Smaug anatomical study

So a friend of mine (let's just call him Steve) has expressed to me several times his disappointment with movie-Smaug's lack of forelegs. I personally had no problem with the film's design, quite the opposite in fact; I loved it so much that I have a hard time picturing dragons with six limbs at this point, and in general the four-limbed "wyvern build" (as dogmatic D&D nerds so irritatingly call it) seems to be the one that film makers opt for again and again (especially these days) because, well, wyvern-style dragons look better; they read better on film, they can move more convincingly, and they look like creatures that could actually, phisiologically exist. But still, in the last few months I have heard quite a few people complain that they had always pictured Smaug with a pair of forelimbs in addition to wings and hing legs, and were sorry to see them missing in the film's design (the more intelligent of these complaints, or perhaps more accurately, the only ones that are even stomachable, express their disappointment on a purely personal, aesthetic level rather than trying to rule-quote some ridiculous fantasy taxonomy whereby any four-limbed dragons are not dragons at all, god knows there's plenty of tone deaf idiots out there singing that song) and I myself had always pictured him with six limbs before DOS came out, so I thought I'd try one of those 'zoo-book' style anatomical illustrations, taking the long, serpentine body of the Smaug we see in the film, and seeing what it would take to make him a credible looking six-limbed creature.

I hadn't had much hope for such a project (which I'd intended as basically a demonstration of how a creature with two sets of arms wouldn't work on an anatomical or aesthetic level) but the results were better than I expected they'd be. I still vastly prefer the "wyvern" design; having two sets of front limbs (the wings and forelegs) fighting for space with each other on the upper torso invariably results in a chimeral look; like the creature was slapped together from different specimens, and I'm particularly displeased (not just with my own drawing here but with every other six-limbed dragon I have seen) by how the wings invariably end up looking tacked on, like the creature was wearing some huge, awkward backpack (and also completely useless when grounded). There is something undeniably enjoyable (and undeniably tolkienian) about the low, crawling, crocodilian feel allowed by a set of forelegs, but if there's a way to include them whereby you don't loose more than you gain overall, I dont think I (or really anyone else whose attempts I've seen) have struck it yet. I may have to take another shot or two.

this ones for you Stevie

Part of the Weekly Tolkien Sketchblog