While sculpting my dragon continuously, I also experimented with the fireball idea, thinking that I could create a NURBS sphere, assign a green texture to it that was mostly transparent, and assign fire to it shortly thereafter. I worked with the fire colors for a while and the radius of the flame particles and eventually was satisfied with the result. I further experimented with sculpting of the face and "eyebrows" and then "teeth" on the rim of the jaw.