So after messing around with the scales and shades a dozen times, I decided to remove the scales and stick with light shading I think it's partially because the background is grey, and having really dark colors on the character would seem to absorb her into the void. I'll try to practice drawing dragonesses and scales again, and hopefully it'll look better next time.

Reference: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/k~IAAOSwa2tcgVO1/s-l300.jpg