Unicorns, Gryphons and Pans, oh my! (Patreon)

So I'm reading through the book trilogy of Birth of the Firebringer and have felt inspired to do art of the characters. Get ready for a bunch of nerding over fantasy creatures!

I came across the first book by chance during high school. For one class we needed to pick out a book to do a report on and I didn't have much interest in the selection they had. I saw the hardcover of book one and it had this abstract art of three unicorns running across a field with a wyvern creature in a cave. And my thought was "oh it has unicorns...wait no, I bet its just some symbolism of some sort, like the strength, or gracefulness. But I need a book for the assignment"

To my surprise and delight its all about unicorns. The main character is a unicorn, and he lives in a vale with his whole unicorn family, and there's a royal line, and they have a culture and traditions and I'm sucked into their lore. And for several years I never knew there were two other books. And apparently it was so rare? When I found out there were two other books I had to go to the local library and they had to special order them because they never heard of it. And despite getting a reprint (back in 2003 I think) they don't have audio books or fan sites or anything.

So yeah, that seems to be a pattern where I have an interest in very niche things most people never heard of or care about. And I must create my own content XD

One of the things I really enjoy about this series is the colors and behaviors? of these unicorns. Like, I absolutely LOVE The Last Unicorn, but the Firebringer series takes these animals to the opposite end. Instead of mystical, demure white creatures these are wild, colorful animals. They're warriors, singers, dancers, they have a goddess they worship and enemies they fight.

In the first picture are some example of some of the characters. A unicorn named Tek (the one labeled process rose XD) is described as pied rose and black. Her mother right below her is cherry/deep mallow. And the one below her is a common horse named Ryhenna "coppery red." In their lore, unicorns never seen horses and had old wives tales of it being a form of punishment by their goddess. Stories of how someone broke a law and so they would lose their horns, their hair grew shorter, and their cloven hooves solidified into one single toe.

The rest include a lady named Ses "Color of beeswax with a poppy colored mane" and her daughter Lell "amber with milk white hair." Halla was a princess in their stories, "Dawn colored, like fire" and Zod was her mate and a seer of their people "an evening blue splashed with milk."

In the books they came across other creatures they considered their enemies. Their home was surrounded by forests where pans lived. And to the north were mountains where gryphons nested and they came every spring to pick off unicorn babies to feed their chicks.

Their greatest enemy were the wyverns. Their stories say four hundred years ago their unicorn princess, Halla, and her people were tricked by the wyverns and were chased out of their homes. The survivors fled to the vale and since then they've been replenishing their numbers and looking for a way to win back their rightful lands. The wyverns have been described as having translucent skin, with gills that fan out, barbed tails and two badger like feet they slither with. It's like if axolotls were evil somehow D: 

Finishing up, there are a few more characters that I really liked. Tek, and later she has a twin son and daughter. Aiony has the coolest design, described as mostly black on one side with silver socks and silver encircled eye" with her other side being the opposite. And Dhattar was all white which is not a thing that happens with unicorns! I was also messing with my own OCs which I made when I first read the book because of course.

And finally, one of my fav characters. His design is so striking. Described as being indigo that darkens to almost black, and dotted with flecks of white that spiraled along his eye, down his neck and shoulders and across his back. Other unicorns called him "the stars of summer"

But yeah that's what I've been up to. And if you read all this, thanks a lot and I hope you enjoy all these sketches!