Dragonets

The dragonets were minor villains of the Disney/Paramount film Dragonslayer.

Behind the scenes
Ken Ralston designed the dragonets with the assistance of graphic novel illustrator David Bunnett. In designing them, Bunnett attempted to find a look that did not inspire sympathy, in order for their deaths to be more acceptable to audiences. Realizing that most young animals look appealing due to their large eyes, Bunnett designed the dragonets to have relatively small eyes, with Ralston refining the design to incorporate bulldog and bat-like features to their faces, as well as hinting at their adult forms by adding a small horn on their noses and giving them long forelimbs that would grow into wings. Ken Ralston, Chris Walas and David Carson built three articulated puppets and a featureless miniature model (for the scene where Vermithrax discovers her dead progeny). The dragonets were operated as hand puppets through holes in the floor on set.