Carnosauria

Torvosaurus

2011-12-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

A quickie Torvosaurus. Felt bad that I haven't done anything new that I can post in a bit.

Best!

Brett

A dinobot!

2011-12-09T08:59:00.001-08:00

Not really, but a robotic 'raptor' for Teen Titans #6. The plot said raptor so I did raptor;)

Best,

Brett

Unfinished Spinosaur

2011-09-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

This was deemed wrong so it never got finished. But I do still like it, maybe I'll mess with it and finish it up.

Best,

Brett

Oxalaia

2011-05-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

I had a bit of free time last night so I did a quick sketch of the new spinosaur
Oxalaia, he's swimmin'!

Best!

Brett

New colored version of Dryptosaurus

2011-04-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the giant gap in posts, been swamped at the regular job. So for now here's a new colored version of Dryptosaurus, hopefully I'll be able to get to that new Spinosaur and Tyrannosaur next week! Colors on this one were fixed by the wife;)

Best,

Brett

A few sketches

2010-12-26T09:21:00.000-08:00

One of my favorites, Carcharadontosaurus! I've been so busy lately I haven't had much time to just draw some dinosaurs, and the ones I have drawn are, well not ment to be seen yet. Just a rough sketch, need to move the legs forward a tad.

Rugops, legs are a bit long, but easily fixed and I think move the arms forward a tad, I have another more recent layout I might go with instead.

I might get a the chance to draw some dinosaurs in some comics again, stay tuned for that:)

Oh, belated Happy Christmas and Seasons Greetings. I drew a whole Christmas comic this year so I'm sort of Christmased out. We sat home and watched Doctor Who all day:)

Best!

Brett

Partial Spinosaurus

2010-11-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

Something I'm working on. Been awhile since I uploaded anything new.

Best,

Brett

One Pink Dinosaur..

2010-10-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

I just finished this thing off. Check out the last post for the specifics. My 'theory' for the color is based off of the flamingo and golden hammerhead, the prey (shrimp and fish,) eat a food item that causes their colors to change. The predator eats the fish or shrimp and they also change color. Same thing here, only replace fish with ostrich mimic;) It might not be perfect, but I at least thought about it;)

I recieved my copy of Gregory S. Paul's new book, haven't read it but flipped through it. Is is just me or do the new restorations look... stunted? The legs appear too short for several of the theropods and the heads look really big... I've seen lots of different restorations of these animals and they don't look like that. Strange. All the 'lumping' seems a bit extensive, and I'm still not seeing Jane as a juvenile T. rex. There is a juvenile Tarbosaurus that looks nothing like her... And the reason GSP gives? We haven't found any adults of Jane the Nanotyrannus so she must be a juvenile T. rex. Even I can see through that, we have a whopping 2 skeletons and one's just a head! I'm a bit disappointed, I was hoping for another PDW but this seems more of like an overview. And why are there so many Giraffatitan skeletons and a dirth of Titanosaurs...? I'll have to see if I change my mind upon actually reading it;)

Best,

Brett

Feathered Dryptosaurus for Charity!

2010-10-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Over on Art Evolved, they are having an art contest for charity, for info go here! The idea is to draw a pink dinosaur and then send it over to them. They will then put in $2 for cancer research. So I did this up. I haven't had a chance to color it yet, hopefully later today, so if you feel the need to draw some dinosaurs pick up a pencil and lend a hand!

Best,

Brett

Concavenator!

2010-09-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

More on this guy over at Tet Zoo and Theropoda. I'm still geeking that it had quill knobs and that hump! Awesomeness!

Art Evolved Pop Culture Gallery!

2010-09-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

Not in the gallery but still pop culture (From the Extinction Event comic back in 2002.) But there are lots of fun images there so go take a look!

Also, my ears were burning yesterday and here's why. Over on Dinosaur Tracking they are discussing the new Jurassic Park comic from IDW. I guess the interior dinosaurs didn't go over that well. Brian did mention my name as a better choice, and for that, I thank you:)

Best,

Brett

Nanosaur!

2010-09-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

Years ago I did a cover for this small company, not sure if it ever actually came out but I happened upon the art today. Enjoy, scoff, ridicule. I know the 'raptor' deosn't have feathers. I tried they refused, of course this was like 2001 or something ...

Best,

Brett

Now I'm on Archosaur Musings!

2010-08-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

I recently (like yesterday, how's that for speed?!) did an interview for Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings. So if you want to read about it head on over, leave a comment if you have questions, I'll try to answer them:)

But for now, here's a work in progress of Sinotyrannus. He's got chicken legs!

Best,

Brett

I'm in/on Wired!

2010-08-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well actually it's just an image, but that's sooo cool:)

It's all about (drum roll please!)

The Science of the Dinosaur Arsenal!

Written by the most excellent Brian Switek, it's quite an interesting read and there are things in there even I didn't know (hard to believe but true!;).) So head on over and take a gander, lots of pictures! There may even be punch and pie!

Best,

Brett

New dinosaur goodness!

2010-07-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Done for a friend of mine, a promo piece for an upcoming project. Can't say what for yet. I'll leave you to guess at the dinosaurs, although most are fairly obvious.

Best,

Brett

Argentinosaurus for Spartan

2010-07-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

Not sure how accurate this is right now. Done awhile ago.

Best,

Brett

Omeisaurus

2010-07-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

Done a 'few' years ago, even I get tired of drawing theropods;)

Best,

Brett

More Humans vs. Dinosaurs!

2010-07-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in my dinosaur posting... I have been drawing them, I just can't show all of them. But I didn't want to leave you hanging. Here's the middle section of a comic page with dinosaurs on it. I'm going to use a modified version of this for the 'cover' image.

Best,

Brett

Dromeosaurus

2010-06-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

Done something like 4 years ago (maybe more.) He's in a tree.

Best,

Brett

Some dinosaur comic art for fun

2010-06-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I hate drawing comics, I have to draw what others have written down, which means my ideas and desires are left at the door. Right now I'm working on a novel adaption that I enjoy but I still have to stick to the script. So every now and then I like to bust out and do something on my own. Thus this, pages 2 and 3 of a 7 page mini story. Thought the followers here might like it since it's got lots of dinosaurs!

Best,

Brett

Riojasuchus

2010-06-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Still nothing really new. Trying to get his comic out the door. 5 more pages!

Best,

Brett

Dead Acrocanthosaurus

2010-05-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Not at all realistic, but something I did for fun.

Best,

Brett

Dave the feathered dinosaur...

2010-05-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

You know I'm still not sure if anyone ever confirmed this animal's species or not. Might have to do some digging.

Once again old art. I had to run down to Houston TX this past week, that's a drive and a half!

Best,

Brett

More feathered dinosaurs for Leo

2010-05-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Over on Geomythologica, Leo did a very nice post about me, complete with comics of mine in his collection:) For some reason I didn't find out about it until last night so, since it took me so long, I decided to post some more feathered dinosaurs for him. This would be Utahraptor, largest 'raptor' found so far, if one particular fossil turns out to be correct, you don't know the half of it!

Sinocalliopteryx, crappy scan, sorry.

