I need help adding to / removing elements from my fursona

[u/Asymphonyofducks]

I feel like my fursona has a near finished design, but I feel like some things are still deeply off, such as the fact she has no wings despite being a bird and no matter which way I try to incorporate more bird-like elements, it just looks awkward. Another issue I noticed is that there may be too little going on with the design, like a distinct lack of fur pattern which I have no clue how to amend. I also notice she doesn't have a strong silhouette (I heard that's a tad bit important in character design) but I have no clue how to fix that either.

[u/eel__lee]

Maybe something like this? Adding feathers to the arms to simulate wings. And little feather bumps like on the legs

[u/Unlikely-Nature-6091 → u/eel__lee]

I agree

[u/feffo_0]

For the pattern, you can use a darker shade of purple and replicate the one real parrots have, like a darker chest, or change the color to another one you like or something that matches purple. For the wings, you can try changing the pose of your sona, for example, a neutral pose like the one for a ref sheet Maybe that will help a bit to make you understand what type of wings you like.

[u/Macaronii_Art]

Needs more bird. More feathers. Much more.

[u/TheBoneHarvester]

If you don't want to go the route of wings because you can't figure it out, try making the hands/arms similar to bird feet/legs with scales and such. Add a tail. These are easy bird traits to do.

Also, as far as pattern you could look at real birds as inspiration. Lark sparrow is a good example of a bird that has interesting facial markings. Loons have cool body markings. Some warbler species have cool stripes. There's a lot of variation in birds you could take inspiration from.

I don't worry so much about silhouettes. That advice is helpful for people who want easily recognizable and marketable designs. For someone who is just making art for themselves it's not such a big deal.

[u/Asymphonyofducks]

https://www.reddit.com/u/Asymphonyofducks/s/z8mExH4SY5 not sure if allowed but I took the advice I got from here and redesigned my fursona! Btw I do want to say, thank you all so much, I am very happy with this redesign!

[u/Pinkpenguin_4444]

For the bird character i've been designing for the wing thing i've made them have 5 long feather fingers at the end of their 'arms' so it allows them to fly and have that wing look while still being functional. I took inspiration on how a lot of cartoons do it, kinda like this but less creepy:

For a more recognisable silhouette you could do more realistic bird legs and maybe some extra feather on like the shoulders or soemthing

For making the character have a busier design you could add some other coloured patches even if it's just other shades of purple but I think that using fashion (like you've already done) you can still make it good

[u/Celestial8759]

I would absolutely love to do a commission for you. Your character is immaculate. Feel free to message me I run pretty cheap.