Deriv - Hell Hound revamp

So I've been busy ^^ And I'm very proud of this: (WIP) Deriv’s new (Hell Hound) form.

It was too hard to get the anatomy and bone structure of his original head design right each time I drew him, so I've opted for something a little easier. And, while paying better attention to other animals and the way their bodies have evolved, I think I've done him justice.

As I've mentioned before (and those of you who RP with me will know this very well) Deriv’s race are descended from Cerberus, the Guard dog of Hades, Lord of the Undrworld. Deriv's race are called the Seraph, and they resemble large dogs and have many of a wolf’s physical characteristics, such as relatively long legs and a thick coat of fur. Their ears are erect, elongated and rounded at the tip, though far larger than a normal canine. This contributes to the Hound’s sensitive hearing.

They also communicate by howling, barking, whining, growling, yipping, yelping and so forth.

Deriv’s chest is deep, accommodating a giant pair of lungs (in comparison to other species'), allowing him to maintain a constant speed without having to catch his breath too much, and his waist is narrow. Strong hind legs propel his body forwards. Deriv’s tail is made entirely of thick, strong bone. Since evolution required the Hounds to have a rear guard to fend off attack, the tails of the Hounds would set on fire at the threat of danger, deterring predators. However the tails are useless as a rudder when running, so he is naturally slow at turning while in mid sprint. Instead, they rely on their feet for this.

Like all canines, the Seraph walk on their toes like a horse, not the soles of their feet like a human. The Hound’s heel doesn't touch the ground; it is represented by the hock joint and the human foot becomes the Hound's rear pastern, and the human toes are his rear paws. The Hound's paws provide both traction and shock absorption and come in handy for digging. Thick pads absorb more shock and increase endurance. Rough pads allow for better traction for quick turns and effective sprinting. Each foot has four pads on the ground, each with its own toenail, and a dew claw – a fifth toe on the inside of the paw that doesn't touch the ground. Dew claws are only present on the Hound’s front feet.

With eyesight almost identical to that of a cat’s, Deriv has excellent night vision and can see at more than one-sixth the light level required for human vision. The slit pupils can focus bright light easily and since his eyes are not restricted to two types of cones, which would give a normal animal limited colour vision, Deriv’s race have perfect vision in all levels of light and colour. The Seraph have three eyes as opposed to three heads. Since it was not required to have three heads in order to survive in the Underworld, they lost the two heads to evolution and gained a third eye instead, which holds a special ability they’ve named ‘Range.’

Deriv is the only Hound in the House of Bones clan to have one normal eye (his left, which is emerald and cannot see well in the dark) - this is due to Deriv's half-breed status.

In this 'Hell Hound' form, the Seraph's wings are not naturally present, but can become so if they concentrate hard enough and summon them.

I think that sums up most of this form. Sorry the scan image is a little light. It's due to the pencil I was using. I'm loathe to ink the sketch.