#al speaks

[the-al-chemist]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! As you've written a fair bit about Charlie, I'm sure you've thought a lot about dragons by proxy. Are there any headcanons/ideas you have about dragons in your world (that Charlie is likely to talk about at length to people)? - @hphmmatthewluther

Well, look who is here asking me about things that I love to talk about. Dragons? Yes please. Charlie Weasley? Even more yes please.

So, I had a good think about dragons when it came to Learning to Fly. I’m a stickler to canon, so I knew I wanted them to be completely wild animals, but I needed to have Norbert(a) able to interact with Charlie. So, I based my “characterisation” of dragons on a few things, some of which made it into the story, some of which remained unpublished.

Until now.

I’m so sorry, you hit my nerdy/hyperfocus spot. This is such an essay of a response. I’m leaning into it with picture examples and everything…

Anatomy/Physiology

Firstly, I used birds as an inspiration. This is an obvious one, sort of. Generally, you have two different dragon appearances in recent western fantasy: either they have four legs plus a pair of wings or their wings are their front limbs. In the Harry Potter films, they use the latter. It’s less cute, but makes more sense in terms of them actually being able to fly.

All the terms I used to describe Norbert(a)’s body parts were anatomical terms for these body parts in birds, e.g. the keel. The keel is the breastbone, and in birds the muscles used for flight all attach here in order to keep the centre of gravity low on the body for flight. There are tendons that then extend up through a loop of bone and act as pulleys for their wings, the bones of which are actually very similar to our own arms, if you look closely.

As well as their flight mechanisms, birds have a bellows system of air sacs that I wanted to borrow for my dragons. Birds use these for respiration (think about oxygen at high altitudes during flight), but for my dragons, they have another purpose. Because, what else needs oxygen? What is it that dragons are most famous for? What is responsible for those burns on Charlie’s arms?

Fire.

I am not much of a reptile expert, so I didn’t take much in the way of inspiration from reptiles when writing about my dragons. I do, however, have the headcanon that, like all reptiles, dragons are cold-blooded. Most physiological adaptations have more than one purpose, and so, my dragons don’t just use fire for hunting and defence purposes — they use it to keep themselves warm. They produce the flames in their thorax, where there is a good oxygen supply and the blood can be warmed easily due the proximity to the heart, and the muscles and thick bone of the keel are able to protect it.

Behaviour

I used more elements of dog behaviour when writing Learning to Fly than anything else, for the simple reason that it is the animal body language I understand best and that I thought most readers would understand best. However, I would argue that dragons are far more like cat species than dogs in regard to their behaviour, so I included some cat-like tendencies as well.

Dogs are social creatures, and most of their behaviours have evolved in order to maintain order within a pack. They hunt in packs, roam in packs, raise offspring in packs. Other than lions, cats are usually solitary creatures, only joining together as adults to mate. There are exceptions, of course, but this is usually the rule. The same goes for dragons, from what we see in canon. Therefore, their behaviour will largely be based on avoiding conflict in order to avoid injury to themselves, and on solitary hunting. I did put this in with Norbert(a) — in one of the final chapters, she engages in play behaviour by mimicking hunting, like a cat.

I also took a lot of inspiration from orcas, mainly in respect to the ethical arguments surrounding their captivity. If you haven’t seen Blackfish, you should definitely do so. I headcanon dragons to be immensely powerful and intelligent beings with wide roaming ranges, who do not cope well in captivity. In canon, it is known that dragons are too dangerous to keep as pets, and judging by the treatment of the Gringotts dragon, the ones that are kept in captivity do not lead happy and fulfilled lives.

I have written several times that dragons kept in captivity suffer from severe impairments to their physical and emotional health, to the point that they have reduced length of life as well as quality of life compared to their wild counterparts. Most of that has been in the form of dialogue from Charlie.

