Misti / Dragon(idk) || a DTAE I couldn't finish all the way

Instructions

☆ Click/tap the sprite or press any key to view the next image. ☆ ========== Howdy! Wistar (@Darcythecat) here. For those who are wondering why I'm remixing this on my alt - well, lemme explain. Just a warning though: it's gonna be preeeetty long ^-^; So, uh. It's been AGES since the last time I entered a DTA contest. But once I saw how gorgeous the designs were, I just knew I HAD to enter! I was originally aiming for the Slither design (because purple. I'm kinda biased ok /j) but I couldn't conjure up a cool backstory for them. BUT THEN...! One evening I had a big fat shower thought that drove me to enter for the dragon/cat design instead. Basically I came up with some really snazzy lore out of the blue. I /was/ planning to demonstrate it (and do more with this design) through something like an animation, AMV, interactive story, etc. but I couldn't get it done for a handful o' reasons: 1. It wasn't until about 2 weeks before the DTA's due date when I came up with said story. 2. I'm a perfectionist regarding my creations; every detail /must/ count in my book. Unfortunately, my excessive attention to detail has a price: it slows me down and prevents me from pumping out as much artwork as I desire. 3. School. Pretty self-explanatory. 4. Speaking of school, I'm about to graduate! In fact, my ceremony's tomorrow afternoon (as of typing this). Honestly, facing graduation has gotten me overwhelmed and even dirtied up my mental health for some time, but receiving encouragement & empathy from some o' my fellow seniors helped me feel better about myself :) Sooo yeah. I'm a lil' bit sad I didn't do as much as I wanted with this design, but ah well. Sometimes life gets in the way and causes things to not line up with your expectations. As many times as I've faced that reality, I'm not gonna gripe about it every waking minute of my life! If I don't win this character, that's ok - you win some, you lose some. Maybe I'll just save the story I had in mind and apply it to a different character - probably an OC of mine, either already existing or yet to come to fruition. Anywho, with all that out of the way, go ahead and take a look at my entry! I know it's not much, but I'm quite proud of what I managed to finish. I hope y'all like it too ^v^ • 1. Original design (art by @Lagonish) • 2. Reference sheet • 3. Idk how to describe this lol • 4. ^^ Same image but w/o shading, filters, & bg effects • 5. Chibi art! I had a lot of fun experimenting with triangular shapes :D