IDW #91: Dragon Harness

[yoitisi]

Topic: Dragon Harness

Background: Something slightly different than usually, but for this round you're supposed to design and draw a harness for a dragon. A harness means the gear a dragon can be outfitted with to be able to ride it. This could include armor, but this is not necessary.

Feel free to add the dragon to your final entry, but please note that you are not asked to design a dragon but its harness! The main function of adding a dragon to this image would be to show how and where the harness fits on its body, not to show of how awesome you are at drawing a dragon. If you decide not to include a dragon but just draw the harness, think about how you would convey it is a dragons harness and not just something for a horse though.

I'll let this round run a little longer than usual in the hope for more entries this time...

Brief:
1. Design and draw a dragon harness!
2. Including a dragon is allowed but not necessary.
3. That's it... now draw!

Deadline: Saturday, February 07

[orchitect]

Count me in. I'll try to do better this time.

[Lanista]

hmmm.... im gonna sketch, not sure if i will get to post anything wip or finished, but thanks for the idea/inspiration!

[Pixie Trick]

Hmmm.... as I suggested something like this it might be a good thing if I actually did it. And exams are over so I have time. How marvelous. I'm in.

Update: So I decided not to get overly fancy with the dragon itself. After all, if I decide I want the dragon to be different, at least it will have the same sort of body parts in the same arrangement, so that all one would have to do would be to adjust the design proportion. The idea is the harness after all. Then reffed up some horse harnesses and doodled away. #7 is a bit armoury but hey...

Crits are wonderful things. Tell me which you like!
Question: This is for riding, right? Not for pulling?

Lanista: Do something.... show your sketches. I know they are awesome already.



Second update: I didn't really like any of the ones above so I made some more. So far I think 1b is what I'm going to do, or some variation thereof. 4b would be my second I think.

[Mr--Jack]

Alright, since we've got extra time here I'm going to pull myself together again, sounds like fun.

Pixie Trick, Liking #3 at the moment I think, but nice going

[fylth]

My small attempt, may do an ink version if I get some working graphic pens >_>

-Fylth

[Swordhand]

Pixie Trick, #7 is my favorite. I think I'm in on this one! Here is a bit of a WIP...

[Halix]

I might jump in this one. For inspiration, has anyone read the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik?

Its set in the Napoleonic wars but has an Aerial corps for dragons on both sides, with some interesting details and many different types of dragon.

They are used like fighter-bombers with crews of up to 20 people, which I thought was a unique take on the idea.

[Pixie Trick]

I love the Temeraire series. I believe there's a movie coming out at some point. You can't forget the harnesses used in China in the books as well. They are quite an interesting idea. They're made of slings of silk and will carry larg numbers of people like public transport.

Swordhand: I'm having difficulties picking out how the pieces of the harness attach to each other, and where the dragon ends and where the armour parts begin, especially on the face. The armour on the neck looks like it needs a second strap at the top of the neck plates. If you imagined how this piece behaved in real life, it would be sagging over, away from the neck. Reticulated armour is held together with leather and hinges, and can bend a certain amount. No a lot, but it can.

fylth: Assuming your dragon is controlled using a bit (like a horse) I see nothing in the design of your harness to keep the dragon from just spitting it out. Also, the ring by the chest, with the three straps coming from it seems to have no purpose other than to look cool (not that that's a bad thing necessarily )

Here's some horse harness refs from the local fair that might be useful.

[jdeegz]

im doing this, and its going to be for a komodo dragon, because when i go to australia, i am so strapping myself on one and going for a ride to pillage some mother fuckin village! YAWWWW!!!!

[Moai]

I'm in. I've never done an IDW before, but I'll do this one.

[Mr--Jack]

Coming along nicely, what's up so far; I mostly agree with Pixie Trick on the comments as well but Swordhand, I think the armour's working pretty well so far, and it's good to see you've left space for the wings to move, the only thing I might say would be that while yes, with an obvious way for those plates at the front of the neck to the move it would be more believable it might still make it very awkward for the dragon to bend its neck down very far.
Pixie Trick, yep, I'm still thinking 1b as well, I like the circle/tassel combination. (And thanks for the refs)

Alright, got a couple of sketches, nothing too dramatic but we'll see how it goes. The first one's my favourite so far I think, though it's still just a one-man dragon-riding thing, may have to look into more adventurous possibilities.
I'm using spring-loaded ratchet things attached to levers and/or pedals to control the reins since it requires less stain from the rider and is more likely to work. In the first instance the A levers control direction left and right and B is pitch (haven't quite worked out how that'll be communicated to the dragon but . . .)—since it is a fire-breathing variety having a bit in its mouth is a little impractical so the reins in the first two cases are threaded through reinforced piercings in the dragon's cheek fins (though I'm not sure about telling it to go up yet).
The last version is a little more steampunk perhaps, and the controls are communicated to the dragon via electric pulses sent down the cables on its neck (generated in the curved things at the front of the harness using movement from the wing-muscles).
I figure all methods would be accompanied by verbal commands so there doesn't have to necessarily be a method of controlling all possible movement just with the reins. Depends on how well-trained and/or intelligent the dragon is . . .

[Joey-b]

Ow.. im glad i read the discription.. was about to start sketching some human armor made out of dragons .. lol, maybe ill join in

[Swordhand]

Those are really great Mr Jack! And thank you and pixie for the comments. The neck plate is segmented and designed only to bend enough for the dragon to straighten his neck. This dragon has been bred for duels (relatively small, and incapable of breathing fire. Since the dragon would more likely be in a vertical position, biting and snapping while the riders fight, he does not need to bend his neck downwards too far. I did however forget to included a top-wards strap. The chest and neck plates would be removed for racing also.

[Moai]

This web site has a pretty good diagram of the various parts of a horse harness. I think it's a good reference.

Here's my idea. I'm going for a kind of ceremonial elephant aesthetic. So far I'm not sure about any of the individual elements except for the chains attaching to the wingtips. Dragons are sacred to my imaginary culture, so it would not do to damage the wings. So, the wings are merely chained to the harness, to prevent the dragon from spreading them.

[Cyberman]

this is my first time in this competition but I love the concept so I
decided to start up.

[yoitisi]

A quick heads-up: There's going to be a little more time for this round, since we've got something a little more special planned for next round. Since it will start a little later than normal, I won't close this round for another 48 hours or so. Hope to see some more finished entries by then

Edit: Oh and in the meantime, check out the Suggestions Thread. The Industrial Design of the Week activitiy is nearing it's 100th round, and I'm planning on doing something special with it. I'd like everyone's input though.

[Cyberman]

o.k. so if I am in California, if I repost sunday night my time that will be O.k.
btw awsome topic for #91 I am looking foward to seeing whats special

[yoitisi]

I'll leave this round open for a little bit longer, say a few hours after I post this. If you're still working on an entry, post it soon

New round is already up though, and is a bit more special than usual: IDW #92: Baba Yaga - An IDW/CHOW cross-over

[Cyberman]

Yoitisi: I wont have time to do any more work on my peice.

[yoitisi]

darknight: M'kay..

Time to close this round now, poll will be up soon.

Edit: Poll is up, check it out here: IDW #91: Dragon Harness - Voting