Work in Progress Images

My idea for this dragon concept was a small, tree-dwelling dragon about the size of a clouded leopard. It has long claws, semi-opposable thumbs, and a semi-prehensile tail so it is a great climber.

I started by sculpting the skeleton of the dragon. The wings are based on a mixture of bat and bird anatomy. The bones of the wings themselves are based on bat anatomy but it has a furculum and breastbone closer to that of a bird.

The head shape of the dragon is inspired by Leopard geckos and Horned Lizards and the tail is based on the tails of Spiny-tailed monitors. Continuing with the theme of an agile, tree-dwelling dragon, I also used anatomy references of big cats like jaguars.

Many of the larger scales were sculpted by hand and others were added using textures of various lizards, crocodiles, and even ostrich feet.

For the texturing, I decided to give it tiger stripes for camouflage. I also took inspiration from sharks and used countershading for additional camouflage. Its light underbelly would make it hard for prey animals to spot it in the sky.