Starting to get my new bird accustomed to people. After catching the bird from the wild, it takes 4 - 6 weeks of training before the bird can be released and counted on to (usually) fly back to my fist.
“Now only dogs will follow me,, is he following? ”
Tigerclaw after killing Redtail for #WOTW on twitter! I had a blast making this, it’s been months since I took the time to make a full illustration and it was definitely worth it ~
There’s just something SO relaxing about finally drawing and designing canon characters how I always imagined them reading the books ;; Also- I have the other ones done (The Prophecies Begin and The New Prophecy) but wanted to do a few touchups on them before submitting! Anyways- super fun challenge! Next is going to be a wall of text as to why I designed them like I did and maybe some head-canons I have for them…
Darkstripe - I gave him more of a dark gray/brown tint like the trash that he is. His eyes are SUPER PALE YELLOW just because I thought it’d be neat to be light that pale yellow, reflective color. I wish his relationship (half-brother) with Graystripe would have been developed more. I know you can’t go into all relationships like that, but I feel like they are complete polar opposites with the same mother, so that could have been a really interesting sub-plot to be explored. My headcanon would be that he always looked down on Graystripe because of how his mother took another mate after his father died. Also he smells like stagnant pond water.
Redtail - Ahhh Redtail, my boy. I haven’t read Redtail’s Debt, so I may be wrong on a few of these things but… Let’s star with the design. You can’t see the fullbody I have for him and Spottedleaf, but Redtail is large patches of ginger whereas my Spottedleaf is much more speckled. Other than that, they have the same color pallette! I 100% stan Trans Redtail. This is one of my favorite headcanons and I love it. And this can totally still work for him being Sandstorm’s parent which is ok with me Or not! That’s fine too! I just stan Trans Redtail! Redtail is in love with Runningwind but when Sandstorm is born, Sandstorm’s surrogate mother becomes Brindleface. Also, I absolutely would have loved to change the books so that Redtail, not Spottedleaf, was Fireheart’s StarClan guide. ALSO Go read Redtail’s Choice on Tumblr?! It’s so good!? Like really! Go read it!!
Longtail- So I always had this idea in my head that Longtail was always pretty vain- always viewed himself as an extremely good looking character, so when Firepaw shredded his ear, more than anything, his pride was hurt, but also his good looks (at least, to him!). Longtail becoming deputy would have been so much great character development and I would have loved to see that- would have really showed his maturity away from Tigerstar/Darkstripe and really prove not only his loyalty to ThunderClan, but to Firestar and I LIVE for that. Every single Longtail design I see is 100% valid and I LOVE the ALL of the different designs in the community (but I am WEAK for cinnamon / cinnamon silver). He really did NOT want to mentor again after Swiftpaw, feeling that Swiftpaw’s death was his fault- it really took some persuading for him to be willing to mentor again. After Longtail was blinded, Goldenflower took care of him, helping to guide him, encourage him, and describe his surroundings to him after they made it to the lake territory and they formed a really strong bond over him doing the best he could with Swiftpaw and both of their shared experiences with Tigerstar. Ace 100%. Yellowfang- I always LOVED Yellowfang in the original arc, but after that, my love for her kind of burned out a little…I didn’t like how she *lied* to Squirrelflight saying that she would never be able to have kits and pretty much guilted her into raising the three but… I digress. In Squirrelflight’s Hope, she literally gave the middle finger to Moth Flight about having kits and THEN making the rule for medicine cats not to have kits. Her relationship with Raggedstar was horrible, toxic, and borderline (if not fully) abusive and I hate it. The only real headcanon I have for her is that basically, Cinderpelt was the daughter that she had never had, so I like… love that. So, as Cinderpaw recovered from her accident, Yellowfang worked herself tirelessly trying to find any way that she could help Cinderpaw’s body and soul heal. She talked and met with other medicine cats, studied the bones in prey, and other various methods, trying to figure out how to help the apprentice. She was tough on Fireheart, but always had a sweet spot for Cinderpaw, often taking her treats while Cinderpaw was recovering.
Sandstorm- Sandstorm isn’t the typical definition of beautiful but is beautiful in her own strong, independent, hard-working way. Her morals and ethics are what make her so beautiful. I completely agree that she is slightly larger than Fireheart, and much larger if he had the same length of fur that she does. She’s a big buff and I love her for it. I completely wish she would have had a scene where she went absolutely feral on Tigerstar for killing both of her parents. Like wtf regardless of her family tree, Tigerstar literally killed Redtail, Runningwind, and Brindleface and she didn’t beat his ass for it and I hate that. Also- Sandstorm only had one litter because she hated being pregnant because she’s too much of a busy-body and too risky during border skirmishes. She hated being told to sit out or rest while others were risking their lives. Also- small ear gang I love her
Cinderpelt- Cinderpelt- my girl ;; A lady who deserved more but totally made the absolte best of the life she was given. Yellowfang made her into the hardened, no non-sense medicine cat she is and I adore her for that, even telling Tigerclaw to shut up. I love it. I read a headcanon once (which I fully support) that she was given her name Cinder-PELT after the Silver-PELT, to always remind her of her connection to StarClan and how she met her destiny like a true warrior. I personally hate CinderxFire. I don’t like it one bit. She doesn’t need a relationship to be the badass that she is. She’s stocky and strongly built, contrary to a lot of medicine cats- she has the build of a warrior and the size to back it up. Also heck on the Erins for not exploring more about the relationship between Brightheart and Cinderpelt, being sisters and also Cinderheart having to take care of her after she was mauled by a dog and then subsequently named Lostface. I also wish I could have saw Cinderpelt take a chunk out of Bluestar for being so horrible and naming her beloved sister that. Also she was super honored to mentor her old mentor’s daughter. I love it.
It’s not quite pride month yet but I didn’t feel like waiting to post these! just a (non-exhaustive, I might make more later) bunch of icons of a few of my personal LGBT WC headcanons using my warriors designs. Free to use anywhere with credit!
