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PS CS3: A few Days

So, I have 4 half-colored pieces on my computer and 6 half-finished drawings on my desk and my first art of 2011 is...this. Yeah, I'm puzzled too. I bet most of you are wondering why I drew this instead of *Luthrai . Well, the answer to that is a simple one: I got tired of waiting for *Luthrai to get around to it.

So, here we go. Skeleton of a(n Orisian) dragon. Ember dragon, to be precise. Sometimes these are referred to as "common dragons" which is a bit of a misnomer as they are the most threatened species of dragon. Most species have a high infant mortality rate, with only one out of 5-6 hatchlings surviving to adulthood. Embers have a one in fifteen ratio, and then many of them do not successfully find a mate. The reason for all of this is their preferred hunting habitat is lightly wooded plains and hills, putting them in direct competition with human and dwarfen agriculture. As recently dragon-fighting tactics have become more successful and more widespread, embers have felt the brunt of the impact. After all, why sacrifice maidens to protect your herds when you can just call in the exterminator?

Embers are typically monogamous and biparental. Males compete with one another for available hunting territory in order to attract females. Once a pair has successfully mated, the male looks after the nest while the female takes over patrolling the territory. Both raise the chicks. Recently some embers have adopted a harem model due to lack of sufficient territory. Dragons have indeterminate growth, so the adult males can grow quite large over time. The oldest, largest males are able to attract multiple young dragonesses unable to find a suitable mate their own age and offer them a portion of territory with which to raise their young. They are on their own to do so, however. Ember dragonesses are very aggressive and in such a situation they will hunt out and kill one another's chicks to increase the likelihood of their own surviving.

Only the best slayers hunt adult dragons. Most go after fledglings, which are a lot more vulnerable (but still dangerous; even a yearling can lay a man flat with a paw swipe and has teeth sharp enough to sever tendons). The specimen we have here is a breeding-age male (as is the human pictured for scale). Females are a little smaller.

Ember Dragons are copyright to myself and *Luthrai as part of the world setting for our webcomic . You can read a little more about them here:

Description
PS CS3: A few Days

So, I have 4 half-colored pieces on my computer and 6 half-finished drawings on my desk and my first art of 2011 is...this. Yeah, I'm puzzled too. I bet most of you are wondering why I drew this instead of *Luthrai . Well, the answer to that is a simple one: I got tired of waiting for *Luthrai to get around to it.

So, here we go. Skeleton of a(n Orisian) dragon. Ember dragon, to be precise. Sometimes these are referred to as "common dragons" which is a bit of a misnomer as they are the most threatened species of dragon. Most species have a high infant mortality rate, with only one out of 5-6 hatchlings surviving to adulthood. Embers have a one in fifteen ratio, and then many of them do not successfully find a mate. The reason for all of this is their preferred hunting habitat is lightly wooded plains and hills, putting them in direct competition with human and dwarfen agriculture. As recently dragon-fighting tactics have become more successful and more widespread, embers have felt the brunt of the impact. After all, why sacrifice maidens to protect your herds when you can just call in the exterminator?

Embers are typically monogamous and biparental. Males compete with one another for available hunting territory in order to attract females. Once a pair has successfully mated, the male looks after the nest while the female takes over patrolling the territory. Both raise the chicks. Recently some embers have adopted a harem model due to lack of sufficient territory. Dragons have indeterminate growth, so the adult males can grow quite large over time. The oldest, largest males are able to attract multiple young dragonesses unable to find a suitable mate their own age and offer them a portion of territory with which to raise their young. They are on their own to do so, however. Ember dragonesses are very aggressive and in such a situation they will hunt out and kill one another's chicks to increase the likelihood of their own surviving.

Only the best slayers hunt adult dragons. Most go after fledglings, which are a lot more vulnerable (but still dangerous; even a yearling can lay a man flat with a paw swipe and has teeth sharp enough to sever tendons). The specimen we have here is a breeding-age male (as is the human pictured for scale). Females are a little smaller.

Ember Dragons are copyright to myself and *Luthrai as part of the world setting for our webcomic . You can read a little more about them here: