This is one of the best re-imaginings of a Squawk race by my brother Ulrich. For our Xanadu setting he re-invented the dragon-like, chameleon-skinned Gargoyle as a long-bodied Japanese dragon anthropomorphized in the tradition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This added more oriental flavor to the Xanadu culture and gave us a memorable look for a race that was not well represented in the artwork.
Gargoyles are able to change the color and pattern of their skin like a chameleon or cephalopod to communicate and disguise themselves. As intelligent creatures they can invent new disguises and stealth techniques. In this drawing we see how individual difference in texture can be exploited to blend in with different environments.
We tried to imagine how a long, low crocodile-like head could contain the large brain of an intelligent species. horns add a hard-edged, squared look to a domed forehead. The entire head is large relative to the body. At some point you have to look past stereotypes (relative brain size is not all-important, some fish and birds have more brain-to-body mass than humans) and accept what just looks cool.
One feature that Ulrich did not dig about gargoyles was the flappy, erectable neck frill, so these have become something of an optional feature - a display organ that is very large in some male gargoyles and absent in females and some males.
This is one of the best re-imaginings of a Squawk race by my brother Ulrich. For our Xanadu setting he re-invented the dragon-like, chameleon-skinned Gargoyle as a long-bodied Japanese dragon anthropomorphized in the tradition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This added more oriental flavor to the Xanadu culture and gave us a memorable look for a race that was not well represented in the artwork.
Gargoyles are able to change the color and pattern of their skin like a chameleon or cephalopod to communicate and disguise themselves. As intelligent creatures they can invent new disguises and stealth techniques. In this drawing we see how individual difference in texture can be exploited to blend in with different environments.
We tried to imagine how a long, low crocodile-like head could contain the large brain of an intelligent species. horns add a hard-edged, squared look to a domed forehead. The entire head is large relative to the body. At some point you have to look past stereotypes (relative brain size is not all-important, some fish and birds have more brain-to-body mass than humans) and accept what just looks cool.
One feature that Ulrich did not dig about gargoyles was the flappy, erectable neck frill, so these have become something of an optional feature - a display organ that is very large in some male gargoyles and absent in females and some males.
