March 31st, 2008
Photoshop and drawingtablet

I don't know what on Earth keeps possessing me to design these insanely complicated characters for other people's contests, but you've got to admit that the results are pretty interesting. This character was designed for Icyookami's Mascot contest. Icyookami also draws the popular webcomic Narutards on Smackjeeves.

This character is a female Draekin (a sub-species of dragon), called Aio. The Draekin are smaller than their fire breathing cousins, the dragons. However, the Draekin or not small by any standards; a full-grown Draekin is roughly the same size as an African Elephant. Fast, agile, smart and curious, the omnivorous Draekin are one of the oldest species of dragon on the planet. They are in fact older than the dragons themselves. Several sentient species have tamed and used these long-lived creatures as aerial mounts in the past. Draekin are usually illusive creatures, not prone to aggressive behaviour unless provoked. Over the centuries the Draekin have become so rare that some agree they are now extinct. Their inability to breathe fire has earned the Draekin the nickname 'half-drakes', because they were thought to be incomplete dragons. The Draekin were also known for their insatiable appetites, trying to eat just about anything at least once in their lives. This earned them another, quite unflattering nickname: the 'Flying Wastebins'.

Aio is one of the few remaining Draekin in the world. She is still young, and as such she is boisterous, playful and highly curious about her surroundings. Draekin are social creatures, but the time when thousands of her kind blackened the sky in giant packs have long since gone. Aio is alone, but will attempts to befriend other species when given the opportunity. Just like all Draekin, Aio prides herself in her aerial prowess, flying anywhere her partially see-through wings can carry her. The orange scales, which cover her body in a pattern unique to each individual Draekin, still indicate her status as a juvenile. Upon reaching adulthood, these scales will shine vibrantly in every imaginable color.

A few notes on this design: basically the scales just cover random parts of Aio's body. She has five toes on each foot and four fingers and a thumb on each hand. Her purple fur covers her neck, both sides of her head, her shoulders, her elbows, part of her wings and yes, her bum. She also has a furry tip on her tail. On her head, Aio has two sets of horns, a short pair and a long pair, which all bend back like a gazelle's horns. Aio has brown eyes with lots of highlights in them and yellowy-white claws used for digging and hunting. Finally, the yellow membrane covering her wings is particially see-through where ever it isn't covered by the fur. Each wing has four fingers and a thumb. The third finger is considerably shorter than the other four, resulting in a rather unique wing design.
And yes, those two floppy blue things on each side of Aio's head are her ears. These ears can be moved as well and usually hint at Aio's mood.


As usual, I did a horrible job when I drew the background (clouds, in case you couldn't tell). Also, the design is probably too complicated for a character which, should it win, would be drawn often by Icyookami. So if Aio does win, I won't mind if you simplify the design. ;)

EDIT: April 10th, 2008: A fellow DA user told me I was featured in an article of the Dragons of DA!



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