Early attempts
zspheres were very useful for quickly adjusting the proportions and posture of my creature when still in the first stages. I practiced this by posing some models of animals from Zzoo. Zspheres were also useful for creating insert meshes. I made a couple of insert meshes starting in photoshop drawing out the shape and depth using a black and white gradient. I then made it into an alpha and chose make 3d. I found this useful for making scales and ear shapes. It would also be useful for repeating patterns as you can make it into a curve.
some of my early attempts at modelling the creature where I was still at an experimental stage and figuring out the design.