What’s Going On in the Head of a Cassowary

If one intends to make speculative creatures, looking at just how weird real Earth creatures are is an important starting point. I find sea monsters that are all lizard-spiky-wolf-heads-with-bat-wings much less awe inspiring than, say, a massive turtle or toad. So now I’m thinking: what might a fantastic monster based on a cassowary be like?

A crosshatched study of a cassowary skull, light on dark background. Bird heads are already weird to me because of their beaks and optical bones, both of which we lack. The big bone crest is really over the top.
A cassowary skull. I love doing drawings like this. It’s so satisfying. I can just fall in and cross hatch forever.

In case you don’t know, here are some photos of cassowaries. Such good inspiration!

Whenever someone says "feathered dinosaurs aren't scary ...

I’d love to do a study of those feet.

Modular systems are a function of industrial society. But do people of The Fifth World still know how to agree to standards? With their acute interest in efficiency, I think they might have carried that lesson forward!

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