This is my entry for Holly's latest contest.

The challenge here was to make one of my original characters into a Sylphoid, a species created by Holly. For my entry I chose my character Wesimbi, seen here (far right) and here, who is of a race of anthropomorphic phoenix creatures that feature in a story of mine.

The important thing here was not to create a phoenix-Sylphoid hybrid, but to recreate my character into a plausible Sylphoid. Therefore, I started out with a sketch of a plain old Sylphoid and altered it only as needed. The major defining characteristics of the Sylphoid species are all present: the short, stocky legs, the ridge of thick hair over the spine, the dual-toned eyes, the prominent cheekbones, etc. Since Wesimbi is a winged creature I wanted to incorporate that into his Sylphoid design: full wings seemed too much of a deviation from the Sylphoid species, and I fiddled for a while with wing-like markings behind his shoulders, but finally settled on tiny vestigial wings.

Wesimbi has a beak and legs of dark red, and so I gave his Sylphoid version dark red nose, lips, paw pads, and claws.

Also, since phoenixes have such magnificent tails, I wanted to augment the normal Sylphoid tail into something a little more flashy, hence the addition of the two types of feathers into the fur of the tail.

His eyes are dual-toned (see the detail shots linked to below), but one of Wesimbi's defining characteristics is a lack of pupils, and so neither does his Sylphoid version have pupils.

I know the pose is a little static and a little boring - profile shot, none of the dramatic twists of which the Sylphoid is capable - but this sort of pose really suits Wesimbi. He is not a creature of action; he's more of an observer, a deep thinker, and would never be caught in an undignified position. A quiet, secluded spot by a pool is just the place for him. And I would also like it to be on the record that I spent nearly as much time on the background as I did on the character, which is very rare for me.

One of the factors in the judging of this contest is whether or not the featured character would be believable as a regular Sylphoid. I suppose I've stretched the bounds of the species with the addition of the wings and feathers, but other than that he is completely a Sylphoid, and I think he makes a rather lovely one.

I know, I know, LOOOOOOOOONG description. Deal with it. I put a lot of thought and a lot of effort into this one, and you can't blame me for wanting it to be appreciated.

A few DETAIL SHOTS of this piece can be found HERE.

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DISCLAIMER: The Sylphoid species and design is © Holly Hindle (). It is her creative property and should not be used without express permission. You are currently not allowed to make Sylphoid original characters so please do not rip off the design. My original character pictured here is not normally a sylphoid; this is a contest entry for *CunningFox's contest.

Wesimbi, of course, belongs to me.