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okay so first of all this looks REALLY yellow and satured on my phone but fine on my laptop and tablet so if anyone wants to let me know how this looks for them so i can adjust going forwards thatd be swell! i dont know which device to believe haha

now for my dragon specie headcanon/rambles

monstrous nightmares, as said above, are a specie native to berk and the land around it, though they are hardy enough to survive most environments

despite their large size and ability to ignite themselves at the drop of a hat, they usually dwell in forested, mountainous areas, where they attract mates by scorching their territory and letting the smoke rise. the more smoke, the better their odds at a female coming to check out the show.

their striped hide means they blend in shockingly well to the trees, especially on warmer days. they are, however, not quiet dragons and cannot easily sneak up on prey, not that they would try to.

they are covered in a thin gel-like substance that can create a "flame jacket" very quickly and easily—a nightmare must spit some of its own fire onto it's body to ignite this jacket, or catch a flame from another dragon. they cannot ignite themselves without some sort of external fire.

all dragons are flame-resistant to some degree but nightmares more so than others, for obvious reasons. the flame jacket also serves to deter more flammable dragons for trying to enter close quarters. however this strategy is not effective for all as plenty of species, often other stoker class dragons, are willing to brave the heat. for these situations, nightmare's are equipped with one of the strongest bite forces in the dragon kingdom, and claws that could gut even a thick-hided dweller class. of course, that's assuming their fire breath didn't do the trick.

their eyes are slitted as they primarily hunt close to the ground, foregoing flight to run on their wings like bats. each wing has 7 digits, two of which are thumbs that they use to get a better grip as they walk. monstrous nightmares are pamprodactyls, able to move their hind toes to hook onto nearby trees or rocks.

despite possessing large, uniquely shaped wings, monstrous nightmares are poor fliers. their forward-facing eyes make them exceptional ground hunters to focus on prey, but limits their scope when in the air, where attackers can come from any direction. the best way to defeat a nightmare is by getting it airborne and disorientating it, then disengaging while it reorients and lands. be aware of the claws on it's wings as it flies—they are just as sharp as it's talons.

the spines on it's back are not actual spines; they're sails. though much softer than the spikes they look like at a distance, they are still not comfortable to sit on. why nightmare's developed false spines when all other aspects of them are real and deadly isn't yet known.

not as happy with this one as i was with the last but hey! the reason i made this challenge for myself was to see what methods worked best, both looks and timewise. i wouldve kept tweaking this but the pose and scale detail i attempted ate up my allotted time. ill need to experiment with fast ways of doing scales... also not too huge on the pose or composition of this one but it was fun learning bird anatomy! chikn...

also the perspective. but full send no time to fix or redo ive got to learn mistakes are okay ill be more careful in the future. head could be a lil bigger and tail would look better a bit darker.

wings are styled after elliptical wings to allow for more sudden take-offs and tighter turns, but is slower in general flight. ive always seen nadders as The Fast One but i think it having better manoeuvrability makes more sense so it does steal the Night Fury's thunder.

males tend to be warmer-hued and have much more vibrant hides, whereas females are cooler and one contain two or three tones. on the whole though, nadders are quite vibrant. males also tend to possess much larger crests, that they bob up and down to impress females.

...which contrasts to the rocky mountainous ridges they call their home. they live near forests and rivers and seem to hunt prinarily fish.

their beaks are exceptionally strong, able to crack through bone and rock in order to carve out a ledge in a cliffside, where they will settle down and nest. their beaks also protect the softer scales on their faces from their jets of flame, channeling it into a more precise line.

i dont have as much to say abt the nadders ill be honest i like how they are in canon lol. theyre smart, agile, and have an incredible sense of smell (and eyesight!)

also heres 1/2 of my speedpaint—i cant export it at a higher quality than this im afraid </3

mixed feelings on this one. i like the concept a lot but the execution... i kinda hate it. partly bc the smaller arms under the wings arent visible and i forgot to add fingers and just a million other things. needed more time but i hella rushed this one. def wanna do a more thorough redo/redesign of this one once the challenge is up

death songs are pretty fresh out the ocean as a specie; their long eel-like bodies, short legs and fin-like sails are still equipped for swimming under the water rather than walking on land. they have to walk on the knuckle of their underdeveloped wings else their bellies drag along the ground. they are extremely clumsy and their giant size doesnt help

to counteract the issues with land, they will typically have territory close to water so they can relieve the pressure on their skeletons when not in action.

