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Description
I know I said I was gonna redo my Lucario skeleton first, but I got stuck on that one a long time ago. x___X; On the other hand, my Charizard always bothered me. There was the fact that its pelvis made no sense whatsoever, but even besides that, the entire thing just looked awkward and unappealing, and the pose was kinda ugly, the arms were too short and stumpy, the proportions were off, ect, ect.

And after a week or so of working I AM TIRED OF WORKING ON THIS ARGH. The pelvis was easy for once but the sacrum was a pain I HATE RIBS and I don’t care if I didn’t draw the other wing, the finger bones would have overlapped with the skull anyway and looked weird and I WANT TO SUBMIT IT NOW. Also I hate how low-res this is; eventually I will redo it at 2x or 3x size.

Anatomical Notes:

-- Charizard is an upright-postured, plantigrade creature. The first five or so vertebrae at the base of Charizard’s tail are extremely flexible so that, when it is standing in an upright position, the tail extends behind it without breaking at the base.

-- Charizard are highly adapted to flight. While they do not possess a keeled sternum the way birds do, their shoulder structure is highly unique and specialized to accommodate two pairs of limbs. The arm shoulders are pulled back and to the side (to allow room for the wing muscles) in a position far different to most reptiles, and more similarly to a human, with a rotating shoulder joint suited to grasping and climbing. The massive coracoids connect with the wing shoulders, serving as an anchor for the wing pectorals. Much of the lower belly holds a system of air sacs filled with lighter-than air gases, making Charizard remarkably light for their size.

-- Even so, Charizard are still very bulky creatures, and are notoriously poor at unassisted takeoffs from the ground. This is consistent with their lifestyle—in the wild they live in mountainous areas along cliffsides and obviously prefer warm regions—this provides them with high takeoff points with warm updrafts for soaring. They even sometimes use their fire breath to heat the air below them to aid their flight. They drop down on prey from the air while breathing out a vicious flamethrower before going for the kill with their wickedly sharp claws.

-- The foot claws are very thick and blunt, and are mostly used for keeping a solid footing or digging into cliffsides while climbing.

-- Charizard have slender skulls with relatively weak bite strength compared to other reptiles. The horns are blunt, and are not used for combat (they cannot take the stress that would be required), but rather to attract a mate.

-- Even though it’s unrelated to the skeleton, I will address the tail flame. The tip of the Charizard family’s tail secretes a highly unique flammable oil from the moment of the creature’s birth. The heat and intensity of the flame is reliant upon its current energy levels.

The flame is incredibly resilient. While it is correct that the Pokémon will die if the flame goes out, that is not so easy to do, or the species would have died out. If a healthy Charizard is submerged, it will take at least a minute of fierce (and extremely painful) vaporization for the flame to be completely extinguished.

Another interesting property of the tail oil is that it is unique to each individual, so that a Char can never be harmed by its own flame, which carries unique chemical properties. In diseased individuals, however, the oil becomes polluted with toxins and burns less cleanly, and can even begin to eat through the tail flesh if left untreated.

It’s really quite frustrating that almost all “realistic” Charizard artwork portrays it as an orange allosaur with wings. How would that fly any better than his actual design? How is that any more realistic? And above all, how is that a Charizard? Why not just…draw dinosaurs…? If you dislike the original design that much? There are even some that don’t include the tail flame. I don’t get it. Why call it a Charizard? Everyone is entitled to draw what they want, but at that point it’s like drawing a horse and calling it a unicorn but saying “I took the horn off to make it more realistic.” Wut. Pretend that Pokémon are mythological creatures. Why castrate them to follow the mold of what we’ve got in our world? Strip away the cartoonish-ness and try to make them work like a living being by their own rules.[/end rant]

Sorry, I know I come off as brash when I’ve never even drawn a realistic Pokémon, but if I did, I’d be drawing POKÉMON, not animals cosplaying as Pokémon.

