A bipedal Apatosaurus and a Deinonychus

Bipedal Apatosaurus. Sepia ink, sepia powder, coloured pencils, and gouache on recycled paper 278 x 190mm.

Inspired by Mike Taylor's article on the probability of bipedal sauropods and by Scott Hartman's accompanying skeletal on the Walking with Dinosaurs blog. This drawing is another of those curious things which should serve more as a study, but which I nevertheless spent too long working on and eventually 'lost my way' with. One of the perils of being obliged to work on something at sporadic intervals.

A not dissimilar fate befell this Deinonychus study.

Deinonychus. Sepia ink, coloured pencils and gouache, sketchbook page.

Inspired, of course, by birds of prey in general, I made a conscious effort of bulking up its feathers much more than my earlier attempts, and aiming for a yet smoother, more avian silhouette (it suddenly occurs to me how long ago I actually began this study, as it went on to form the basis for Marc's Deinonychus portrait in the New Year greeting I completed back in January). I think perhaps its front third is fairly respectable, which perhaps is just as well, since that third eventually made its way upon a garment after some persuasion.

I also note that the Apatosaurus features what might be considered my signature 'dappled leaves' markings which I seem to apply on all and sundry when I'm not thinking too hard about coloration. I ought to devise something with which it can alternate...

N

Pterrible Courier

Pterrible Courier. Sepia ink, sepia powder, white Conté and gouache on recycled paper, 112 x 178mm.

Pterosaurs make terrible couriers. Especially of food parcels.

This is the context in which this drawing originated. I'm hard-pressed to refrain from making another self-deprecatory remark about its silliness, but I had been persuaded to share this on the grounds that pterosaurs figure so rarely among my work (thereby passing the buck altogether). I also realised rather too late how much this resembles the arm-munching T. rex in action and posture. I hope you won't upbraid.


N.

The Thecodontosaurus that Didn't

This was originally conceived around this time last year as my entry for Bristol Dinosaur Project's Thecodontosaurus Illustration Competition. Sadly (though perhaps predictably), I failed to make the competition deadline.

Thecodontosaurus (with sphenodont). Sepia ink on Saunders Waterford hot pressed watercolour paper; 150 x 280mm. I've decided that her name is 'Thesis'. Yes.

Details. Unfortunately, this illustration suffers somewhat from reduction, though it seems to withstand considerable enlargement. Opening the images in a new tab is recommended for best viewing.

My many thanks to Jon Tennant of Green Tea and Velociraptors for very kindly supplying me with the Thecodontosaurus paper (Adam M. Yates (2003)) and Dr. Heinrich Mallison of Dinosaurpalaeo for his input during the progress. I still didn't get the tail quite right, and it is on the whole considerably leaner than I would restore it now. Though as I said at the time: 'I felt like quite the grown-up palaeo artist'.

In the event, Fabio Pastori won the first prize in the professional category with his piece. Though it looks curiously as though his was the only entry in the category, judging by the gallery of entrants and winners; but please do correct me if anybody knows otherwise. Still, I should not have minded coming second to him. Ahem.  

----------

In an attempt to present a little more of my 'serious' palaeoart -- I mean, palaeontography -- to LITC readers, this entry has been re-posted, slightly amended, from Himmapaanensis, with our great Solomon's sanction (if you miss this joke, why then, you haven't been paying attention, for shame). The mercenary part: prints of this illustration are available. Help a fading little Djinn continue producing its meagre magic. I shall be enormously grateful.

N

In the midst of our recent featherless Jurassic Park posts, I recollected this drawing of mine, which I now offer as my utterly trivial contribution to the discussion.  

Perhaps it panders too much to the 'Awesomebro' culture so aptly elucidated upon by John Conway, but for the present at least, I think it serves a small, if not especially profound, purpose. 

I posted this drawing over on Himmapaanensis and elsewhere last summer and under quite different circumstances, a while before David very kindly invited me on as a contributor here, so I apologise to those who are seeing it again once too many times. 

N

Fuzzy Sauropodlet

Well, perhaps a juvenile rather than a 'sauropodlet', but I hope that got your attention, at any rate.

Brian Switek (who surely requires no introduction here) commissioned this highly speculative fuzzy little Apatosaurus from me for his forthcoming book, My Beloved Brontosaurus, to 'visualize a point' and to 'shock readers a little and then explain the image'. It is reproduced in greyscale in the book, but this is the original drawing. I had Brian's permission to share this a while ago, but quite forgot to do so here (chiefly because I still feel ill-qualified as a contributor. Sorry, folks). It is perhaps timely that I chose at last to post this today, since it also happens to be Brian's birthday. I hope you'll join me in wishing him many very happy returns.

As usual, please open the image in a new tab for best viewing!

N.

