Okay, so I made this tutorial for one main reason: to try and help people out so they can make realistic wings. I find it kind of annoying when I see beautiful pictures but really badly made wings that ruin the whole thing. I think my main problems with pictures of angels/dragons/anything with bad wings/etc is this: They either don't fit said creature (they are ridiculously small, hardly big enough to swat a fly let alone raise a human sized creature in the air) or they look like puffy cottonballs/some other type of thing that doesn't remotely resemble a wing. (Ex: WHAT IS THAT???!!! ---> [link] )

So! Enough said. Hopefully people will find this tutorial helpful for drawing wings or for references.

I'll do bird wings first and later bat wings. But since feathers and such are where people mess up the most (including myself) I think that's where I'll start.

Wings

1. The first thing you will want to know is that there are differnet kinds of wings for different purposes. There are four main ones. This is a good picture to illustrate the differences between them: [link]

1.) Elliptical wings: These are broad shaped wings with large wing slots and an alula (it's like a bird's thumb) that sticks out from the arch of the wing. The alula's function is to fly up higher. Sometimes the alula is not visible when it is tucked up against the wing. An example of this kind of elliptical wing would be the flycatcher's: Ex: [link]

2. The next type is probably the more popularly drawn: The High Lift wings. These kind of wings are broad, but also long, with wide wing slots to allow the bird to reach high elevations and soar for certain periods of time. Think eagles. Ex: [link] , [link] ,

3. Soaring wings are the type that belong to many sea-birds, including sea-gulls. Obviously, these are the best kind of wings for soaring because of their long, narrow wing shape they can take advantage of the sea-breezes and simply ride the wind. Ex: [link] , [link]

4. The last kind of wing is the High Speed wings. I think these look the most artistic because of their slender, sweeping back feathers. They're obviously very aero-dynamic. Ex: [link] , [link] , [link]


*****Note how unlike the eagle's wings, the soaring-wings and high-speed wings sweep back together. They don't stick out the way they do for the birds who fly at high elevations******


Feathers:

As for drawing feathers and especially for feather-layering, this is one picture I particularly liked, even though it's a little dark and hard to see: [link]

Here's another good one: [link] Now, what kind of a wing is this?

From the same website you can see a good picture of a primary feather

This is the picture of the eagle that I used in the picture: [link]

So, now that you know the different types, you can choose the best fit for whatever creature you are drawing wings for. I might recommennd the High-Lift ones if artists are drawing people or angels simply because that type is larger and looks far more suitable to a heavy creature (since the birds that have high lift wings tend to be much heavier than say, swallows or gulls). Of course it's all up to you. Have fun drawing wings and feathers!

And this is just a cool-looking picture: [link] Hehehe, no, the golden eagle is not killing the fox. They're just fighting over the kill.