said territories are marked by trails on amber, spit from a special sac in their strong neck that starts to harden once it hits the air. to protect against a death song, keep a distance—at a certain point, the amber will fully solidify before it can hit you amd be useless, aside from this crsytalline cannonball now sailing towards you.

they, like many birds, will mimic sounds to draw prey closer. it has confused many a researcher looking for a nadder only to hear those chirpy roars coming from a death song. they are the subject of horror stories, as they will mimic a human's cries for help or screams if it's got an appetite for humans.

exceedingly intelligent dragons that can remember specific dragons and people and hold a grudge. thankfully, it will only stray from it's territory if it's an offspring going to find a new home. just dont go near again if youve pissed this dragon off.

extreme carnivores and will eat any animal that comes their way even if it is not hungry. they will often kill prey and then freeze it in amber to stop it from rotting.

despite the colourful displays on male drath song's wings, they are poor fliers, unable to turn to accelerate to keep up with airborn prey—hence why they elect to shoot them down.

not much to say here tbh—i like how this came out a lot consideirng how short of a time i spent on it! pose was ambitious & the head feels a bit small (not on the body, compared to the canvas. it is So Fucking Blurry but a bigger canvas makes my tablet vomit and die)

skrill, as said above, are one of the few dragons that hunt and kill for sport, going out of their way to chase down prey as large as timberjacks by frying their nervous systems with a well-timed shock of raw electricity. they typically do not eat this prey. its been theorised this is a form of "play" or "practise", but skrill aresifficult to study due to their small sample size.

they are mostly extinct with few specimens remaining in the wild; a recent skrill that was deiced in Berk runs rampant and seems to have brought a few others out of hising, but they are still an exceptionally rare specie. they are solo animals and only meet with members of their specie to breed

they hunt exclusively in the air, racing through storm clouds and using their metallic scales tk draw lightning to strike them, which they then redirect onto fleeing prey. they primarily hunt small flying dragons, electrifying them to slow or stop their flight, then yanking them from mid-air with their long sticky tongue

though they fly spectacularly and swiftly, they are poor on the ground and struggle to keep up with most species. if a skrill is needed to be neutralised, they must be grounded in some form

a skrill will not want to draw lightning outside of a chase; holding onto the electricity for too long will hurt itself so it must be expelled quickly. if there is no storm, or a skrill is otherwise unable to be charged, it is much less of a threat.

however, they are rarely seen outside storms. a skrill will have a temporary "territory" of a given storm and follow it until it dissipates, so it always has a lgihtning source.

if unable to use its electricity, it will resort to using it's tongue to pull prey close, then goring them with it's horns and crest. if unable to do that, it's clawed wings, espeocally the large one on its thumb, can gut even the toughest the vikings.

they are hard to train and harder to keep on your side, but not impossible; respect it's need to be alone and allow it hunt storms, and you can form a mutually beneficial relationship.

not happy w this one tbh, i had a fun concept with the crests but i fucked the execution BUT. i cna recycle for my own dragon specie. anyway i made deathgrippers rlly buggy esp in the back legs.

they arent just bite—their necks and spine are very heavily guarded to defend against most counterattacks, fire fang or poison. the rest of their tails are covered in leathery scales, leaving only their blubbery underbelly soft

they are very quiet when they move sliwly, but speed causes their crests to clatter against each other and alerts prey. they will silently stalk larger prey in duos or trios before announcing their presence. they seem to wnjoy the chase but do not kill for sport

males are a brighter red and have patterns on their crests where females are duller and lack noteable patterning. males also tend to have larger, more curved tusks. the exmaple in the image is a female.

their pincers are not "true" pincers, instead heavily evolved hands with a single large claw. they walk on their knuckles.

tag list (dm to be added or removed!) 🐇💌

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