A gryphon that has European starling plumage, cougar feline markings, but then a huge feathery tail like a quetzal or perhaps a fantail pigeon.

Thinking about.... Erlock Startail today.

🎨 Cockatiel Forger
All her GryphIns fan art can be found here: kvalenagle.com/fanart/cocka... #gryphon #GryphIns

A soggy sandgrouse sand cat gryphon in a stormy sky surrounded by lightning like the goddess of thunder.

Chapter Thirty-Four: THUNDER SPONGE

🎨 @pebbles-grape.bsky.social

#GryphIns #GryphInsFanArt

A long, noodly gryphon with pale fur and feathers marked with blood red on the beak and talons plus black oilbird eyes.

"Is there any fan art of the Nighthaunt?"

There is! The CockatielForger has two pieces, and @new-rainbowbirds12.bsky.social has this lovely piece down below on DeviantArt: www.deviantart.com/rainbowbirds...

#GryphIns #GryphInsFanArt

Lei, a jade peafowl opinicus or earless gryphon, holding an egg in the trans pride colors with a little crack in it. Lei first appears in the novel Eyrie by K. Vale Nagle and transitions over the first five books in the Gryphon Insurrection or GryphIns series. A trans person who does not know they are trans yet is called an egg, and when they realize they're trans, it's called an egg crack moment.

Maybe the most requested chibi heart is Lei holding an egg in the trans pride colors.

I don't know if Lei himself helped crack any eggs but I started writing him in Eyrie the year after my spouse's egg cracked around the same time I realized I was trans

🎨 @yotenotes.bsky.social
#gryphon #GryphIns

Urious and Thanca from Gryphon Insurrection, at the base of the mountains that form the Taiga, with a lake on the left.

The Wingtorn Twins, Thenca and Urious from the Gryphon Insurrection series. Can you guess which one is which? :3
#gryphon #gryphins #gryphoninsurrection #drawing #digitalart

An owl gryphon chapter header as a gingerbread cookie with frosting.

The Eyrie Hearts sticker pack on Telegram has been updated to include the Gryphmas Gingerbread Cookie version of the owl gryphon chapter header by Kittrel =]

t.me/addstickers/... #gryphon #GryphIns

A drawing of Veron the Night Parrot, a kakapo gryphon with blueberry dye markings over his tail, chest, and ears. Flags mark him as canonically asexual and aromantic, and the artist, CockatielForger, also marks him as neurodivergent, which is... probably correct, now that I think about it.

Blinky: "Have you heard of... The Night Parrot?"

Black Mask: "No."

(Veron fan art by the CockatielForger.)

#gryphon #GryphIns

A very crude blue pen sketch of a gryphon sitting on a rectangle.

A beautiful fantasy illustration of a hoopoe bird sand cat gryphon perched in a redrock canyon with small nests with scraps of colorful cloth in the desert canyon walls. Art by Jeff Brown for the novel The Ruins of Crestfall by K. Vale Nagle.

I've said this many times before, but it's always a delight working with @jeffbrowngraphics.bsky.social on a new cover.

On the left, he asked me what I was thinking for The Ruins of Crestfall. On the right, Jeff being brilliant.

books2read.com/crestfall #gryphon #GryphIns

An illustration in a cartoony style like a Telegram sticker pack of Kia, a red-shouldered parrot plus tabby cat opinicus, reaching out to accept a gryphmas present. Kia is wearing a red santa hat, has painted green into her tabby cat half to make it match her parrot half, and she's mostly light green with darker ont he edges and then blue and red worked into her plumage, especially around the shoulders. She looks happy with sparkly red eyes.

While Kia has never had her own sticker pack, @stupidshepherd.bsky.social would often draw fun group picks of the various characters they've done stickers for at the end of the year, and one year, Kia got a cameo in a Christmas scene =]

I love how Shep draws Kia so much<3

#gryphon #GryphIns

Chert, a jaguarundi oilbird gryphon, holding an ace pride sticker.

Xin, a black-billed magpie melanistic leopard gryphon, holding an ace pride heart.

Happy Ace Week / Asexual Awareness Week!

I realized there were no ace pride stickers in the Eyrie Hearts pack, so @yotenotes.bsky.social was kind enough to create ace stickers for Chert and Xin =]

If you're on Telegram, you can add the pack here: t.me/addstickers/...

#gryphon #GryphIns #AceWeek

Aaaaw, it's Pumpkin! Cielle's boyfriend is honored to be the sample for Teazy's latest YCH =)

#gryphon #GryphIns

Look, it's Askel the Phoenix and Triddle... the Sog!!

