A generally an hour or two of progress between each shot:

1) "Really? REALLY? I look like a retarded cow. There are END TABLES that look more dynamic than me." Found a background I liked, which determined the lighting for the scene. Tested coloring technique on front leg. Scales are individually drawn on their own layer.

2) Did some digital "sculpting" of the sketch to get a less wooden pose. Colored other front leg.

3) Refined and test-colored the head. Tried to get some expression in the eyes, which helps motivate everything else.

4) Tweaked head shape and mouth. Started to shade the wings, and decided they needed serious help. Started looking for a good shape reference. Scaled rear legs.

5) Sketched in a better form for the wings -- smaller than I'd like for a dragon this size, but he's in an early stage of development (in the story). Scales and preliminary shading on body and ears.

6) Tail scales. Further shading on rear legs and ears. Not looking forward to shading wings.

7) Spent quite a while trying to decide how to finish the wings -- settled on something vaguely leathery, in the same color. More shading elsewhere. Warmer background color. Shortened the caption.

8) Decided to try a photograph to represent his human form, rather than an overlay of the main picture. More in keeping with the story.

9) A bit of a "Blair Witch" treatment on the photograph, with some anatomy tweaks. Basically complete.