* THIS PAGE IS GOING TO BE A WORK IN PROGRESS! *
Since really getting into HTTYD through the Movies, School of Dragons (game), then on to the TV Series, Original Books, and Rise of Berk (game), and also seeing such wonderful artwork out there, I've had the urge to try drawing again. Its been a long time for me! Most of the focus is on Fan-Species - Dragon Species created by fans to fit in the HTTYD universe.
Below are pics, links to pics, and lots of words! The writing will be explaining a little about my learning to use graphic programs (just maybe it will be helpful to someone), where inspiration came from, and some will have traits for the fan-species of dragons. Please post a message here or on my message wall with any questions, thank you!
Sketches of Dragon Species from the Original HTTYD Book Series[]
There are so many dragon species in the HTTYD Books, by Cressida Cowell! The movies and Franchise are only loosely based on the Books. They are really a great read for all ages. I recommend you do so, if you haven't already! So I tried my hand at pencil sketches of Book dragons. I heavily referenced the HTTYD Wikia site. At this time I did know one iota about graphic programs. I know more now, but still not much! Also at this time, the HTTYD Wikia Book dragon species sections were in a bit of disarray. These sketches may reflect Wikia information before it was updated in the Spring of this year (2016). The purpose of these sketches was fun and enjoyment, but also to offer a suggestion for adding Book dragon species into the game, School of Dragons.
There are alot of photos of these sketches. So many in fact, that at the moment, I'm not re-uploading them all to this Wikia. DO please look at the original post on SOD. The commentary there may be interesting, too!
Learning Dragons[]
There is no very easy way to digitize a paper and pencil drawing. I was looking for a way to get the line-art I drew by hand into a computer program to edit. I didn't find it. There are ways to scan or take a picture of a hand drawn picture and manipulate it in a program like Photoshop with fairly decent results. But there will be a lot of "clean up".
For me, I eventually figured out how to put my fancy iPhone to use. My method is drawing a dragon, taking a picture of it with my phone, then "tracing" it in a graphic app. Many people "trace" or draw with a mouse on a computer. This is extremely difficult, but practice makes perfect! I'm not that dedicated.
Below are a few pics I was practicing with and trying out different programs.
These dragons are featured on an SOD thread that also contains a lot of tid-bits about creating digital art.
http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/noob-request-suggestionsadvise-creating-digital-artwork
Personal rendition of an Arsenic Adderwing[]
An Arsenic Adderwing is a species from the HTTYD Books. I had hand drawn this previously (see first section). I used this to play around with converting pics directly to line-art. I used an iPhone app called Imaengine, which is a photo editor that can apply different effects to your photos. I tried the "Sketch" filter, and got a fairly decent line-art out of it. It needed a lot of clean up, though. Then later I played with it in another iPhone app called SketchBook.
I also attempted to add shading - you can hardly see anything!
Mudraker in GIMP[]
I downloaded the graphic program GIMP to my computer (no mobile versions). It is a completely free, open-source program that mimics Photoshop, without the price tag. Its very complex though, and takes time to learn. I'm nowhere near that point!
So I tried to "trace" a drawing with a mouse. Not too terrible, but the lines are definitely wobbly! And it took a long while.
Thornridge in SketchBook[]
As stated previously, SketchBook is an iphone app. There is a basic version for free. It only has basic tools and only up to three layers. You can do a lot with just that, but I ended up getting the full version. It was something like $5 or so. Still waaay cheaper than whatever Photoshop goes for!
It took a few hours, but I got him traced in with a stylus (the cheap, fat-tipped kind for like $1, not the expensive fine-tipped things). The shading turned out better, but still not up to par. But after this piece, I started doing fan-dragon "adoptables" on the SOD Forum.
Sweet Death in Sketch Club[]
Someone mentioned an iPhone app they really liked on the SOD Forums called Sketch Club. It is a free app that is a graphic program, plus art community. I'm not so interested in chatting, but there is an option to download different user-generated paint brushes, which is pretty cool! A draw back is that Sketch Club does not have a "magic wand" or "magic select" option. It does have lasso select. Kind of doesn't matter, because currently my copy of SketchBook has glitched, and no selection option is working at all! (I could delete and re-download, but am afraid of loosing my gallery and working files; if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it!) I drew a Sweet Death to try out the program and was fairly pleased!
To note: I cannot rotate all the layers in Sketch Club (or SketchBook for that matter). So the Sketch Club file is saved as a PNG, but to rotate it, I have to use another app, which saves the file as JPG, so there is some loss of quality.