And Styracosaurus, with some feathery quill things on it's back and tail.

Best,

Brett

Dimetrodon

2010-05-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Done for a how to draw book many years ago.

A friend of mine form Iran asked me to post this link to an image he drew of Xiphactinus vs Cretoxyrhina. Pretty cool Amin Khalegh! Colors by Scarypet!

Best,

Brett

Plesiosaurus and Velociraptor

2010-05-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

Done some time in 2005 for a how to draw book, It's supposed to be 'Nessie' but I just drew and actual Plesiosaurus. Both of these were colored by my wife.

For some reason this image never shows up right, it looks muddy on my machine but what are you gonna do? Velociraptors attacking a Protoceratops.

Best,

Brett

Found it Leo! Proto Feathers

2010-05-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

It's old an dirty and it's something I drew years ago, a proto feathered Coelophysis. With all the new feathered dinosaurs, all the things we think we know are basically tossed into chaos. We have small patches of skin for T. rex and Allosaurus, they show scales for that part of the body (only small sections of preserved skin, there might be feathers elsewere), we have a mostly scaled Carnotaurus. Feathered tyrannosaur ancestors... We have a hetrodontosaur species that shows feathers, completely unexpected, they are more closely related to the iguanadons and hardrosaurs... we have a psitticasuaurs with tail quills and scales... so what the heck are we supposed to put on these guys now, scales or feathers or proto feathers..? And with another recent find that shows that the feathers changed from one type of feather to another in some species as they matured... I'm at a loss. Do the feathers go all the way down to the beginning of the dinosaur family 'tree'? Questions and more questions. I'm left wondering if the scales on the backs of some hadrosaurs are actually scales or are hardened proto feathers like a rhino's horn (made of hairs actually.) Up is down and down is sideways.... my brain hurts. What we need are some large dinosaur find with skin and feathers or scales, like the little ones in Lioning.

I'm wondering if I'm going to have to start drawing 2 versions of every dinosaur, a scaled version and a feathered one. My hand is cramping just thinking of the extra work;)

Best,

Brett

I'm fairly sure the hadrosaur scales are actually scales, but you never know;)

Stegosaurus in Trouble!

2010-05-09T18:31:00.001-07:00

An old commission, as you can see by the signature. A couple of Torvosaurs have managed to trap an unfortunate Stegosaurus.

Be kind it's OLD! I only started drawing dinosaurs seriously in 2000.

Best,

Brett

Struthiomimus

2010-05-09T18:18:00.001-07:00

Done a few years ago, not sure how the feathers on these theropods would look best. I'm actuallynot sure were the heck they fit anymore... hmmmm.

Anyways, I found some older images that I haven't posted here yet so I'll start doing that tomorrow:)

Best,

Brett

Cymbospondylus

2010-05-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

Done for Art Evolved. Just a quick pencil drawing and color job, nothing too fancy. There is a little dinosaur in the water about to become lunch for a much larger ichthysaur called Cymbospondylus from the late Triassic. I think these things got to around 30 feet.

Best,

Brett

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2010-04-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry fro the lack of new dinosaur art. I've been finishing up some work. One of the images even has a dinosaur in it, so I put the dinosaur part here;) I have to scan an ichthyosaur for Art Evolved tomorrow or Saturday so I'll post it here as well.

Best,

Brett

Velociraptor and Protoceratops, let's dig in!

2010-03-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

So over on Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings, Dave asked if anyone had any art for an upcoming paper. I have a bit of free time right now so I offered my help. The only real problem? They needed it by Monday, it was Friday night. Not to worry, I said I'm pretty quick with the pencil. So i decided to time myself. I did the layout on Saturday after I got a bit of info and then Saturday I got to work. Now I don't really ever pay attention to how fast I go or that kind of thing but I started this at 8:45 am in Sunday. I finished at 11:11 am. I did take a few minutes break to cook some hamburger for the dogs but that only takes a minute to put on. I wanted to get this to Dave ASAP since I know how printing deadlines are.

I did add a spot of color later to help define the different animals since the actual image would be fairly small. I should have asked about the final size, it was a stupid mistake I draw fairly large (comics are reduced a lot so it makes things 'tighter') but the spot of color helped pop the dinos a bit. It might not get used at all since the editors decide that type of thing but Dave wrote up a blog post about it if you're at all interested in a velociraptor eating/scavenging a protoceratops!

I figured the little backstory might be interesting to the other artist and Dave is a far better wordsmith than I, so head over and read all the gory details!

The wife decided to fix my mess;)

Best,

Brett

Now in toned color, Dryptosaurus.

2010-03-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

Dryptosaurus

2010-03-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Drytosaurus, from the late cretaceous of N. America. New Jersey to be exact. A three fingered tyrannosaur, more closely related to Eotyrannus than those other two fingered guys from the west coast. Hippies and their tiny little arms;)

Best,

Brett

The Dinosaucers are dead..

2010-03-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

The Dinosucers revamp idea has now gone extinct. So no more drawings of them I'm afraid. But have no fear, I have other, better, designs involving prehistoric animals that I post on my other blog so if you're into that thing head on over. These are just a few examples.

Someone had commented on the Dinosaur Tracking blog about the whole anthro thing. They wanted basically a dinosaur cartoon, which I think might be cool... the problem is selling something like that, it's too basic, event the Jurassic Park toys were never a big hit, nor were the old Resaurus toys. They want flashy stuff, new ideas for cartoons. Doing something scientifically accurate would be a really tough sell. Maybe something like PBS would do it but frankly they do rather poorly animated cartoons so why bother?

After this post, back to theropods, but I figured the fans who didn't read my regular blog would want to know. You have to remember that these things are commercial endeavors and science, however cool, isn't high on most people's list of cool things:( We're still looking to do something with dinosaurs, but it's still at the planning stages.

Best,

Brett

More Dinosaucers...

2010-03-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

A new bad guy design of an Agustinia, I'm thinking of calling him Augustus or Caeser... I had a hard time finding out which way the spikes and stuff went. I finally went with a Luis Rey design, since it was a Thomas Holtz book and I figured that might be better to use than a toy;)

The awesomely named Tricero... I think I might push to change the name to Trike.

His anthro form.

I had to do the Bad guy, Genghis Rex. I wanted him to look a bit more 'primitive', thus the different stance.

That's all for now. We wait for colors and then see what Sony and Cookie Cutter says:)

Best,

Brett

I just copied this post from the other blog, sorry I'm tired today;)

Sometimes...

2010-03-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

You're asked to do some strange stuff. DabelBrothers, a company I do work for, has asked me to do some redesigns of the 90's Dinosaucers cartoon. So these are the first attempts. Allo the allosaurus...(I won't comment on the complex naming techniques used by the original designers.) I think it was a kids cartoon and they went as simple as possible. I'm trying for a bit more complexity, so we'll see what happens. The first image is his 'Devolved form'
This is his regular anthro form. Im trying to make these as more inline with current ideas. More later this week!

Best,

Brett

Abelisaurus

2010-02-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

Dilophosaurus a Spinosaur?