The All Yesterdays Art Contest

Heads up, artists: Irregular Books, publisher of All Yesterdays, is holding a contest for artists who are willing to take daring leaps into prehistory. I have an idea of my own, and am working out how I want to achieve it. Contest details in the graphic below:



Note that the deadline is February 28, 2013 instead of 2012! Don't go to any crazy time-travelling lengths to submit your work. Though if you do have a time machine, not much need to speculate, is there?

All Yesterdays: Appendix

Following on from Marc's reliably sterling report of the 'Live Spectacular' itself, this post is an appendix indeed in that it serves no real purpose whatever, but is merely my own brief, insubstantial reflection on the event. However, it does illustrate very well the level of vacuity which my contributions henceforth will consist of. You have fair warning.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the talk given by Darren Naish, John Conway, and C. M. Kosemen; and the book signing which followed. I think Marc will agree that it was worth every travel hiccup we encountered during the journey there and back (of course they had to occur that evening). I must confess I was preparing to feel slightly intimidated, but I was very happy to have had all such feelings dispelled, even in the presence of all the authors and a number of other palaeo-luminaries such as Dave Hone, Mark Witton, Luis Rey and Robert Nicholls (does this constitute grotesque name-dropping?).

Marc queues for the book signing.

In conversation with Dave Hone. I think it is just as well my hair obscures my expression at this moment. 

My copy of All Yesterdays, with the authors' drawings and signatures.

For my own part not only as a geek but as an 'improper' palaeo artist (or 'palaeontographer' out of courtesy to Mr. Conway), even though I understood the premise of the talk prior to the event, I still found it highly illuminating. And even as I had no complacency regarding my own approaches to dinosaur restoration, I nevertheless came away with a great deal of food for thought. Perhaps I may share some of these in greater depth another time.

By the by, the hug which John Conway bestowed upon me, as seen in Marc's post, was specifically requested by fellow artist and blog reader, Tiffany Turrill. David Orr then supplemented the request with a demand. The things the Chasmosaurs team would do for our readers.

My sincerest thanks to the authors and everyone else involved for the event, and to David Orr too for sanctioning our attendance and report. And to make sure that the uselessness of this appendix is thorough, I close with a silly drawing inspired by the spirit of All Yesterdays: A Shantungosaurus adorned with a huge dewlap (reminiscent of Brahmin cattle) perched atop a precipitous rock to reach a tiny morsel of leaves.

Artist Interview: Christian Masnaghetti

As you may well have heard, the official launch of John Conway and C.M. Kosemen's All Yesterdays took place last week. Marc Vincent has already written about the launch event, and I'll be following up with a review of the book later this week (as soon as I wrap up a very hectic semester). Today, I'm sharing an interview with Argentine industrial designer and artist Christian Masnaghetti, AKA ChrisMasna on DeviantArt. He is a member of what may be called the "All Yesterdays movement" in paleoart. As you'll read, he's a big admirer of John Conway. I certainly see Conway's influence in some of Masnaghetti's work; I asked him about this as well as his process, development as an artist, and views on a couple hot-button issues in contemporary paleontological illustration.

* * * * *

Can you tell us about your artistic development? How did it coincide with an interest in paleontology?

Well, paleontology is, in part, the reason why I’m oriented to graphics. I have draws dinosaurs for as long as I can remember, copying them from books, TV, toys, etc. That trained my wrist and developed my artistic side during my childhood. While I’m 100% a digital artist now, pencils and watercolors were the tools I learned with. I bought my tablet in 2010, at the age of 20.

My interest in dinosaurs decreased during my last year of high school when I knew I was not going to study paleontology (economic reasons, I could not leave the home) and my first three years at the Uni. I decided to study Industrial Design in part because of my capacity to do decent drawings, but I almost stopped with dinosaurs during those years.

How has opening up your process to critique via DeviantArt worked out for you? Has it made specific contributions to your development?

In the (austral) summer of 2011, DeviantArt changed my life. I found a community of artists dedicated to palaeontography. I found people who shared my interest in dinosaurs. I took my tablet and started painting dinosaurs again. Now, finally, I could get a real feedback, and my paleo-education continued, supported now not only by books, but by DA friends and some blogs and forums, too.

I notice you've adopted the term "palaeontography," which has met with mixed reviews among the community. Care to share your thoughts on it?

I never liked the word paleoart, because art is the most subjective word of the dictionary. Representing ancient organisms according to scientific guidelines is much more than that. I can tell you I like Leonardo’s and but I dislike Picasso’s, but I can’t tell you that one piece of art is better than another, or that one piece is wrong. In art, the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. With paleontological representations it is quite different. I can tell you that one piece is wrong, or worse than another, if the subject is reconstructed with grotesque errors. That’s why I started looking for another term to replace paleoart. So I ended up calling myself a paleoillustrator.

