@Mari
Yeah the green is just me blocking out where I wanted her scales to go!! I started running out of time when I got onto this drawing.
When she was a dragon she had venomous quills/feathers around her neck so I'll have to agonise over incorporating them into the design as well as making sure the scales are nice and asymmetrical too.
I actually have an old box of scented candles in my studio/spare room ahah. I think 90% of them are tealights though.
Yeah, I might stick with some simplified crest/gilding. I always struggled with over rendering everything.
(Hence my imposed time limited on sketches like these)
Sorry I was so worried about leaving a giant text dump that I tried to give the cliff notes and made it confusing.
The dragons were initially enslaved.
Then the Dragon God (The Old God that created Dragon-kind) grew tired of being mocked by the Faen God (The Old God that created Elves and all Fae) for the defeat of his creations.
He started throwing tantrums . cough
Raising Elven cities and creating natural disasters. The Elves remained stubborn believing that with their god's protection the Dragon god wouldn't dare wipe them out directly.
Eventually though the death toll grew too great, so they began to pray for relief. The Faen God, being the tricksy bugger he is, convinced the Dragon God that they would enter an alliance that would make both races stronger.
He gave elves a ritual to bond Elven and Dragon children in body and mind. The catch, when the Elven partner dies, the Dragons remaining life-force begins to rapidly dissipate unless they possess the deceased partners body.
It also makes them incapable of willingly harming each other.
The Dragons didn't realise this initially as they were excited to experience possessing a bipedal form, But when more and more opted for freedom (Keeping their mountainous true forms) and began to wither away en masse, they understood that they had been tricked.
Some accepted it and stayed. Some fled and formed their own cities and countries. Some were simply content to take an Elven body and explore the world.
Some young elves sympathised and joined them
But the rising tensions between the elves and dragons is a big story beat for my comic.
@Stardust-clearwater
She is the result of a dragon being stuffed into a dead elf. When she was a dragon she was about the size of a school bus, with a neck full of venomous quills/feathers.
She knows. She had a very close bond with the elf whose body she now inhabits. She decided to leave and explore the world instead of get swept away in the rising tensions between Dragons and elves.
She's exactly the kind of person to wear her stolen goods... In front of the people she stole them from.
She's a hand to hand fighter. She has retractable venomous claws. She can also shoot her fingernails out as a projectile in emergencies. Though they take a couple days to grow back.
The human is about 24. Definitely seasoned. He was a formally trained swordsman from the age of 11 and for the past five years he's been fighting almost non stop. (mercenary work)
Well he did once have his stomach cut open, so I'd say his fear is warranted.
I'm fast at bashing out ideas, but only 2/10 are ever any good
Thank you for the feedback so far
I sincerely apologise for this text dump. My God
Edit
Just a little PS:
The Old Gods are like a group of old codgers arguing over whose kid/grandkid(Creation) is the most impressive.
Some get on well, others have more contentious relationships.