Winged Eli sketches.

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metoo
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Winged Eli sketches.

Post by metoo » Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:11 pm

In my thread About wings and flying, I recently posted a sketch I made of what I consider Eli's wings may look like. Then I have edited that sketch somewhat, and posted it anew. Since the sketch may be regarded to be fan art, it today occurred to me to post here, as well...

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But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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mackousko
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by mackousko » Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:33 pm

I think this wouldn´t work. Eli also need some kind of rudder. Separate wings on legs or a right shaped tail or wings connected down to the legs so he can alternate the shape of the wings while flying.
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metoo
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by metoo » Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:22 pm

mackousko wrote:I think this wouldn´t work. Eli also need some kind of rudder. Separate wings on legs or a right shaped tail or wings connected down to the legs so he can alternate the shape of the wings while flying.
Alas, that wouldn't be consistent with the novel. When standing on the hospital roof, Eli's upper body was naked, so evidently he was wearing his trousers. The wing membrane thus would not go further down than his waist.

Anyway, I don't believe Eli would need a rudder. There are plenty of insect species that fly very well with just two wings. And Eli would be able to alter the shape of his wings with my configuration, by stretching the membrane more or less, just like bats do.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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mackousko
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by mackousko » Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:28 pm

A fly is able to change the direction of the wings because they are conectent over one joint to the body. And even so the direction changes of the flight are posible only when combinated with high wing movement rate.
Your Eli is not able to fly anyway, because his legs would hang down and draw him to the ground. Legs down means upper body down means the wings cut the air like blades, instead of providing parachute like efect. Thats why all bigger flying creatures are geared up with something that holds the body horizontal. Membrane that goes down to the feet or a tile with suficient area.

ps: I´m not trying to argue. I just think it´s interesting problem. ;)
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PeteMork
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by PeteMork » Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:05 pm

The original Wright Bros. plane used wing-warping to turn, even though it had a crude vertical stabilizer. Like this:

http://www.wrightexperience.com/edu/1903b/html/warp.htm#

I think metoo's wing design would be fully capable of this type of warping, and would allow Eli to turn, even without the stabilizer. Especially if the wings swept back during flight, as I believe he mentioned earlier :think: This would balance her body around it's center of gravity, thus her legs wouldn't hang down.
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)

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mackousko
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by mackousko » Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:43 pm

PeteMork wrote:
I think metoo's wing design would be fully capable of this type of warping, and would allow Eli to turn, even without the stabilizer. Especially if the wings swept back during flight, as I believe he mentioned earlier :think: This would balance her body around it's center of gravity, thus her legs wouldn't hang down.
This requires, that Eli can become perfectly stiff. Like a statue. And he must all the time remain horizontal. Once his legs drop down , with such shape he would be not able to return to horizontal position. Because there is nothing on his legs that can get him horizontal again. Nothing to grab the air. Just kicking around would not help him. To realize how bad the design is try this. Correct shaped flying creatures has not to deal with this.

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PeteMork
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by PeteMork » Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:02 am

mackousko wrote:This requires, that Eli can become perfectly stiff. Like a statue. And he must all the time remain horizontal. Once his legs drop down , with such shape he would be not able to return to horizontal position. Because there is nothing on his legs that can get him horizontal again. Nothing to grab the air. Just kicking around would not help him. To realize how bad the design is try this. Correct shaped flying creatures has not to deal with this.

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Nice illustration. :D But remember, if the wings are swept back (i.e., by moving her fingertips in your drawing to just above the front of the chair, but in the same plane as her body), that would put the center of lift at or near her body's center of gravity. Then the only thing Eli would have to worry about is keeping her legs parallel to her body...a minor feat of strength for someone who can rip someone else's head off bare-handed and scurry up the side of a builidng like a squirrel.

And if you think this is a bad design, watch an albatross landing. :lol:
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)

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metoo
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by metoo » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:36 am

You have a point, mackousko, my Eli does look too leg-heavy, I agree to that. But for the sake of the discussion, I'll counterargue. ;)

The chair analogy is of limited value; dynamically balancing against air is something else than statically balancing against the back of a chair. Given sufficient speed, even Eli's human-shaped legs would provide some lift. And there's the possibility, as Pete says, to move the centre of lift by angling the wings.

You also did place the chair too far towards the head in your illustration. To be correct it should be placed at Eli's centre of lift.

Make this experiment: Print my illustration, and cut it out along the periphery. Then stick a needle through it, anywhere, hang it on a wall and let it rotate freely. Draw a line from the needle vertically down, use a string and a weight as a guide. Move the needle to a different place, and repeat. The lines will cross at the centre of mass of the cut-out paper figure. This is equal to the geometrical centre of Eli's vertical projection in flight position, i.e. roughly the centre of lift.

I did this, and found my Eli-figure's centre of lift to be positioned just above the navel, not at the middle of the chest, as in your illustration.

Additionally, we don't know much about Eli's mass distribution. We do know that he is surprisingly light-weight, by Jocke's witness. Maybe this lightness is due to his limbs and torso being extremely light-weight, while his head is weighed down by all those years? :mrgreen:
Last edited by metoo on Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:47 am, edited 4 times in total.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Ash
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by Ash » Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:10 am

It's really quite simple. The infection "knows" that the infected will need to fly to survive, obviously as it provides the wings to do so.
During the infection process the leg bones become hollow.
So the COG is moved greatly up the torso to the chest region. Which also explains Eli's unco way or running. :lol:
When in flight, Eli's legs are lightweight and are just trailing behind in the wind.

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metoo
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Re: Winged Eli sketches.

Post by metoo » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:53 am

Yes, of course, the extra bone for the elongated fingers is taken from the legs during the transformation. And Eli's bones being hollowed-out like birds' bones helps explaining his low weight.
Last edited by metoo on Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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