Guess how long this took

So, I do a bunch of world-building stuff, little side-hobby of mine. Got a world filled with places, people, groups, events, you get the idea, and have been using whatever of 3D modelling/rendering skill I have to bring them to life - usually using base models made for things like VRChat and then modifying them to varying degrees until they feel "right".

However, for every character I've developed so far I've first taken a theme, made their visual (i.e. model edits, clothing, texture, etc), and only *then* decided on their personality, thoughts, backstory, etc. I've found it gives more openness to them, lets me experiment during the creation process and come up with little bits on the fly (i.e. a blind scarred eye on one of my characters, a hair style, etc.) which I can tie into s tory afterwards.

Which brings me to my problem... for my latest character - a semi-feral (personality-wise, not body-type wise) dragon - I was waiting for a specific model to release, which ended up taking a year to complete. In that time, my mind wandered, and I had already created the entire backstory, development, and personality of the character by the time I got around to starting the visual. Which is a problem, oddly enough, because now over six months later I still can't get colours, patterns, or anything else which feels right to me... the model looks good, got her additions set, but I just CANNOT get her colours right and I'm starting to get desperate lmao. SO, I figured - why not put a bit of her backstory and characterisation out there, and see if anyone has tips, ideas, colour-scheme sets, etc. And figured a dragon-based Subreddit might be a good place to go, at least for a start.

I'm not expecting free art, before anyone thinks that - just ideas, descriptions, etc... also forgive my coming writing, it'll be both very long, and a bit cliche/edgy/cringe but I make these to make me happy so who cares XD

So: the character
Brunhim - the Queen of Glass, Matriarch of the Storm

--Background
She was born within the Crystal Sea - a region of sand which has been melted into a solid slab of glass a few centuries prior, slowly weathered into a smooth glass-like surface, and suffused with magical energies - a permanent rain-storm overhead darkening the skies with black clouds, and strange effects felt throughout - visual and auditory mirages which re-play past events of those who travelled through hte area, random fluctuations in the strength and direction of gravity (doubling, halving, shifting left/right, inverting, etc), random fluctuations in temperature, the air shifting from boiling to freezing and back, and constant lightning strikes. The region is basically impassable to most living things.

However, it also rains here - an oddity given hte rest of the planet is a desert - and rivers flow outwards from the center of the Sea to the edge, before hitting the desert and evaporating back into the vortex above. This has resulted in a region known as the Halo - a ring of abundant plant-life circling the Crystal Sea, a thick jungle filled with strange plants and animals. The magics of the Crystal Sea suffuse the water that flows from it, and the energies contained there have resulted in many animals and plants mutating over the few hundred years the Crystal Sea has existed - giving them abilities to control and direct elemental energies.

This evolution has, as a result of un-numbered generations of evolution, produced Brunhim - an Apex Predator, the only known one of her kind (for reasons), and able to survive even within the Crystal Sea itself. Due to her evolved state she looks like a dragon, acts like a dragon, but realistically/technically - isn't a dragon. Nobody actually knows what species she/her parents used to be however many generations before her, but generally it's not overly important...

--Her mutations:

1. Pupula-duplex in both eyes, with each pupil able to see differently. One pair sees standard light spectrums, the other presents visual information about the thermal energy of the area - basically giving her predator-style thermal vision which lets her differentiate real people from visual hallucinations - since one doesn't produce a heat signature.
2. Heat Manipulation - letting her adjust her own body temperature by drawing in or expelling heat to and from her surroundings, including the air, objects, or people around her. Her ability is strong enough to adjust even the most minute scraps of energy - essentially letting her freeze things solid or set them alight either in emergencies or as a weapon. While this manipulation is able to work through her skin (i.e. her hands and thinner parts of ehr limbs), it works best through existing openings in her body through which the energy can flow - either her mouth (giving her a burning breath which is not a normal part of her biology, despite her draconic look), or commonly the number of gill-like openings across the thicker parts of her torso and tail through which she can extremely quickly draw in or expel heat. These gills are needed to adjust her core temperature as quickly as possible to survive the fluctuations of the Sea.
3. Wings and general body - her wings are another thing adding to her draconic visual, allowing her to take flight to hunt, as well as maintain her balance during low and adjusted gravity events within the Sea. Her bones and muscles are also changed - her bones semi-hollow but honeycombed internally making them light but strong, and her muscles tense and common, her body lacking many common fatty tissues to lighten her without meaning she has to compromise on strength - allowing her to take flight in low gravity, and still be able to stand without being crushed in high-gravity. She still has to be careful, evolution can only go so far, but she's still able to withstand forces far beyond non-evolved creatures.
4. Other - unnecessary information, but basically just a number of other mutations separating her from every other common species on the planet - tall size, longer tail, thicker draconic scales, that sort of thing.

--Personality
Sapient but animalistic, bordering on feral. She's intelligent, likes to decorate the cave in which she lives with shiny objects/scraps of cloth/other things she finds (many looted from doomed expeditions into the Sea), but is used to being alone and dislikes other people, preferring to rule her "kingdom" alone, attacking and chasing off any who stray too close to her domain. However, there is some measure of kindness to her - she often chases expeditions and small craft that stray too close to the Crystal Sea as a way to ensure they don't try to enter it, protecting them from the ravages of the magic that suffuses the region. However, she convinces herself she doesn't care about them and only does it to keep them away from her home.

Also, uhhh... I guess here's a gallery link of the current model with edits... might give a better idea of the current model edits and experiments I've done... https://imgur.com/a/00FehBt

(Base model is the "Inadra" by Angelboy, if anyone's interested - most of the edits have been adding the gills and baking-in some of the blend shapes, the body itself is mostly standard)

Based on the blue dragon nudibranch.

Commission still open! Check my profile for more info and DM me if interested!

Thanks u/Winters_Gem for commission me!

Based on the hopkin's rose nudibranch!

Commission for twitter user.

Trying digital art! Well, now I open for commission, request and art trade! Feel free to DM me :>

This one is easily one of my favorites!

Based on the phylliroe sea slug

Some of you may remember the autumn dragon I previously posted. Well here’s a winter dragon to go along with her. ❄️🐲 Just two more to go.