So one of my major goals was to have seven fursuits of my ‘sonas, and I was stumped for the 7th one for a number of months. Then as I was digging through my old DA account, I found a series of Devnotes I’d had with Deo in regards to the project they’d been running based on their creations, big fat rubbery hellbeasts called Leupaks. I’d asked way, way back what they would think about a future Leupak fursuit, in which I was given an ecstatic reply that it would be great to see one romping about in the future.

Drago was one of the first circulating Fruit’Leups based on their project idea. I’d dived into my paper-filled archives looking for old art, and I’d based him on a prehistoric Wolf/Sabertooth kind of Leupak who was lazy as fuck and enjoyed living as a ‘Protector of the Grove’ of orchards in a Valenth-style farming community. Over time, I took him for a wander through the nearby forests, and he ended up building himself a nesting grove surrounded by wild fruits. I hadn’t gotten very far in his storyline before other characters took precedence (VJ, Aurealis, Chellios…), so he lay dormant for a number of years.

Redesigning him took a few days of researching ideas for tails, leafy manes and appropriate-styled handpaws and feetpaws, but I think I’ve got him down thus far :) Colour wise, he’ll be a mix of the three types of Dragonfruit that exist, which lends to his colour change ability that I gifted him upon creation.

I debated keeping his “quills” which were rolled up leafy appendages (or so my old notes say, I have terribad handwriting XD), and eventually thought that giving his tail those not-quite unfurled leafy appendages would be a much better idea. I figure it’d be a stem-like tail base, carved foam with a wire insert so it can be curled around things or around itself much like the actual plant’s stem can grow. That tongue is also oversized in the fact it’ll be a bit longer than standard tongues usually are. It has the claw-like appendage that is typical of the Leupak species at the end of it. I’m debating whether or not this should also be posable.

Handpaws wise, he’s a hellbeast, so he has large shaggy overgrown monster-type paws with superhuge claws. His dexterity is limited, both character wise and fursuit wise. He can wave, pet things, give hugs, but can’t grasp or hold things that well with a single hand; two hands, he’ll have limited dexterity. I’m probably going to opt to have the little hidden slits put in the wrists so I can easily slip the paws off to drink or sit down. Feetpaws wise, this is where the sabertooth/wolf idea sorta came back into play. I wanted to give him three regular shaped toes, and one oversized toe on each foot to act as a sort of almost raptor-like dewclaw, which is a nod to his originating half-Sabertooth genetics.

Bodysuit-wise, he’ll be the fat hellbeast he is, probably full solid colour or will have the same flesh-like seeded floof edging that his neckfur has along the length of his stomach marking. I haven’t drawn him in a full body shot yet, as I’m still working out how his leaf mane will look from behind (likely in similar fashion to some avian fursuits I’ve seen, with the feathers posed upwards or downwards, or a mix of the two).

He’ll probably be a mix of resin and foam based, moving jaw, headpiece fans, hidden vents, slits in the handpaws, stompy feetpaws (debating this, possibly more indoor sockpaws with reinforced inner soles), etc. I rather like how he's come out colour-wise - I'm especially proud of that tail of his, and I forwent the idea that the underside 'stem' (foamcore) would be the same pink as his fur. I prefer it as the yellow/green of his leaves.

No immediate plans for this boy to become a fursuit YET; the plan, providing I end up following it (aha) is for him to be the final fursuit I have made up, and that's not planned until 2020/21. I'd love to have him built sooner though, would be cool to go romping about as this 'dorable fruitsauce-drooling pudgeking <3

Drago the Dragonfruit Leupak belongs to Victoria S. Rodda, 1999 - 2016
Leupak / Fruit'Leup Species belongs to Leupstripes