New dragon desing method

[Diamondec]

I'm trying to make my dragon pictures look better and more realistic so I am curently working with bones of real animals and working with them in flash to make them look better. I'm starting with bat wings and should have the resulting wing up soon in my gallery.
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To dream the impossible dream.

[Shaprite]

I can't wait to see it.
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Beware. I bite!

[Diamondec]

It's up my wing on my album. Please check it out on Diamondec's Album! Feedback is apprecated.
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To dream the impossible dream.

[Syrobe]

I think your work in the your album is a good start in dragon anatomy. I wonder how the wings will be completed. Are you looking at feathers or bat wings to complete them?
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- power is gained through wisdom -

[Diamondec]

I am looking at bat wing but have modified them slightly to fit my views on dragon anatomy. For instance bat wings have five long bone structures not three, also their wings are more curved then I thingk dragon wings are. However when I am done I may change my mind and go with a true bat wing. Right now I am working with the body and tail, for which I will use Komodo dragon skeletal structure. I will also use their claws. For the arms and head I'm looking at dinosaur bones.
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To dream the impossible dream.

[Shiari]

You seem to be rather missing a radius, ulna, and elbow in your skeletal drawing of the wing. Being unable to retract the wing via an elbow in mid up-swing of the wing will result in a counter productive motion as all lift will be lost by air pressing against the wing surface.

Dragons are not bees.

http://shiari.deviantart.com/art/shinoar-skeleton-11493143

Here is a drawing I did of a shinoar skeleton many years ago. It's not entirely accurate, but pretty close. Note the radius and ulna that attach to the humerus of the wing-arm.

Also notice how far down the body the inner wing-membrane extends. Hind limbs and tails are heavy and unless you plan on your dragon being unable to bend its spine at all, you should probably lengthen the membrane to support the hips and tail to a degree and thus prevent HBS (hanging butt syndrome).

You also need a place for the huge flight muscles to attach. Unfortunately, the ribs of a reptile are meant to be highly flexible because they have no diaphragm but unlike birds, which also do not have a diaphragm, reptiles have no stationary keel for muscle attachment.

Also needed is a scapula for the wing to attach to.

Other points of concern, for flight worthiness is the overall length of the wing. Look again at the shinoar skeleton. We needed wings that huge to get us into the air, and even then we spent more time on the ground than aloft.

http://wolfpearl.deviantart.com/art/WP-s-Dragon-Guide-part-01-108496356

Wolf pearl created a very good set of tutorials (there's 3 in the series) that detail all I mentioned, only with really good visuals.

[Jasriella]

Also the scapula would need to be slightly modified I believe to be able to support both a set of forelimbs and wings. Now for the end portion of the wings. If you look at bat and bird wings, they much resemble how a human hand is formed with carpals and metacarpals. All you have are the metacarpals which are the finger bones, the carpals are what make up the movable wrist and hand bones and would be much needed for any amount of adjustment for flight, plus flexibility is key.

An added thing to the humerus, having a bone that long and narrow supporting so much weight in flight would be physically impossible unless the bone was made up of some unknown super strong material. If the dragon were to take any amount of flight at all the stress on the humerus would snap it like a twig.
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I am trapped between heaven and hell. My wings carry me upon the winds. Above lies heaven, below hell. Yet I must land in hell to soar in heaven. I am a Dragon!

[Shiari]

a dragon would do better to have two different scapula. Trying to deal with muscle attachments for both limbs would severely reduce the mobility of both.