and secondary feathers (layer 3.) also make sure they overlap correctly depending on if you are drawing the wing from the front or the back. make sure you stick with a nice rythm and have the feathers get gradually bigger as you get closer to the tip. Like this:
when you go ahead and draw that layer 2 of coverts, make sure that every feather you drew for the bottom layer has (approximately) a feather overlapping it (so you have pretty much the same number of feathers in each layer) and that they line up nicely. But you can also make them a bit more ruffled. Like this:
Other than the flight feathers, the very top part of the wing is very smooth, with shorter, more rounded feathers (almost half-circles!). They can lie very flat or also look a lot more fluffy. think of them almost like overlapping scales. There is also the Alula at the top of the wing, a sort of extra feathery bit that sticks out over the primaries. also don't forget the scapulars which cover over the shoulder blade and are on top when the wing is folded. The Scapulars also have two layers of feathers. (see first graphic).
From there, it's only a matter of lineart and shading or however you want to finish your artwork. Hope this helps with the structure! Drawing wings folded together is a whole other story that I'm not going to get into here... lol.
TL:DR: understand the structure of wings and use references to get it right, work from big shapes to small shapes.
Edit: I demand to be tagged in the results, I desperately need to see more wing art. ÒwÓ
Welcome to:
watch me put human and avian anatomy true a blender and vomit the juice of their massacred corpses onto some paper
Might stay a wip forever cos those legs are giving me a headache and the rest... really isn't helping honestly
Orca therian, avian otherhumanjust trying to figure myself outany pronouns
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