Chameishida's Dragon Generator Chart[]
SOD Forum user, Chameishida, came up with a tool for fun and to help create HTTYD fan-made dragon species. It is a chart with various dragon traits seen in the HTTYD franchise. You pick random numbers 1 through 7 about 19 times and see what it corresponds to on the chart. Then you employ creativity and see what dragon you can come up with from the traits! Please look at the original thread! Its fun, and many people have tried it out with good and hilarious results!
http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/dragon-generator-text-version-1
I have used the chart many times, and come up with several fan-species for "adoptables" on the SOD Forum. I will post them below along with their descriptions.
Please note: Adoptions for these dragons are CLOSED, and only took place on the SOD forums.
Tusked RockSpringer[]
(Info Copy/Pasted from Original Post: http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/fan-dragon-species-adoptions-tusked-rockspringer)
CONCEPT[]
Forum user, Chameishida, posted a "Dragon Generator" chart for fun on this SOD thread: forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/dragon-generator-text-version-1
After trying a few times, I came up with:
4 3 1 2 6 7 5 1 1 3 3 5 4 7 6 2 1 3 4
Which is:
Boulder Class, medium size, bipedal with short front limbs, no neck, slender shape, docile/peaceful, extremely rare, small wings, head frill, club tail, separated slit eyes, long sharp back spikes, tusks, beak-like mouth, whiskers, none, smashed face, normal coloration, and finally no extra heads.
The RockSpringer is based off this, with slight variation - it does have a little bit of a neck (but just a little) and its face isn't so much "smashed" like a Bewilderbeast, as it is just short. For the tusks, I think most people's thoughts immediately go to elephants (and the Bewilderbeast), but hogs also have tusks, so I went with the hog tusk look.
To go a little off topic: Tusks are teeth that are rather exaggerated and extend to outside the body: Elephants, narwhals, walruses, hogs, and probably some other creatures. So Walruses have those giant tusks ... why are they not called fangs? Walrus fangs? Or the Sabre-tusk Tiger? (Yes, I know they are extinct) Or are we mis-using the word fang? Perhaps that is just another word for a canine tooth, or maybe just a snake fang? Dunno.
Had a heck of a time coming up with a species name. Rockhopper kept coming to mind, but this is the name for a type of penguin. Rockleaper? Nope, someone on deviant art came up with a deer creature named that. Rockskipper? That's a type of fish. Rockrover?? That may be a type of bicycle and/or vehicle. Rockjumper? A type of small bird. Rockskimmer? A type of dragonfly. Rockspringer might be someone's name out in the world, but oh well.
TRAITS AND ABILITIES[]
The Tusked Rockspringer is a sure-footed bipedal dragon with excellent balance. They are social among their own kind and form small groups. There is no dimorphism amongst males or females. They tend to be omnivorous - as a Boulder class they do eat rock, and like the usual fare of fish, but will also browse on brush that occurs in their rocky terrain. They use their tusks to root out stones, grubs, and plant matter. The tusks grow out from their bottom jaw on both sides and can grow erratically outward away from the face. Because of their varied diet and that plant matter can decay in their gut (similar to cows), they often have odorous breath and use predominantly belched methane and some other cages to fuel their flames. These gases can be stored for a while in their throat and crop area, which is able to expand. Their base coloration tends to be darker or duller shades of any color, to blend with the rocks. Their crests and tail-club however, can be bright for display.
The Rockspringer inhabits a cluster of rocky islands in the Archipelago, and hop amongst the cliffs and boulders like mountain goats. They have powerful muscular legs (watch their kick!) and can run very fast on flat terrain, though perhaps not as fast as a Speed Stinger. While they can fly and maneuver well by beating their wings fast like a Gronckle, they cannot sustain flight for long distances, restricting their territory to the cluster of islands. They are rather friendly and docile,and may not recognize danger right away.
Due to a Deathsong moving in to the area, the Tusked Rockspringer is critically endangered, as they are easy targets for a Deathsong's amber. They cannot fly far enough away to other islands before getting exhausted. Swimming is possible (maybe some did), but without a direction, can get exhausted and would be fairly easy pickings for sharks, orcas or other carnivorous sea mammals, Scauldrons, and the like. They can also be targets for Dragon Hunters for use as forced dray beasts, hides, spikes, and ivory from their tusks.
Tusked Roskspringers are easy to train and can get along amicably with humans and other dragon species, as they will view them as part of their "pack". They will be happy to carry or pull loads for you if trained properly, Fly locally or to islands that aren't too far off, or even root out some mushrooms and vegetables and weed your garden!
