Just wanted to share a dragon design I made, as well as some thoughts on designing creatures.
There are a lot of different ways to design a dragon. I myself like the reptilian look. But, more specifically, I enjoy designs which go for believability - in the sense that they give you the feeling that such a creature could have, somehow, evolved on this Earth; that it's a living, breathing animal, rather than some fairy tale monster. At least, up to a point. We are, after all, talking about creatures that breathe fire, can grow to sizes way beyond what's biologically possible, and might even have some other magical abilities. And, often, they like to talk... A lot. (Looking at you, Smaug from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.)
Dragons are commonly described as serpentine, or lizard-like, with leathery wings, and covered in scales and horns and whatnot. In some depictions they are more bird-like, and even have feathers. In others, they are almost amphibian in appearance. In folk tales, they often sport a mish-mash of features taken from different animals: they might have a tail of a serpent, talons of an eagle, a forked tongue, claws of a lion... I really like designs that manage to offer believable reinterpretations of these descriptions. For example, some depictions simply attach this fish-fin thing to the sides of the head or the neck, and it often feels somehow out of place. This is a traditional element that some representations of dragons include, but if one simply copy-pastes the underlying anatomy from a fish onto the body of a dragon, in terms of creature design it feels wrong, or even uninspired, although the contextual piece that incorporates the mythical beast may itself be artistically compelling. With some creative thinking, the fish-fin can be reinterpreted in different ways. It could be shown as a bony crest on the skull, only superficially resembling a fin. Or it could just be a series of skin flaps. Or an arrangement of unusually shaped keratinous spines. It may take a few iterations before you get to a design that you are satisfied with. The point is, taking a bit of time to try something different can go a long way. You can do a variation on an established theme, or indulge in free-form experimentation - although I should note that working under a set of constrains can fuel creativity by bringing out the problem-solver in you.
I've tried to do something in that spirit here: the idea is that the horns and various features present at the back of the head, extending over and partially covering the neck, are all part of a bony frill, inspired by those found in ceratopsian dinosaurs (but a bit more ornate). I feel it gives the creature an interesting look, while not straying too far from the modern idea of what a dragon looks like (in Western culture). BTW, I intended for this to be a t-shirt design, so the overall style was chosen with that in mind. I'm probably going to do a few more of these before I make the t-shirts happen, though.
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