2010-02-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Years ago Gregory S. Paul put forth the idea that the Spinosaurs evolved from animals like Dilophosaurus. They do look a lot alike, but current thinking has the spinosaurs evolving from animals similar to Torvosaurus (I'm saying Torvosaurs since I have no idea what's going on with the megalosaurs right now.) But could the similar look be the result of convergent evolution? (animals evolving similar appearance because they preform the same function, like dolphins and icthyosaurs, or Thylacines and the dog) Were Dilophosaurs also fish eaters? I have no real idea but a current study that tests isotopes in teeth might be the answer. They finally published a study on the teeth of spinosaurs that shows they were more aquatic in there habitats than other theropods, or at least most other theropods.

So does the similar look of Dilophosaurs hint at a Spinosaur like life style? Most likely not, they appear to just be ramped up Coelophysids. But one never knows, maybe we'll find a Dilophosaur with fish in it's belly like the British Baryonyx:)

For more information on swimming Spinosaurs go here!

Best,

Brett

Deinonychus and Achillobator

2010-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Deinonychus (modified from new information that I don't like;P)

Achillobator

After reading this excellent post over at Theropoda, I decided to do a few more feathered theropods. While not as large as the 'carnosaurs', Achillobator got up to 20 feet (that's still pretty good sized) while Deinonychus might have hit 11-12 feet.

More tomorrow, I have a Dilophosaurus and a Abelisaurus to put together and clean, I really don't like the new scanner>:|

Oh, and Happy Darwin Day!

Best,

Brett

Haplocheirus

2010-02-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

So far the earliest Alvarezsaur found. It's also fairly large for this type of Dinosaur, coming in at around 8-9 feet. More info here!

I'm still messing with the new scanner. It's not being exactly cooperative. In fact if it possible to hate a machine, I hate this one. Sure it scans faster than the old one, but it keeps giving me these really dirty dark spots that the other one didn't. Oh well.

Best,

Brett

Therizinosaurs in Color...

2010-02-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

I actually didn't realize I colored it similar to the new find of colored dinosaurs until I was about done. I prefer this color for more simple colors so I use it when I'm moving quickly. I was trying to go for a more watercolored look, but Photoshop can't really do that so it's just a quicky. Oh well, maybe next time I'll get closer.

Best,

Brett

Happy Dinosaur Day!

2010-01-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

A Therizinosaurus done for Art Evolved....

And a new Tyrannosaur, Bistahieversor, found in New Mexico, right next door to me:) I actually saw the skull when I was at the NMMNH, but my camera died when I got there. Fricken sucked!!! But this is the dinosaur I did up for Draw a Dinosaur Day. It's already been uploaded!

Best,

Brett

Tomorrow is Draw a Dinosaur Day

2010-01-29T09:37:00.000-08:00

I've just been reminded of this thanks to Dinosaur Tracking. It's a day when anyone and everyone is encouraged to simply draw a dinosaur. It doesn't have to be good, just a dinosaur. I'm going to do it myself and I'll post the image here.

Here's the info:

Draw a Dinosaur Day.

A bit of additional info at Art Evolved. They host a draw a prehistoric beast drawing event every few months. Therizinosaurs are next. I've done one just need to scan it, so you might get 2 new drawings tomorrow:)

Best,

Brett

Sinosauropteryx colors!

2010-01-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

A new paper has given us a first look into dinosaur coloration! Here is a news article and here is a blog post over at Theropoda that will explain it far better than I.

I've modified an old picture to try and match it up. And yes the hands are wrong... or are they;)

Best,

Brett

Dino Dump

2010-01-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

Some of these are now outdated. A Chilantrasaurus with a carcass. This beast is now thought to be related to Megaraptor. See I told you this was outdated;)

My first Austroraptor, I didn't like the feathering on this one.

Eustreptaspondylus with a baby/young pleisiosaur.

Rugops, an early Abelisaur from Africa.

Crylophosaurus with a more Dilophosaurus feel.

My first Therizinosaurus, I have a new one that I need to scan, hopefully in the next few days.

Best,

Brett

Extinction Event for David

2010-01-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

This was a comic I worked on in 2002 I think. Not my best work. But a more typical comic book style. The story was about sentient Dromeosaurs that saw the end coming (giant meteor) and built cryofreezer things for them and their civilization. They were supposed to unfreeze after a few hundred years but the machine took some damage and didn't unfreeze until a small earthquake 'fixed' the problem. I don't really remember much more, I had some problem with the story and the science, which were changed for the proposal but the writer decided to put them back in. It might have been cool, but once again they had to focus on the people;)

I had to bitch at the colorists after that green Dromeosaur thing on cover 2. They couldn't pull off anything but green and brown so no cool colors. Just remember I had to draw 22 pages of this stuff on a short amount of time so be gentile;)

Best,

Brett

Carnotaurus and Bumps

2010-01-22T17:13:00.001-08:00

Blogger is acting funny so I hope this turns out right.

I was told by a friend of mine that several people have said that my style is 'comic booky'. To that I say, Duh!, I'm a professional comic book artist, that's my job! I don't switch to a more realistic style because sometimes it's hard to switch back, and like it or not, comic book anatomy isn't always the same as real life. I do try to keep the anatomy on the dinosaurs as correct as possible but I'm sure some sort of comic style shines through.

I'm only bringing this up because on these people said that the 'bumps' I do are completely without reason, I just make it all up! And since someone in the comments also asked about it, I thought I'd do a post on it. Sorry it took so long, the new computer screen is playing havok with my head.

So on to the reasons, and the reason is the beastie, Carnotaurus. Well, he's part of the reason, the other things are the current feathered dinosaurs finds from China. Carnotaurus is one of the only decent large theropod skin fossils, they have most of a side (I can't find any of the info online, for some reason it's so common knowledge that it isn't important enough to put on the internet!) I do remember an article I read about the fossil impressions, typical dinosaurs skin, circular scales with occasional larger scales, with larger bump like scales in rows down the length of the animal. I don't draw all the little scales, it would take forever and I have yet to find any filter in Photoshop that will do it so I just concentrate on the larger stuff, following the Carnotaurus skin that's been found. I do a few longer scales on the heads of some of the theropods in keeping with current reptiles scales and bird feather placements. Since it is now believed that scales did not lead to feathers, these 'scales' are sort of a feather precursor, made up but not out of the realms of possibility. I'm quite sure feathers didn't just pop up fully formed and ready to go;).

As for the feet and hands, For those I use actual bird reference, or chicken if you want the absolute truth. We feed our dogs chicken and sometimes they have feet still attached. I've seen plenty a chicken foot so I use those for theropod feet.

I hope that makes sense.

Best,

Brett

Shaochilong skull restoration

2010-01-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

I pulled the image from Theropoda, my file's on the other machine and I'm far to lazy today to pull it. I drew this for Steve Brusatte over the summer, the paper came out today, so this is my first actual scientific art for a paper. Coolness;)

Thanks agian to Steve for letting me do this, it was quite fun:)

Best,

Brett

Megalosaurus 2010

2010-01-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

Old version

New version

Recently a new paper has re-examined the first described dinosaur, Megalosaurus. Some of the changes appear to make the head much shorter and taller, unlike the longer Torvosaur like head used in the past. So based on that and one of those skeleton drawings with the flesh shadowed on the outside I decided to do a more modern drawing. After workin gon it for a bit I noticed that it looked a lot like an Abelisaur. Now I'm not saying it was, just that it had that sort of feel. Convergent evolution, an early attempt or something more? Spooky, yes?!

