How chickens, elephants helped animators create ’Game of Thrones’ dragons

In the seventh season of “Game of Thrones”, Daenerys Targaryen’s beloved dragons finally had their full wingspan and fiery power appreciated.

Image: YouTube/Pixomondo

Behind those three dragons—Viserion, Rhaegal, Drogon—was visual effects company Pixomondo.

In an exclusive interview with Gamespot, CEO Thilo Kuther revealed how they created arguably the most realistic dragons on television.

When the dragons were still young—they fit on Dany’s shoulders in season 2—the animators focused on chickens and bats. There was even a point when they bought a raw chicken to study how the animal’s muscles moved.

It helped them determine how the fictional creatures should look like while walking, and how their wings would flap when taking off to the air. And when the dragons grew up, they had to scale up their animal reference.

“If the dragon gets 10 feet size in just the body, then you see every tiny tendon underneath, and that skin starts stretching… it’s rolling over the muscle and the bones, and if you don’t do this—just the breathing, if it doesn’t breathe—you immediately feel there is something wrong,” he revealed in the interview.

To get every detail right, the company examined elephants.

He explained, “That’s why they looked at elephants, where there is rougher and harsher skin, but then you have, around facial areas, their skin is softer, and when you touch it with your fingers, it would actually give in.”

This was crucial as lead character Jon Snow touched one of the dragons for the first time: “When they shoot it, they usually have a cushion where you can touch it and press your fingers in, so we’re taking that information and applying it to the skin.”

Image: YouTube/Pixomondo

Surprisingly, another animal that’s more true to life proved to be more of a challenge: the direwolves, which look like your average wolf.

According to Entertainment Weekly, a natural-looking furry animal is more difficult to create than a scaly dragon. Between dragons, wights and wolves for season seven, producers chose to forego CGI for the Starks’ furry friends. Niña V. Guno/JB

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