My (almost) annual dragon chart rework.((Art))

[Nako]

I have a habit of, whenever I rediscover Pern, I go through a stage where I start drawing dragons, sometimes in a drastically different style than I used to. Then... comes the charts. Figuring out how big they are compared to humans, etcetera.

Here is my typical method. I draw out the dragon to the proportions I'm happy with, then I make a little person roughly the length of the dragon's head. That dragon will now be the base queen size. Then I arbitrarily shrink the other colors down to the point they look roughly the right size. I don't try to measure out the feet/meters any more. I found it eventually became unfun (For me!) and really, I just need a general example with my current style so that I can draw dragon/rider pairs easily.

And here.. is the beginning. The sketch that starts it all. It's a semi-relaxed pose, with the back legs bent so that it stands a touch more evenly. I want to give it the feel that it is still ungainly, but at least knows how to stand when stationary to not throw itself off balance.


Also, the circle shows where the wing would connect. This dragon has its far wing showing.



To Come:
* Draw a watch-wher for size comparison
*Finish the sketches
*Line, flat color
*possibly shade
*Duplicate the main template several times and shrink it down to the other dragon color sizes.

[Nako]

This will be my little "Update" area. I'll edit this whenever I add more to it.




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Update 2:

I gave all the males the same body type for now, since I imagine that despite the difference in size, they are all build basically the same way (And blues are fast because of their size, but if they are going to last an entire fall as the smallest males I imagine they're built very similar to the powerful bronzes and browns.)

The differences in gold and green though, has a lot to do with fat deposits, and muscle tone. I tried to make the green much thinner overall, and gave the gold a bit of a paunch. The green has a more refined muzzle, not necessarily because a green is more feminine so much as I imagine them to be kind of girlish, as if they aren't as mature as a queen.

Also, I have no idea what the 'truth' behind dragon genetics is, but I like to toy around the idea that both bronzes and golds are cut from the same cloth, and gender is what affects color instead of a 'gold vs green gene'. So, I give the queen a more mature face. In my mind, a gold is pretty much a female bronze. Powerful, but huge, and with a bit more fat reserves for laying eggs.



Perhaps I'll post the one showcasing the male body type tomorrow.