#httyd redesign

Essentially, a while back I realized that one of the big reasons I don't think the light fury's design meshes well with the rest of the httyd (again, one of, I'm sure there are more) is that I don't think they really based her off of real animals, the way the other dragons were. Most dragons are designed after real animals, like Toothless being based on cats and bats, and these inspirations bring a natural quality to their designs; it makes them feel more real, like actual species that live in particular environments and exploit particular niches, and that natural feel really built a unique feel for the franchise as a whole. In comparison, I don't think the light fury started in the same place— instead, it started with Toothless' design, and then they changed traits around so she'd look like... well, the "girl version." They needed a girlfriend design, not a species design, so I feel like they didn't really prioritize the idea that this dragon was supposed to be an animal. (Ironic, since she's supposed to represent a "call to the wild" for Toothless)

But anyways, after I had that thought, I wondered about trying to redesign the light fury— a very original idea, I know (/j)— and try to reverse engineer the light fury into a dragon which could realistically be its own species (so basically a redesign/lore overhaul, which is, again, unoriginal of me but I also had fun so I'll cope).

To start, I did a mockup of the head's profile. Since this IS a night fury subspecies, I had to start with the general shape of Toothless' head, but once I began to deviate from that blueprint, I think I actually managed to make it look like a night fury without just being a recolored night fury. Here she is!

You can probably already see some of the inspirations, here; orca, beluga, porpoise, and seal were all creatures I drew from. This is because,

1. Despite it not being the art team's intention, I've always been fond of the headcanon that the light fury species is semiaquatic, because so many of her existing features would work for that lifestyle. Therefore, I decided to lean even further into that idea

And

2. Cetaceans like orcas, belugas, and porpoises echolocate and are highly intelligent, which are two traits this species could share with night furies. It makes them seem more related to each other; they each have similar abilities, but have evolved to use them in different ways

Her rounded head is hydrodynamic, and her big ol squishy forehead is a "melon", for producing echolocation sounds. She is still fairly smooth, but I think it comes across better here, with the added context of her being aquatic.

Here are some rough body sketches!

She's a bit bigger than a night fury; stockier and almost blubbery, to be precise, and has more muscle mass from swimming. However, her legs are shorter due to a majority of her time being spent in the air or in the water, and so they are clumsy limbs best used as steering tools while swimming. Her tail is incredibly muscular, because it's what allows her to propel out of the water and into the air. Taking off from the water is vital, because with her stubby legs and massive wings, she basically needs a running start to get into the air (you ever seen a video of an albatross taking off? It's like that).

Speaking of wings—

Hers are REALLY BIG. Again, albatross inspiration. In my version, light furies are always migrating over long stretches of ocean, and hardly ever stop on land. They are designed to fly and swim for long distances in constantly migrating pods, and can even lock their wings and sleep on the air. Though these traits can make them clumsy and uncoordinated on land, they are just as graceful in the sky as a night fury, and have a similar affinity for the sea. The wings also have a sort of mirror effect on the underside, which helps light furies blend into the sky from below. This is ofc based off of the canon light fury's ability to turn invisible, which I like, but couldn't figure out how to make work the same way for an aquatic dragon (hot scales + ocean = cold scales again, unfortunately).

I might work on it more later, but I just wanted to share these rough concepts in case I lose interest lol. And because I'm really stinking proud of them so far (small changes will ofc come soon tho)

today on Paleostream we drew HTTYD dragons!!!!

closeups and design explanations/descriptions below:

Lifespan: 90  – 100 years

Diet: Any dragon its own size, sometimes even larger ones. Will settle on fish or yak if there is a lack of prey

Fire type: Plasma charges

Closest relative: Light Fury, Sandwraith

Predators: They do not have predators, but some bigger species will try instigating fights if they catch a Night Fury of guard. Though, most of the time this will result in the Night Fury flying off unless they get incapacitated. 

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Night Furies are nocturnal predators. Their black scales camouflage them perfectly in the dark of the night. Their coloring does have a multitude of problems, the biggest one being that if they are incapable of catching anything during the night, they’ll go hungry until the next night as the majority of dragon species aren’t dumb enough to not notice a large black mass approaching them.

They fully rely on their plasma blast while hunting. It’s strong enough to explode a Death Queen, but it only works if it’s used correctly. Blindly firing at prey won’t usually do anything. But a perfectly placed blast to the back of the neck will down just about any dragon. 

Their body structure is the same as the Light Fury, but they lack their diurnal counterparts' large lung capacity and their third eyelid is not as pronounced, only covering about a third of their eye.

And much like Light Furies, they are not very social with others of their species. They also mate for life and only breed two or three times in their whole life. Though, females will usually only lay one egg, very rarely two. Training a hatchling to hunt for itself takes longer than for Light Furies.

Males and females look almost the same, females being a bit larger.

Their coloration isn’t very varied, always seeming fully black and only revealing their true colors in the sun. Majority Night Furies will be blue in coloring but some might be purple or green. They have very pronounced patterning (also only visible in the sun), which seems to take over their whole body as they age. Titanwing Night Furies having a majority of their body covered with the spots.

🌊🫧🐟⚡🐠

Am I sort of disappointed that Midnight Wrath and Dazzling Ire are just recolors of a basic Night/Light fury that only only exist in a mobile game as a cashgrab and are the only sort of extension of Night/Light fury lore we get? Yes sort of, so I just expanded on the concept.

Midnight Wrath and Dazzling Ire but they are ancient ancestors of Light furies and Nightfuries.

Midnight Wrath: an ambush predator, she can sit still for hours at a time and attack with explosive power, grabbing prey, then thrashing and rolling about. She is most active at night, feeding on fish, birds, crabs and just about anything unlucky enough to be around

-ranging from 16 to 35 feet long, normally only black and yellow in color but the yellow can range but deep orange to light amber

-dwells in swamps with high vegetation and is able to survive in bodies of water that are poorly oxgenated, while most others suffocate

-can emit electricity like that of an eel which can stun unsuspecting prey and attackers

Dazzling Ire: while not as powerful as the Midnight Wrath, what she lacks in power she makes up for in stealth and speed

-seemingly plain in appearance, Dazzling Ire normally appears in colors ranging from dark grey to bright white and is only about 15 to 20 feet long

-has the ability to rapidly change color using photoreceptors embedded in the skin, allowing her to confuse prey and camouflage herself from predators

-normally found in bodies of freshwater, inside caves and feeding at the bottom of riverbeds on crabs and fish, most active during the day

-lifespan can last over 100 plus years if conditions are right

I needed a break from another project and had HTTYD on my mind again. I was looking through the different species on the wiki and was reminded that Silver Phantoms exist. I really like the design conceptually, but not the execution. I don't care that it's a fantasy cartoon, those giant holes make my brain hurt!

I did a quick redesign (in my art style) just for fun. Those giant holes have been swapped out for clear skin/membrane in order to preserve the cool look without crossing the Rule of Cool/Distractingly Impractical threshold.