Up next a new Carontaurus and an explanation as to why I do the bumps I do;)

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

From everyone at Carnosauria!

Best,

Brett and Jess

Cruxicheiros (was I can't remember the name!)

2009-12-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not completely insane. I wrote it down the name but now I can't remember were I put it. A largish Spinosaur/Megalosaur from the mid to late Jurassic of England. If anyone has any idea what the name of this beastie is please let me know!

Update: Thanks to Andrea Cau of Theropoda fame for figuring out my scambled ramblings. More when it's colored!

Best,

Brett

Spinosaurus running in the water

2009-12-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago after the horribly done Clash of the Dinosaurs over on the Discovery Channel they aired a show called Monster Revealed (or something similar I can't quite remember.) Anyways the special was about Spinosaurus. In general, it wasn't that horrible, they kept saying Spinosaurus was 60 feet but the animation clearly showed something with a head about 12 feet long (whick would put the animal around 80 feet or so.) It seriously dwarfed the Carcharodontosaurus they used along with the 30 foot Rugops (which it picked in it's mouth.)

The reason for the blogpost and image? They mentiond that one of the newest ideas was that the sail was used for hunting/fishing. Something similar to what I had mentioned earlier this year, I couldn't find anything about it online and knowing the track record of these dino specials I wasn't sure if someone might have happened upon my blog and missread it. They credited it to Dal Sasso who has done some fo the most recent work on Spinosaurus. This idea was slightly different than mine as it was saying the shade the sail provided was to attract the fish, mine was that the sail was used to help see the fish. I like the new idea myself so it's cool to think I might have provided an insight or at the very least came to a similar conclusion. Of course I might really be totally delusional in this;)

More dinos soon, I need to find a new Megalosaurus I drew (This new version based on a new paper makes the animal look more like an abelisaur.) A holiday image and a new spinosaur/megalosaur.

Best,

Brett

Turkeysaurus Day!

2009-11-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

For those of us in the US Happy Thanksgiving! Instead of some lame turkey I drew up a Turkeysaurus on the computer ( took maybe 15 minutes so it's nothing special;))

Best,

Brett

Baryonyx in a swamp

2009-11-19T09:59:00.000-08:00

Just a quick pic. I'm not sure I like this or not yet.

Brett

Not fully Carnosaurian but...

2009-11-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

Indiana Jones on the run from a Tyrannosaurus rex!

Best,

Brett

Austroraptor cabazai

2009-10-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Austroraptor

Ceratosaurus ingens

2009-10-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Based on a tooth, this may or may not be a giant ceratosaur from Africa.

Nothing new color wise, maybe soon:)

Best,

Brett

Mapusaurus 2009

2009-10-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quicky to keep the hoards happy;)

Best,

Brett

Megaraptor in color

2009-10-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

That's all for now. I do have some new drawings that need to be scanned.

Best,

Brett

Sinotyrannus

2009-10-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly a new giant Tyrannosaur was announced last week. This animal was 30+ feet long. It's not that closely related to the later more familiar Tyrannosaurs but for the time period it's unexpected due to it's large size. Since the remains are pretty fragmentary most of the skull and body is a guess, based on other more complete relatives:)

Best,

Brett

Australovenator and Megaraptor

2009-10-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

This animal was announced over the summer, along with 2 large sauropods. Since it's the first good theropod remains from down under they named the beastie Autralovenator. I finally got around to drawing it, and a good thing I waited so long. Last week a new paper was published that finally (for now at least) sheds some light on a new group of theropods The Neovenatoridea. This appears to be a second group of allosaurs, the sister group of the Carchadontosaurs, and in this group is Australovenator and drum roll please.... Megaraptor.

So Megaraptor isn't a Spinosaur or a Carcharadontosaur but a really advanced allosaur. I'm still geeking about this!

More later, including a new giant Tyrannosaur.. oooohhhh!

Best,

Brett

Finally in color!

2009-10-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

I had to stop working on this until the new wacom pen tips arrived, luckily they showed up the other day:)

Best,

Brett

New Carcharodontosaurus drawing

2009-09-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm finishing up a colored version of this one, but I'm also trying to get my actual work doing comics out the door. So for now enjoy, hopefully I'll have the colored one done soon:)

Best,

Brett

Gorgosaurus libratus

2009-09-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

I kept forgetting to scan this one, today I remembered. Nothing else new done, regular work is taking up all my time. I've got some layouts done up so when the muse hits I can get some more done.

Best,

Brett

Shaochilong sketch

2009-07-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick sketch. The 'a' key on the keyboard isn't working so nothing longer.

Best,

Brett

Labocania anomala

2009-06-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

I was going to try and get some actual reference for this one, but I could find none. I know I've seen some skull remains somewhere but my web-fu was not up to the challenge. Andrea Cau of Theropoda has proposed that this guy MIGHT actually be a late surviving carcharodontosaur, so I drew one up and added a quick tone. This is COMPLETELY hypothetical!!

Sorry for the slow posting, I've been busy. New stuff soon:)

Best,

Brett

Tyrannosaurus X

2009-06-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Been a bit busy, so no time for anything major. Here's a hypothetical drawing of the hypothetical/mysterious Tyrannosaurus X. A possible gracile tyrannosaurus, that some believe is a separate species from the traditional Tyrannosaurus rex.

I'll try to get more in depth when I get a chance to color this up. But I'm trying to finish off these pages, start a new project, and draw a skull restoration:)

Best,

Brett

Shaochilong maortuensis

2009-06-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the best stuff has already been dug up. Recently an old specimen (considered a sub species of Chilantaisaurus) has been re-examined and found to actually be a member of the carcharadontosaur family. So it's been renamed Shaochilong maortuensis.

This is the first instance of a carcharadontosaur in Asia. It's know from pretty scrappy remains and might actually turnout to be a juvenile, so this drawing it pretty hypothetical. The cool thing is that these animals might have actually feed on primative ceratopsians and competed with early tyrannosaurs.

Best,

Brett

Swimming spinosaurs?

2009-06-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's not in color, but I just finally got it scanned! A Suchomimus catching a young plesiosaur.

A few years ago I was asked what I thought of the swimming Spinosaurus idea (I was told this was put forth by Robert Bakker but I've only heard it mentioned a few times so I have no idea.) At the time I said I found it unlikely, at least for Spinosaurus, the sail would be a hinderence in the water, waves would topple it, the local crocs would eat it for lunch as they were far more adapted to the water, yadda, yadda, yadda. I didn't really look into it, I knew spinosaurs seemed to found close to water, and that they would eat fish (fish scales found in the stomach area of Baryonyx) but that's all I had read about swimming spinosaurs... until a few months ago.