Grumbling Rufflewing[]
(Copy/Pasted from Original SOD Forum Topic: http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/grumbling-rufflewing-fan-species-adoptables)
CONCEPT & DESIGN[]
Forum user, Chameishida, posted a "Dragon Generator" chart for fun on this SOD thread: forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/dragon-generator-text-version-1 After trying a few times, I came up with:
6 5 2 1 3 4 5 6 6 7 3 2 1 3 4 7 5 4 2
Which is:
Mystery Class | Massive Size | Quadruped | Long Neck | Slender Shape | Defensive Agressive | Extremely Rare | Normal Wing Span | Ear-like Appendages | Split Tail | Separated Slit Eyes | Sail Back | Jaw tendrils | Secondary Wings | No Extra Features | Multiple/Split Jaw | Big Fangs | Normal Color | Two Heads
The multi-jaw trait was hard to come up with something workable that was slightly unique. So I was going for the false impression of two jaws - one on the outside and one on the inside (not like the book dragons, Hellsteethers). Well, didn't turn out too well. Instead it just looks like its grumpy and grumbly, at least to me!
This species looks similar to the Hideous Zippleback. It wasn't my intention, but it is a Mystery Class, two-headed, long neck dragon! Maybe its a closely related species ...
If interested, I used an app called SketchBook on an iPhone. To make different colored dragons I used an Overlay layer - with mixed results. They turned out okay, but some had pixel artifacts.
TRAITS & ABILITIES[]
The Grumbling Rufflewing is so-named because of its somewhat ruffley wings and its appearance of being angry. It is a larger size dragon, a little bigger than a Hideous Zippleback. Like a Zippleback, each head produces a different effect that is best used together. The right head shoots a cloud of microscopic metal particulates. The left head produces electrical sparks, electrifying the metal cloud. Metal is highly conductive, so they create an electrified cloud. The Rufflewing stores metals it gleans from its diet, especially heavy metals. This ability may seem interesting at first, but it has contributed to this dragon's rarity. It is not as effective as a Zippleback's gas and spark ability, and therefore they don't have as great of an evolutionary advantage. The dragon may run out of stored metal particles, loosing their defensive and offensive weapon. This may be alleviated by taming Rufflewings, as their diet can be supplemented with metal powders of the rider's choosing. Certain metals can cause acute respiratory distress in animals, such as Nickel, even if the Rufflewing itself breathes it in. The metallic particulate cloud is heavy, therefore does not stay airborne as long as with flammable gas clouds. Rufflewings are moderately tolerant of electric shock, better than other dragons, but they have a limit. Their ability is hampered in water, because the particulate cloud cannot be effectively dispersed. The electrical head can electrify the adjacent water, however, and is somewhat useful in stunning fish.
Also, some Dragon Hunters have realized that the Grumbling Rufflewing can be useful in electroplating and concentrating heavy metals. The dragon can electrify a metal object, and breathe out the metal particulates to adhere to it. This dragon is also useful in concentrating heavy metals from rock (but not sorting out individual elements).
Behaviorally, the Rufflewing is quick to anger if it perceives a threat to itself, another dragon (or human) it is close to, its territory, or food. The two heads do occasionally get in disagreements, but not as often as a Zippleback. Like most dragons, it is best to use non-threatening gestures, submissive posturing, a gift (food), and soft tones when approaching.
Slithering Hornlegs[]
(Copy/Pasted from the Original SOD Thread: http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/slithering-hornlegs-fan-species-adoptable )
CONCEPT[]
This is yet another dragon derived from Chameseida's Dragon Generator Chart. The numbers were: 1 2 3 2 1 5 5 1 2 1 6 4 6 5 5 6 5 2 2
Which is:
Strike Class | Small Size | No limbs | No Neck | Chubby Shape | Docile/Peaceful | Extremely Rare | Small Wings | Fin on Head | Pointy Tail | Separated Souless Eyes | Small spikes on Back | Whiskers | Nasal Horn | No Extra Features | No Extra Features | Big Fangs | Glowing Color | Two-Headed
So I totally missed the "glowing color" and therefore is not reflected in these dragons. Yet again I got the "no neck" quandry - but a neck is the part between the head and shoulders, and this dragon is limbless, so I don't have to worry about that, right? I also went off on a tangent and gave it pseudo-legs, so still limbless technically, but has leg-like horn growths that kind of have a little function of legs.