I drew Triddle around June and just never had the energy to finish Askel UNTIL NOW!! I like these two :}

#GryphonInsurrection #Gryphon #GryphIns #Phoenix

Hand drawn artwork of Whisper, a spotless starling maine raccoon cat gryphon with cat ears, four cat paws, dark fur with the barest hint of starling 'stars' in the pattern, with silver eyeshine paint covering her eyes and putting designs and stripes into her fur. The CockatielForger has worked blue and pink into the stripes and design to recreate the trans pride colors. In blue written above her is Transgender. Below is Crystal Castles, the name of the band. Whisper is a transfemme gryphon and main point of view character in the novel Pridelord.

Last Christmas, I received a fan letter from CockatielForger with fan art of various characters with song associated with each one.

Here's the art for Whisper from Pridelord, along with the song Transgender by Crystal Castles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQSt...

#gryphon #GryphIns #trans

A seraphic opinicus, noodly and six-winged, looking up with back wings spread and curled, tail curled, and feathers spread. By willowwillowbunbun on Tumblr.

Since we covered most of the fan art of the seraphic opinici, I thought I'd add the most recent one I've come across, by Willow Willow Bun Bun on Tumblr.

Okay, coffee complete, back to writing. But definitely share anyone else's noodly gryphon designs if you read this!

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Mally the Nighthaunt by the CockatielForger, an in-between state with feathered legs but still depending on the back wings for flight.

For such a weird gryphon design, one I'd never seen anyone even suggest before, I'm very blessed that Brenda Lyons' did such a good job with the official art, blown away by Flam's iterations on their movement, and always surprised when they show up in fan art =]

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

A seraph on all fours, crouched down, wings held tight. This time, there's the green of Pacific northwest ferns around the ears and tips of the wings, darker green on the shoulders like redwood leaves, and the dark oranges of the soil in those forests all over his body.

My reply, by the way, was pictures of the redwood forests I'd visited while writing Eyrie. The ones where I'd imagined Zeph. So here's Redwood Valley Zeph as a seraphic opinicus.

I also love how Flam has Zeph retain his more feline posture and look even so flappy.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

A seraph on all fours, crouched down, wings held tight. This version of Zeph the Seraph has a coppery base, then light green on the neck, blue on the tops and middles of the wings, waves of red and blue, too, and an orange tail.

A seraph on all fours, crouched down, wings held tight. This version of Zeph is all autumn forest colors, specifically browns, oranges, reds, coppers, and some lighter taupe and darker brown on the wings.

Then questions: what about the protagonist of the series, the little kitty of a gryph, Zeph? What would his colors look like as a seraph?

One design had more autumn and Cooper's hawk, the other borrowed some of Kia's red-shouldered parrot colors.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

A long, noodly, six-winged gryphon designed around a red-shouldered parrot. The body is is green with blue on the wing primaries, red on her tail feathers, and dark blue on the tips. She's standing in a way that feels a bit pterosaur or avian.

Just before or after Pridelord released, Flam appeared again, mentioning an obsession with a seraph design based on Kia, a red-shouldered parrot opinicus and one of the first two characters you meet in the entire series.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Emin, the Seraph King, a white tailed kite inspired seraph with black spots on each of the four main wings, all spread, facing forward in the air with tail curled around. He has a black beak, reddish eyes, and a noodly body on a dark and light blue background.

Look, any author who designs a gryphon they love is delighted to get fan art. But an artist also becoming obsessed is a bit like a dream come true. There was a pause after the sketches, and then, suddenly... Emin, the Seraph King, in color!

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Top view of the main four wings working as one and the shape of feathers looking up at one gliding.

Ninox, a very feline owl gryphon, looking cat-like, determined, but also, you sort of want to hug her?

Side view of a seraph with the four main wings up and the back legs and tail spread.

The feathermane pride if K. Vale Nagle wasn't such a coward. Kidding, bulky gryphons with long flowing pony manes that look feathered but lethal. My husband has been obsessed with this design by Flam for years.

Flam did a great job sussing out how they might fly, move, and look in motion. Not only that, but also looks at how one might appear more gryphonic (feline) versus opinical (avian).

Bonus: Ninox the owl gryphon and those pony feathermanes.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Two pictures of seraphs, one with wings up, one down, and comments like "wyvern-like arms" to show how they could have moved.

Front view of a seraph leaping into the air, main four wings spread.

Picture of a seraph in flight, showing the main wings forming an X, the back legs together to form a rudder.

Back view of the four-wings-spread, back-legs-rudder look.

Flam has made some excellent fan art over the years of giant kakapos chasing Zeph, the Feathermane Pride with pony manes instead of lion's manes that're super cute. So getting monthly seraphs to prod my writing along was delightful =]

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Six-winged noodle gryphon standing.

Six-winged noodle gryph landing, back wings up, forewings steering, tail and back legs helping.

Six-winged noodle gryph standing with back wings up.

Six-winged noodle gryphon stepping forwards, legs in motion, tail curled, back wings up, possibly a threat display.

But very soon after, I started getting messages from FlamSinger, who was a little obsessed with how they'd look and move. About once a month between books 7 and 8 releasing, Flam would send me these delightful sketches. "Seraphs on the brain."

