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
Posts
Wow Brett, its your first marine reptile here? Its awesome, the mother of all itchyosaurs.
ReplyDeleteHi Spartan,
ReplyDeleteActually the third, the first is a very small plesiosaur with Eusreptospondylus, and the second I believe is with a swimming Suchomimus. This would be the 4th one I've ever actually drawn.
Best,
Brett
Brett-
ReplyDeleteSaw your work on Art Evolved. This is a great piece, nice work!
~T-rexy (Jenn Hall)
Hi T-rexy (Jenn Hall)
ReplyDeleteThanks:) Interesting blog you have there. One of my readers is getting a Dryptosaurus tattoo based on one of my drawings. I'll post it here when he gets it done:)
Best,
Brett
What a magnificent drawing! Astounding. Compliments Brett...as usual. :)
ReplyDeleteNow on a completely different tone. Remember the '80s and all those bakkerian/paulian "Coelophysis" kayentakatae dressed as a eagles (or chickens, it depends on the eye of the beholder)? Now I think it's time to put (again) some true proto-feathers on triassic critters (i.e. ornithodirans and dinosauriformes: proto-proto-dinosaurs)...Me and Andrea Cau were caught in the middle of a conversation via blogs when this paper came out: Brusatte, S. L., Nesbitt, S. J., Irmis, R. B., Butler, R. J., Benton, M. J., and M. A. Norell. 2010. The origin and early radiation of dinosaurs. Earth Science Reviews. Early online. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.04.001; pp. 22-23 are especially interesting, IMHO. For proto-feathered ur-prosauropods (yes!) take a look: "Expect the Unexpected..." on "Geomythologica".
Leo
Hi Leo,
ReplyDeleteThanks! The under water stuff is always fun, I'm not sure why I don't do more. I do have a proto feathered Coelophysis around here somewhere. And the arguments on yours and Andrea's blog is basically what I'm inclined to go with right now... honestly I'm not sure why I didn't feather the dinosaur... Next time;)
I'm just wondering at what size we should draw the line for feathered or scaled? Is it randomly distributed or did only certain lines loose the feathers? I guess feathered should be the fall back position now? Too many questions and not enough answers!
Given the specimens of Tianyulong and Psittacosaurus and the evidence of protofeathered coverage - so going back to the very roots of the Dinosauria clade, even before the split between Saurischia and Ornithischia - I'm inclined to believe that: a) the whole body was covered. Pterosaurs - at the moment they are the sister taxon to Dinosauria, forming Ornithodira - were entirely covered with a sort of proto-plumage, so it is possible that the ancestor of both Pterosauria and Dinosauria - i.e. possibly a medium-sized ornithodiran - was really covered with tegumentary structures. On this topic you might see some works by Andrea "Theropoda" Cau (but perhaps you've already read them) on http://theropoda.blogspot.com/2009/03/lipotesi-del-gdsp-ovvero-tianyulong.html. The opposition between scales and feathers is a surreptitious idea. Tridactyl feet of birds can be equally covered with feathers or scaly (the second being the most usual and common condition). There's a substantial amount of logic evidences for imaging (or presume) that the whole body of Psittacosaurus was covered. The only tail plumed as preserved may be instead a real artifact due to taphonomic conditions. A better point of view is explained here: http://theropoda.blogspot.com/2009/12/fuori-tema-ma-non-troppo-psittacosaurus.html So this lead me to b) the original ornithodiran clade could be indeed "warm-blooded", and this results in c), where we can speculate how back in the Dinosauriformes - or even in the archosaurian lineage - we can go to get the real beginning of endo- and omeothermy. Sure some original Bakker's hypothesis (i.e. "heresies") have passed the exam of time as they are virtually still on the run and discussed...and virtually you could even get protofeathers on a ceratopsid - as dr. Mark Witton has done a long time ago here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markwitton/522293984/in/set-72057594082038700/
ReplyDeleteExcept evidence of "scaly" skin reversal (e.g. in abelisaurs, as far as I know; or even elephants today), everything is possible. All that remains is pure intuitive art speculation, but "HIC SUNT DRACONES", this is not my field, it's yours! [I draw a Tyrannosaurus head without feathers and use it on "Geomythologica" two years ago...shame on me! :) http://geomythology.blogspot.com/2008/07/modern-dragons-archetype-1-dinosaurs-as.html]
Keep up the good work, Brett
Leo
I like how the Coelophysis is in the water simply going "Holy sh**!"lol As always, your art is awesome.
ReplyDelete