Three guesses what is the thing he really won’t shut up about…

#al speaks #charlie weasley #dragonology #about those dragons tho #dragons #wbw asks #did I mention that I love dragons

[gatorinator]

“Walrus on your doorstop” this “fairy’s more unrealistic” that my professor just uttered the sentence “there was one day I found a real octopus in my backyard” this man hasn’t left Utah his entire life. How was there an octopus in his backyard in Utah. He then said “I do not have time to elaborate we need to cover a lot today in class” GIRL WHAT DO YOU MEEAN

#al speaks #we are fifteen minutes into class and still haven’t had any class cuz he was telling a story. wdym you don’t have time for the octopus story #stop class I want to know everything. I guess he would say he would be more surprised to see a fairy than a walrus #walrus or fairy

[toldentops]

I love having ocs because n one hand I can literally do whatever I want, on the other hand I cant juist go on the internet to see my favorite babygirl

#al speaks #feeling so regular about kinoga. please #I need to commission people. expensive #good god the typos on this. hi

[aluc-art]

Srsly do u guys think after he grinned like that, he noticed his reflection on the glass and stopped smiling💀

#Ew tord #Eddsworld #Eddsworld fandom #Eddsworld tord #al speaks

[palossssssand]

Do you have or would you consider doing a height comparison chart for your splatoon characters? I wanna see them together.

I have this fun little wip that's been sitting in my files for a while, but this is as close of a height chart as I can get!

#al speaks #asks #splatoon #splatoon ocs #you guys have no idea how much I agonized over drawing the octo expansion weapons #looking to hell and back for a charger before realizing there are no octoling chargers #and then finding a promo image of agent 8 with an eliter #so now I have to go redraw agara's thing. SIGH #and also trito's slouched as hell but otherwise this is pretty accurate #my art #my ocs #trito #kinoga #agara #denchu #kanu #jilon #octolings

[pericci]

My sister and brother-in-law have a cat that looks like a muppet but my brother-in-law insists that he’s a beautiful majestic cat. So the last time I saw them I tortured him with descriptions of his cat being a sad sickly Victorian boy while he kept going “No! No! He’s a handsome strong lad!! He’s beautiful!!!”. The entire time his cat was staring at us through a baby gate like this

#al speaks

[aldoesthings]

fuck symbolism and deep analysis will graham started wearing darker clothes simply because he progressively became sluttier

#evil al be like: yeah i don’t think this scene is complex #no more deep analysis just gay gay homosexual gay #nbc hannibal #hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #hannigram #al speaks

[bandanabiel]

haha is it a circus in here or what, cause let me tell you baby, im feeling like a clown and this shit is in tents*¹

*¹ (editor’s note: when spoken aloud, this phrase is homophonous to the word “intense”)

#al speaks #used this one at my appointment the other day and it made my therapist laugh so it doesnt matter if this doesnt get notes #im already a hit with ​my target audience

[holycorrupt]

I think a very unique feature about webcomics that can be a lot harder to see in official publications is the fact that you can actively watch years of hardwork and improvement just slowly build up over time.

And it's one of the most inspiring and beautiful things, honestly??

#webcomics #al speaks #cant wait for it to happen to me too lolol #indie creatives are beautiful and passionate and you can SEE IT and FEEL IT #storytellers have always been important and i love u

[hoginabog]

mommyclanners can u rb this with yr kitties thatr rlly into bugs!!!! i wanna draw some Bug Friends with my duder!!! 🪲

#mommyclan #al speaks

[gatorinator]

Why did I think this was relevant to share in my family group chat

#al speaks #Deadpool #ryan reynolds #I don’t know what response I was expecting

[toldentops]

I got too excited

#al speaks

[aluc-art]

Tord after he has smoked the weed that makes you evil:

#Cw drugs #tw drugs #Ew tord #Eddsworld #Eddsworld fandom #Al speaks

[palossssssand]

Commissions open!

Hi! Opening about 3 slots for commissions, everything listed is On The Menu. Please see my pinned post for all the good info. Shoot me a DM or email [email protected] if interested. Thank you!

#al speaks #commissions #I will hand it to twitter. I like that qrts show up before the original post. it makes it feel like more of an addition #in terms of comm posts anyways #but yeah!!

[pericci]

Thanks gang!

#al speaks #being the token woman means every March 8th I get two dollars richer hell yea

[aldoesthings]

literally hate hugh dancy’s eyes on the show like they’re so expressive and full of emotions. why are they so big. so you can stare at men better? whore

#/j #not about the eyes thing i’m obsessed with them when i watch the show #nbc hannibal #hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #hannigram #hugh dancy #al speaks