Pheaston attempts paleoart (UPDATE September 2015: 5 new pieces)

[Himmapaan]

Oh, I've seen your coloured version, of course, but not the original pencil! It's gorgeous. I'm really envious of this one especially. Beloved hadrosaurs, you know...

Julio Lacerda and Himmapaan have done both better jobs than I...

Well, I'd say yours and Julio's are equally wonderful for different reasons. But the latter part of that sentence is quite obviously wrong. 

[pheaston]

Been a while since I posted anything here.  I just finished a Protoceratops kinda/sorta in the spirit of All Yesterdays.  I wondered what one would look like sitting down kangaroo style.  With his big head he ended up looking like a macaque or something.  Also decided to go a little crazy with the integument.


protoceratops by paul heaston, on Flickr

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

That's awesome ! How about taking the kangaroo idea further ? Have one actually hopping and moving like one ?

Would certainly make it harder for velociraptors to catch them.. lol

[tyrantqueen]

That's awesome ! How about taking the kangaroo idea further ? Have one actually hopping and moving like one ?

Would certainly make it harder for velociraptors to catch them.. lol

Isn't it sort of impossible? I thought that was the reason why tripod dinosaurs were abandoned, because the posture couldn't possibly have been maintained by a living animal (it would result in dislocation and breaking of the joints) and the fact that no tail dragging marks have ever been found.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

That's awesome ! How about taking the kangaroo idea further ? Have one actually hopping and moving like one ?

Would certainly make it harder for velociraptors to catch them.. lol

Isn't it sort of impossible? I thought that was the reason why tripod dinosaurs were abandoned, because the posture couldn't possibly have been maintained by a living animal (it would result in dislocation and breaking of the joints) and the fact that no tail dragging marks have ever been found.

It's mostly about just tossing around ideas, this one is sitting with it's tail on the ground and a moving kangaroo has it's tail up , not dragging so no tripod. 



It would go from sitting to this is what I was thinking..no standing around with the tail on the ground . heh

[Jetoar]

Spiny protoceratops, I like it  !

[wings]

Isn't it sort of impossible? I thought that was the reason why tripod dinosaurs were abandoned, because the posture couldn't possibly have been maintained by a living animal (it would result in dislocation and breaking of the joints) and the fact that no tail dragging marks have ever been found.

The idea of quadrupedal dinosaurs rearing up on its back legs (tripod dinosaurs) isn't quite abandoned yet see Darren's blog http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2011/01/05/heinrichs-digital-kentrosaurus/ (since I don't have the paper). As to breaking the tail, this really depends on the form of the animal, whether the bony processes on the tail vertebrae overlapped enough before dislocation when bended into the "tripod" pose. However, in this Protoceratops drawing it is a little harder to say. The reason that I am saying this is because apart from these bony processes (i.e. zygapophyses), most tail vertebrae appear to have fairly long spines (approx. more than 2/3 of the tail) and these could potentially obstruct the tail to bend upwards to as far as in the picture (as seen in this well articulated tail http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/files/2011/08/protoceratops-with-track.jpg). There might be distortion in this specimen but since if you look at the rest of the skeleton, most skeletal elements seem to have little to no distortion on them so I doubt that the tail on this animal is particularly deformed. What you would have noticed is that even in such a gentle curve of the articulated tail region, the "spines" on the tail vertebrae are almost touching. It looks almost as if that is the maximum curvature for this region since these spines should never really be touching in life as the space being occupied with intervertebral soft tissue such as ligaments. These long "spines" on the vertebrae seem to be on most specimens (http://archosaurmusings.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/big-proto.jpg, http://dinosaurpalaeo.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/proto21.jpg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/aplumb/6000234933/sizes/o/in/photostream/, http://ourrvadventures.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dinosaur-3.jpg or in this http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19429/lot/1080/, although some of these spines would be reconstructed) and most of them are quite closely spaced so it is very difficult to estimate whether the Protoceratops in the picture could physically bend their tails that far near the base of its tail. Perhaps this is based on a specimen which have just enough spaces between these spines to do so.

[tyrantqueen]

Isn't it sort of impossible? I thought that was the reason why tripod dinosaurs were abandoned, because the posture couldn't possibly have been maintained by a living animal (it would result in dislocation and breaking of the joints) and the fact that no tail dragging marks have ever been found.

