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swift-whippet — dragonspawn
Published: 2012-01-10 19:33:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 1310; Favourites: 47; Downloads: 0
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First off, let me just say one thing: IT IS NOT THE DRAGON YEAR UNTIL FEB 4th, GUYS. KEEP YOUR PANTS ON.as you may or may not know, I was born in the hour of the Fire Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac (insert obligatory Skyrim joke here), and have been meaning to create a personal Oriental dragon/'long' character for myself for quite a while now. Since we're on the cusp of the dragon year once again I figured the time was right to fiiinally sit down and pin down a design for her.
She doesn't even have a name yet, but what I do know about her is thus: she's still pretty young, newly turned from a carp, on the small side, and curious about her newly acquired shape and powers. Her colours will deepen and darken as she ages and she'll probably end up a red eventually. Because she's a fire dragon and Oriental dragons are aquatic creatures, her breath ranges from a warm mist to scalding hot steam. When she is older, she will also be able to create lightning and wind up a thunder dragon. I still am just beginning to work out how the oriental dragons in my head operate as a society and that will require a lot more reading and researching into Chinese and East Asian mythology for ideas. Fun!
I'll eventually make a proper ref sheet but it feels good to finally have a concrete design!
And I'm planning on doing a dragon year commemoration picture too, because damn did the rabbit year ever suck for me and for a lot of people I know. But 2012 seems to be off to a good start...
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Comments: 29
Awww she's cute. I have a friend who is born in the year of the dragon, me myself I'm born in the year of the Monkey, water monkey apparently. XD
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Thanks! I'm born in the year of the Fire Tiger (1986), actually. The Fire Dragon is my Hour sign. C:
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No probs.
Ah I see, I'll have to do a bit more searching into it then
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omg...She's adorable. I wish to pick her up and wrap her around my neck like a scarf...but I don't think she would appreciate it as much as I would. XD
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Aw thanks! And haha, she'd probably feel like a big scaly fishy hot water bottle
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XD ew. *places her back down slowly*
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AHH Shelley, you're pushing my happy buttons here. I -love- oriental dragons. Your dragon is just adorable - I love the way she's posed here, how you've grounded her at her chest and bottom, but put this funny little bouncy loop in her body in the middle there. It makes her look so animated! I am digging that nose, too, so long and full of character - reminds me of a kangaroo or a giraffe's face - not to mention her round, glowy pink eyes and that lopsided smile, hehe. I like the subtle indication of scales, too, it works well with your style. Hope to see more of this girl! This really makes me want to draw my own dragon too!
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Eee thanks so much Janice! Always happy to hear that my stuff looks animated, definitely a product of learning how to see things in a three-dimensional way so that I can draw them from any angle! I like my dragons to be long (long.. haha) and sometimes that can be tricky to pull off with feet, I'm still trying to figure out how she would move on land and in water. And yes, I feel like a lot of people these days draw Oriental dragons with doglike faces because of Haku from Spirited Away, which is great and all but I wanted a more close to traditional look for my dragons so going back to old art and the 'nine likenesses' was key. They're supposed to have a nose like a camel! Also I like making female characters with long/prominent noses because I am one and you don't see them much in animation (unless they're like a witch or something). xD I'll definitely be drawing more of her, making a ref sheet etc. and I would LOVE to see your take on an oriental dragon! By all means GO FOR IT 
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Very stylish! I love the green and orage together, and I like how you've drawn her nose, and how she still has carp traits :>.
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Thanks so much, I'm glad you notice the little things.
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She is a very pretty dragon.... love her design and can't wait to see more.
This year was/is the year of the Rabbit? How ironic that things went so foul this year for me, being a [fire] rabbit and all. Oops. Though.., my birth hour is Sheep (and I don't recall the element right now). I'm really interested in finding out more about this, as the sources I have had have been rather incomplete.
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Thanks hun!
Yeah I know, I had a rough year too. :\ I summed it up to a few of my friends thusly (and they actually said it was pretty much like that for them too): the Tiger year (2010) was pretty much a rollercoaster, lots of not so nice stuff happened but lots of good stuff happened too, and it was generally pretty eventful. The Rabbit year just felt like it went downhill immediately and then I was stuck in a helpless period of waiting for things out of my control. :[ Things have been looking up since December, though, so I'm hoping that it means good things for 2012...
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You're welcome
Yeah.... I hope things go better in the new year too... the last few have been rough.
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happy dragon year shelley! i love her design, especially the big eyes make her look real cute. i've never seen such an appealing aesthetic been applied to a chinse dragon like this.
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Yay thanks, I'm glad you think she's appealing!
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I love the shape of her muzzle/nose! Im year of the dragon, too! and apparently earth dragon? I havent researched into it at ALL though. I cant wait to see more of her!!
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I'm not year of the dragon actually, I'm year of the tiger, but I'm hour of the dragon
Thanks so much! I definitely want to do some research into Chinese mythology and this would be a good excuse
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Ohhhh I had no idea! (I thought hour of the dragon was another way of saying year of the dragon)
now Ill have to go look into this :V
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You can find your 'four pillars' with this calculator: [link]
Further information can be a bit hard to decipher as I'm pretty sure the first language of the people that run that site isn't English and I've had to cross-reference a lot. It's interesting though!
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Oh my gosh she is precious. Digging those colors. I love the thought and depth you put into your characters, it always makes them that much cooler!
Oh man I missed your presence around here! I hope you decide to stick around a little more.
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Thanks so much! And I need some incentive to keep developing a character, so having stuff that interests me is a big deal
Haha, did I give the impression that I was leaving? o.O I never intended to. Last year was pretty stressful but over the past couple months or so I've been trying to do more personal work and be more active on devART and my other sites
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Oh, no, I never thought you were leaving. I just meant that it would be awesome to see you around here more! Life can get busy, I totally understand that it can slow internet things down. I'm just glad to see you update again. :]
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I'm a metal sheep/goat myself... but still love this
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I love this design so much and I love the colors, too! The claws and the subtle scales look very nice as well. Blue and orange go so well together.
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Thanks! Yeah I couldn't be bothered to go too overboard with scales like with my other one, so I opted for the lazy way! xD And yes I've always enjoyed blue and orange!
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