Other than the scene in JP3 most of the spinosaur pictures show them wadding out into ankle deep water looking for fish, like some giant egret or stork. Since spinosaurs are so poorly known and fragmentary it's very difficult to get an idea about what they might have been doing, why did they get to big? Spinosaurs has been said to be 65 feet long dwarfing every other theropod, that's at least 17 feet longer than the next largest theropod (this is highly unlikely but is found all over the web. They were more likely similarly sized to the other large theropods, perhapse a bit longer but more gracile.) Did they eat fish exclusively? A spinosaur tooth has been found embeded in a pterosaur bone, along with the fish scales in Baryonyx's stomach were the remains of an Iguanadon (so the answer to that would be no.) How did they behave? Questions upon questions that we'll most likely never be able to fully answer.

I stumbled upon this site looking for skeletal reference: spinosauridae.fr.gd
(This is the English translated version, its really easy to read so don't let the translation stop you!)

On the site are papers, drawings and pretty much the best place to go for info on spinosurs on the web. As I read the papers cited, and looked at the images, the site was trying to tell me something. The papers mentioned isotopes from spinosaur bones are more in line with crocodiles and animals that live in an aquatic habitat, foot print traces of swimming theropods... this site was arguing FOR semi aquatic spinosaurs. I spent a few hours looking everything over (I'd go over specifics some, but I can't get it to load properly, my computer has bogged down, but go read it for yourselves!) And while I think more finds need to be located, it's very compelling stuff. Semi aquatic spinosurs... cool!

Best,

Brett

Coelophysis

2009-06-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

I'm still torn on whether these animals had protofeathers or not...

Best,

Brett

Sitting Theropods and their footprints

2009-06-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

A few months ago a new paper described a fossil impression of a sitting theropod. I had actually drawn a reconstruction of the beast months before, based on footprints from the area, known to some as the St George theropod. It's entirely speculative, but since there is no actual skeleton associated to the footprints, it's hard to say who the footprints actually belong to. It could actually be one of a number of known species but in this case nothing official has been named. So this is a hypothetical image of the track maker and below is a shot of the position it was in while sitting.

For this image I actually chose a theropod that I had not drawn before, so this is a Liliensternus inthe resting position. Note the strange position of the front legs/arms, Freaky!

For more information head on over to the Open Source Paleontologist:)

More new dinosaurs soon, I'm a bit behind on my actual work so I have't had time for many new drawings. But I am working on some:)

Best,

Brett

Carcharadontosaurus

2009-05-31T08:35:00.001-07:00

Carcharadontosaurus, a relative of Mapusaurs from Africa.

The last week or so I've been engaged in a discussion about theropods living in groups with a fellow blogger and Paleontologist. Basically it boils down to this. Since birds and crocs are dinosaurs closest relatives we should only use them it infer any behavior and biology. I disagreed and lots of comments and emails were exchanged. I was given a copy of the 2007 Deinonychus paper. A paper which is supposed to explain the feeding habits of Deinonychus. In it, the paper basically uses the ora, or what we in the west called the Komodo Dragon, as a comparison to the kill site were the 'raptors' were discovered. 4 raptors were found along with the carcase of a juvenile Tenontosaurus. The original idea being that the tenontosaurus either fell on or killed the 4 in the attack that cost it it's life. The fell on thing is kind of strange but the site is odd in itself. It appears that one fo the raptors 'killing' claws was imbeded in the tail tendons of another raptor. There were lots of shed teeth so we kow more than the 4 raptors were present. The paper argues that this site is simiar to ora kill sites, as the ora is know to be canibalistic and they explain the site as a single raptor killing the Tenontosaurus and then the others coming in and a sort of feeding frenzy ensued, during which things got out of hand and 4 of the raptors were also killed. We are told from this we can assume that this is how EVERY theropod dinosaur should now be interpreted as acting, single hunter and then a group comes in and they fight over and eat the kill, just like oras. It should be the 'fall back' position. I disagree. While the site is strange an equally plausible postion is a rival group of raptors showed up and a fight ensued. It explains the shed teeth, the claw in the other raptors tail, and the 4 dead animals. Am I sure of this..? No, but it's just as likely. The point is we don't actually know. It's a guess, an educated one but it's still a guess. But to claim that EVERY theropod should be cast as having the same exact behavior is just at odds with ALL other animals. No predators, even closely realted ones, act exactly the same way. Most birds hunt alone, but some hunt in groups. Some live alone, others in groups.

The Ora is a strange animal, it's the heaviest lizard, it lives on a small island (or group of islands) with very limited resources, it's now found to be venomus. It's cold blooded. Not very similar to theropods, who had much greater resources, continents to roam around on. Were most likely warm blooded, and not venomous (that we know of.) To just use the one lizard is just wrong. Other veranids don't behave that way, even ones closely related to the Ora. I fail to see how this should be the fall back position and how this is good science. Good science should say we don't know... We have some evidence for some theropds living together, but it's open to interpretation.

Case in point the Mapusaurs site. 7 individuals of various ages. were found burried together. I was told this shows a predator trap, but in every other predator trap (similar to the Le Brae tar pitts, but no tar) there are more than one speices of predator. In fact we have traps like this in the US, one in Utah with LOTS of Allosaurs, some ceratosaurs, some sauropods, a Torvosaurus... lots of different animals, this is a classic predator trap. But to find 7 individuals with no signs of canibalism.. no other animals... a trap that just caught one specific animal around the same time??? That's the best explination? Not that they were living together and were all killed at the same time via flood or volcanic gas or whatever? I'm even will to say we don't know for sure and will most likely never know, unless the bones were all jumbled together, that would mean they most likely died and decomposed together. But that's all we'll ever know for sure.

I keep being told that we can't use mammals for anything related to dinosaurs. But I just read a very interesting post over on Tetrapod Zoology about the neck posture of sauropods*. It turns out THEY used mammals for their comparison. Wait weren't we not supposed to use them?? And then in another post, Darren mentions another new paper about reptiles and birds playing... and how did they kow they were playing... why they were comapared to mammals of course! So what I'm being told is, it's only ok for SCIENTISTS to compare mammals to dinosaurs, just not some frindge artist who doesn't know any actual science.

I wouldn't have brought this up but the person I was arguing with has felt compelled to mention it on their blogs at least 3 times already, even after the papers comparing mammals to reptiles, birds and dinosaurs. I can't really comment there because it isn't in English and the translators are really bad. So I can't be 100 percent sure of what is being said, so I have to go off what I've gotten in English here.

I am of course, willing to change my mind when and if good evidence is ever found. But for now what's there is less than convincing, even to this frindge artist.

Best,

Brett

* Disclaimer: This paper used turtles, lizards, crocodilians and birds and mammals for neck postures. I focused on the mammals to prove a point.

Megaraptor idon'tknowwhatasaurus

2009-05-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

I think I might have figured out how to put text above the first image (yeah!) Anyways, I wanted to put up strickly colored stuff here on Carnosauria. But I'm a bit behind work wise and so here are a few scene type drawings of the pencil/line art before coloring. These are both images of the mysterious Megaraptor....

