#had some fun drawing his wings tho ngl

[mclarenyaoi]

Ooo! I have some fursona ideas if you want them! (Feel free to ignore if you don’t)

George is very Gray Heron vibes to me, tall and ~dramatic~. Yuki could be either a Japanese Dormouse or a Japanese Tit. Lewis I think could be a Lesser Kudu (and maybe he got his horns removed and it was a Really Big Deal)

hi anon!!! first of all, congratulations, you're my first ever anon ask on this blog! second of all, that previous thing is pretty much exactly why this is being answered a bit late ^^' i'm terribly sorry about that, i just really wanted to make my answer good!! thank you for giving me these ideas, i love them and i love you, whoever you are <3

this is gonna be a long post so my actual answer to this ask containing all the doodles and commentary will be under the cut. just like last time, all written notes will be transcribed in the alt text since my handwriting isn't particularly legible. apologies in advance for any spelling mistakes or accidental misinformation, i don't have the time or energy to give this post a proper proofread so if anyone finds any errors or needs clarification on anything, please let me know! anyways hope you all find this post enjoyable ^^

first up, grey heron george! i've never drawn a grey heron before, so this was quite fun if a bit complicated

i ended up settling for the mid-length neck in the "final" headshot, but now that i've had more time to think on it, i think i'd choose to draw him with a long neck, tho he'd get some serious cramps after every race. it'd also be funnier as well — herons are, as you said, tall and dramatic... but herons from the front? yeah. blimey indeed.

there's also the matter of how his helmet would fit, esp since you can't exactly go and shave off a man's mouth. i couldn't find a good solution for this; my best idea was that little confused drawing in the corner. it's not a terrific solution by a long shot, but i suppose that's just how it'll be until i (or someone else? this is an open invitation, tho do tag me) come(s) up with a solution

i didn't do a fullbody sketch for grey heron george, but if i did i'd have him stand next to someone for comparison. i guess the question with that is how much his neck would factor into his height since he's plenty tall as is. i did also want to do a dramatic drawing for george, but i was severely struggling to figure out a pose. maybe i'll do one in the future..

next up, yuki. anon, i LOVED these suggestions! i ended up drawing both suggested fursonas bc why not lol. (also, i did assume by "japanese tit" you meant aegithalos caudatus japonicus (called shimaenaga (シマエナガ) in japanese) the white-faced subspecies of the long-tailed bushtit only found in hokkaido, japan) and not parsus minor, since the shimaenaga definitely gives more yuki vibes)

(before i say anything i Just realized 2'58" makes no fucking sense so i need to correct this first — it should be 2'7" ! my bad yall)

i drew yuki as a tit before i drew him as a dormouse so i'll talk abt them in that order

obviously as a creature the shimaenaga is SO very yuki sdkjfh i mean just!! look at ittt!! the definition of borb (bird orb). ngl i was kinda hoping they'd have shrike-like tendencies just bc i love when little cute things kill with brutality, but nope! they're insectivores year-round. shimaenaga are polygynous and lay 7-10 eggs per brood, which is great bc they're vulnerable to cold temperatures and hokkaido has long winters. long-tailed tits typically have facial markings resembling big brows, but this subspecies loses those markings in adulthood, probably to better blend in with the snow. i think i was gonna draw hatchling yuki with big brows at some point, but didn't bc drawing babies is difficult and drawing babies as birds is even more difficult lmao. you might notice that i chose to go the beastars route with anthropomorphic animals and gave bird yuki humanoid limbs and no wings. why did i choose to do this? well. i am not great at drawing bird legs and i didn't feel like drawing them here

the japanese dormouse has an avg length of less than 8cm (3.15in) with a tail of 6cm (2.4in). they're omnivores, with a diet consisting of fruit, nuts, insects, spiders, bird eggs and nestlings, and small rodents—even other dormice, hence my little comment abt cannibalism. again, i like it when little cute things kill with brutality. i think this works better for yuki, who i personally see as being small but mighty, though it's not like it doesn't work to make him a particularly vulnerable animal. rise against the odds and all that

regardless of whichever animal you (widely encompassing) or i choose to draw yuki as, i find yuki as a small prey animal to be v interesting. both the shimaenaga and japanese dormouse are small and agile creatures, and fitting a small animal with yuki's personality is compelling to me (which is not to say i buy into the narrative of yuki being particularly explosive or having anger issues, bc i don't believe in nor stand for that lol). for the purpose of the narrative, i love you small but stubborn animals that can and will bite you!

before i move on please appreciate pierre and yuki in the corner, i am forever and always a citizen of yukierre nation

ok last and anything but least, lewis! i'll admit, anon, i was a bit confused at first why you specifically picked the lesser kudu for lewis, but after seeing a comparison of the greater and lesser kudus.. i get it. lesser kudus look cooler (more markings) and i enjoy that

so, pretty clear timeline here. a headshot of lewis in the present, what lewis would look like with horns (i spent. so long on this. completely on accident bc i wanted the horns to look good and then had to make the rest of it look like it matched asgjfkh), what lewis looked like in ~2007, lewis post-surgery (complete horn removal), and then a sketch of lewis smiling bc i like his smile \(^u^)/