And the name ... yeah, couldn't think of anything really spiffy :/
TRAITS AND ABILITIES[]
This strike class dragon is not typically very fast. However, it has eight specialized horns on its chest with muscle attachments to manipulate them. Folded against its chest, they resemble a rib cage. The dragon can extend these horns outward from its body and inward, but forward and backward only to a limited extent. The primary function is to swoop down at prey from above and grab up the prey with the horns in a sort of grabber and cage. They will take small porpoises, large fish, deer, and occasionally another dragon if hungry enough. The plating on its chest is very hard. Its tail sports a rather large sting that contains a quick-acting paralytic. After grabbing prey with its horns, it will quickly subdue it with a strike of its tail. While flying to a suitable location to eat, the Hornleg may even use one head to bite and hold the prey while the other navigates.
On the ground it moves mostly by slithering, while holding the front part of its body vertical and the horns against its chest. It is not able to slither with its horns directly on the ground.
The Hornleg shoots standard fireballs, not streams of fire, from both of its heads, and can do so rapidly. This way it can shoot nearly continuously almost like a machine gun. It can anchor itself to the ground on its horns and shoot, with its poisoned tail in the air. The dragon is not able to walk on the horns in this position, but can shift a little and swing about.
These dragons are slow to reproduce. This combined with over-hunting for its horns and as a war dragon, has let it to be extremely rare. In war, it is a reluctant fighter and will only do so if being forced to. It has a docile temperament and isn't very aggressive unless severely provoked. For this reason, trapped Hornlegs forced to fight often suffer many casualties.
Eight-Legged Terror-Croc[]
It's some of a fear Class Croc but idk
Fan-Species Based on on Real Life Animals[]
There are two threads on the SOD forums (I started the second one!) challenging forum users to create fan-dragons based off of the animals the OP posted. Unfortunately the threads weren't terribly popular; I would've loved to see more artwork. They are:
- http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/fan-made-dragons-creativity-test
- http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/creativity-challenge-animal-based-fan-species-dragons
I went a little nuts and created the dragons below. They have no species names, no descriptions, and no shading. But I got more experience with my graphic apps! Perhaps one day I will use one for Adoptables on the SOD Forum. I'll add whatever relevant text I made have typed on the threads, also.
Deer[]
So, this deer-dragon doesn't have antlers or horns, but rather has a bony frill (like the triceratops) that mimics antlers. Kind of moose-like (moose are deer!). The coloration is inspired by the ever common white-tail deer, fawn spotting and all. The fin at the top of the tail is supposed to function like a white-tail deer's white tail. In a relaxed position it sits folded to the body, but to signal caution or alarm it is raised. The color is supposed to be flashy to stand out. I used canary yellow, but not sure if that was the best color choice. Also this dragon's feet are not cloven hooves, but have a cloven appearance. The two middle toes are much larger than the two outside digits. And it has two pairs of eyes ... no particular reason. Tried the eye placement closer to the muzzle and then farther away, both positions looked neat so they both stayed.
Praying Mantis[]
Mantis-based dragon! I'd say this one is similar or related to the Thunderpede. The wings mimic the Spiny Flower Mantis. They have these very distinct eye markings on their wings. I'm much more pleased with this dragon than the deer-based one!
Jumping Spider[]
Spider-based Dragon! Also Meatlug based ... I was patterning it after jumping spiders. They have forward-facing eyes and a flat face. They appear kind of squat to me, and many species have short smaller abdomens and larger front sections (certainly not all). But who kind of looks like that? A Gronckle. Especially their fat short tails that look sectioned. So yeah, I referenced pics of Meatlug. Maybe this spider-ish dragon is related. Also many jumping spiders have huge liquid eyes without any feature that mimics pupils (Spiders and insects have compound eyes, so no actual pupils). Many jumping spiders are black or brown shades, but many do have bright colors on them, too. Many jumping spiders also appear very hairy. So I made the dragon very spiky.
Cheetah[]
Octopus[]
Just quick - octopus dragon. Well the only thing octopus like is the sort of tentacle limbs. He's kind of a grumpy guy.
Wasp[]
Flamingo[]
Other Dragon Adoptables[]
Please note: Adoptions for these dragons are CLOSED, and only took place on the SOD forums.
Glitched Mudraker[]
(Info copy/pasted from the original thread: http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/adoptables-glitched-mudrakers)
CONCEPT[]
The idea is from the glitched Mudraker in game from the Battle for the Edge Expansion. Two Muddies appear so close together they looked like a double-headed Mudraker. This was pointed out by Wolf and Star in this recent thread, "Uh-Oh DOUBLE TROUBLE!"