Originally thought to be a large dromeosaur, the claw turned out to actually be from the hand, as an almost complete forearm and hand were found. So that tosses this animal out of the 'raptor' clan (sorry Jurassic Park fans!) But were does it go now? That's the probem. I've seen several papers on it, but it appears to have anatomy similar to 2 lines of theropods. The spinosaurs and the carcharadontosaurs. When I was originally told about the change from foot to hand I was told it was, most likely, a spinosaur by several people inthe feild, it was also mentioned as a possible spinosaur in the Holtz/Rey dinosaur book called, simply enough, Dinosaurs (I completely forgot the name and had to google it, I feel like such a tool;). I liked the head design Rey used on his image so I kind of took that and modified it a bit, kind of a more robust Suchomimus.) But after I posted that image, I was told I was wrong...

I received several comments that a new paper would show that Megaraptor was, in fact, a late surviving carcharadontosaur. I actually read the paper, it still seemed up in the air to me, but not wanting to get even more comments telling me I was wrong I decided to draw it as a carchardontosaur for a book I'm working on (images seen here and some new ones with a few comic like scenes showing possible behaviours...)

I then recieved new comments that I was wrong and that another new paper showing that Megaraptor was related to a new spinosaur from Austrailia would prove it. I read that paper as well.... And to be honest. I have no fricken idea which group this thing belongs to. So until more fossils are found it's an idon'tknowwhatasaurus.

But what to do with the comic page..? I decided to modify it and changed it to a Mapusaurus, easy enough, I used that as the base for the restoration. But since Mapusaurus is older than Megaraptor the Carnotaurs are now fromthe wrong time... So I contacted a few fellow bloggers, Darren Naish and Brian Switek. They had some excellent ideas and Darren mention a few new animals that were comming down the pipeline. I'll post the changed image when I get that drive up and running but I wound up using Skorpiovenator, I just like the name;)

Best,

Brett

Mapusaurus, Neovenator and Eocarcharia

2009-05-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Another of the giant carcharadontosaurs from South America. I believe they have parts of 7 individuals. The most likely explanation is that it lived in some sort of pack. Related to Giganatosaurus, this animal preyed upon the giant sauropod Argentinosaurus.

Once considered a relative to Acrocanthosaurus, it's now thought to be an allosaur. Found in England, it was hanging around in the early Cretaceous with animals like Iguanadon and Baryonyx.

This is the earliest confirmed carcharadontosaur. Eocarcharia, was found in the same area and strata as the last post's Kryptops. Interestingly these theropods also lived along side of Suchomimus. This seems to be the theme for Gondwana in the Cretaceous, 3 giant theropods as the top predators.

Best,

Brett

Kryptops

2009-05-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Right now this is the oldest known abelisaur. It's possible that this animal had some sort of beak
on it's face. It's an interesting idea, I might have to do a drawing of that;)

SO the dinosaurs have been a bit sparse lately. We ran out of room on the computer so we had to dump a bunch fo stuff onto a portable external drive. Unfortunately it take all the USB ports on the laptop so I have to unplug the tablet and I can't use the track pad. We have ordered a new USB hub thing but until we get it all the drawn dinosaurs are locked away on another drive.

I need to do a few new dinosaurs. So maybe I'll get some new ones scanned before I get the new hub;)

Best,

Brett

Paleo art and Aerosteon

2009-05-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Aerosteon, it appears to be a later surviving Allosaur, or something very closely related. It had a respiratory system similar to modern birds.

Paleo art:

I've been drawing dinosaurs semi seriously for around 9 years now. I remember when artists like Todd Marshal and Luis Rey were just starting to get popular. I remember picking up the paperback version of Predatory Dinosaurs of the World (I just picked another hard cover of that one. That make 3 that I've bought over the years) while on a trip to Hawaii. I was amazed at what it had in it. Jurassic park had just come out and it had been about 8 years since I'd last really read bout dinosaurs.

The art in that book fascinated me. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Dynamic agile animals, feathered raptors. It was amazing. To this day Gregory S. Paul is a favorite artist of mine.

So what is this post about? Well it's been a few years since I started to try my hand at drawing dinosaurs, an the one thing I still see, is the influence of Gregory S. Paul. This is of course fine and dandy, I'm a big fan, his work is a great influence of mine. But most the artists who are so greatly influenced by him, and there are a lot, don't seem to try and develop their own style. They seem to have come to an approximation of Paul's and that's it, nothing new, no other influences. And while it's always great to see his art, the market has been flooded with clones. Now I'm guilty of this to a certain extant myself. I had a favorite comic artist that I aped, it's how I got hired originally. BUT after the initial honeymoon phase, I did try to branch out and develop my own style (I've heard it called the 'Brett Booth Beauty Academy'. Which I find endlessly amusing;)) I think I've made the transition to my own 'look'.

So what I'm trying to say is that IF you are a Paul clone, why not try and experiment with some other styles, I'm not trying to get people to draw like me, I already have those in the anthro world and some even in the comic world. But my hope would be to help expand the artistic styles of some of the artist that I see with a lot of promise to break out and become the next Gregory S. Paul. Oh, and for goodness sake PLEASE take a few basic art classes (I know a lot of the artists are self taught.) It will help with perspective and some basic design work, help create some depth in the pictures.

Of course some of you will say who the hell is this guy? He's not a professional paleoartist! True, but how many books with your name on it do you have on Amazon? I've draw thousands of illustrations for comics and the like, I've critiqued countless would be artists online and at shows. I have a degree in commercial art. I've been drawing comics for over 16 years. I'd have to have at least SOME design sense after all that (I'm not trying to toot my own horn just prove a point.) So why not take of the advice of another artist, try to expand on a good base and take your art to the next level.

Best,

Brett

Sinraptor

2009-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

A largish theropod form the late Jurassic of China. It's now stipulated that this animal is the precursor of the carcharadontosaur line.

Best,

Brett

Carnotaurus sastrei

2009-05-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

One new and the other old. A late cretaceous abelisaur from South America. There are actually skin impressions of the this animal so we have a good idea of what it actually looked like. Well, except for the color;)

This animal reached a length of 30 feet, and had one of the strangest heads on any theropod so far discovered. But the strangest thing would be the 4 fingered hands. Only 2 of which had claws. The fore arm bones have been greatly reduced to be virtully non existant.

Best,

Brett

Skorpiovenator

2009-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

A Cretaceous contemporary of Mapusaurus, this is another of those funny looking abelisaurs. It's nae means scorpion hunter, due to the fact that there were lots of scorpions around the dig site;)

Best,

Brett

Deltadromeus

2009-05-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Deltadromeus is now thought to be a noasaur, off the abelisaur family tree. From Africa, it's another really big theropod around 40 feet. But this one is differnent, it's very gracile, built for running. The head is based off of the other known noasaur species and might be incorrect, it's a best guess at this point.

Being an ableisaur it's strange in that it has long arms and is larger than any of it's other known relatives. I beleive Carnotaurus would be the second largest at around 25+ feet. So this animal was a giant for the group. It's theropod contemporraries include Carcharadontosaurus and Spinosaurus, also giants, so there seems to be a trend of giant theropods in mid cretaceous Africa. There are a few other large theropod remains fond at the sime time and same area but they are too scrappy to make good identifications. So perhaps there is a fourth group of large theropods running around Africa that we don't really know about;)

Best,

Brett

Aucasaurus

2009-04-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

A medium sized abelisaur from the late cretaceous of South America. Very similar to Carnotaurus but with no 'horns'. Around 13-15 feet long, and found at the bottom of an ancient lake. Some skin impressions were found around the pelvis area, but I can't find any pictures on it online (I did find a picture of dinosaur skin, but no named along with it.)

