I did this to kick off my Sketchtober challenge. I've pretty exclusively posted the other sketches to my IG and Twitter accounts, but I will eventually group them together and post 'em here [and elsewhere].

This one got "finished" because I've been trying to develop these creatures for a bit now, and hahaha the inspiration hit me tonight and welp! here they are!

This is a shrike wolf. It's not at all a wolf, but it does have behavioral similarities to shrikes (basically vlad the impaler, if he were a bird species). They've also got features of striped hyenas and some behaviors from them and spotted hyenas. There's some prehistoric creodont thrown in (mostly my fave prehistoric critter, andrewsarchus but also some bear dog and hyaenodon) and mandrill schnoz just for the heck of it. A friend suggested komodo dragon mixed in, so I swiped the toxic saliva from them and threw that in. Oh, yeah, and these guys are about the size of grizzlies.

These beasties are a deadly powerhouse super predator which reside in my OCs Oriana and Nubia's world. They are used by a cruel collector who has a bit too much money to spend and who likes to take parts of rare species--particularly the dangerous, mythical kind--and keep them on display. He has a fascination with Nubia because he believes her golden scales can give him immortality if he eats them (which, of course they can't but he's superstitious and will pay any price for the chance at immortality). He has trained these beasts to hunt down all manner of dangerous creature, and they're twice as deadly when he sends out some men with them. They'll either then capture or kill their prey--often driving them back to the castle, where there are iron spikes, made specifically for the shrike wolves to impale their catches on.

The alpha female (mother to the pack) has bright colors on her snout (the one above), and she is dominant over the breeding males and her cubs in her pack (4 males + 6 juveniles). She is the collector's favorite, and even though she is somewhat stronger than the others in her pack, her brains are what sets her apart. Shrike wolves are generally pretty smart and work well in groups, though they do scuffle for dominance from time to time (when the alpha isn't around). They kill in a slow manner, like spotted hyenas, and will tear at the underbelly of prey, if they can get to it; otherwise, they'll attack the face or break limbs with their supremely strong jaws. They can mimic animal sounds and will lead their prey into traps--usually large-throned bushes or trees which scatter their hunting grounds. This particular shrike wolf--the collector's favorite--is smart enough to mimic even human noises (though not actual words; mostly screams or calls that sound eerily similar to "help"), and she will put the large thorns from plants into her fur, as both defense and offense.

But yeah, safe to say that I do have plans for an image of my brave girls fighting off these creatures.

Also note that this is not going to be an original species that I plan on sharing/adopting/etc ; these are for my story purposes, only~