#scauldron

really enjoyed this one despite how daunting it was—the pose took ages to sus out but i sacrificed the wings to make the head and neck a greater focus point.

a very old and well documented species of dragon; it seems even the fishers of old had trouble keeping scauldrons from stealing out of their nets.

scauldrons are commonly used to mark aquatic danger on maps when the true source of danger (eg a diff specie, storms, pirates) was unknown. theyve gained a fearsome reputation and though not wholly undeserving—their familiarity with humans has become fearlessness—they are generally docile unless provoked or hungry.

a very dull-looking species. their hide usually matches the water they reside in, so theyre oft desaturated and murky, with dark backs and light bellies. however, the underside of their wings are brightly patterned and even glow slightly to mimic the sun filtering through the ocean top in hopes of luring deep prey up higher.

they have large sacs on their throats that they can fill with the water stored in a specialised "bladder", so they do not need to be around water to fire it. they heat this water up in mere sevonds through a complex ignition system, and then jet it out at foes by expelling all the air in their lungs. it can shatter bone and even cut skin on impact with a healthy enough scauldron.

their jets are weakened underwater; as scauldron lack gills, they do not want to risk expelling all of their air.

though they are of the tidal class and live aquatic lives, they are not graceful nor fast swimmers, relying on trickery and ambushing prey above water to get by.

also her; a lil peek into my process. i go straight from this to painting so most of the detail is done on the fly. the painting on this took about ~3 hours?