Gun Dragon ecology - Darkmane The Werewolf

[@DracheAryn]

Cool! That´s what I call a unique dragonbreath. Kinda scary.

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

Thanks =p I'm sure he's fine once you get to know him =p

[@upsettispaghettivulture]

hahah those grabby little forelimbs are so cute ;w; I wanna set up cans on a fence for him haha

[@Maukiki]

Maybe her

[@cloudinthehead8054]

Those eyes with that "smile" make it both adorable and menacing at the same time, my brain keeps going back and forth like "cute cute scary cute scary cute cute-", it's amazing!

[@xdadragon8510]

Anybody else freaking love its design

[@nostop69420]

THEY’RE SO HAPPY AAAAAAA

[@dragonwriterarts]

I'm not sure whether to hug this thing or run for my life.

[@TheHydrakeHydra]

I keep coming back to this. It’s such a great concept and with the window part I keep thinking that it would be great as a game character of some sort

[@madsj661]

awwww it's so cute and i LOVE the way you animate

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

I'm glad people think he's cute XD Thanks for watching =)

[@BlackFlame_4_ever]

Now this is the true American dragon

[@plkachuzzz]

yes

[@camilao2735]

So good! I loved the animation movement when the dragon grabs the bullets (?) it looked so fluid and cute. You can definitely see improvement compared to your older animations.

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

Thank you so much =) Yes, they are bullets =p Even though its still roughly drawn by design, I'm glad people still enjoy these little concept animations.

[@konchu4u608]

Seems like something that belongs in monster hunter

[@cartoondragon8946]

This really inspired me I- I created a new dragon species like this that can shoot out its teeth at incredible force and also has the feet of a Velociraptor for no particular reason.

[@jennifercox3170]

How does this even work, how can the dragon fire bullets from its mouth like a gun. It's awesome and pretty cool but I'm just curious.

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

The idea was it collects the gunpowder in the bullets and discards the casing and bullet itself. When it needs to "shoot" it loads a bit of gunpowder in its throat pouch, closes its throat and inflates the pouch. It'll draw in air from outside through the "Gill" looking parts, pump the charge of gunpowder out the front and slam it's jaws together a moment after to ignite the cloud once it escapes. The result is a short - mid range blast. As a result, the head has very little in fur/feather/crest/decorations so there's less risk of igniting its own face. The pits in its skull keep it light and manoeuvrable and double as a small cavity that would help protect the eyes. The eyes themselves still also have a light reflecting film over them constantly and a long, flexible neck means it can "shoot" well away from its main body and limbs so as not to damage itself and also gives it the option to draw its head back if the explosion is a bit much. The end of the jaws have small bits of flint like surfaces that are slightly offset so that it would need to move its lower jaw slightly forward before impact causes a spark, so just normal biting won't accidentally create sparks.

[@jennifercox3170]

@@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation With, I love how put so much thought in creature that we only get to see 4 less than a minute. The dragon itself reminds me a little bit of the hideous zippleback from How to Train your Dragon. Are the dragons from the How to Train your dragon movies a big influence on your creature design?

[@echos_fable5241]

Beautiful animation and great dragon! Also I have two questions, first, what animals did you reference for the gun dragon's anatomy? (That is if you did reference anything and if not cool) Second, (feel free to not take this one seriously :P) how does the gun dragon reload, or does it just have unlimited ammo and then brings me to why it picks up the bullets, or is it all just animation magic?

