Nightmare Smaug WIP #1

This weekend I had a nightmare where I somehow got to watch the second film of The Hobbit. Not something worth having  a nightmare about but when I am so highly anticipating the screen appearance of Smaug the dragon, getting him right is a huge hope for me. It was John Howe's illustration of Smaug that got me to pick up the book all those years ago when I was in primary school. I was terrible at reading but just loved the art enough that there was no other choice during World Book day.
Anyway back to the nightmare. So now you have an idea how much I am looking forward to seeing the beast's design. The film in my head opened up immediately with the dragon flying over the mountainous landscape. It was such a shock cause normally monster movies wouldn't make the big reveal until much later in the second half. Usually monster movies can go down hill from the point we see the feature's creature. So this imaginary version of the Hobbit shot down my anticipation straight away. I was praying that at least we would not see a close up. But this being my nightmare we get just that! A close up of Smaug appears and his design was so off the source material. He looked more like an alien than dragon! I was outraged in a fit of nerdiness! My outburst must have been such that it had waken me a little, enough for me to realize this was a dream. Rage turned to delight as I realized "I could steal this Smaug design!"
So here is the sketch so far from today.