#aerodraco

[he-who-needs-to-be-silenced]

Bad memes about current lore

[ocoree]

Some of you may remember these goobers from earlier in my short archive. Poked at them again in trying to find a combination that worked for me in function and aesthetics, and I think I’m slowly narrowing in on them. Once again chok full of scribbled-notes to self for the final rendition of these guys to include on their official references. .. Also an angry baby burrito... Because.. Angry Bat-dragon-bird-metal terrors....

[ocoree]

I’m still alive! Working on a lot of things at once, but wanted to show I haven’t forgotten the folks still surviving on here, or my Aerodracos.

Mostly revisiting the puzzle that is their wing structure, and while V4a is looking closer to what mentally works for me, I’m still going to push further with the assistance of a fellow beast-plane fan who’s been wanting to see these guys turned into a possible ARPG, so we’ve been putting our heads together on how to make them more fully into their own creature - starting with the base body formulae that would translate across the different classes and sub-classes of aircraft.

.. Raiker has been through a lot in the concept phases... He deserves a big treat after this is all said and done.

Finally also discovered the secret to getting prismacolor markers to play nice with ballpoint pens to aid in differentiating components! Hopefully this nice new 9x12 sketchbook will be chock full of piecemeal and fullbody concept drafts and air-beast shenanigans as I build up their species, world, and game lore.

[ocoree]

Poking at these guys again in an attempt to self-soothe from spiraling into blind anxiety about one of my sugar glider’s current health condition.

The initial designs of the aerodraco had flaws I couldn’t quite put my finger on how to work around them, namely how the head worked with eyes, the tail design overall, and primarily - the wings.

I’ve decided to take a slightly different route for the Aerodracos in terms of species mimicry. Each ‘class’ would loosely reflect their terran counterpart machines, but have a different internal system regarding their ‘engines’ and respiratory/propulsionary systems. On land they would utilize the gill-like slits that seal shut in flight to maintain lower levels of air intake, while in flight their chest vents would open as illustrated above in the pre-flight prep to allow a more significant air draw that would then be vented through the tail that would be telescoped upon itself in flight to reduce profile and drag.

I’ve also nixed classic eyes in favor of a line of sensors that emit light in the direction the ‘draco is focused, creating the appearance of a false-pupil across the visor just under the canopy dome.

With the wings I tried a more avian/bat blend for the look, and I’m on the fence about it. Extended the design looks good, but folded produces some wonky effects as seen above. I may see about blending the prior version of the wings with this one to make a more streamlined design.

I also have some interesting anatomy planned involving the canopy, mouth, and the pits you see in the hollowed underarm of the right forelimb.

[ocoree]

When you’re paired with an Aerodraco, and it becomes jealous of another creature getting your attention.

Grumpy monster bird indeed... It’s like having a giant Angry Parrot following you around everywhere. Poor Elisk doesn’t know what to do about this, since he just found himself plopped in as a convenient size reference.

Still working on pegging their designs down, so pardon the shifting anatomy here and there!

[ocoree]

Late night concepting doodles of a biosynthetic beast that is part-jet, part-wyvern, part-archosaur, and all grumpy-parrot.... and you get the Aerodraco!

It’s been fun developing this brain baby with a group, so there’s a lot of material to cover in descriptive illustrations to eventually tighten up their design, and a future info sheet/page for these guys.

All done with a generic ballpoint pen and a fine tip RSVP pen.