Animal Character Design

This first one is a dragon design for a Children's book I am working on, written by my good friend Don Rogers, Titled "The Chicken's Coo". It's a real cool project and I will keep you up to date as it unfolds.
The second one is some warm up sketches I did this morning before I started working.
The rest are animal character concepts I worked on in the past. When i work on animals, I use reference, but approach it the same way I do human characters. I try and capture who I am drawing and not what I am drawing. It is all about capturing the attitude of the subject. As always pushing shapes and trying out different styles while maintaining the proper drawing foundational skills that make for a good design. ( or trying to anyway).