Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

[StDrake]

Hmm actually when I recall doofus playing around with oversized portraits it turns out they work quite well..just get into the text.

Considered making an actually waaaay too big portrait(say..fitting the whole screen ) with space left on the bottom in some tricky way so that it doesn't bash into the dialog box and doesn't look cut off?

[LordBob]

Well...It's what I've done with the ancient wose from tRoW, and plan to do with the dragon as well.
For now, here's a different take on portraiting the dragon. Not sure I like it, though. The head works better, but the rest of the body feels awkward to me.

Edit : adding the final Durnstorn, with 2 variants : sane and insane. I've also accounted for both the axe lighting and fur-scattered light

[StDrake]

perhaps because you've shown wings more in front than front legs?

yeah the head looks much more meanie type now, though I'd propose to make it a little higher. Of course you can say WINR but normally you'd expect something as smart as a dragon to have more place for a brain in the skull. I'd look on the nosdrils to suit them more to an aerial creature but that's probably just nitpicking from my side.

edit: and let me not forget to express amazement at how easy it seemed for you to make such a complex change to Durstorns..erm..mood (that was not sarcasm you paranoid )

[thespaceinvader]

=D looks fine to me.

[johndh]

Regarding the wings, isn't there some issue with the portrait being cropped on one side or the other?

[Atz]

I think it may look a little odd because the wings seem to be attached like arms. It's not necessarily wrong as such, since that's more or less how it works for bats and the like, but people are used to quadrupeds and it makes it look like a hexapod. I also think it looks a little like the legs are just glued on halfway down the torso... the bone and muscle structure doesn't seem quite right.

Also, I forget whether Wesnoth dragons are supposed to fly or not, but... wouldn't having the wings attached like that make it really difficult? Given its body shape, it seems like its whole body would hang downwards and it would have to flap like a maniac all the time.

[Sgt. Groovy]

It looks to me the horn structure needs to be rotated clockwise to align better with the rest of the skull.

[LordBob]

I think it may look a little odd because the wings seem to be attached like arms. It's not necessarily wrong as such, since that's more or less how it works for bats and the like, but people are used to quadrupeds and it makes it look like a hexapod. I also think it looks a little like the legs are just glued on halfway down the torso... the bone and muscle structure doesn't seem quite right.

Also, I forget whether Wesnoth dragons are supposed to fly or not, but... wouldn't having the wings attached like that make it really difficult? Given its body shape, it seems like its whole body would hang downwards and it would have to flap like a maniac all the time.

The firedragon sprite, like every wesnoth drake, does have arms and a pair of separate wings. A setting unlike anything nature ever did in vertebrates, I agree, which is why their anatomy has been giving me a headache ever since.

Though if you take a close look, nearly every dragon fantasy has produced does have an extra pair of ridculously attached arms as wings and no muscle anywhere near big enough to flap them. Maybe it's simply better not to ask how they're able to fly, for fear that the universe catches up and sends them plummeting like the anvils they truly are

In other words, you have a valid point, but one that I haven't been able to solve yet. Help welcome.


Groovy : Duly noted about the horns, will rotate them

[Reepurr]

The raised arm looks...odd.

It joins to the body seemingly higher than the dragon's other arm, and it makes the pose seem kind of weird.

[Sgt. Groovy]

Though if you take a close look, nearly every dragon fantasy has produced does have an extra pair of ridculously attached arms as wings and no muscle anywhere near big enough to flap them

The main wing muscles would not be around the shoulders or upper arms of the wings, but around the chest. This is how it works with birds and bats.

This dragon has it all wrong, it has big shoulder muscles and biceps. This dragon has fairly sensible flight muscles, the other end of each muscle attaches to the wing, and the other to the central ridge of the sternum.

[StDrake]

D&D is heresy but this deviant has some nice reference material
http://obloquycondemed.deviantart.com/gallery/7897505

[SFault]

The raised arm looks...odd.

It joins to the body seemingly higher than the dragon's other arm, and it makes the pose seem kind of weird.

And with that smile it quite reminds of:

[Sgt. Groovy]

The Deviantart reference is indeed rather good, except for the thick, fleshy tail. For a flying dragon, that would just be dead weight. They would rather need a thin, light tail with some flat structure (scales/quills/skin membrane) to make it useful as a rudder.

[LordBob]

The main wing muscles would not be around the shoulders or upper arms of the wings, but around the chest. This is how it works with birds and bats.

Yes, I was aware of this. My point being that, comparatively, in order to get your average human airborne, it'd take 1-meter thick pectoral muscles. So when we come to a dragon... Anyway, the deviant reference does account for this and is in every respect pure gold. Thanks for linking it : I'll be sure to take an extensive look at this guy's gallery.

[ancestral]

Or just screw anatomy altogether

Looking forward to continued awesomeness, Lord Bob!