any opinions on bug dragons? I'm going to keep this brief because I don't really have any base information about my particular project because there's a lot I want to be reworking here, but I'm specifically thinking about the Hivewings from the Wings of Fire series. they bug me(pun intended) in numerous ways but the most annoying to me is the refusal to commit to the bug theming, especially because they committed to theming much more in the other bug related subspecies, Silkwings.
so yeah tldr I'm redesigning Hivewings from the Wings of Fire series because they bother me and I'm unsure how to go about bug dragons and especially wasp dragons. any tips?
(ps I'm also the guy from a while back that was redesigning Icewings from the same series and quite frankly I cannot believe I forgot feathers were an option. that was my first thought for multiple other subspecies so it's really funny that for the icy individuals I forgot about it lol)
wasps are a really fun insect choice for dragon design!
some wasps I think are ideal for dragon inspiration:
giant ichneumon wasp. it's got a whole dragon tail thing going on, look at this.
(image description: a red, black, and yellow striped wasp with an incredibly long and flexible abdomen. It is perched on a tree and inserting its very long ovipositors into the bark. end description.)
mud dauber, another one with a long abdomen, though not as flexible.
(image description: photo of a black and yellow mud dauber wasp, which has a very narrow "waist" between its thorax and abdomen. end description.)
Tarantula hawk wasp. absolutely astounding color design.
(image description: photo of a wasp with a shiny blue body and bright red-orange wings. end description.)
they also come in deeper sapphire blues, and I've seen photos of some with bright yellow antennae.
you can of course stick with a classic yellow jacket, the black and yellow stripes are iconic.
Now, if you wan to make a wasp dragon, you gotta get the body shape right. It doesn't need to literally have a pinched wasp waist, but if you don't get the silhouette right, it won't have that insectoid aesthetic.
(image description: sketch breaking down the basic wasp body shapes. the head is a narrow oval, with equally oval eyes and pointy mouth parts. the thorax is a triangular shape, and the abdomen is a tear drop shape. the wings, antennae, and legs are drawn as simple lines. end description.)
the ichneumon wasp has a different abdomen shape, but most wasps follow this simple body plan very closely. even the mud dauber with its long skinny "waist" still follows these shapes, it just puts an extra space between the thorax and abdomen.
so now let's see a dragon with these shapes, adding on the usual reptilian style dragon parts like a long neck, and see how it looks.
(image description: sketch of a dragon based on the wasp. It has a narrow, oval head with a sharp beak, short horns that point forward, and a narrowed waist with a long teardrop shaped tail that ends in a sharp knife-like point. It also has six legs close together and two long narrow wings. end description.)
it's a start! hopefully enough to give you some inspiration!