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

A lot of animals were referenced - Crocodiles for the leg and body, large birds for the head and chest as well as flying. Referencing is very important, especially if you're hoping to make a career out of your art. For young artists that feel like they have a "Natural Talent" or take pride in being able to draw without reference, consider when you apply for a job and you're up against someone who has an amazing portfolio achieved through referencing life. Your false pride counts for nothing, the other guy is producing the better product and they're going to get the job. Not using reference is not something to be proud of, you're only handicapping yourself for no reason. As for your second question =p The general idea of the Gun Dragon in my mind is that it's "Gunshot" is merely a short ranged blast. They would "Hunt" bullets that they can dismantle and extract the gunpowder which would be stored in the lining of the throat pouch. When it fires a load, it inflates the pouch area, closes the throat and opens up the gills on it's neck, the pouch will release a small load of gunpowder and with the gills to draw air in one way, it pumps that gunpowder out through the mouth at the same time as the mouth snapping shut. The impact causes a spark that ignites the aerosolised Gunpowder as it's blasted out of the mouth and it explodes safely outside of the Gundragon so that it doesn't hurt itself. Closing the throat prior to each "Shot" when air is drawn through the gills, prevents a vaccum forming inside of the beast and therefore prevents a backdraft if something went wrong during this attack. The Gundragon also angle's its lower jaw for the two strikers to impact eachother. Otherwise, its jaws in a neutral position would not create a stray spark during normal activities so as not to accidentally blow itself up. I'm hoping to get a proper reference sheet drawn up to illustrate all of this but haven't had the time.

[@jennifercox3170]

@@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation You should make a behind-the-scenes video for every animation that describes your thought process when designing the creature as well as how you animated it, I guarantee people will love them. I mean, just ask Dead Sound, one of my favorite channels that produces some of my favorite short animations. If you haven't already, go check him out.

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

I have a Patreon for this reason =) Access is only $1 per video that I make (Not Monthly). Links are in the description and at the end of all my more recent videos.

[@RefreshinglyMyself]

I'm in love with this dude

[@metanightnyan]

THIS IS SO ADORABLE I WOULD HUG THEM EEEEEE Do you have any tips on drawing/animating dragons? (Anatomy, I need help with circles and timings and how to draw a good snout for a sketch)

[@goblinofsharksnacks]

omg this is so cool XD never seen a gun dragon before

[@Star-The-Werewolf]

I love this concept!

[@thegreatblaze5832]

the way the dragons fore legs are its wings makes it look more mythological and more tobponder abot if dragons in real life actually existed

[@shikkaba]

The dragon's fore legs aren't it's wings. If you look carefully, there is a small set of legs separate from the wings.

[@thegreatblaze5832]

+shikkaba I know thanks to evolution it evolved 2 sets of arms one is a pair of wings, one has grasping hands

[@birdybathtime389]

Can I make my own gun dragon? This looks awesome!!!

[@ryntintin5211]

It's... It's so beautiful

[@duckcoo-i9k]

That's really creative!!!

[@GippyHappy]

I want one

[@Thats_Cool_Jack]

Really cool

[@Unaqi]

I have a question! Why do you use both After effects and Premiere?

[@Unaqi]

As in, What do you use each program for

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

I fudging love After Effects but it is very RAM heavy and my Desktop computer isn't exactly the most advanced piece of hardware. As such, AE great at handling the individual scenes but once I start to put something big together, it becomes a struggle. Premiere however, is able to handle things better as it works slightly differently. Rather than eating all my RAM, it eats up all my space instead =p of which I have a lot more of to spare! So what I will do is I'll edit individual scenes in After Effects, export them as Image sequences (For highest quality) and shove it all into Premiere where I can more easilly add the music and sound or just check through the mood of the film and how it flows together. Overall, this is how we were taught at University too - After Effects is great at editting scenes but I've always found Premiere easier to work with the movie as a whole.

[@Unaqi]

oki doki! Thank you very much!

[@Unaqi]

DarkmaneTheWerewolf Sorry for bothering you again, but do you ever use effects in AE? I've seen many animators say they edit in AE, and I was wondering if they meant putting the animation together or using effects?

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

Both. =p

[@CatLamp-X3]

Do you still animate with gimp? Do you think you can make a tutorial about that? I mean like adding backgrounds and other assets.

[@Bee3001ArtAndAnimation]

I am hoping to try and get a series of more technical tutorials done at some point to cover a variety of programs that I use and focusing on GIMP. =)

[@noxiouskitsune7084]

That's so cool!

[@EWroachguts]

Can I use the gun dragon species or is it closed?

[@melonpie33]

Wow...

[@MissT499]

LOVE.

[@leemon3875]

luv

[@TheDragonCat99]

F***ing metal