Description
I know I said I was gonna redo my Lucario skeleton first, but I got stuck on that one a long time ago. x___X; On the other hand, my Charizard always bothered me. There was the fact that its pelvis made no sense whatsoever, but even besides that, the entire thing just looked awkward and unappealing, and the pose was kinda ugly, the arms were too short and stumpy, the proportions were off, ect, ect.

And after a week or so of working I AM TIRED OF WORKING ON THIS ARGH. The pelvis was easy for once but the sacrum was a pain I HATE RIBS and I don’t care if I didn’t draw the other wing, the finger bones would have overlapped with the skull anyway and looked weird and I WANT TO SUBMIT IT NOW. Also I hate how low-res this is; eventually I will redo it at 2x or 3x size.

Anatomical Notes:

-- Charizard is an upright-postured, plantigrade creature. The first five or so vertebrae at the base of Charizard’s tail are extremely flexible so that, when it is standing in an upright position, the tail extends behind it without breaking at the base.

-- Charizard are highly adapted to flight. While they do not possess a keeled sternum the way birds do, their shoulder structure is highly unique and specialized to accommodate two pairs of limbs. The arm shoulders are pulled back and to the side (to allow room for the wing muscles) in a position far different to most reptiles, and more similarly to a human, with a rotating shoulder joint suited to grasping and climbing. The massive coracoids connect with the wing shoulders, serving as an anchor for the wing pectorals. Much of the lower belly holds a system of air sacs filled with lighter-than air gases, making Charizard remarkably light for their size.

-- Even so, Charizard are still very bulky creatures, and are notoriously poor at unassisted takeoffs from the ground. This is consistent with their lifestyle—in the wild they live in mountainous areas along cliffsides and obviously prefer warm regions—this provides them with high takeoff points with warm updrafts for soaring. They even sometimes use their fire breath to heat the air below them to aid their flight. They drop down on prey from the air while breathing out a vicious flamethrower before going for the kill with their wickedly sharp claws.

-- The foot claws are very thick and blunt, and are mostly used for keeping a solid footing or digging into cliffsides while climbing.

-- Charizard have slender skulls with relatively weak bite strength compared to other reptiles. The horns are blunt, and are not used for combat (they cannot take the stress that would be required), but rather to attract a mate.

-- Even though it’s unrelated to the skeleton, I will address the tail flame. The tip of the Charizard family’s tail secretes a highly unique flammable oil from the moment of the creature’s birth. The heat and intensity of the flame is reliant upon its current energy levels.

The flame is incredibly resilient. While it is correct that the Pokémon will die if the flame goes out, that is not so easy to do, or the species would have died out. If a healthy Charizard is submerged, it will take at least a minute of fierce (and extremely painful) vaporization for the flame to be completely extinguished.

Another interesting property of the tail oil is that it is unique to each individual, so that a Char can never be harmed by its own flame, which carries unique chemical properties. In diseased individuals, however, the oil becomes polluted with toxins and burns less cleanly, and can even begin to eat through the tail flesh if left untreated.

It’s really quite frustrating that almost all “realistic” Charizard artwork portrays it as an orange allosaur with wings. How would that fly any better than his actual design? How is that any more realistic? And above all, how is that a Charizard? Why not just…draw dinosaurs…? If you dislike the original design that much? There are even some that don’t include the tail flame. I don’t get it. Why call it a Charizard? Everyone is entitled to draw what they want, but at that point it’s like drawing a horse and calling it a unicorn but saying “I took the horn off to make it more realistic.” Wut. Pretend that Pokémon are mythological creatures. Why castrate them to follow the mold of what we’ve got in our world? Strip away the cartoonish-ness and try to make them work like a living being by their own rules.[/end rant]

Sorry, I know I come off as brash when I’ve never even drawn a realistic Pokémon, but if I did, I’d be drawing POKÉMON, not animals cosplaying as Pokémon.