Winged People Anatomy: Wing Design

The feathery part of the series. Not really a 'How to draw' (though there is another picture for that) more of a 'How they actually work and function'. Shaping and understanding them mainly because there are too many generic swan/eagle like wings. The wing types really are the most important for you to look at, especially if you're designing a race of winged people; think about how they work, are they fast, agile, long distance? Colour too. Also if you wish to use this for other bird-winged creatures too, should work the same way.

I've seen WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many basic blacks, whites and browns, be creative, you're artists.Go look at the list of birds at the bottom for inspiration on colour and design if you want.

Calculation for wingspan:
(Height [cm] x Wing Type) + Back Width [cm] = Approximate Span [cm's].
 And a feet to cm converter for your help: www.metric-conversions.org/len…
If you're not sure which wing type is right for you to use, just ask. And if you're using the calculator for animal/non-humanoid i'd probably go for length rather than height, but the same calculation should apply, it'd just be bigger. A lot bigger.
[Edit] Added both long and short number calculations.

Or you can use 's auto-calculator that you can download here: www.mediafire.com/download/dh6…


May not be entirely useful to use for some people, but for writing it might help a lot especially if you want to describe the shape or see how well proportioned your character is in comparison to their wing size. The wingspan is an approximation, you can always add or remove a few inches/feet if you feel appropriate. 

[Edit] Added a few small changes and additions to it with the calculation, texture and markings. The four marking types are not the sum total of what's out there, just examples for wording.
Also DA sometimes loads a very old version so click on the title and it'll show up the new version.