The idea of quadrupedal dinosaurs rearing up on its back legs (tripod dinosaurs) isn't quite abandoned yet see Darren's blog http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2011/01/05/heinrichs-digital-kentrosaurus/ (since I don't have the paper). As to breaking the tail, this really depends on the form of the animal, whether the bony processes on the tail vertebrae overlapped enough before dislocation when bended into the "tripod" pose. However, in this Protoceratops drawing it is a little harder to say. The reason that I am saying this is because apart from these bony processes (i.e. zygapophyses), most tail vertebrae appear to have fairly long spines (approx. more than 2/3 of the tail) and these could potentially obstruct the tail to bend upwards to as far as in the picture (as seen in this well articulated tail http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/files/2011/08/protoceratops-with-track.jpg). There might be distortion in this specimen but since if you look at the rest of the skeleton, most skeletal elements seem to have little to no distortion on them so I doubt that the tail on this animal is particularly deformed. What you would have noticed is that even in such a gentle curve of the articulated tail region, the "spines" on the tail vertebrae are almost touching. It looks almost as if that is the maximum curvature for this region since these spines should never really be touching in life as the space being occupied with intervertebral soft tissue such as ligaments. These long "spines" on the vertebrae seem to be on most specimens (http://archosaurmusings.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/big-proto.jpg, http://dinosaurpalaeo.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/proto21.jpg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/aplumb/6000234933/sizes/o/in/photostream/, http://ourrvadventures.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dinosaur-3.jpg or in this http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19429/lot/1080/, although some of these spines would be reconstructed) and most of them are quite closely spaced so it is very difficult to estimate whether the Protoceratops in the picture could physically bend their tails that far near the base of its tail. Perhaps this is base on a specimen which have just enough spaces between these spines to do so.

Okay, thanks for clarifying

[pheaston]

Thanks Wings, some good insights into tail posture.  I knew the zygapyphoses might cause a problem when attempting to articulate the tail that way, so I tried to draw as gentle a curve as I could, as close to the tail base as I could, but even I had my doubts about that much flexion.

Anyhoo, here are my entries to the All Yesterdays and the companion LITC All Yesterdays competitions respectively.

The first is titled "Old Bull" and I was thinking of how the frill of a sexually mature bull Parasauralophus might droop and sag and get kind of fatty, like older male orangutans.  The longer the droop, the more attractive to females. 




If you're familiar with Winslow Homer you'll understand this one.  A Dromaeosaurus is harassed by the poorly-known Two Medicine pterosaur Piksi, somewhere in Montana.

[radman]

The longer the droop, the more attractive to females. 

An interesting idea, kinda like turkeys!

[ZoPteryx]

As always, excellent work!

[tyrantqueen]

I'm confused- I asked another member a while back if the webbing on the Parasaurolophus' crest was still appropriate to use, and I was told it was an outdated and inaccurate concept

So it's okay to put webbing on Paras again? I am more partial to webbed paras to be honest

Also, something else I'd like to ask- would you consider making your Shapeways Tyrannosaurus in 1/40 scale? I really liked the model, it's unusual to see a tyrannosaurus in a calm, neutral position.

[ZoPteryx]

I'm confused- I asked another member a while back if the webbing on the Parasaurolophus' crest was still appropriate to use, and I was told it was an outdated and inaccurate concept

So it's okay to put webbing on Paras again? I am more partial to webbed paras to be honest

As far as I know, and I could be wrong, there is no direct evidence for webbing attaching to Para's crest, ie: there is no sign of tissue attachment points on the bone itself.  Of course, that doesn't mean such structures couldn't have existed, because soft tissue doesn't necessarilly have to be rooted in bone.

[Gryphoceratops]

I'm confused- I asked another member a while back if the webbing on the Parasaurolophus' crest was still appropriate to use, and I was told it was an outdated and inaccurate concept

So it's okay to put webbing on Paras again? I am more partial to webbed paras to be honest

Also, something else I'd like to ask- would you consider making your Shapeways Tyrannosaurus in 1/40 scale? I really liked the model, it's unusual to see a tyrannosaurus in a calm, neutral position.

Parasaurolophus webbing on the crest was a popular idea back when Charles Knight was painting dinosaurs since at the time people still thought hadrosaurs were semi-aquatic.  Doesn't make it impossible for a display adaptation though (which is why it still pops up in modern paleo-art).  Its just important to remember that its not based on anything.  Its no more accurate or inaccurate than putting dewlaps on hadrosaurs.  Also remember that drawing is for the All Yesterdays contest.  Things are allowed to get a little crazy.   

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It is certainly thought provoking.

[wings]

I'm confused- I asked another member a while back if the webbing on the Parasaurolophus' crest was still appropriate to use, and I was told it was an outdated and inaccurate concept

So it's okay to put webbing on Paras again? I am more partial to webbed paras to be honest

Just curious to know, what was his/her reasoning for this comment? Was it just a statement without any explanations, if it is then you should really question him/her more at the time.

[pheaston]

I thought I had posted this a while back, but it appears I hadn't.

Fuzzy rex I did in March

[Gryphoceratops]

Saw this on facebook.  Very cool. 

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Nice work !  I'm still trying to decide just how much feathering I can live with on a T-Rex..lol

[Patrx]

Looks great! I like the lighting and texture on the feathers, very interesting.

If we're going by personal preference, here - I actually prefer my T. rexes a bit fuzzier than this, hah.