Best,

Brett

Unnamed Carcharadontosaur

2009-04-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure what to do with this guy. I drew it when some late Cretaceous carcharadontosaur teeth were found in South America. But another study claims they might in fact be abelisaur teeth that mimic carcharadontosaurs... Sooo, this might be entirely wrong, but it was based on only a few teeth so it wouldn't be that accurate to begin with, just me having some fun;)

Best,

Brett

Becklespinax

2009-04-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

Known from only 3 vertebrae, the rest of this restoration are purely conjecture. Found in England from rocks dating to the early Cretaceous. It's though to be related to either the sinraptors or Acrocanthosaurus. I drew it more like Acro due to the elongated nature of the 3 vertebrae.

I've been having problems with Blogger not telling me things are spelled wrong and even keeping them wrong AFTER I have corrected them. My spelling is horrible to begin with so you might not notice;)

Best,

Brett

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus

2009-04-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

The ever popular Spinosaurus. Originally found in the desert near Egypt (mid Cretaceous rocks) at the beginning of the 20th century, all the original material was lost during the bombing of Germany during WWII. We are lucky to have drawing of the material so all was not lost! The original material which consisted of the front part of the lower jaw, a few neck vertebrae, a few tail vertebrae, and most of the back vertebrae with the elongated neural spines. The original restoration was of a giant allosaur with a sail, like this drawing. The exact size of is hard to pinpoint. The original material appears to not have been fully grown. Sizes from 50 to 65 feet have been offered, but we'll have little to no idea until a new skeleton is found.

For a long time that was the restoration, until the 80's, when Baryonyx was found. It was quickly discovered that the 2 species were very similar, that gave us our first decent peek at what a spinosaur looked like. In this restoration I bulked up the skull a bit, the lower ends shortly after the tip, but the back of the jaw bone looks very robust. So I toyed with the idea that Spinosaurus was sort of returning to a more predatory dinosaur, Baryonyx was considered a fish eater (even though iguanadon bones were found in it's stomach contents, along with fish scales) so the skull was more delicate.
In 2003 it was suggested that Spinosaurus was actually a chimera (made up of more than on animal) since it was found in a bone bed with other animals. The jaw belonging to a spinosaur, the neck to a relative of Acrocanthosaurus. The back to a sauropod (all of the three major dinosaur branches produced a 'fin' back.) I actually like the idea (I suggested a hadrosaur for the backbone since the older adults bones seem to mimic theropods, something I didn't know until I saw Valley of the T. rex with Jack Horner. But a sauropod would explain the great size) I liked the idea of a chimera, the sail would be a great hindrance to an active predator. But science changes and moves on...

It was reported that a new skull was found earlier this decade, something that would have been around 8 feet long. Now there was/is a possible relative of Spinosaurus, or in this case a subspecies, also found in Africa, this was dubbed Spinosaurus marocannus. Only the front part of the upper jaw was found, it was very delicate. But this new skull, seemed to link the 2 species/subspecies together, the new skulls teeth matched the original lower jaws teeth so it appears that the more robust skull I drew was wrong, so this drawing was done.

This is the most recent drawing, based on all the info I could find online. It looks like Spinosaurus is actually closely related to the South American spinosaur Irritator. At first Irritator was thought to be a pterosaur (it's skull is really strange even for a spinosaur,) but the new skull material for Spinosaurs matches it rather closely, even similar in tooth count.

What appears to be emerging is a very different animal than originally described. Long and lean, the nostril s far back on the skull, the neck designed for a more heron like attack. It appears to be a giant fish eater, perhaps it was forced to the water as it's great length wouldn't protect it from the other giant theropods that shared it's environment? (Carcharadontosaurus, Deltadromeus and possibly a few others, the remains are too scrappy.)

But what of the sail? It's been theorized that it was for fat storage, but the spines are very thin, I doubt they could have supported much weight. Possibly for cooling? Other theropods with similar size didn't have one, but maybe it helped when fishing in the afternoon, it does get hot inthe sun. I've also heard it was used as an actual sail for swimming... We know theropods could swim, we have 'foot' prints, really just nail prints;) But none of the other spinosaurs with associated skeletons show aquatic adaptions.. So I had an idea. It might be wrong, but what about a shade for hunting in the sun? Something to keep the glare of the sun off the water so it can see the fish below? Or maybe a combination of these? That's the most plausible scenario seeing as most parts of the body preform several functions.

Best,

Brett

Tyrannotitan

2009-04-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

A large early carcharadontosaur from South America. Not much is known about this animal yet. It's clearly large, around 40 feet, and the arms are very small (thus the name.)

Even though only a small amount of the animal is known, it's enough to give you a basic idea of what it looked like. Besides the small arms, it is also known to have a deep tail, so it's assumed that swimming would have been possible. Of course with all those horrors of the deep swimming around I don't think theropods would have ventured far into the water;)

Albertosaurus Attack!

2009-04-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

A quick shot of a sub adult Albertosaurus attacking a Struthiomimus, both from Canada. Albertosaurus grew to around 30 feet and Struthiomimus got to around 15 feet. Paleontologists are still not sure what the orstich mimic dinosaurs ate, everything from filter feeders to omnivors have been proposed.

Best,

Brett

Suchomimus

2009-04-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

So this is an older shot of Suchomimus. As you can see I don't really like drawing backgrounds, since I don't actually get paid for doing these drawings, I tend to just concentrate on the animal.

Found in Africa, this animal is considered a close relative of Baryonyx (the first good specimen of a spinosaur found.) The skeleton that was found was of a sub adult and it was 36 feet long, so this animal might have gotten to the 40+ foot size range. There are teeth from this line of spinosaurs (Spinosaurus and Irritator are on a second branch, they have less teeth and a more pterosaur like head) from Europe, weather this is a third species is unknown right now.

Best,

Brett

Megalosaurus and Edmarka

2009-04-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is the first described dinosaur. From the middle Jurassic England, this animal grew to a length of around 30 feet. This is one of the only known theropods from the middle Jurassic, it was originaly restored as a quadraped.

Edmarka rex is a possible late surviving Megalosaur from the late Jurassic of North America. Some scientists consider it to just be a species of Torvosaurs, as Megalosaurs and Torvosaurs are thought to be closely related. I believe the only known specimen is thought to be somewhere between 36 nd 42 feet long.

Best,

Brett

Torvosaurus

2009-04-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is a reconstruction of the recent Torvosaurus find in Europe. They seemed to have T. rexed up the skull a bit from the fragmentary remains. What was found, seems to be pretty close to the other Torvosaurus material found in the US. So the head should look more like the bottom picture (which is pretty old, notice the incorrect hands) or the one I posted for the Easter Holiday. I couldn't bring myself to make the nasal bridge as high as they did in the recontruction It just looked wrong.

