whoo boy... doing this after a colonoscopy... physically exhausted, wee bit pained... wanna continue, gonna continue. So...

After receiving a top notch sample photomanipulation, with a few flaws that would irk me, and probably only me, being a flammie fan-boy and all, I decided to do a bit of a "anatomy study/ character sheet", in order to give others a more in-depth idea on the differences between human anatomy and flammie anatomy, as well as (in later pages) some examples of mixed anatomy, for the sake of anthropomorphic and transformation art.

I intend to do head, torso, arms, legs, hands, feet, a full-body shot of both species, and some shots of parts of the flammie that are markedly different, or don't exist on a human: the ears, tail, and wings.

For each anatomical portion I am going to include notes of interest on the current bit of anatomy being featured on the page/section.




So, here we have a head and facial study of a human and a flammie. For those who don't know what a flammie is, just think a feathered, furred, four-winged dragon-like critter; its a fictional creature from a video game, called Secret of Mana.

...I will try to include important details and differences without being a bore, but no guarentees... I am after all a fanboy;p

ah, one more disclaimer... there is no be all end all anatomical reference for a flammie... this is all anatomical conjecture based on someone who has studied a ton of artwork on the creature, both official and fan-based; there is no true "right" way to draw the creature... consider this a guide... not an attempt at a bible ;p

now... for the notes.

After scrawling it out from multiple angles (and I know the models aren't metrically perfect; more on that at the end of the comments) It seems that the skull is mostly similar between the two. the biggest alteration in anatomy is the face, or muzzle. When becoming a flammie, most of a human's facial lines, such as laugh lines, the septum, and other facial creases all smooth and elongate into a short, beak like muzzle, the only remaining signs of a nose being small nostrils near the front of the muzzle.

It is important to note that the muzzle of a flammie is beak-like, or beak shaped, but *Not A Beak*... consider any number of dolphins who have "beaks" but are actually streamlined, short muzzles. the muzzle of a flammie would likely be similar, being beak like in shape, but muzzle-like in firmness... aka not a hard, smooth, bony substance, but rather a firm, yet giving layer of flesh, with the beak-like tip just being a shaped, firmed lip.

also, to reinforce an earlier note, flammies do indeed have nostrils, though with most artwork, their faces are simplified to the point of having no definite nostrils. My discovery of this fact comes from the official 3D model of the creature sporting them (look up the CG movies from the game "Dawn of Mana". Indeed, the nostrils are relatively small, and easy to overlook... Actually, one CG dragon, by the name of "Toothless" in the movie "How to Tame Your Dragon", has a similar facial structure, including the small nostrils at the front of the muzzle, which are generally more visible when flared, due to agitation, or when scenting its environment.

The jawline and browline are surprisingly similar between a human and flammie. The biggest skull reformation I can see after drawing from multiple angles, aside from the smoothing and slight stretching forth of the facial features, is the lower jaw and chin. It would appear that the jaw contracts considerably as it pushes forward, as a flammie has very little "chin" on its lower mandible. I would even suspect that perhaps the jaw would rotate forward as the chin contracts, turning the human jaw into the flammie's lower mandible... I believe more illustration would be needed to better explain this transformation theory.

Extrapolating on a flammie's facial structure, I would like to mention that both the human, and the flammie, are currently in a "neutral" facial expression... The flammie is not actually "smiling" or "grinning", though it may seem so here. A couple reasons might be why...
First, flammies have fangs, as present here, near the back of their muzzle. the fact that these protrude out of the mouth actually pull the "lip" of the muzzle out and up somewhat, creating the illusion of a grin. On a side note, the fangs can be varied in length, though typically they seldom grow long enough to give the creature a "saber tooth" or "tusked" like appearence. A later illustration will provide a view of a flammie's open mouth, to show common representation of what its teeth and tongue look like.
Another reason for the permanant grin could be in its streamlined facial structure... again comparing to many dolphins, the dolphins are not actually "smiling" but have their beak like faces upturned at the corners naturally.
Another reason for the grin indicating a happy creature, is that, indeed, flammies are often energetic and playful creatures... but it has been seen where a flammie is aggressively attacking another creature, while maintaining such a "grin"... such a moment would suggest the beast is sadistic in nature, but a flammie's eyes can often show emotion better, knitting its brows in anger or sadness, or through obvious bodily and verbal cues, such as stomping, chirping, hissing, bouncing, etc.

It should be mentioned at this time that the faint, ghosted lines on both human and flammie indicate hair and/or fur. I wanted to research the raw physical shape of the two heads, with no fluff or fuzz interfering with the more universal shape of both creatures.

The eyes are a marked amount larger between a human and a flammie. This can be considered a stylistic choice, for indeed, flammies were originally drawn in an "anime"-like art style (also called "large eyes, small mouth, in some circles)... my reasoning for choosing to keep the eyes large comes from, again, popular representation, as well as the fact that many dragons or dragon-like creatures are known for keen eyesight. Again, the dragon name "Toothless" shows similarities to this creature, and when compared to other dragons, has markedly larger eyes, despite being in a non-anime (but still stylized) artistic representation. Indeed, the eyes can be a true point of contention, one of the grey areas... but for the sake of majority representation, and the simple fact that the larger eyes seem to add to the creatures mystique by the one creating this study, I am noting them as larger than human. Please feel free to keep them "human sized" if it suits your desire.
Typically, a flammie does not have "eyebrows", though stylization and hybridization make that a possibility. the brows can be moved for practicality and expression of emotion, just like a human, however.

While the ears are different in size and shape, the base of them, interestingly, is in the same position, just behind the jaw: When becoming a flammie, a human's ears would not just "slide to the top of his head" like in the case of a canine or feline transformation... In this way, it makes the ears more "elf-like" than "animal-like", with the main "animal aspect" being attributed to the fact that they elongate and smooth to a point more like a rabbit or mule than an elf. the ears would likely be quite "elf-like" being longer and more pointed, yet still humanoid in general shape and position, for an anthro or "were" (human transforming to) flammie.

This brings us to the hair. The hair on the head of a flammie is quite different than the fur or feathers on the rest of its body... in fact, it is quite human in color, shape, and texture. It is often represented in clumps, as opposed to more uniformly shaped hair on humans, but I believe this is due, again, to its "anime" style origins... indeed, the fully human hero of the game it is in has hair quite similar. For this reason, it is believed that a flammie has human-like hair on it's head... any style or length that would work on a human would work on a flammie, though most believe the hair to usually default in a tangled, wild, "mane" like appearance... indeed, a flammie with well groomed hair could suggest a were-flammie that just changed and hasn't had time to ruffle it in the wild, or perhaps just a well groomed pet.

the last structure that can be studied with these few frames is the neck. Indeed the neck is longer than a human, and also repositioned further back on the skull, to permit the beast, who is naturally quadrupedal, to keep its head upright with little strain while on all fours, and while in flight. The longer neck does allow the creature to curve it, however, and present an easy frontal view when reared onto its hind legs. the neck thickness is not markedly different from a human, though it is slightly so.

.....Alrighty then *stifles a yawn and shiver* that's all I can think up that could possibly be gleaned from this series of images. hope I didn't bore anyone to death, but hold onto your hats... as long as things go well, I will have more studies on the remainder of the anatomy soon.