And now for something slightly different, the character ref for Rikel Rastkalin. A Lieutenant Commander in the Ristarin Armada (Lesser Fang in Ristarin military ranking) and Commander of the Fighter Group (CFG) on board the Dreaming Kyr.

Personality-wise, Rikel is in an almost annoyingly good mood at all times and always ready to tell a joke or offer encouragement. On board the Dreaming Kyr, he was originally distrusted and avoided, but his relentless positivity has managed to win over most of the crew.

Rikel is part of an officer exchange program between the Conclave of Ristar (Rikel being a Ristarin) and the Citizen's Republic of Kyr (just realized I hadn't actually mentioned the name of the Kyrathane civilization). Kyr and Ristar have fought two bloody wars since their first meeting seventy-seven years ago with the last war ending four years ago after a battle so brutal and costly that it shocked both sides into finally trying to resolve their differences peacefully. To the surprise of all, these efforts have actually been successful and relations have been improved steadily.

My idea for the Ristarin is that they are largely similar to reptiles, but also have some mammalian features. My reasoning is that Ristar saw a different evolutionary path which resulted in no actual distinction between mammal and reptile. What this means is that they look like lizards or dragons with hair and scales closer to skin than armor. The dragon resemblance comes from their horns and about a third of their population having wings (only capable of gliding).

This reference also let me start illustrating the stylistic difference between the Kyrathane and Ristarin.
Where Kyrathane like to use rectangles and the occasional circle or diamond in their architecture and designs, the Ristarin are all about triangles and spikes.

What I learned from this picture....
1) Drawing digit-grade feet from the front is more than a-little hard
2) Pointing fingers are hard.