Hello wanderers, thought I'd take a moment to update you on progress with the artwork. We now have some finished pieces to discuss, so I'll take you through concept work and then show the final inks for each. 

I decided to start with the steeds section, for no other reason than I felt like drawing some animals.

You have actually seen these sketches last month, but they're relevant to this creature so I'm sharing them again. Zorses are the dominant equine strain still surviving on Urth. Since most of Vaarn's animals have gone through some process of gene-sculpting, I want them to look familiar but not quite what you'd see outside your window. The Zorse is obviously derived from zebras, but I didn't want to just draw a zebra and call it good. My initial sketches here are of okapis, a relative of the giraffe which boast a similar stripe pattern to zebras on their rumps.
 

The final piece ended up being more zebra-like again. I didn't actually end up doing lots of preliminary drawings for this one, I just went for it. The patterning is based on a quagga, an extinct subspecies of zebra that was hunted to extinction in the 1900s. I just think they're neat! 

Regarding genetic modification, note the long tongue that can feed on insect protein and the running spikes instead of hooves, something Zorses share with the Destrier (on which more in a later update). 

Stridingfools seem completely logical to me in context of the wider Vaarn setting but present some unique challenges in portraying. They are human-derived burden beasts, lacking sapience but having grown much stronger. Vaarn features many creatures that have gained human-like sapience, so it feels appropriate to also feature some post-human creatures that have moved the other way. Dougal Dixon's Man After Man and the truly grotesque creatures in All Tomorrows cover this territory in more depth.

I did some initial explorations that I wasn't entirely happy with. The figure on the left is clearly gorilla-derived, but I ended up feeling that 'gorilla' wasn't really the vibe I wanted here, as it doesn't really give the unnverving impression of a human form twisted back into something it isn't meant to be. Gorillas are after all meant to be themselves! Walking on all fours isn't uncomfortable for them.

The right hand sketch shows an upright posture, but I wasn't super happy with this either. It looks too generically ogre-ish. I think you could explore this one further by making his back more shelf-like and contorted, but I needed another source of reference.

My partner suggested a truly quadrupedal pose, as it's really unnatural and uncomfortable for humans to walk this way. I ended up looking at some stills of Ayla Kirstine, a Norwegian woman who for reasons known only to her has learned to walk and run like a horse. The footage is deeply uncomfortable to watch but provided some great references, as you can see above.

I refined the look further, moving away from a lithe female form to something even more primal - a kind of hairless quasi-neonate morphology. The rounded head and staring wide eyes speak of vulnerability while the hairless muscular body communicates the opposite.

The final piece was hard to settle on, but I'm pleased with the effect. A truly upsetting creation. If your friends aren't sure if Vaarn is for them, show them this picture and only this picture. 

Bird steeds have been a science fantasy mainstay for decades, presumably based on the horseclaws from Nausicaa.

Accordingly I did very few sketches for the Burden Bird, as the basic design work was already done for me. I did consider a Terror Bird-like profile, as you can see bottom right, but it looks too predatory and aggressive. I wanted these guys to seem more docile.

The final piece came together pretty easily. I'm finding my stride again with the illustrations and looking forward to showing you more in a few weeks time.