#u want me to draw the reptiles period ? fine. i will draw the reptiles period.

[pauvre-lola]

b-baewall.........................

[f-nodragonart]

Hey I drew this guy a little while ago, but his design was gifted to me. I changed it a little bit to try and match the ideas for the species I had, but I don’t think I did enough. I’ll change almost anything to make it more anatomically correct and make sense! (He needs to stay fluffeh) Here’s the lowdown:

Greater Golden dragons are insanely smart with intelligence comparable to that of humans and are one of the dominant species on the planet. They have hands which they use to their full advantage, and are one of the more artistic species. They are most well-known for their fantastic and beautiful architecture, and other dragon species who want gorgeous buildings often employ this kind of dragon. They prefer talking out problems over battle or war, but they will defend themselves if necessary. Their favorite weapon, like most dragons, is the spear (this can be changed if the shoulder/body type is incompatible). Fire breath attacks are almost never used in fights against other dragons as most have built an immunity to the flames of others. Fire is therefore saved for ceremonies or hunting.

Greater Golden Dragons will live anywhere they can, their magical fur excellent at keeping heat/cold out, making them one of the few dragons immune to ice breath as well as flame. Both male and females have throat fur and head/tail feathers, but males will always have considerably more (this is a pic of a male). Males with larger and more luxurious shiny fur are seen as more attractive and may spend several hours a day grooming themselves. These dragons originally hailed from forests, their short wings perfect for flying in dense trees and making sharp turns. However because of their large bodies it is difficult to take off from the ground, although possible. They will usually climb a tree and jump out of it to help with this problem. Their diet consists of meat and fish, the latter almost being considered a delicacy and favored by most of the species.

I did royally frick up the back feet…he’s standing on his toes for some reason, but that shouldn’t be a thing. They can climb trees, but they’re not supposed to be very good at it (just good enough to awkwardly take off from the lower branches) I also tried basing their necks off of swan necks, but I think they might be too thick for that? I dunno. I thought long necks would be good for hunting fish.

the biggest overall change I’d suggest to this structure is to make it more lemur-esque. the tool-use and general leanings towards tinkering and artistry would better match a body structure with 1) arms that have dexterous hands + shoulders w/ a full range of rotational motion (thus, collarbones), and 2) hips + spine built to hold the body upright for significant periods of time. bodies like those of lemurs or even squirrels are a good way to balance both quadrupedalism and dexterity. just keep in mind what must be accommodated for. lemurs and squirrels, for example, can’t walk quadrupedally in the same way as typical quadrupeds, nor are they at all suited for bipedal walking of any sort (tho lemurs can at least leap bipedally)

this focus on arboreal locomotion would in turn make these dragons MUCH more able climbers. it might do, then, to switch up their talents– instead of being bad climbers, they’re bad walkers/runners b/c they’re just SO GOOD at climbing

(you could also go for a more knuckle-walking chimp approach instead, but I think that would diverge too much from the original concept here, if u wanted to keep any semblance of it)

given all that, here’s what I’ve come up with

note the curve of the spine here, with the shoulders lower than the raised hips. this is a stance common to a lot of arboreal quadruped designs (sans chimps, of course), b/c this particular lifestyle leads to shorter front limbs and longer hind limbs for enhanced leaping power

you could make the hind limbs stand plantigrade when relaxed if u wish, tho a lot of quadrupeds of this sort still walk on their toes when quadruped anyways, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to allow for comfortable digitigrade standing as well. tho if u do go w/ relaxed plantigrade standing, this is more of the position u’d want

also note the length of the foot here– it’s p short when compared to quads w/ more ‘strong’ structures (cats, dogs, etc.). this foot has still gotta have the ability for plantigrade mobility (even if it is just leaping rather than walking), which is reserved for shorter feet

I changed the neck b/c arboreal critters– or any critter that needs to have a good, unobstructed view of their hands/paws when doing dexterous tasks– tend to have shorter necks. + I don’t think that a neck made for fishing is entirely necessary if these dragons may very well just use their hands or spears to catch fish. tho I did try to keep the neck a little long, and even made it curve under (rather than over as in lemur spines) to keep the feel of the original neck

however, this is one of those things that’s much more a personal aesthetic choice for me, given the information u’ve described for this species. a long, flexible neck could work just as well, if you base it more on a bird that often tucks away their long neck, such as a green heron

not that swans can’t tuck their necks, but basing the neck on a bird that keeps their neck tucked when relaxed naturally bases your dragons’ eyesight in the proper range to see their paws for dexterous tasks. tho this tucking is a lot more difficult when the ribcage isn’t as wide/open as a typical bird ribcage, but not necessarily impossible. a lemur body actually makes this a little easier, since they have collarbones to space out their shoulders, whereas ‘strong’ quads like cats and dogs don’t

either way. I personally prefer arboreal creatures w/ short necks, but long necks can work as long as they can tuck away when the creature is doing dexterous things, or leaping/flying, etc.

I made the wings a little bigger, b/c even if they’re supposed to be short, the length u had originally gave the impression these dragons could only glide for short distances, or at the most have short bursts of flight. tho I still tried to make the wings relatively small for high loading, and wide for high ratio, + a rounded tip, thus making for a wing made for maneuverability

I also lengthened the tail to aid an arboreal lifestyle + balance while leaping (or however these dragons move around)

the last main change was the scales. the white scales are represented by green in my drawing, and u can see I changed all their positions. I rly don’t understand why they were originally on some of the most flexible parts of the body (and I imagine that was part of the original design u were gifted, rather than ur choice), but that doesn’t rly work out too well 

junctions like the crease b/t the thigh/hip and shoulder/neck simply CANNOT have hardened scales in the way. even on reptiles, these areas usually either have bare skin or have veryyy small scales w/ a lot of space in-between

usually, large/hardened scales over the back of the spine would be fine b/c torso vertebrae typically don’t flex much in that direction, BUT your dragon has wings right there, which would cause a lot of movement in that area. even worse, the scales on the original are based directly between the flight feathers and body, breaking up the feather-based connections between wing and body, which could hamper flight

anyways, I moved these scales to areas where there isn’t a lot of flexibility, like the topside of the lower arm/leg, the topside of the foot, and on the tops of the fingers/toes (between the knuckles, not on top of them). these are common scaley places on many animals, even when the rest of their bodies are fluffy (think birds), b/c these scales provide protection to limbs that see a lot of potential damage from hunting/clinging. I also put a layer of scales on top of the snout b/c there’s usually not a lot of movement there, and it’s also a popular spot to put decorative scales, if u like them enough to keep them

the scales on the underside of the tail are directly influenced by the anomalure– an odd little arboreal rodent that has scales on the underside of the base of their tail to help w/ clinging

I think it’s a nice way to incorporate more of those scales into the design while retrofitting them for a distinctive purpose. if u don’t like them, I still suggest making at least part of the underside of the tail bare to help w/ clinging

I also thought the yellow neck scales were odd– I just don’t rly get them. if the rest of the critter is furry (including the face), I don’t see why the neck would be covered in scales. thus, fluffy neck

hope this helps!

-Mod Spiral