Tag: ref sheet

Ref sheet drawing of an anthro avian character. Lineart. Full-body front and back views, a 3/4 bust, front-facing bust, tail cutout, a long scarf, and swatches in the shapes of feathers. Text for the character reads: Zecknel Al'Raithe. — Reference sheet commission; lines only.

Recently finished ref sheet commission! I’m so humbled when I’m asked to do a ref sheet commission, because it isn’t something I formally list anywhere that I do, but the ones I’ve done have been very enjoyable. Many thanks to Zecknel for this one, in particular, because when first asked to do this, I let Zecknel know that I would use a looser line style. I say this for all the ref sheets I’ve done, because before this year, I wouldn’t say I work with clean lines.

Serendipitously, between the time Zecknel approached me with this project (an updated ref sheet for his character, the original itself a ref sheet I made for them a few years back) and the project’s start date, I began drawing more with line as I drew The Harbinger’s Path webcomic. By the time the start date for this commission approached, I was fairly confident I could do this reference sheet with cleaner lines than for any ref sheet I’ve drawn before. I would still consider these lines more on the looser side, and not “true” lineart – but they’re much cleaner than “lines” I’ve drawn before this year – especially on commission.

Color version of the previous ref sheet. The avian is richly clad in feathers of a darker, royal blue, with feather accents of gold and yellow. Eyes are also golden yellow. Scalesa and talons are a dark color. Scarf is orange, but text notes it can be any color, but is very long. — Reference sheet commission; with color.

Zecknel has such a cool concept for their character, especially once you add color. The vibrancy of their character’s feather patterns have a visual spark, I think! I’m also excited about this ref sheet, because it will be used to create a costume (or “fursuit”) Zecknel is commissioning from a specialized crafter. I’ve known Zecknel’s character for a few years now, and I’m really looking forward to seeing a physical manifestation of their character! I’ve always had a lot of admiration for the craftsmanship behind fursuit crafters – the technical skill to bring these imagination creations into physical form is this wonderful representation of passion and creativity. I’ve seen some truly incredible instances of artisan craftsmanship that rival what you see on stage or in films. I just love seeing people expressing what they love, especially the more indie types!

Reference sheet crop highlighting the scale and feather detail of an anthro avian character. Lineart. — Crop | I especially loved drawing the scales and feathers!

Edit Nov 5, 2025: I don’t know what it is about posting that makes my eye notice things, but I noticed the angle for the far wing was inaccurate! I’ve revised the above refs, and the earlier versions are in the full post below:

Happy Thanksgiving! We are likely cooking up a storm in the kitchen right now, but let’s cross-celebrate with a compilation post with a few recent sketches.

Above is a profile sketch practice of Corveil. I was mainly imagining a slightly different shape for the tip and bridge of his nose. Also, his hair was originally toned a bluer hue, but became more grey as the painting progressed. I think I still slightly prefer the bluer tone, but the more monochrome look seems fun to potentially explore.

I do have a story-based reason for tinting his hair more toward blue (it’s probably not too difficult to guess), but still experimenting to see if I like where it goes visually.

This was an Arquel practice painting that was really fun to draw. It didn’t quite turn out the way I was imagining, but it’s closer than past attempts of a similar idea I’ve had for him.

I’ve been experimenting more with Vaknaa’s design, and redesigning her to be slightly more practical. Oh, why don’t I post the very rough sketch sheet I made for her a while back: Main changes are making the head crest feathers more balanced proportionally, reducing their overall size. Same with the horns, and also adjusting their angle to not compete with the crest feathers. I also tried out a few different horn shapes, and this was the one I liked best so far. The most recent painting above deviates from the ref sheet, because I’m still continually adjusting her design to see which works best.

I’ll post a few of the other thumbnail concepts below:

I did an array of sketches, and these were the ones I narrowed them down to.

Here’s the full page of concepts. Not compiled neatly, because I wasn’t intending to show these. But since it’s my blog, I figure why not! My idea for Vaknaa that I’ve been toying with is that I want her & her species to have crests of head feathers, ideally visually identifiable as “feather crests” instead of “head wings.”

I was browsing some old files a few days ago, and nearly forgot that in her very old design, she had outright head wings. Which is a very cool and fun design feature that I always love seeing on characters, but I wanted to see if I could come up with with something that is still distinctly feathery, but more evocative of the crests you see on real birds. I was curious to see if I might be able to come up with a design like this that worked well with the humanoid skull shape.

It’s still an ongoing process that I don’t think completely works yet, but I think I’m getting closer to something I like for her!

Close-up of the painting from further up in the post.

Posts Tagged with ref sheet

Zecknel Ref Sheet Commission | November 4, 2025

Recent Sketches + Vaknaa Design Concepts