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Hand-drawn artwork of Zeph (Cooper's hawk gryphon), Kia (red-shouldered parrot opinicus), and the Seraph King (noodly seraphic opinicus) by the CockatielForger.

I think the first fan art of the noodly seraphic opinici came from the CockatielForger, whose first fan mail was just "Hi! I decorated my room with GryphIns I drew!" and this picture.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Hi-kun, called "The Metalworks" by those who don't like him or "Lord of Whitebeak" by those who see him as a reeve. He's a white-tailed kite, white house cat opinicus with avian foretalons, no cat ears, and with a feathered kite tail. He's fully armored as much as anything that can fly can be armored, with fancy metal talons, breastplate, crest, spikes, and his flank covered in woven chainmail.

Both Emin above and Hi-kun below are "gryphons based on a white-tailed kite." But the body shape really shows the diversity of how a gryphonic species can look.

Side note, but Brenda Lyons draws the absolute best gryphon armor, doesn't she? Just amazing.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Emin, the Seraph King, a seraphic opinicus wearing an ornate spiked crown, a breastplate with six wings as part of the design, and standing sideways to show off how he looks. His body is very long and noodly, a bit like an eastern dragon. His forelegs are like feathered pterosaur legs, able to walk with claws that aren't quite feline or avian and then a long wing behind. On his back are normal wings. His back legs, with similar talon-paw-claws, are feathered like a microraptor. And his tail has a huge fan of tails. Art by Brenda Lyons.

Brenda Lyons had to know how the "seraphic opinici" looked from the beginning to draw the mummy and glacier shadow above, and she did an amazing job when we saw the first live ones in flashbacks. A little pterosaur, a little microraptor, a little noodle dragon.

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

Iony, a grey owl Canada lynx gryphon with lynx ears, four cat paws, and a lynx tail, looking mildly annoyed in front of a glacier which contains the shadow of an "opinithing." Art by Brenda Lyons from the novel.... Crackling Sea, I believe? Maybe Opinicus! I'm sleepy these days.

The next time we see one, presumed to be a common ancestor of both species, it's frozen in the icy home of the glacier prides, Seraphmelt.

I like traditional gryphons, but I also like to play around with different types of wings and body styles.

🎨 Brenda Lyons

#gryphon #GryphIns #spoilers

The mummified bog body remains of a creature chained to the bottom of a rocky pond to keep it from being removed from the water. The shape of the head looks almost draconic, but also gryphonic. It's a long body, and it appears as though the forelegs had a feathered version of pterosaur wings, plus normal gryphon wings on the back, then microfeather feathered black legs. The tail is long and splits at the end with hints it was once feathered, too. Art by Brenda Lyons.

In a world of more-feline gryphons and their more-avian opinicus cousins, the first hint of very weird gryphons comes when Tresh discovered an abandoned camp around a draining pond with a mummified "opinithing" chained to the bottom of the pool. So long, so many wings!

#gryphon #gryphins #spoilers

Since I'm taking a break from writing for some coffee, let's talk weird gryphons in the GryphIns books. Spoilers past this point! But also neat gryphons.

#gryphon #griffin #gryphins #spoilers

A photo of an Inaccessible Island rail, a small black flightless bird, hiding behind some grass while foraging. From Wikipedia, credited to Brian Gratwicke.

A small dark brown Inaccessible Island rail flightless bird being held by a human in a dark blue polo shirt with a white collar. The rail's body feathers look more like mouse fur. It has a tiny unusable-for-flight wing poking out. Photo by Brian Gratwicke.

A dark brown, almost black Inaccessible Island rail with a dark eye and beak, perched on a rock low to the ground. Photo by Brian Gratwicke.

What small mammal would you pair with the Inaccessible Island rail, the smallest extant flightless bird, to create a tiny gryphon? It fills the niche that a mouse might on Inaccessible Island.

Its battle cry when confronting a rival is "keekeechitrrrr!"

📸Brian Gratwicke #gryphon #gryphins

A drawing of a mallard + beaver + maybe a platypus gryphon. She's facing partially away from the viewer with her wings spread. She has male mallard markings on her wings despite being female. They're purple. Her is a beaver's tail, but it's marked with a large scar in the shape of the X they put on trees to mark them as being ready to be chopped down. Below the initial drawing is a second one where she's shown with a collar restraint. It's also clear that she has what may be piercings in her bill that would allow someone to secure her bill shut so she can't bite anyone while being transported as a prisoner. Though she's known across Belamuria as the infamous Duckbill Murder Hen, supposedly executed in the Argent Heights on account of all the murdering, her name is Molly.

It's 1am, the dragons are asleep, but I'm up doing author admin stuff, so let's have a little fun.

As the GryphIns series nears the end, what character are you really hoping ends up on a book cover?

I'll go first: the infamous Duckbill Murder Hen 🙀

🎨 @merteazy.bsky.social #gryphon #GryphIns