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Description

So like I said to the two people who aren't protesting the watch feed, I originally wrote this as a vicious rant, but it turns out I was redirecting anger from a RL thing. rrr.

But still. These are annoying as hell. If you see someone doing this junk, send them this. It may be their only chance of salvation.

SIN #8 INCORRECT FLIGHT FEATHER STACKING

There are few things that can be said with absolute confidence that are true of all birds, but this is one of them: the flight feathers always stack the same way.

This can be confusing to remember, so keep a hand of cards next to you while you draw:

SIN #7 NO FEATHER GROUPS

I'm so sick of seeing these homogenous walls of crap.

Feathers stack in a predictable, orderly manner, so just take thirty seconds and learn it. If the phrase "dorsal median primary coverts" scares you pantsless, IGNORE THE FANCY NAMES! You have my permission.

This is grossly oversimplified, but if everyone knew just this much, it would sure save me a lot of trips to the cardiologist.

See the bottom of my hit tutorial for information about how these groups look when folded.

SIN #6 BREAKING THE WRISTS

big sin BIIIIIIG SIN and I see it all the time. Wings can't hold this pose. It looks like you steamrolled them into place because you don't know what else to do.

Let me tell you a story about wrists. Wrist bones are called carpals, the little clusterfuck of pebble-looking things no one wants to learn how to draw. Humans have eight of them. Birds have two.

TWO. Literally A QUARTER of the wrist bones you have. They are not nearly as flexible as your wrist. Go easy on them.

So how do you draw that pose without breaking the wrists? Draw the side of the wing:

I put together a reference pack of my own photos here . So no one has any excuses for not being able to find refs.

SIN #5 THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING PATAGIUM

Again, there are few things that are consistent across all kinds of wings for all birds. But this is another.

Three membranes made of skin surround the wing. This is not optional. Even if you're drawing fantasy.

These structures are absolutely critical for flight. I don't want to bog everyone down with detail here, but... seriously. seriously important.

SIN #4 WINGS IN STUPID PLACES

Waist wings , butt wings, ankle wings, EAR WINGS, bellybutton wings, what will they think of next?

I guess I can't make a reasonable argument here, because artists who use these obviously cannot be reasoned with in the first place.

SIN #3 WING PALSY

Winged humanoids can apparently never do anything with their wings except HOLD THEM OUTSTRETCHED IN EVERY SITUATION

The cause of this? Most likely artists being too lazy to look up how wings fold. It's not that easy to learn, but you might wanna, unless you want your characters sitting around like

There are ways to fix this. Find one. I did . You can even rip off my idea if you want, just stop drawing angels sitting around like

SIN #2 TRIANGLE WINGS

This demonstrates a lack of attempt at anything whatsoever.

Just... start over.

SIN #1 FEATHERS THAT DO NOT LOOK LIKE FEATHERS AT ALL

This is disappointing to behold... artists who spent a lot of time on a piece, except they made a typo when Googling for references.

I have put together this list of common erroneous searches to help you avoid them.

If anyone wants further examples from my List of Things Which Are Not Feathers, you can check out my collection.

---
And finally, I would like to end this post by featuring some artists I'm following who demonstrate exemplary wingmanship.

---

whispers now would everyone please stop drawing wings which make my eyes hemorrhage thank

:) (Smile) — Description

So like I said to the two people who aren't protesting the watch feed, I originally wrote this as a vicious rant, but it turns out I was redirecting anger from a RL thing. rrr.

But still. These are annoying as hell. If you see someone doing this junk, send them this. It may be their only chance of salvation.

SIN #8 INCORRECT FLIGHT FEATHER STACKING

There are few things that can be said with absolute confidence that are true of all birds, but this is one of them: the flight feathers always stack the same way.

This can be confusing to remember, so keep a hand of cards next to you while you draw:

SIN #7 NO FEATHER GROUPS

I'm so sick of seeing these homogenous walls of crap.

Feathers stack in a predictable, orderly manner, so just take thirty seconds and learn it. If the phrase "dorsal median primary coverts" scares you pantsless, IGNORE THE FANCY NAMES! You have my permission.

This is grossly oversimplified, but if everyone knew just this much, it would sure save me a lot of trips to the cardiologist.

See the bottom of my hit tutorial for information about how these groups look when folded.

SIN #6 BREAKING THE WRISTS

big sin BIIIIIIG SIN and I see it all the time. Wings can't hold this pose. It looks like you steamrolled them into place because you don't know what else to do.

Let me tell you a story about wrists. Wrist bones are called carpals, the little clusterfuck of pebble-looking things no one wants to learn how to draw. Humans have eight of them. Birds have two.

TWO. Literally A QUARTER of the wrist bones you have. They are not nearly as flexible as your wrist. Go easy on them.

So how do you draw that pose without breaking the wrists? Draw the side of the wing:

I put together a reference pack of my own photos here . So no one has any excuses for not being able to find refs.

SIN #5 THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING PATAGIUM

Again, there are few things that are consistent across all kinds of wings for all birds. But this is another.

Three membranes made of skin surround the wing. This is not optional. Even if you're drawing fantasy.

These structures are absolutely critical for flight. I don't want to bog everyone down with detail here, but... seriously. seriously important.

SIN #4 WINGS IN STUPID PLACES

Waist wings , butt wings, ankle wings, EAR WINGS, bellybutton wings, what will they think of next?

I guess I can't make a reasonable argument here, because artists who use these obviously cannot be reasoned with in the first place.

SIN #3 WING PALSY

Winged humanoids can apparently never do anything with their wings except HOLD THEM OUTSTRETCHED IN EVERY SITUATION

The cause of this? Most likely artists being too lazy to look up how wings fold. It's not that easy to learn, but you might wanna, unless you want your characters sitting around like

There are ways to fix this. Find one. I did . You can even rip off my idea if you want, just stop drawing angels sitting around like

SIN #2 TRIANGLE WINGS

This demonstrates a lack of attempt at anything whatsoever.

Just... start over.

SIN #1 FEATHERS THAT DO NOT LOOK LIKE FEATHERS AT ALL

This is disappointing to behold... artists who spent a lot of time on a piece, except they made a typo when Googling for references.

I have put together this list of common erroneous searches to help you avoid them.

If anyone wants further examples from my List of Things Which Are Not Feathers, you can check out my collection.

---
And finally, I would like to end this post by featuring some artists I'm following who demonstrate exemplary wingmanship.

---

whispers now would everyone please stop drawing wings which make my eyes hemorrhage thank