Torvosaurus was a large predator from the late Jurassic. Growing to around 40 feet, and with larger teeth which look similar to tyrannosaurs. This would have been more like the T. rex of the Jurassic, they don't appear to be nearly as common as Allosaurs, so it's been speculated they were more solitary.

Best,

Brett

Giganotosaurus carolinii

2009-04-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

I really need to do a new drawing of this guy, both of these are older. The first from 2005 and the second from 2000 (with colors by Jess.) I've always like this animal, a large sauropod hunter from South America with a huge skull. The original material is around 42 feet, some estimate place it at 45 feet but that's the largest I've heard. There is a partial lower jaw from another specimen that's 8% larger so this animal could possibly get close to 50 feet long.

I have learned recently that the skull is much more fragmentary than is commonly known. Theropoda has a post on it. It's from a few weeks ago but it's there:)

Best,

Brett

Saurophaganax

2009-04-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of hits on this one over on the regular blog. So I figured I'd post it here. There isn't much known on this theropod. Some vertebrae, some leg bones, but no skull. As I mentioned before this might turn out to not be an allosaur but an early carcharadontosaur, that's how I drew it here.

I actually have been to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and got to see their mount of Saurophaganax (based on Allosaurus.) Unfortunately my camera died and I couldn't get any pictures. I'd like to head up that way again, they have a new Triassic exhibit that I want to check out.

Best,

Brett

Tyrannosaurs part the Third: T. rex!

2009-04-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

This is a quicky of a female, we call her the Chocolateosaurus here, I was going for a more drab look on her compared to the male in the next picture.

This is the most current picture of T.rex that I have done. I'm actually not a big fan of the animal. Maybe it's over exposure?

This one (and the next one) was colored by Jess, and the tails are WAAYY to long. But I do like the juvenile rex and triceratops. I drew this one awhile ago so go easy on me.

This was the very first picture of Tyrannosaurus rex I did. The little ones on the side were added for a book, I can't remember what it was called or if it was even used. Depending on who you talk to there are 1 to 3 species in this group. Tyrannosaurus rex, possibly Tyrannosaurus (Tarbosaurus) bataar and Tyrannosaurus (Nanotyrannus) lancensis. It will be interesting to see if they ever come to some sort of conclusion on this but since they only have bones it doesn't seem likely.

Right now I'm just posting a bunch of the older images I have on the computer. I'll interspace some new stuff as well. I've got several colored pictures started:)

Best,

Brett

Tyrannosaurs part the second: Tarbosaurus Attack!

2009-04-14T09:15:00.001-07:00

This is the only picture I've done of the Asian tyrannosaur Tarbosaurus. It's attacking a giant hadrosaur also from Asia. I was asked to compete with some other people for this Italian Jurassic Park site. I think I was criticized for the fact that both of the Tarbosaurs feet are off the ground, but I don't speak Italian the Google translator is sometimes very useless, especially with message boards. I don't really see why they couldn't jump a bit, it's not like he's really far off the ground or anything.;)

Best,

Brett

Tyrannosaurs part the first

2009-04-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

A hypothetical adult 'Nanotyrannus'. I had watched the NG show that featured 'Jane' and was inspired to draw Jane as a new species of Tyrannosaur. It always bothered me that T. rex is the only large predator at the end of the Cretaceous. Plus, I'm not convinced that Jane is really a juvinile T. rex, the brain case being different as are the teeth. I'm happy to be wrong of course, just new stuff to draw:)

The classic version of Nanotyrannus, a small agile tyrannosaur.

A shot of Jane and her parents. I really just wanted to try a black dinosaur:)

Best,

Brett

Happy unnamed religious holiday

2009-04-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to stick to just dinosaurs on this blog, if you want to read about my politics and religion you'll have to hit my regular blog. But in the spirit of the holiday/spring I've messed with a quickly toned Torvosaurus, done for a blog post last year.

Best,

Brett

Feathered Dinosaurs

2009-04-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

A hypothetical feathered Spinosaurus hatchling. Colors by Jess

A Utahraptor, but I'm told that Dr. Kirkland thinks this one is too skinny. Fair enough, it's now Deinonychus;) Just kidding. Perhaps a delicate female? the colors were chosen as an homage to the book RaptorRed.

Sinosauropteryx, the first feathered dinosaur discovered. The arms are wrong, but I was going for gopher or weasel and the palms in looked strange.

A feathered Ornitholestes, I'm stillnot ure where this guy goes onthe dinosur family tree, I've heard maniraptors and then early tyrannosaur (which would actually be in the maniraptor family...my brain hurts.) I gave it a 'raptor' claw but I can't remember why...

I'm actually not tha tinto the feathers, they look good colored but the drawing of them is rather boring which is why I don't do more of them. Plus I have to be in the right mood to do the thinness of these guys right, I don't know why I just do.

Lagosuchus

2009-04-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

Now the neck might be a bit long, but I'll call that artistic license (the stubby neck looked wrong);) This is not a dinosaur, it's too early, but some think it was one of the precursors to the earliest dinosaurs. This was a small animal, Dinodata has it listed at .30 meters, so around a foot. And more than likely, it could run on it's hind legs from short bursts.

Brett

Edit: I have been informed that this is not a archosaur made of brightly colored blocks. It has been changed;)

Acrocanthosaurus

2009-04-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

This is one of my most beloved dinosaurs. An early carcharadontosaur (a few still consider this an advanced allosaur) from the central US. Paleontologists have several partial specimens and have been able to cobble together a decent restoration. It's a large beast growing to about 40 feet (12 meters for those outside the US.)
This animal is one possible suspect of trackways found in Texas, trackways showing a possible bite attempt, depending on who you ask;) I was trying to figure out how to do a nice yellow color here, it didn't quite work out and I got a more goldish look than I wanted. I'm actually fairly new to coloring these things so there is a lot of trial and error:)

The first colored picture I did of this animal, the legs are to long and the calves to, for lack of a better word, boofy. The 'sail' (just elongated vertibrae along the back, about 2 feet high) is smaller on this one. I've seen several skeletal restoration and each one has a different sail height (I cover it in muscles since it wasn't very tall.) Maybe differnences in the sexes? Or just different artist adding their touch?

Best,

Brett

More Allosaurs

2009-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

'Epanteris' the giant allosaurs specimen. It's a bit bulky but it was a big animal. I wanted to enclude these in yesterdays post but my signal wasn't good enough to upload after the first image. Damn wind!

This one is sort of a revamp of the male Allosaurus in the last post. Since that one was based off of Paul's Allosaurus fragilis skeletal reconstruction in PDoW, I thought I'd draw one based off of the Allosaurs atrox reconstruction in the same book.

Jess nicknamed this one Fluffy right after it was drawn, the feathers are entirely speculative and more than likely wrong, but it is a fun picture. This one as well as the family from the last post were colored by my wife Jess.

I have more but most aren't colored and some I just don't like. I have been asked to draw some dinosaurs without all the spikes and protofeathers, but the animals just look plain to me. Just an FYI the Big Al specimen of allosaurus might turn out to be a new subspecies:)