Some time later, I read on DeviantArt a statement from John Conway introducing the word palaeontography, and I felt that term needed to be spread. It’s a good name for our discipline. We are not just a bunch of guys who draw dinosaurs, we are a palaeontographers.



I can see some of Conway's influence in your work. Do you think that's a fair comparison?

Yes, Conway is one of the of those I follow (and envy). He developed a recognizable style, but I'm in my personal search yet.

Did your other experience with industrial design influence how you approach dinosaur art?

The career made me buy a tablet - my best decision ever - and made me learn 3D modelling. I made and used 3D models in some of my paintings (though the software I use is oriented to more mechanical, less organic work). And Industrial Design involves a bit of Graphic Design, in the communication to present a product to a client/buyer. I used that in my infographics.

Beyond the technical aspect of industrial design and the software skills, do any of the methods or techniques of industrial design translate to creating illustrations of living animals? Does the way you have to think in three dimensions give you any advantage when imagining an animal as it was in life?

No, not really. I guess I started thinking in three dimensions in my head prior to studying design.

What books or websites have you found most useful in your paleontology studies?

I'm reticent to name my books because they're getting old. Actually, part of my book collection is pretty 'vintage' (I feel very identified with some LITC posts). However, if I have to choose the most relevant book (collection) of my childhood, I'd say Dinosaurios, 104 magazines of pure awesomeness.

There are a lot of websitess, blogs, and forums which helped me: Wikipedia (obligatory), deviantArt, hellcreek.tk, The Bite Stuff, DinoGoss, Theropoda, Skeletal Drawing... and I'm sure I forget a few.

I've really enjoyed your dinosaur infographics. Can you tell us a bit about your process in developing these pieces?

Thanks! It's always nice to hear that, especially from another designer. I'm a fan of infographics. It's an attractive way to condense facts and make them easy to read and remember. It's surprising how rare dinosaur infographics are, so I decided to make them by myself.

I started making one around Velociraptor, in my opinion the most misinterpreted dinosaur ever (blame Jurassic Park and pop culture for that). The web needed it. Most of the comments/likes on DA (and the tumblrs, blogs, etc which shared it) are from people who does not belong to the dino-community, some of them didn't even know about feathered dinosaurs: mission accomplished!

I discovered things I didn't know thanks to the process, asking actual paleontologists for corrections/advice.

For my second infographic, I took Nima Sassani's research work and improved it visually, making a 3D Puertasaurus from his line art, and painting over it. You will see little references to my interests in the scale size, that's another way to mix actual and 'paleo' worlds. There is still a long list to do: Carnotaurus, then Tyrannosaurus, maybe Triceratops after that. Now I just need the time to do them!


Infographics are certainly are the sort of thing I'd like to see more institutions use to communicate the science of paleontology. Have you received any notice for these among museums or other centers of research?

Not yet. That would be great! I'm waiting.

I'd like to ask about a specific piece of art. Can you tell us about the process of creating your recent piece featuring dueling pachycephalosaurs on a mountainside? I love the way that it dramatically illustrates the hypothesis that they were primarily upland-inhabiting animals, as well as their inferred behavior, in a dramatic, elegant, and eye-catching way. How did it start, and how did it become the piece it is now?

Well, I spent some time watching in Youtube mountain-goats in battle for breeding rights, just for curiosity. Watching those living animals made me wonder if there was some parallel back in the Cretaceous, and minutes later I discovered myself doodling it on the border of my notepad. Although the habitat I propose here - thousands of meter high peaks - is unlikely, it is certainly an epic battlefield.

Like with almost every painting, I took a moment to imagine all the situation before start sketching. I try to see a scene in my head like a movie, and freeze a frame. Then it's time to put it down on paper/screen. That is always the most complicated part due to the corrections needed, every species implies research. But is the most interesting, too: for example, I wasn't aware (at least I didn't remember) of the insane width of Pachy's hips. You always discover something new doing this! Once you have the lineart done, it comes the fun part. Colouring is by far the more enjoyable thing of the whole process.

Regarding the color scheme, the first idea that come to my mind was the color of Pachycephalosaurus from Jurassic Park. JP has kick-ass designs, they are really well done IMO, and it was not going to be the first time I used them. But fan art is not a good idea when you want to become a serious paleontographer. While I was thinking of that, a wild Cubone appeared in my DA start screen, and that's the romantic story behind the color.

I'm not proud of something but I have to say it: for a millisecond I considered to equip their bodies with a dense layer of white fuzz...kinda hyper-conceptual thing, just to annoy some people.

Some great Renaissance artist said, "I don't finish my pictures, I abandon them." Another one said "You learn something new with every brushstroke." True and true. In this case, I learned a lot about rendering rock textures, and when I was satisfied with that, I just saved the file and uploaded it. Now I see I could 'finish' it, but it's always the same...