AN ALTERNATE RETELLING OF HOW THE ARCHEOLOGIST CAME ACROSS MUDDIE[]
Skulder, the Archeologist, was indeed surveying Mudraker Island for relics from antiquity. But before that, he stopped at a boggy island nearby, to surveil there. The mires this far north were often acidic and sucked in relics and even creatures, the latter were known as "bog bodies".
However, the only remains Skulder found were those of an extensive Dragon Hunter camp. They were no longer there, but left behind their refuse - old unusable dragon cages, old fish, the usual signs of humans such as pots and metal bits, broken down stools and tables, a place for a fire. There were also jars and bottles, and of course, a sludge pit. Skulder noted that the sludge pit was rather toxic, as the grasses and plants around it were brown and withered. He also noticed bits of dried plants in the jars, and even some sort of metal shavings. The plants he recognized as poisonous and included False Hellebores (Veratrum album and Veratrum nigrum) and Hemlock (Conium maculatum). What he did not know, was that these plants are also teratogenic, meaning that they can cause birth defects, and are a problem for farmers with grazing livestock like sheep. A few of the broken jars also contained arsenic and nickel. There was also traces of dragon root, and other herbs. Unfortunately, another finding was a pile of dragon bones and remains.
Skulder deduced that the Dragon Hunters had at one time used this camp as a place to experiment with different concoctions to use on dragons, in order to sedate them, or worse, just outright kill them. They had after all figured out the appropriate dose of dragon root, when applied to an arrow, to knock a dragon out, as well as a way to make an aerosol form. They also created an anecdote to the dragon root, which Dagur had later shared with Hiccup (see Season 3 RTTE). It looked as though many of the experiments had failed, judging by the dragon remains there. Many of those appeared to be Mudrakers, probably captured from the nearby Mudraker Island. The sludge pit, or midden, did not yield too much information (or none that Skulder wanted to know about). Other than its toxicity to the local plant life, he did note egg shell. Probably those poor captive dragons had laid eggs, after being subjected to the Dragon Hunters' atrocities.
As Skulder prepared to leave this sad island with nothing more than a report for Berk that a Hunter camp had been here, he noticed his small ship was a bit shifted from the beach (for Viking ships were able to sail right up to shore since their draft was so shallow) and the tide hadn't come in. There were also puddles of wet mud about. A ball of mud hit him square in the chest. He heard two dragon roars. On the far side of his ship, two dragon heads peered over the railing. At first he was afraid, but having had good experiences with Hiccup and the students at the School of Dragons, his fear dissipated into just some nervousness. The two dragons seemed genial enough, and merely curious.
Skulder waded out to his ship and climbed aboard. The dragons splashed some water at him, and both chirped inquisitively. They looked to be Mudrakers. Skulder pulled out some dried fish to toss to the dragons to distract them, so that he might go about his business. As he got closer to the starboard side, his jaw dropped in shock. It wasn't two Mudrakers, but rather a single, two-headed Mudraker, with double wings and a double tail! Had the Dragon Hunters' experiments resulted in this? Disturbed, he tossed the dried fish to the one dragon's delight, then sailed away to his next destination at Mudraker Island. His archeological surveying were a little more fruitful there.
However, as he soon found out, the curious but slightly shy double-headed Mudraker had followed him. The creature seemed healthy, if strange, so Skulder decided to try his hand at dragon training. He named the dragon "Muddie".
ABOUT THE DRAGONS[]
These dragons are mutated forms of the Mudraker. It is unknown if they can reproduce, and if so, if the offspring would even be viable. They are able to fly decently, but not as well as single-winged Mudrakers. They have the same sonic breath. There is no formal name for these dragons, but have been called various things like: "Double Muds" or "MuddleRakers". Also "Hideous Mudcutter" has been suggested!
DISCLAIMER![]
DON'T PLAY WITH THESE PLANTS OR METALS IN REAL LIFE.
They are poisonous. The alkaloid chemicals in these plants, if they don't kill outright or cause serious health issues, can cause congenital birth defects. And those defects aren't anything 'cool' like two heads or wings. I am only using them for the purposes of story-telling and to lend an air of authenticity. In actuality, they can kill, and are known to cause alot of death, defects, and illness in livestock. Yeah, just felt I needed to throw that out there!
Also, Bog Bodies are real. They are people (and probably animals, too) that for one reason or another (sacrifice or punishment is speculated for a number of them) ended up in a bog. Due to the acidic nature of the bog, the bone is dissolved, leaving a sack of skin, hair, and even organs.