(btw, while you're here, there are only ~100k lesser kudu left in the world due to over-hunting and habitat destruction, so. figure i could stand to add a link to the african wildlife foundation page on kudus, where you can find a donation button in the corner)

anon, what you said abt lewis' horn removal being a really big deal... ough it had me thinkinggg. i think the symbolism in permanently sawing off a part of yourself to fit a mold is sooo intriguing (tho not completely matching w/ lewis' story, i think as a general concept it fucks) and also represents the sacrifices needed to be part of motorsport, particularly from a young age. pecora would need to either cut off or greatly shorten the length of their cranial appendage in order to fit their head in a helmet — technically you could like, cut holes in your helmet, but then if you have a serious crash it'd probably be a near-certain fatality due to the bone and blood and nerves in there, in addition to the obvious danger of having a heavy bone object potentially crushing into your skull. there's only a few species of pecora where having a cranial appendage isn't a sexually dimorphic thing (eg caribou, reindeer, cattle, wildebeest) so having big horns is largely a sign of masculinity, hence why lewis initially kept as much of his horns as he could (there's probably some regulation for how large horns can be before they become a danger)

so with that being said, when lewis removes his horns entirely, it causes some uproar since he's effectively socially emasculating himself on purpose. there's definitely shitty articles written about it left and right, angrily bullshitting about how it's a sign that this is the end of masculine pecora (it's not) or that regulations have gone too far (no one made him do it) or that lewis is a bad role model (nope) or whatever the hell. lewis gives like One statement on it, smth abt how he did it for his own comfort and nothing else, how it doesn't emasculate him (bc it doesn't, anyone can do whatever well-informed decision forever and it can mean fuck all if you want it to mean fuck all, Truly who give a shit), and again more shitty articles quote it. etc etc usual circlejerk of illiterate media "journalism" continues until it dies down once something else happens. idk, smth like that, i didn't go to fucking school for math realistic furry-verse timeline creation

asdkjfh oh my god THANK YOU SO MUCH to anyone who's read this whole thing, please let me know your thoughts and opinions or if i made any errors. anon, i appreciate you immensely, i am so terribly sorry for the rambling but i hope you found this post interesting!

[isshusgotissues]

ok ok ok so the refs from today. im just talking as perap does so feel free to ignore this

- it was kind of like a test to see how i could balance out quality with quantity. my canvas size has bumped up in resolution since the post from last year and im finally coloring line art, hallelujah. (i cant believe it took me so long to start doing that my old stuff was SO washed out with just black line art)

- tbh i did most of the extras (alt outfits etc) bc i thought it would be fun. and it was! well, the line art was. the coloring... oh god, what a drag. its so boring. so much procrastination... but im glad i finally got it out and just a little over a year after the first ones.

- so ya i said galar was like 90% done and NOW its like 200% done, and with that being said

- "yOu DiDnT dO tWiLiGhT wInGs ExClUsIvE oUtFiTs OR ThE cOrViKnIgHt TaXi DrIvEr" and my response is: when does it end, susan? MAYBE i will end up doing them. but it took me two months along with all that art i posted earlier this month and im tired. im not doing them today, not tomorrow, not for a while. galar is DONE i want to move on

- so the take away from the test is. i am not doing that again. JDGFG. the alt outfits and designs (basically the entirety of part 3)... i wont be including those in ref batch posts from now on. it was a lot. when i draw extras like that, ill just do it whenever. im not making them priority like i did with the posts from today.

- tbh i MIGHT aim to get gen 7 done this year. i can try it. i ACTUALLY have a few sketches done already so theres hope.

ok so now for comments on specific things

- firstly, tumblrs image limit forces me to put multiples on the same canvas, which i finally decided to take advantage of and have a few interactions that i wouldnt have done if i could just post them all individually so i think thats neat. adds some substance i think.

- again mustard isnt urshifu bc i couldnt choose which one he wouldve been. tho ngl hyde wouldve been cute as a kubfu

- ik honey has a team but i didnt like any of them for her so its free real estate

- yes klara and avery are the ONLY ones with gloves and dynamax bands. shhh i know. i know.

- nia was also kinda free real estate bc her only known pokemon is tyrantrum and. i didnt like that. i also didnt like galarian meowth for her either. so tbh i did it to match her earrings, but also i dont have ANY pikachu girls as of yet and i wanted to fix that (i say that as i already posted a pikagirl a few weeks ago HDHDGS)

- sighs. sordward and shielbert... i NEEDED a reason to justify their stupid hair ok i DONT care about anything else. i THINK it makes them better. maybe. probably not. and also i copy and pasted them despite trying to not be lazy with my art bc i just fucking hate them i dont care.

- the macro cosmos employees were actually inspired by this made by flare-gamer-64! its the reason i didnt go with aggron for peony. and at first i thought mawile for one of my designs would turn out weird but i actually think its fine now

- glorias mom is glaceon bc free real estate clause. and i just threw in hops and leons mom bc why not.

- snom anthro. s n o m a n t h r o

- close ups of allister and gordie bc i needed eye color refs for them. also wanted to draw gordies natural hair cuz hes cute

- i DONT think we see bede in his gym uniform BUT my official plushie of him has it so thats my reason for including him and completing the quintet of the kids in their uniforms.

- let us all take a moment to appreciate the confirmation that klara has feetpaws. ive started drawing hands more but im probably never drawing human feet. ever.

- annnd ball guy. what is ball guy you ask? ball guy is ball guy. dont question it.

- oh god i HATE the tundra outfit dont EVER make me draw it again shoes AND bags god the very last things i had to do involved the tundra outfits bc i was putting it off for last uhfjdvd