What recent paleontological discoveries have sparked your imagination?

Feathers! Feathers in big theropods, quills in ornithopods. To me, Yutyrannus and Sciurumimus are by far the most exciting discoveries of the last years (and Microraptor if we go back in time a little more). They opened my mind a lot. Things that were "ridiculous" to think when we were kids are "normal" now.

* * * * *

Thank you for reading my interview with Christian Masnaghetti. All images used with his permission. Do visit his deviantArt gallery and share your feedback on his images' comments sections:

• Buitreraptor gonzalezorem
• Megalosaurus bucklandii
• Vertigo
• Velociraptor mongoliensis infographic
• Puertasaurus rueili infographic
• Yutyrannus huali

Dinosaur Art: 'Time Machine Enough'

I am at a considerable disadvantage, following up David, Marc and Asher. Not only am I in possession of an inferior brain to those of the authors of this blog, I also happen not to have a copy of Dinosaur Art to hand, and am having to rely largely on my recollection of leafing through this gorgeous book from when Marc kindly shared his copy with me.

Given its title, I had initially imagined the book to be not dissimilar to Dinosaur Imagery in presenting almost a miscellany of renowned names in contemporary palaeo art. I was pleasantly surprised to learn of its focus on just ten artists, which affords a more in-depth look at their oeuvre and methods, as the others have already pointed out. This was especially welcome to me as an illustrator myself. On the purported premise of its featuring the very best in the genre, however, no doubt everyone will have their own quibbles as to who was left out of this exalted group. And in this, I have to agree with David that the absence of Mark Hallet and Michael Skrepnik is a notable one.

Raúl Martín; Sauropods

Of the ten represented though, it heartens me to see that there does seem to be a degree of variety in terms of style and approach, and to see what might be regarded as 'newer' names in the palaeo art world sitting alongside the long-established greats. I confess at once that Robert Nicholls and John Conway, for instance, were artists whom I had only discovered within the last year or so. It is refreshing to contrast the latter's more stylised but highly atmospheric -- sometimes even elegiac -- digital illustrations with the exquisitely detailed and resolutely traditional gouache paintings of John Sibbick (to whom I kowtow); or to see two quite differing sides of the same coin in the works of Todd Marshall and Luis Rey, both of whom relish the opportunities for dramatic perspectives, postures, and wilder speculative features in their animals. Whilst Douglas Henderson's 'truly artistic approach to paleoart' breathtakingly ravishes every scientific and aesthetic sensibility with his evocative landscapes, convincingly populated by fauna. I do take Asher's point that the greater weight does still tend to fall on the naturalistic or photo-realistic approaches on the whole, and fully agree that the inclusion of William Stout would have added yet another facet of this world to this gem of a book.

Todd Marshall; Kaprosuchus

Allow me, if you will, a brief moment of self-indulgence from the perspective of a traditional artist. I readily admit that I myself am guilty of the 'hand-wringing' which David mentioned with regard to digital media changing the craft. The exquisite watercolours and coloured pencil pieces of  Julius Csotonyi were what made me fall in love with his work in the first place, and as much as I admire his stunningly wrought digital paintings, I lament that they seem to have supplanted his traditional work both in actual terms and insofar as they are represented in this book. A watercolour of Einosaurus is the sole instance of this here. I should so much have preferred several more in lieu of one or two of his less successful combinations of photography and digital painting.

Julius Cstonyi; Brachylophosaurus. Awarded The Lanzendorf PaleoArt Prize for Two-Dimensional Art (2010) by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

I do agree with Marc that a little more light could have been shed on some of the decisions for certain idiosyncratic features the artists gave to their depictions. Though the whole science and art of restoration are so broad that I see how difficult these would be to bring into each interview, and one which would be better served by focusing on an individual work in its entirety than by random questions in amongst each section. But this would require many more pages and much more expense. For me, the 'highlight taxon' for each artist as mentioned by David suffices comparatively well enough in this effort for the book's purposes. I also recall that at least one blog reader was concerned that more is not made of dinosaur lives and evolution itself; but this, too, would be to make even more of an attempt to be 'all things to all readers', as Asher aptly pointed out.

My overall opinion, however, is quite simple: secure yourself a copy of this book with what despatch you may! Of its production values, I have little else to add. As has already been mentioned, the quality of the printing is sterling and the book is a treasure, appealing fully to the bibliophile and the dinosaur art lover in me. I even had to remonstrate with Marc regarding his customary cavalier handling of books when he brought his copy along. Even if does not, indeed, quite succeed in being all things to all readers, what it does offer in terms of insight into the artists' processes together with the wealth and quality of the images ought to earn it a place on the bookshelf of any dinosaur enthusiast of whatever degree.