I've been trying to figure out which design elements of anthro gryphons I seem to gravitate towards, as a sort of starting point, and I've come up with a few so far
I think I like smaller builds, both in terms of height, and frame? Like, definitely not buff - I don't connect with that at all. But not rail thin either. Like, just, sort of short and not a lot of definition?
Also: more cat like features. Four paws (Opinicus!) instead of talon-hands. Face more like a cat with a beak than a bird head on a cat body. And crests are good!
I'm probably a greyshades disaster, as much as I like bright colours, I shy away from them. Possible earthtones?
Beaks - I tend to prefer short and slightly curved, so probably small predator birds.
Big predator beaks (like eagles) are right out - too aggressive looking for me. Also kinda open to reasonably proportional pointed beaks (like, maybe woodpecker shaped?)
I'm not really going anywhere in particular with this, I don't really have a mental image or anything I'm working off here.
I just get frustrated about this sometimes and wanted to sort of dump whatever sort of stuff I've been thinking into text.
Haven't picked a particular bird species though.
Big cats aren't a good fit for the same reasons. Biggest I've ever felt good about is chee, but I think I'm actually more comfortable going smaller, maybe right down to small cats.